Before I could leave the cover of the trees Theo pulled me back into another kiss until his twin pulled me away stole a kiss of his own. I swear, it made me a little dizzy. Some might think being passed between two brothers is too much or wrong, but I'm already finding it extremely hot. Going from one boy one moment and then to the next, yeah, that's hot. Feeling both their lips on me at the same time? Yeah, that's fucking hot.
When Elijah pulls away from me he has a smirk on his face. I, however, am in a happy daze. And then, Theo kisses the side of my head.
"We'll see you first thing in the morning, our little mate," He promises.
"Sweet dreams, little mate," Elijah says next.
All I can do is nod my head like an idiot before backing away from them. And because I don't trust myself to not make a fool of myself from tripping, I quickly turn on my heel and look where I'm going. The back door to my house is only a few yards away so it doesn't take me very long to reach it. I look over my shoulder to find both twins smiling and waving at me. I shake my head with a grin as I open the door. The moment I do the mouthwatering scent of stew hits me and I automatically start to salivate.
"Look who decided to show up," Someone says. I stop in the doorway to find my grandparents and parents all crowded around the back door.
I facepalm myself. "You guys were spying on me, weren't you,"
"More like wanting to get a look at your mates," Grandpa chuckles.
"Yes," Pappoús chuckles as he looks over my shoulder. "I suppose that would be them,"
"You guys," I groan. "Stop spying on them, jeez," I step to the side and slam the door shut so no one can look out the door anymore. "Have some decency,"
"Like you?" Dad asks.
I can feel my eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What do you mean? I haven't been spying on anyone,"
Dad tilts his head to the side and I realize his eyes have zeroed in on my throat. "You let them mark you," He says in a flat voice. "What happened to getting to know each other first?"
My hands move up to my neck automatically to cover both sides of my neck where Elijah and Theo marked me. They both closed the marking wounds so there is no physical evidence of their markings, but everyone in this house except for Lyra can smell their marks on me.
"Okay, seriously?" I ask. "They marked me, it's not like we got freaky and mated in the forest,"
I watch in amusement as dad's eyes widen. "Excuse me?"
Papa and both my grandparents burst out laughing. Dad looks very comical right now and I can't help but snicker myself. "What?" I ask. "It's true, it was only a marking,"
"You-," Dad starts but stops himself.
"They only did it because they felt threatened by Shiro," I say to try and calm him down.
"Shiro?" Grandpa asks. "Shiro's a good boy, why would they feel threatened by him?"
I shrug my shoulders. "Because they found out he was my first kiss,"
"Shiro was your first what?" Dad asks, his face dropping again.
"My first kiss," I grin, loving the reactions I'm getting from him.
"Shiro?" He asks in a higher-pitched voice. "When did this happen?"
I shrug my shoulders. "I think we were Kadyn and Thea's age,"
"Thirteen?" Dad sputters. "You had your first kiss at thirteen?"
"Yeah," I drop my hands from my neck and look up at the ceiling as if I can see Kadyn up there. "Although, looking at Kadyn and Thea right now, I can definitely say it was way too young. Imagining my little thirteen-year-old siblings kissing people isn't right. It's far too young,"
"Shiro, huh?" Papa says with a grin and a head nod. "Does this mean he's..." He trails off to let me finish. He probably doesn't want to make assumptions just yet.
I shrug my shoulders. "He's not sure still," I answer his unspoken question. "But to be honest, I think he might be bisexual. He has this crush on a girl in our class but she's not his mate. And he can look at guys and call them hot. So, I think he doesn't have a preference, honestly,"
"Interesting," Papa says with a mischievous grin. "I do wonder who his mate could be,"
"It's exciting, isn't it?" Grandpa chuckles. Papa nods his head.
"Absolutely. I love it when the younger wolves find their mates. It's all shyness and newly mating and, ugh, I miss those days," Papa says with a grin.
Dad turns his head to look at him. "What?" He asks.
"What?" Papa mimics.
"You miss what?"
"Are you okay?" Elijah's voice floats inside my head and I nearly jump out of my skin.
"Are you okay?" Pappoús asks.
I snap my attention to him and nod my head frantically.
"Damn, it's going to take a minute to get used to this mating link," I mutter through the mind link. I have to concentrate to make sure the link only goes to my mates and not my family link.
I hear two sets of chuckling inside my head. "Are you still being bombarded?" Theo asks next.
"Yeah, well, maybe not. My dad and papa are arguing now about a comment my papa made. They could be at for a while. Wait, are you guys still in my backyard?"
"No, we are at the Pack House," Elijah says.
"Whoa, this mate link reaches that far?" I ask amazed.
"The mate link reaches farther than a pack or family link," Elijah says inside my head. "We can be a few miles apart and still make contact,"
"Yes, but also, if we're on Pack lands it strengthens the link. So, basically, instead of needing a phone we can just mind link each other," I can hear the grin in Theo's voice.
"So you don't want to video chat with me?" The pout is clear in my voice.
"Whoa, no, not what I meant," Theo backtracks. "Yes, we want to video chat with you, Alaska. I only meant that we don't need to actually call to chat. So, like, no missed calls unless we're too far apart,"
I laugh through the link. "I was only teasing, Theo, relax,"
"Alaska," Someone says my name in a sharp tone so I snap out of the mind link and blink a few times.
"Yes?" I ask hoping that whoever said my name will talk again so I know who it was.
"Are you going to eat dinner before bed?" Dad asks. He looks grumpy now. I wonder what Papa said after I spaced out.
I nod my head. "Yeah, I'll get some now," I say and head over to the food in the kitchen.
No one follows me so I am able to get my food in peace and then I take it up the stairs. On my way to my room, I stop midway and backtrack to Kadyn's room. I knock on the door three times and wait for a response. I know he's not in bed yet.
It takes a few moments before the door opens and Kadyn peeks his head between the cracked door. "Yes?" He asks.
"Can I come in?"
He looks me up and down, his eyes lingering on the food I hold before he finally lets me in by opening the door wider. His messy room from earlier has been cleaned and it looked like I had disturbed him reading a book at his desk. And on that desk is the toad, Noah, just sitting there like he were some loyal pet or something.
"Did you not eat dinner?" I ask.
Kadyn shakes his head. "No, grandpa and pappoús came over and I got overwhelmed. Sorry, but I shifted the conversation over to you so you became the hot topic. That's when I made my escape. But that meant I didn't get dinner,"
I sigh as I shake my head. "Here," I say as I hold out my bowl full of stew.
He looks at the bowl and I know he wants to take it from the look in his eye but he shakes his head instead. "No thanks," He mutters as he turns and makes his way back to his desk.
I roll my eyes as I shut his door and follow him over to his desk. I set the stew bowl on his desk away from the toad boy. "It's fine, I can just eat the rolls," I say as I hold up the two buttered rolls in my hand. "So, what's that?" I ask as I nod to the book on his desk. Upon closer inspection, I realize it's thick and old.
He rubs the back of his neck. "Um, it's a magic book,"
I gape at him. "How the hell did you get your hands on a magic book?" I ask truly astonished.
"From a thrift store," He mutters as he runs his finger down the page of the book. "Not all books are magic that claim to be, but this one is real,"
"How can you tell?" I ask still amazed that he got his hands on one. It was believed that all magical items were confiscated a long time ago when magic was outlawed. No one knows for sure what happened to all the stuff. Some say the big councils that govern our supernatural species destroyed everything. And others believe it's all locked up somewhere.
"I can feel the magic in it," Kadyn says fondly.
"Feel the magic?" I ask interested.
He nods his head and holds his hand about an inch away from the page of the book. "Magic items give off a sort of humming vibration that can be felt. And if you listen closely, you can hear it. It's like a-," He pauses to think and I swear he tilts his head slightly like he's listening. "It's like a song almost. It's hard to describe. Like, the way that movies get that dramatic orchestra during an intense war scene, but also like that music that plays when movies show gods and like heaven and stuff,"
I try to listen for any music but I don't hear any, even after I strain my ears as hard as I can. The only things I hear are three heartbeats in Kadyn's room and my family downstairs. I shake my head. "I don't hear it,"
Kadyn cracks a small smile which I count as a victory. "I think only people with magic in their veins can hear it. It's sort of special that way,"
"Oh, so it's like a secret language that only magic wielders can speak,"
He nods his head. "Yeah, especially since all magic sounds different,"
"Okay, so what are you doing with this book just out in the open like this? Honestly, if it were me, I would have it hidden under the floorboards just to keep it safe," That's how incredibly rare this magic book is. I can't even do magic but I want to protect this book and keep it hidden from people who would try to destroy it.
"I was trying to see if there was anything about transformation magic in it that could help me reverse my horrible mistake," He says as he falls heavily into his chair.
"I take it you've had no luck?"
He shakes his head. "Absolutely nothing. Not even a mention,"
"Well, it's a big book, there might be something in there still," I say, but he's shaking his head halfway through my sentence. "Well, is there a glossary or index or something? Maybe there's something similar to transformation magic," Again, he's shaking his head.
"There's no glossary or index, and I've read the book cover to cover,"
"Hmm," I hum and look more closely at the book. I try to read the words on the page but they just don't seem to make sense, and that's when my eyes go cross-eyed as I realize it's in another language. "Holy crap, that's not in English," I say breathlessly for some reason. "You said you've read it?"
Kadyn nods his head with a sigh. "It's in Latin,"
"You can read freaking Latin?" I ask as I turn his swivel chair so he can face me properly.
"Yes," He says like it's no big deal.
"Since when could you read Latin?" I shake my head. "Since when can you understand Latin?"
He shrugs his shoulders. "I think it's a gift of mine. I learn languages fast. I taught myself Latin from using the Internet,"
I sputter unintelligently for a moment not knowing how to respond. "Can you understand other languages then?"
"Yeah,"
"Like?"
He shrugs his shoulders. "I learned Spanish within a month. I learned French at the same time. Russian was a bit more difficult so that one took two in a half months. Italian was easy. Arabic was more difficult to read than speak. Japanese, Chinese, and Korean were my favorites," He says all this like it was an everyday normal thing.
"Excuse me?" I say. "Why did I not know you could speak all those languages?"
"You never asked,"
My jaw drops. "I never asked? I never thought it would be something I had to ask. I know you'll be taking German next year but it never occurred to me that you might already be able to speak another language, especially not since I've never heard you speak anything but English. Can you speak German then?"
"Sort of. I'm sure if I were to visit Germany I could get around just fine, but I still need to learn all the slang terms and stuff,"
I shake my head in disbelief. "So basically it will just be an easy A for you,"
"Not necessarily,"
I shake my head a little annoyed. How could he not share something so big with me? Or anyone else for that matter. "Wait, does anyone else know? Like, do papa and dad know that you can speak other languages?"
He shakes his head. "I don't think so,"
"Why the hell not?"
"They've never asked,"
I facepalm myself. This kid is seriously something else. Who learns another language and doesn't tell anyone? Like, Kadyn didn't just learn another language on his own, he learned several. And here I am struggling to pass Spanish class so I can graduate. Who knew I had a great teacher right at home. Maybe Kadyn will be willing to tutor me a bit so I can hopefully pass the class with at least a C.
"So," I say as casually as I can. "You want to tutor me in Spanish?"
Kadyn looks up at me with a raised eyebrow. "You want me to tutor you?"
I grin and nod my head. "I have to pass it in order to graduate. I really only need a C to pass the class,"
"How are you failing Spanish?" He asks like it's the easiest class to pass.
This makes me pout. "Spanish and I don't go together. We can't all be language geniuses like you,"
"I'm not a language genius," He replies.
"Whatever you say, little brother, whatever you say," I sigh as I catch the time on his nightstand. "Speaking of Spanish, I have homework to do still," I mutter. "I'll see you tomorrow, little brother," I ruffle the top of his hair. Then I look at the toad, Noah. "Good night, Noah,"
Kadyn snaps his head to the toad then back to me. "Why did you say that?"
I shrug my shoulders. "It seems rude to tell you good night and not him,"
He stares at me with big eyes so I slowly back away from him. I wave with my fingers as I exit the room backward. I head to my room this time and take a bite of my roll. I really do have homework to get done before tomorrow.
Ugh, I can't believe I have just met my mates and they don't even have to go to high school anymore. That makes me feel so young, even though they aren't that much older than me. That's crazy to think about, though, that my mates are older than me and don't have to go to high school anymore. I feel so young being a high schooler now. At the beginning of senior year, I thought I was all grown up and ready to get my life started. But now, after meeting my mates, I feel like a child still. Especially after learning that Theo is freaking smart as fuck.
I grumble around the roll in my mouth as I take a seat at my desk. It's nearing eleven and I don't really want to do homework, but it needs to be done if I want to graduate. So, I pull out the needed supplies and get to work. I'll try to do my homework during my classes and breaks tomorrow so I can free up my evening. I want to spend time with Elijah and Theo but I also want to keep an eye on Kadyn and toady Noah. I also need to stop calling him a toad since he's not really a toad.
I sigh as I stretch real quick before I concentrate completely on my work.