And There Were Wolves

twelve | and did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?

"For now, it is just me and my Beta, Dmitry Vashkov." Ryker paused, his face scrunched as he turned to me. "My best man at the wedding."

I nodded even though I had not remembered Dmitry's face. That day all that bore in my mind was Ryker's face, the face I hated the most for causing me to be labeled 'mistress', the 'homewrecker', and many other horrible things that I had no doubt Cindy and her gang had cooked up.

"Although from time to time there are other people too. The packhouse can be quite crowded sometimes. We also host several events here," said Ryker as he unlocked the front door, then held the door open for me. He let go of the door once I walked inside and the door closed with a soft click.

I stared at the quite massive living room with a modern fireplace at the far end. On each side, there was a curved marble staircase. "What kind of events?" I asked curiously as I looked up at the high ceiling and noticed two medium-sized chandeliers on each side with one huge chandelier in the middle. Every piece of the furniture here was so sleek, indicating that even though this house has been here for decades, its occupants had modernized everything from time to time.

"Wedding, parties, among other things. In fact, we are going to have a Halloween party in two weeks' time," answered Ryker as he placed my bags on the burgundy sofa, then shoved his hands inside the pockets of his jeans. "Come on, let me show you around."

We moved to the curved staircase on the right, and I followed closely beside him. "The kitchen and dining room are located behind the fireplace as you can see just now. As for the second floor, there are some guestrooms, sometimes the teens use them whenever they are too drunk to go home after a party or when one of the patrols found them wandering in the woods." Ryker shook his head, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I used to be brought here once or twice during my high school days."

"I thought you went to Eton," I commented, not bothering to hide my surprised tone. Most of the rich kids went there while the rest of us could only afford public school.

Ryker did not say anything for a while and I glanced at him as we walked through the hallway with many doors on the left and right. "My brother did," he answered, at last, keeping his gaze forward.

"Oh." I wasn't sure what to say. Hell, I did not even know he had a brother. So many things I didn't know about my so-called 'mate'. "Does your brother live here too?"

"No," he answered, his voice was cold and harsh. "Let's get to the third floor, nothing much to see here. Just gym and whatnot." He turned around, heading towards the stairs again.

While following him, I wondered if perhaps he had a fallout with his brother and that was the reason he was being harsh all of a sudden. "What's on the third floor?" I asked once we hit the landing.

Ryker headed to the left and stopped right in front of the only door on that side. He dropped his silver gaze at the floor and for a second, I thought I saw his cheeks redden a little. He seemed very nervous and uncomfortable at the same time which caused me to wonder what that room was. "What's this?" I finally asked him.

He cleared his throat. "My bedroom. Dmitry's down the hall. I figure perhaps you could grab one of the two that are still unoccupied."

"Or maybe I could just take one of the guestrooms on the second floor?" I offered, not wanting him to feel awkward with having me on the same floor if that was what caused him to be all nervous and uncomfortable.

Before he could even open it, the door swung open from the inside, revealing a gorgeous brunette that looked like she has just gotten out of Vogue. I would have been in immense awe if she was not half-naked and had pulled my hair in public merely a few days ago. "What's with all the noise?"