The Alpha Twins Rejection
Chapter Ten - Alpha Twin's P.O.V (Rayne)

Late in the evening, when everyone had retired for the night, Kane and I decided to check out the surroundings on our own. All throughout the day we caught the same delicious aroma every so often, it wasn’t strong, but there was no denying it was there. It had Jax and Hunter going crazy.

We made sure nobody was nearby as we slipped out into the forest behind the guest house, knowing that the second patrol of the night would have already been past this area half an hour ago. Once in the dense forest, we rapidly changed into our wolf forms, hoping to relieve some of their pent-up tension.

They were beginning to get on both our nerves. We were a bit apprehensive letting them come forward after their antics last time but knew we had to let them burn of some of their excess energy if we wanted to stay sane.

“Where should we look first, brother” Kane asked via the mind-link. “I think we should look around the perimeter, allow the boys to stretch their legs and then have a quick roam through town”, I replied. Kane nodded in agreement and took off into the darkest depths of the forest.

“We need to replace mate”, Hunter growled loudly, the sound reverberating through the night air. “Give it time, Hunter. The ball is in less than 48 hours. We are bound to encounter them there. We can’t go sniffing every she-wolf in this territory without offending,” I snorted.

“I say we sniff every single fucking one of them”, Hunter replied with an arrogant snarl. “Mate is close by. I want to claim mate tonight,” he growled, pushing himself harder and faster through the forest floor.

“What’s up, Rayne,” Kane asked, jumping logs and small ditches to catch up. “Hunter is pissed off still”, I replied through gritted teeth. “You bet I am”, he snarled again. “Stop playing games and replace mate”.

That’s it, I thought, I had had enough. The little wound up rubber band that was my patience finally snapped. I forced Hunter to stop abruptly and shifted back into my human form without warning. Hunter tried several times to surge forward, to take control again, but I wouldn’t allow it.

“ENOUGH”, I roared. The sound had Hunter retreating to the furthest corner of my mind with his tail between his legs, and a pissed off look etched on his face. I didn’t care how far away from the guest house we were or the fact that I hadn’t thought to bring a change of clothing. I was determined to walk all the way back on my own two legs.

Jax must have also been giving Kane hell as he too shifted back to his human form with a huff.

We must have walked for over an hour at least until finally the guest house came back into sight. Instead of heading back towards it though, we decided to head down the main street, letting our noses lead the way.

The town looked newly built, at least in the last 20 years, and was reasonably large. The houses were all in good repair, and all sat neatly in rows. We walked around for another hour or so testing the air for all the distinctive scents. We were about to give up our search for the mysterious vanilla aroma that was driving the boys wild when we came to the dead-end of a long road. At the end of it stood a decent-sized hospital close to the training grounds.

We both instinctively inhaled deeply. “Do you smell that, brother?” I asked, letting the smell encompass me entirely. It was so intoxicating Hunter sprung back to life and was practically drooling.

“I do, brother”, he replied, his eyes turning from brown to almost black as the night. It was obvious Jax was trying to come forward. Neither of us seemingly had control of our own actions at the moment as our feet started to propel us forwards towards the delicious scent.

Just as we approached the building on autopilot, a porch light came on across the street, startling us. The spell was broken and we hastily took off back towards our temporary accommodation; we didn’t want to explain to anyone why two enormous and very exposed males from a rival pack were roaming the streets well past the witching hour.

“Do you think anyone saw us?” Kane asked with a small smirk on his face? “Let’s get inside, get dressed and talk about this in the morning.” He replied with a laugh.

Breakfast went well with Alpha Miller and his attractive Luna. For an older lady, Kane and I both agreed she was stunning. After that, we spent most of the day learning the ins and outs of the Bloodmoon pack security. We were both suitably impressed with how tight it was and thought rogues would be foolish to attempt an attack on the Blood Moon pack.

For some unknown reason, during a brief lunch break, Kane and I decided to organize a bouquet to be sent to Beta Miller. We didn’t have time to purchase them ourselves but decided to handwrite the note personally. We didn’t want to seem overeager nor step on anyone’s toes, Zac’s namely even though we didn’t quite like the pup. Heaven forbid he get upset, so we signed River Run pack. Inexplicably it made us both feel likes shits for not allowing ourselves to make it personal. Even though we had yet to meet Ashley we strangely felt something for her and to be honest, it pissed us off. We didn’t do feelings.

By mid-afternoon, we headed to the training centre with Alpha Miller and Delta McMillan. As we entered the building, Kane and I pulled ourselves up to our full heights and placed a mask of indifference on our faces. We wanted to make sure everyone recognized who we were.

After addressing the room and introducing us, Alpha Miller excused himself to tend to other pack business. Dispersing the crowd that had gathered, we noted our Beta Tyler didn’t have a sparring partner. “Are you thinking what I am thinking, brother” I slyly inquired Kane. “Let’s see what the pup can do”, He replied knowingly.

I mind linked Tyler, not wanting anyone else to overhear our plan. “Hey Tyler wanna have some fun,” I asked, cocking my eyebrow in question. “Alpha Rayne, how can I be of assistance,” Tyler asked, a small smile spreading across his face. “Delta McMillan looks like he might be able to help you with your sparring, don’t go easy on him”, I replied with a devious chuckle. “Sure thing, Boss”, he replied.

Kane and I watched as the two of them moved off to an empty area on the training mats, and to my amusement, Tyler scarcely waited for Zac’s shirt to hit the ground before he charged at him.

“This is going to be funny,” I said to Kane using the mind-link. All too soon though we discovered that it wasn’t, much to our dismay Zac was a skilled fighter. “Well, well, it seems we have underestimated the pup,” Kane laughed. “I thought for sure Tyler would have the upper hand. But it looks as though Zac is playing with him,” I replied. I guess since Ashley was lethal she would only date someone who could also fight, it made sense I thought bitterly.

All day I wanted nothing more than to spar with Zac myself. He had tried to be polite, but if you looked close enough, his mask kept slipping. The thinly veiled disdain at our presence was there for all to see.

I supposed our presence here was pissing him off, along with our packs. It was only 24 hours until the Blood Moon ball, and I assumed he was worried about his girlfriend finally replaceing her mate. I would be in the background, silently laughing at him for his stupidity when it happened.

A pang of guilt ran through me, we hadn’t met Delta Miller yet, but I was already concerned for her feelings with the inevitable of Zac replaceing his mate tomorrow night. I was pulled away from my wayward thoughts by the sound of what I could only assume was my Betas nose breaking.

“Enough,” I said to Tyler via mind-link, quickly assigning him assessment duties. It was apparent the pup could fight; there was no point in having our Beta beaten up. The thought pissed Kane and me off thoroughly.

Continuing around the room, a familiar laugh captured my attention. I turned to the direction it was coming from and observed Eve and Jessica were fawning over Zac. “It seems we upset the sisters,” I said with a huff to Kane. “Zac is welcome to them,” he spat with distaste. “I am done with fucking girls”, he replied, narrowing his eyes in their direction.

Zac seemed a bright boy and quickly caught on to why the sisters were showing him attention it seemed. After having Tyler rough him up, I didn’t blame him for his part in the performance. What I didn’t like, though, was how Eve and Jessica were making a mockery of us in front of another pack. A few members of our own pack knew we had been seeing them and would undoubtedly talk. “Time to put them in their place,” Kane said using the mind-link. “I agree,” I replied, my legs already propelling me towards where they stood.

I was shaking with fury by the time I reached them on the mats. The moment we had them alone in the locker room, I seized Jessica by the throat, hurling her against the neat rows of storage. “What the fuck do you think you are doing, Jess” I growled only inches from her face “Noo-nothing Rayne”, she replied in a small, strangled voice. “Alpha Smith to you. Don’t forget your place ever again, or we won’t be so fucking nice little girl,” I snarled, letting Hunter come forward to emphasize our distaste at her and Eve’s little show.

“Yes, Alpha Smith,” she simpered, not daring to look into my eyes. “Good. Now take your sister and run along. I don’t want to see either of you for the remainder of our brief visit. Understand,” I barked.

Both Eve and Jessica nodded their heads, not daring to utter a word. I released my grip on Jessica’s throat and watched as the two of them scampered out of the locker room. Neither Kane nor myself felt anything towards either of these ladies any more. It felt strange. The feeling was foreign. It didn’t help that Hunter and Jax thought they were beneath us and readily agreed to be rid of them. It was not in our nature to be cruel but something was setting our future into motion, I could feel it.

Hunter was actually happy with me for the first time in the last 48 hours. I sighed, relishing in the feeling of calm that started to flood through me. “Do you feel that, Kane?” I asked? “Absolutely, Jax is also calm now we finally severed all ties to the sisters”, he replied with what I could only describe as a sigh of relief.

“What the fuck was that” I exclaimed when the most sorrowful scream echoed through the afternoon air as we made our way back to the packhouse after training. Whoever it was, the sound had Hunter and Jax pacing frantically inside the both of us, pushing hard to come to the surface again. “Mate”, Hunter screamed in my head. “Rayne, we must do something. “It is mate. I am certain of it, and she is hurting,” he said frantically.

It took all our self control to keep our wolves at bay. There was no way we could let them take over while on such a crucial mission as guarding the welfare of thousands of werewolves. Even if Hunter was right, we had a duty to ensure they were safe at all times. “Settle down, Hunter, we will replace our mate when the Goddess feels it the right time to reveal them”, I replied through gritted teeth.

“Rayne, Zac is staring at us” Kane said. I looked at Kane and could tell Jax was also giving him hell. “I think we should investigate the town again tonight,” he continued via the mind-link. We let our masks of indifference slip back down as we continued on our way to the packhouse. “There is something up with Zac,” I exclaimed. “I observed that too. His wolf was equally close to the surface. I am betting the scream had something to do with his partner, Beta Ashley.” “My only guess is that she has PTSD after what Alpha Dante did to her again,” Kane said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “Either way, I will be probing Alpha Miller about it.”

Zac made a hasty retreat after escorting us to the packhouse conference room, another point for our theory. I didn’t have to ask where he was going in a hurry. Alpha Miller motioned the two of us to take a seat and went over a few more details about the impending Blood Moon Ball the following night and intel he received on the rogue attacks.

After we discussed them both at length, I decided to try my luck and ask a personal question. “Was it your Beta and daughter, Ashley, that we heard screaming this afternoon” I enquired, not completely expecting an answer from Alpha Miller. To our utter surprise, he swirled his glass of scotch in his hand and then looked me dead in the eye before confirming that yes, it was Ashley.

He had no other explanation other than the recent reoccurrence of trauma, mental and physical, inflicted by Dante. He assured us Ashley would be fit to return to light duty tomorrow night no matter what. At the mention of that, a low warning growl left Kane’s throat, his eyes turning a deadly shade of black. Whoa, I thought what the fuck was that about, I wondered. Sure, Hunter was going crazy inside my head, but I would never openly antagonize another Alpha like that.

Kane had crossed the line, growling at another Alpha, especially since we were guests in his territory. Alpha Miller’s face turned to stone as he narrowed his eyes and squared his shoulders. Shit. “KANE. What the fuck” I exclaimed via mind-link. Kane hurriedly apologized and said he didn’t know what had gotten into him. “What was that about?” I said, mind-linking my brother again. “I don’t know, Jax didn’t relish the idea of Beta Miller returning to work so soon after nearly being disembowelled,” he said with a small shrug in response.

“There is no stopping Ashley when she makes her mind up,” Alpha Smith said curtly, cutting through our silent conversation. “You will both have the pleasure of meeting her tomorrow night at the Ball” Alpha Miller continued before dismissing us. Just the thought had Hunter and Jax inexplicably excited. I had to admit. I, too, looked forward to meeting her. In fact, I couldn’t wait that long. I had already decided that we would go to the hospital tonight to try and catch a glimpse of her.