Maia swallowed loudly.
She suddenly didn't want to be in his arms.
She didn't feel worthy- and a sick feeling in her gut told her that Bambi had something to do with this upcoming confession.
She loved her to the moon and back... but to bring back those memories.
She felt sick, physically ill, and somewhat manic when she realized she did need to confess.
The guilt wasn't easy to live with. Her Noona could attest from the hundreds of nights she'd wake to nightmares, or when she couldn't watch normal television or read a normal book because anything without a fairytale ending could trigger her.
She couldn't be around people her age because one wrong word and she'd be back there. Back with him.
Mia...
She'd feel the broken bond again.
No. It wasn't a mate bond.
Yet- she felt like half of her died that day. Half dead, unable to properly move forward... grow up.
Everyone always told her she needed to grow up; yet how could she?
How dare she smile and allow the embrace of a mate, enjoy her first shift, her first anything... without her?
Losing your parents is hard.
Losing a twin- an identical twin- is impossible.
Lucien slowly lowered her, as Maia took a step back to try and calm her breathing.
If he was back... to finish the job... then he earned an explanation.
"Alright" Maia barely recognized her own voice, it was so... much more sure sounding than she felt.
Lucien's dark eyes peered down at her seriously before nodding, and gently guiding her inside the room she had earlier slept it.
It was simple and small, but the faint traces of Lucien's delicious scent told her he occasionally used it.
Lucien sat on the bed first, before bringing her between his legs to stand.
They were eye to eye.
Somehow it made it worse for her- and she had to disconnect her own first.
He was so big. So confident and caring. So easy to love.
Would he not want her anymore? Should she lie?
The thought of lying made even her wolf howl in disagreement.
She shouldn't lie. Not like this, never for this.
It'd be dishonoring the dead even more so.
The dead.
Maia clasped onto her mate to keep her sanity. His touch, his scent, even his breathe. He kept her grounded.
"I...we... it was in the fall. Bambi and her mother were visiting. Everything was normal... nothing.... it came out of no where" Maia began, and she couldn't stop the memories anymore.
Small hands clapped together as two sweet identical little girls were chased in the front yard by a small blonde.
Bambi loved playing with Mia and Maia, as both girls were always so energetic.
Though, Mia had always been the more ornery one, while Maia was the follower. The alpha in the dynamic was obvious.
Bambi didn't mind. They were their own little pack of three, and together they were strong.
Two lovely young mothers sat on the porch watching the trio play, and while it had been getting colder out, the girls were still wolves and kept hotter than normal. They worried little as they chatted over tea and snacks that Jasmine had made earlier in the day.
Carol was happy to bring by some imported tea her husband had gotten in his trip with the Alpha to another pack.
She was excited to try it with her best friend since diapers.
Now their own children played together.
Normally, Carol would bring her eldest son too but he had been hitting his rebellious and independent stage of his youth and wanted to play football with his own friends.
It was a girls day then.
Jasmine smiled when she smelt her husband getting out of the shower. Blake was exhausted from taking care of all three of them when she and the girls came down with terrible colds. Only now was everyone feeling better and he could rest without stress for his mate and little girls.
She was amazed how well he adapted to being a young father- though- most werewolves gave birth to pups quite early due to the mating frenzy.
Mia was the first to command they explore unseen territory. Maia- ever loyal and fearless with her sister around- agreed whole heartedly. Bambi took a bit of coaxing and "don't be a baby!" for her to gather the courage to follow as well.
Mia was smart, and had Maia distract their mother's with asking for fresh baked bread after their done playing. Jasmine was ever doting, and Carol the better baker, so they agreed and left inside with a reminder to stay near the territory.
Except- little girls like them were ever curious- and forbidden means to explore to such creatures.
So they ran, Mia in the front at first, but Maia was always the fastest and the sneakiest.
She took the lead, and deviated from the original set path out of excitement and naivety.
Mia followed this time, tugging an ever anxious Bambi after.
She tried too hard to please older people. Mia and Maia were determined to fix that.
Especially if she was a runt.
That was when the trees changed. The territory looked so unfamiliar. Everything seemed different and new. Beautiful and enticing to young eyes.
Especially when they saw a gorgeous stranger with ruby eyes.
Maia was more social and easy going than Mia- Who was the feistier twin. She had tried to pull Maia back, but the hypnotic eyes of a vampire were hard to miss.
Mia and Maia looked like carbon copies of their mother. Jasmine.
"Hi!" Maia had greeted him with familiar childish innocence that could derail even the evilest of foes.
Yet this man wasn't evil.
He was diabolical.
"Hello sweet girls. Aren't you a little far from home?" His voice was like honey, so sweet and level. Even Mia became a bit entranced.
The girls agreed.
"Why don't I walk you home?"
That was the thing though. How could you tell a vampire from a wolf? How could they know they'd even left their territory?
How could they know he'd been watching for years. Watching Jasmine. Then watching the beautiful little girls she gave birth too.
Enamored. Obsessed. Deranged.
He said his name was Felice. Such a sweet name to match the soft golden hair of a youth appearing no older than 18. He was full of smiles and soft eyes. His hands had been cold but the twins were quick to hold each hand to warm with their natural body heat as they traveled home.
Maia couldn't have known. Mia couldn't have known.
Only Bambi seemed apprehensive. Yet when he ruffled her curls and winked- she was gone.
Beauty couldn't be bad... right?
Wrong.
Felice was sweet and calm even as they reached the small two story cabin. Even when Carol came out and screamed in horror. Even when more beautiful men emerged from the trees with the same ruby red eyes- except they didn't smile charmingly.
Their smiles made Maia feel scared.
Then Jasmine came. What Felice wanted all along. What he craved.
The woman he obsessed over since they met when she was small as well.
Then she went and found her mate- and ran away from him. Escaped.
A vampire can become malicious if tried. Felice was the special kind that could smile through any tribulation.
He smiled when Blake shifted in rage and fought- calling for backup through the mind link but it was too late. They lived too far. No time was really given.
Mia had been snatched away when she tried to prevent her mother's harm.
Knocked out cold when Felice back handed her for interrupting.
Maybe that was when Maia cried.
Mia was never a baby- she never cried. She only fought.
Maia's tears seemed to strike something in Felice... because he looked at her so gently. Sweetly. As if seeing her for the first time.
"Maia... if you play a game with me, I won't kill everyone" He had promised.
Promised. He promised. He lied.
Liars.
"Tell me who you love most?" Maia didn't know how to answer right away, but when he snapped her mother's leg she managed her answer through the screams her mother made.
"I love mama!" She had cried out- because she was the one hurting.
Felice smiled.
He smiled and smiled.
He pulled his pants down- and Maia couldn't watch. Couldn't look. Not when she heard her mother begging. Her father snarling and ripping his own body apart to stop his mate from being defiled.
Then her screams turned to coughs and gasps. Then nothing was heard from her mother.
Silence.
No heart beat.
Maia panicked and looked. She saw an unbearably cold and pale version of the warm mother she knew. So warm.
Maia was going to cry and scream again when Felice turned on the restrained Bambi- a vampire with odd blue hair holding her. He didn't smile at all though- unlike the others. He was stone. A masked version of a life.
Holding a sobbing little girl and in the distance- Carol.
"Who do you love most?" He asked.
Bambi was smart though. She thought she was. She tried anyway.
"I love my daddy" she did. She truly did.
It didn't save Carol from anything but rape. Her neck was simply snapped and thrown like a bag of rice.
Bambi screamed till she couldn't anymore. Till no sounds came, but she was released to run to her mother anyway. A dead mother. A body.
Maia was scrambling for Mia anyway though- and she could vaguely hear her father over the shouts and snarls.
She just wanted Mia- but before she could get to her- she was snatched off the ground. Held limp in the air. Suspended above where she could reach.
Felice laughed.
"So cute" he chuckled. To him, her pain was cute. Endearing how hard she struggled.
Just like Jasmine
Maia was more like her mother. Mia took after their father.
"Who do you love most?" He asked her again. This time Maia was honest. Truly honest...
"I love my sister!" She had all but screamed.
She came to realize those eyes did not resemble jewels in the slightest.
They resembled blood. The fire they set to her childhood home. The memories she was just beginning to make.
It wasn't enough.
"Then I'm going to take what you love most. Jasmine might've lived had you just been honest" he chided- as if she had taken a cookie from the jar without permission.
Then he snapped her neck. Mia went limp in the dirt. The fire spread.
She couldn't hear her father's shouts anymore.
Eventually she couldn't hear anything except Bambi's heartbeat and the roar of flames.
Her fault.