Home. I wasn’t going home. Tyson and Ace might have let me stay with them, but I didn’t belong there. I didn’t belong anywhere. Every time I came back, every holiday that I returned, it became more startlingly clear how much I didn’t belong. I had no home. Mom had built a new life, and I was on the outside of it now. Not even she wanted me. I would watch her with Rayan. I was so excited when he was born, I even helped deliver him. He was so perfect, so small, and I loved him instantly, but mom was so focused on him, which was understandable, he was a baby, but I got pushed out, bit by bit.
If it wasn’t for me, they would be the picture-perfect family. I felt like the dirty secret everyone knew about. I had no doubt my parents loved me, but sometimes that wasn’t enough when everyone else looked at you like you didn’t belong.
I stopped at the river that ran almost a full circle around the city and the borders. I walked a little further before I stopped at the green wooden house nestled among the trees. Hidden from the road on the other side of the forest, the driveway is barely visible.
Mitchell's dad was a pack warrior of my father's pack. All the packs were linked together, branching off one another now since the majority of his family now ran them. Stopping out the front, I walked up the veranda stairs. Before I could even knock, his mother had opened the door. Her curly red hair framed her heart-shaped face. Her green eyes lit up when she saw me.
“You’re back!” she said, opening her arms to me. I’d always liked Meredith. She was always so happy to see me, despite me being a pain in the ass sometimes and getting her son in trouble. I wrapped my arms around her slim waist, hugging her tightly.
“You hungry? I am just about to put dinner on if you want to stay for tea?” she asked, and I nodded before thanking her.
“Mitchell, Lucy is here!” she sang out to him before walking toward the kitchen off the side of the stairs. I heard footsteps on the floor above. This house was a pole home, and it was homely, not like the packhouse that was always crisp and clean. This place had character with its exposed rounded beams, fireplaces, and family photos hanging on every wall.
“Lucy?” Mitchell said, stopping at the top of the steps. A grin gracing his face, showing his perfectly straight teeth. He swept his blond fringe out of his eyes before rushing down the steps toward me. His arms wrapped around me as he lifted me off the ground in a hug, my feet dangling in the air, and I hugged him back.
I first met Mitchell when I was playing at the river when I was ten. His family had just been accepted into the pack, and I was playing by myself when he came across me. After that, we quickly became friends and were pretty much inseparable through primary school. Once I left for boarding school, our only contact had been via phone and video chat. We still spoke every day, but it wasn’t the same. I missed my friend, missed him something fierce.
He had shot right up since I last saw him eight months ago. He was well over six feet tall and had packed on quite a bit of muscle but was still lean and nowhere near the size of Ace and Tyson. He was built like a warrior, like his father, and I knew he would be a great one when he finished school.
“You came back for good?” he asked, letting me go and placing me back on my feet.
Chapter nine
Tyson
What a disaster that was. I knew Reika would be pissed off because she was our mate. Exactly why we had avoided telling her, but I wasn’t expecting her to lose her shit so badly. Ryker just gave us a knowing look. Like he’d already known all along, which wouldn’t surprise me, after all, he was very observant.
Ryker was more disappointed that Ace had been fooling around with Melana, knowing he had a mate. Reika didn’t care about that. She was furious that we were her mates, she wanted to kill us. We couldn’t help who our mate was, that wasn’t up to us to decide. She knew this, and it wasn’t like Lucy was actually related to us. She was in no way a blood relation to us. It didn’t seem weird to me, I could understand her freaking out if she were our niece, but she wasn’t. Thankfully, we didn’t share the same blood because that would be disgusting, and I would have to reject her. But I wasn’t going to reject her just because her mother was uncomfortable with the situation.
“Great, now what?” Ace said, leaning on the car, watching after Lucy, who’d just taken off. I felt terrible for her. She couldn’t even get a word in, and it ticked me off that Reika was so angry she would hit her. I felt partially to blame, I didn’t think she would have struck her if she wasn’t also angry with Ace and me. Hearing the door open, I looked to the packhouse to see my brother come out.
“Reika will calm down. I know you guys didn’t ask for this, but you have to realize, to her, it is a little weird,” he explained, and I nodded, running a hand through my hair.
“I know she is your step-daughter, but I am not rejecting her, Ryker,” I told him.
“I don’t expect you to. I had my suspicions,” he admitted, and Ace looked at him.
“You knew?” Ace asked, and Ryker shrugged.
“Little obvious with how you were always first to jump in when something went wrong with her. How you were constantly drawn to her the moment we got her back,” he said before looking in the car. “Where is she?”
I saw Ace mindlink her, his eyes glazing over before he focused back on us. He growled. “She is going to Mitchell’s,” he said, and I felt a pang of hurt, knowing she had run to him and away from us.
“Does she know?” Ryker asked, and I shook my head.
“Are you going to tell her?”
“We will see if she figures it out first. Besides, Ace kind of ruined us telling her today,” I told him, glaring at my twin. Ace looked away, and I could tell he wished he had now waited. He never wanted Lucy to catch him like that, especially with Melana.
“What do you mean?” Ryker growled, looking at him. Ace didn’t answer.
“Lucy walked in on him with Melana,” I told Ryker. Ryker growled and glared at him. I had told Ace to wait, but he was too much of a ladies’ man. Bloody fool. Lucy wouldn’t be happy when she found out. He should have been thinking about the effects it would have on her instead of thinking with his dick.
“Going to enjoy watching you dig yourself out that hole, Ace. She rejects you, you have no one to blame but yourself. Melana used to be her friend. How could you?” Ryker growled at him.
“I know I fucked up. Melana knows she will never be my Luna. She knows that. I made sure that was clear. She won’t be an issue. I will break it off with her tonight, okay?”
“No, it’s not okay! You should never have been involved with her in the first place!” Ryker yelled at him. Ace hung his head, but hey, I wouldn’t be upset if she rejected him. I could have her to myself. The idea of sharing her with my brother grossed me out.