Accepting My Twin Mates

Evgeniya

I returned to the matter at hand and cast my gaze over the controls. All of it was written in French and none of it I understood. The numbers next to a series of buttons ran up to the number of cells, so I figured they corresponded and were the opening mechanisms for the cell doors.

Here was where the plan became somewhat ultra-dumb... I opened them all at once, including the heavy door that sealed all the cells together, and unleashed the awaiting chaos. I could see on the surveillance screen, the rogues and vampires, all of them looking at their doors with trepidation.

I poked my head out and yelled, “what are you waiting for? An invitation? Movet"

That was all it took and the very floor shook with heavy pounding of bare footfalls. My eyes widened as a wall of hulking males came barreling towards me. I ducked back just in time as the surge thundered past, except for one who stopped, one I recognised that made lurid and obscene gestures with his tongue as I was made to accompany Marceau for his dinners. His eyes roved over me and if he thought I would be his victim, he was sorely mistaken. But as I raised the rifle to fire, the rogue’s head was yanked back and smashed into the door frame repeatedly, blood cascading everywhere.

The red-haired vampire, Barend.

“I've hated that man for a decade," he dropped the unconscious or dead rogue. Which? I wasn't sure. “Disgusting individual His voice held a harder Dutch accent and was far deeper, gruffer, than his smooth youthful face suggested.

“Barend,” Bastiaan spoke behind him, the vampires and a few of the rogues at his back. “Help lead the others out. I must stay with Evie and get her father and Diego”

The red-haired vampire clapped him on his shoulder. “I should go with you, you need me. I swore my duty of your care to your father”

“They need you, Bastiaan indicated the others with a sweep of his hand. “If you want to help, draw the guards as much as possible so that Evie and I can get to the clinic wing”

With reluctance, Barend nodded and parted ways, taking the others with him and leaving Bastiaan and me alone.

“I hope you remember the way?” He ducked down to the unconscious guard and removed a large serrated bowie knife from its holster.

“Uh? Don't you want the other gun?"

“No, I'm far better with a blade," he spun the large blade around his fingers with practised ease.

I did remember the way, sort of. I had walked this place more times than I cared to remember and while I had only visited the clinic once, the path was ingrained. Retracing the steps of that day, and with only one wrong turn, I managed to find our way to the clinic door ahead... with an armed guard waiting right outside it.

I lifted to aim, not exactly knowing what I was doing with the dart rifle, and fired, missing my target and not by a small margin either. But before the guard could move a muscle, a woosh flew past my ear, embedding itself in his forehead. He fell to the ground like a sack of rocks.

“May I?" Bastian gripped the firearm, tugging it gently from my hands. “They will have heard inside and I may need to borrow this."

You might as well because our aim is s**t; Ewa huffed.

No sooner had he taken possession that the door was yanked open to reveal the male guard inside. Bastiaan acted quickly and rammed the b**t of the gun in his face, hooking it around his neck and throwing him head-first into the concrete floor. I caught the door before it could close and lock us out, ducking low to keep out of Bastiaan's warpath. In a smooth flourish, he slid the smaller, thinner, knife from the guard he had taken out and, like the first, flew it with precision into the neck of the doctor, who remained frozen.

“That was terrifyingly impressive” I gawked at the bloody, yet efficient, destruction.

“I did not survive two decades fighting among wolves by my witty remarks alone” he raised a brow and offered his hand to help me up.

“So that's why they were going crazy,” Diego's rough voice wobbled. “How dare you start the party without me."

But it wasn't Diego's frame handcuffed to the hospital bed that grabbed my attention. It was my father's.

“Dad!” I rushed to his side, unbuckling his wrist restraints, “Dad? Wake up.”

I patted his cheeks rapidly, trying to get him to come around. Dried blood, and what appeared to be sand, clung to his skin and faint lines of healing slashes marked his torso. Like Diego next to him, all he wore was a pair of thin black sweatpants. He began to come around, his eyes flickering and squinting to focus.

“solnyshko?” His rough but soft hand cupped my cheek.

I nodded tearily, helping him sit up and swing his legs over the side.

“It's my fault," Diego clanged the metal implement tray on the wheeled medical caddy, grabbing a clean wipe to dab at the four slice marks sutured closed on his chest. “I came to from the sedative not long after our matches. I surprised the hell out of the guard and kicked up a fight. Poor Konstantin caught a ricochet of wolfsbane. It barely grazed him but it was enough to do that”

“am fine. I walk it off” my father tried to stand and dropped back down, his strength falling from under him.

I rubbed his back, hoping if I gave him just a second to catch his breath, we could try again. Time was increasingly stacking against us.

“What happened to you?" My eyes followed Diego's stitched-up wounds as Bastiaan set him free of the restraints. I quickly grabbed the gauze and tape from the tray. “Here, they're bleeding”

They were no ordinary injuries. If they were, they would have shown some signs of healing, as my father's had. This was done by silver.

“My opponent was sent out in silver-dipped claws. He's a good guy, though, an Italian. He only fights to put food on his pups’ table”

“You make friends with your opponents?” I quickly tore the end of the tape with my teeth, smoothing it into place.

“Not all” he shot me a wry grin. “Only the ones who give me a challenge. I should've been paying attention and I missed his first move... I feel kinda bad. I shoulda let him win tonight he sighed and a huge dopey smile spread on his face as though he had found the goddess herself. “But I couldn't help showing off for that woman."

“Woman?”

“I saw her, my mate.." he shook me gently by the shoulders as if to emphasise his point. “The most beautiful dark sultry goddess with a mouth full of fire. And the most perfect pair of breasts I've ever seen. No offence, Evie."

“None taken," I grimaced a frown. “And I would prefer it if you never spoke of my breasts again”

“I do hate to interrupt, but would one of you mind, say, lending a hand?" Bastiaan wheezed in a tight strain. “Konstantin is rather heavy”

He had managed to get my father on his feet, taking the brunt of his weight. Bastiaan was far more muscular and built than the other vampires, but even he had his limits. In a flash, Diego was up and slinging my father's arm around his neck.

“I'll do the hard work of carrying the big guy. You two can have the easy job and get us out of here.”

“No, solnyshko. I must protect you," my father tried to fight the help he needed.

“Dad” I reached up and took his face in my hands. “You've been protecting me this whole time, it's my turn to repay the favour. Now shut up and let Diego help you."

“You are your mother's daughter,” his beard twitched with a tiny smile.

I looked away as Bastiaan retrieved the knives he had hurled through the air, but I heard the squelch and the metallic twang of the blades removed from the bone and flesh they had been lodged in. He wiped one and offered it to me, but I had to refuse.

“N-no thanks. I can only use that thing close up," I picked my way over to the jammed doorway where he had dropped the rifle. “This I might not be able to aim very well, but I can keep a fight at a distance”

And away from my pup.

My father's strength was returning, he only needed a hand to stay upright. I could tell he was favouring one leg, possibly where the wolfsbane dart had grazed him. While I didn't exactly know where the exit was, I had seen more of this compound than most others. There was only one direction I hadn't been led down before and it was my best guess that was the way out. Hopefully, the others had worked it out too and were providing as much of a distraction as possible. It wouldn't take long for Marceau to spot I wasn't amongst the other rogues and he would know there was only one person I would risk running around the compound for, which would lead him directly here to the clinic.

The corridor outside was silent, with no sounds of anyone approaching... yet.

I led the way, nearing the corner where the corridors split. My blood pumped in my ears in a swift rhythmic thud and my adrenalin spiked, drowning all out except my wolf in my mind, rigid and alert.

The sound I had been dreading began to grow, rapidly drawing closer. At least three sets of footsteps thundering and echoing, all the more louder for it. I hadn't come this far to be caught now. I had mates to get back to and my pup’s freedom to ensure.

Without a second thought, I spun from the corner to fire, only for the barrel to be wrenched upward, the dart sailing over his shoulder, causing me to come face-to-face with my target.