Big girls don't cry

Miliano’s POV

“Can you read it one more time?” Kian asks me, still confused over the note on our door.

“Sure...

Dear Miliano, and Kian, you are with this call to attend one of the possibly most important meetings in our shared history. I would like you to follow a specific dress code, which means that a suit is required. You will hopefully experience one of the happiest days of your lives. Be sure to be ready for departure at half-past seven and wait for more instructions. Sincerely,

unknown.”

“Who the hell is this!? Is it one of the alphas or what?” Kian exclaims, frustrated.

I sit quietly, full of my thoughts. Whom can it be? It must be significant if the person includes a dress code in the invitation. Is there an event we missed? I have no idea!

“I’m calling the betas; they must know what this is about,” Kian says, and I see him mindlink both Henry and Killian.

When he finishes, we just sit quietly, waiting for our betas to appear. In the meantime, I send a message to Aleida and ask her if she’s okay. Unfortunately, since we haven’t marked her yet, we can’t use the mindlink with her. The only reason I could do it at all when she was so far away from me was that the elderly gave me the power, and it was a painful experience. She answers after a bit of a while and says that everything is fine. I look up when the door opens, and our betas walk into the house.

“You called?” Killian says.

“What do you know about this?” Kian asks before handing over the letter to Killian and Henry.

They skim through the text quickly and then look up at us. We patiently wait for our betas to start talking. They squirm under our gazes but don’t say a word; this just makes my brother standing there dumbfounded and me. We’re their alphas; they should tell us everything they know immediately.

“So, what do you know about this?” I ask.

“The only thing we can tell you is that there’s no need to worry and be ready on time,” Henry answers.

“What? We’re your alphas; we deserve to know!” Kian exclaims in frustration.

“Yeah, what is this bullshit suddenly! Don’t make us command you!” I exclaim with the same frustration my brother feels; although they gulp, they still don’t say a word.

“Answer the damn question!” we both yell at the same time.

It hurts them not to obey, I can see it in their faces, but they just can’t. They look confused over the fact also.

“What? You really can’t tell us?”

“No, we can’t,” Killian answers me.

“Look, just go with the flow, okay? There’s no danger or anything, just do what the goddamn letter says,” Henry says while he’s looking annoyed, and with that, they walk out the door.

“What the hell is going on?! So now our betas don’t obey orders? It’s physically impossible for a werewolf not to obey orders if you’re not an alpha yourself. And no one of those two is alphas. I’m beginning to get really fucking mad about this!” Kian yells and smashes a table lamp into the wall.

“Hey, hey, hey. Calm down, man! Geez... Let’s just do what the note says, and we’ll see what happens.”

I know how Kian’s mood works; he hates not having control, and when he can’t do anything about it, he gets pissed. His wolf, Jax, has a hot temper, which only pours gasoline on the fire. How the goddess can think it’s a good idea to pair, the two is a mystery to me. We both walk up the stairs and into our rooms to prepare ourselves for wherever we’re going.

Precisely at half-past seven, on the dot, we both stand by the front door, waiting for more instructions, as the letter said. None of us like it; it might be a good idea to add. But, on the other hand, it goes against our nature as alphas to do as someone else orders us to. A knock comes from the door, and Kian swings it open in an instant. No one’s there, but on the door is a note. Kian takes it down and reads it out loud.

“Good evening, gentlemen,

I understand that my identity confuses you and creates annoyance. I’m very well aware that you don’t like to follow orders, but tonight, I fear you have no choice. You’ll get three leads to which ultimately lead you to the correct location, where I am and in this now are waiting for you. You work against the clock and have exactly two hours to find your way here. If you don’t, you’ll never know who I am or what I want.

May the odds be forever in your favor,

unknown.”

I can’t believe it. What the hell is this? There’s another note that we walk up to on the car window, and I’m the one reading it out loud this time.

“Good job! The first clue is now in your hands. What is clear, wet, and holds the moon at night?”

Killian and I just look at each other, confused. What can it be? A mirror? No, that’s not wet... A bathtub? No, it doesn’t hold the moonlight... Wait a minute! Water, reflection, the lake!

“It must be the lake!” we both yell in unison and laugh at each other’s reactions.

That’s the first time we laugh with each other for a long time, in years to be precise. We walk towards the lake, side by side, which is a bit behind our house. There’s a note on one of the stones.

“I’m so proud of you! Keep on working together, and you’ll find me in no time. Your next clue is a little harder to crack, but I know you can do it if you both work together. What has many leaves, but is neither tree nor flower, has back but is neither human nor animal?”

We walk back into the house and look around in the hope of finding the solution to the riddle. Kian walks upstairs and looks while I continue to search down here. Suddenly he comes running with a sparkly pink book in his hand; he opens up the page with text and lets me read.

“Very good! Now there’s only one riddle left. When you find the place, you’ll get further instructions.

1.You use it in almost every dish. 2. Quenches thirst. 3.The whole thing can you find on the beach.

What is it?”

This one’s simple; it’s obviously about saltwater. Which means we need to go down to the beach. We run to the car and get in, and it takes no more than ten minutes to arrive. Once we’re there, there’s a box with something that looks like protective equipment and a note.

“You’ve done a great job! Not once have you given up the fight, and you’re now another step closer to finding me. So put your gear on and take your weapons in your hands and meet me at “Phil’s” down the street from here. Last but not least... Prepare for war!”

We do as the note says and now begin to get worried for real. The anger inside me makes my whole body shake. Who the hell threaten us this way? I’m going to rip every motherfucker’s throat! We run towards the location we’re meeting this unknown person, and Kian kicks the door open. When we get in, we hear a sound, and before we have time to react, we have each a color shot in our foreheads while our mate’s melodious laugh echoes all around us.

Aleida’sPOV

I wish you could see their facial expressions when I get a direct hit in both foreheads. Laughter bubbles out of me, and they look confused.

“I told you to prepare for war, and you guys kick the door open, which makes much noise? Dear moon goddess, you suck at this!” I exclaim with laughter.

“We didn’t understand that it was you who...” Miliano trails off.

“What?” I ask and feel confused.

“We thought someone was threatening us...” Kian explains, and my mouth forms an ‘O’.

“How could you possibly believe that it was someone else than me?” I ask.

“Well... Our betas didn’t tell us anything, and that scared the shit out of me!” Kian answers.

“They didn’t say anything?” I ask, feeling more confused than ever.

“How?” Miliano asks.

“Because I commanded them not to,” I answer, and the gears inside my head are working overtime.

Both of my mates stand there looking at me with mouths open and confusion clear as a day on their faces.

“What do you mean you commanded them?” Kian asks.

“I commanded them as their luna,” I answer in an in-matter-of-fact voice.

“But how can you do that? You’re not the luna yet!” Miliano exclaims.

“I don’t know, I tried it for fun, and they obeyed,” I say and shrug my shoulders. “I don’t understand it myself. But, as a matter of fact, I’ll call them here; I want to try something.”

“What?” Kian asks, clearly confused.

“I’ll call them and tell them that it’s okay to tell you about my plans for this evening because you didn’t show up. Then we’ll know if my command is what stopped them from telling you in the first place,” I answer.

I call the betas and follow my plan; as I hang up the phone and wait for them to reach their alphas on their phones, my mates both get their calls and ask the question. It only takes a minute before everything spills out of the betas. And let me tell you, it comes out of their mouths faster than you can say ‘whoopsie.’ They hang up the calls and look at me again. I shrug my shoulders and try to appear ignorant, even though my inside screams for an explanation. Instead, I walk down the side of the big hall I rent for the evening and sit down at the table set for all three of us. They move towards me slowly and look confused again. It seems to be their number one feeling. My mates sit down on each side of me and look at me, probably waiting for an explanation. I put three pizzas on the table, and we take one each.

“So... Care to explain?” Kian asks.

“About all of this?” Miliano continues and gestures for the place we’re in.

“I just wanted to go for a real date with you guys,” I answer, to which they smile and look at me. “What?”

“You’ve never been on a date before, have you?” Kian asks me, and I feel ashamed; they don’t like it.

“Oh, I... I’m sorry. I just thought it would be nice to hang out as a couple...” I answer and look down at my hands, with a tear falling down my cheek.

“No, no, lepa! We really like all of this! This is the most fun I’ve had on a date in ages!” Kian says.

“You... You like it?” I ask and wipe away my tears.

“Of course we do; everything you do is amazing, baby girl,” Miliano answers.

“You really put in much effort to do all of this, and we genuinely appreciate it. Thank you,” Kian says and kisses me on my temple; Miliano follows the same gesture.

We laugh together and have real fun for a while after that. I feel happy to have two men like this in my life, especially as my mates. My heart’s beating, and I must have done something outstanding in my past life to have earned these wonderful werewolves.

“I have to ask, did you have a reason why you did this or was it just something you wanted to do?” Miliano asks.

“Yeah, I... I just wanted to have a nice night with my favorite guys. We rarely do much, especially not now, given all the renovations we have been doing lately. So it was time we did something together. And I um...” I begin and take a deep breath before continuing in a whisper. “And I think I love you...”

I don’t know what their facial expressions look like. Because I don’t dare look up at them, afraid of what I’ll see. Oh, no! What the hell did I do!? They’re going to think I’m a freak now...

“Aleida, can you please look at us for a moment?” Kian asks, and slowly, I raise my gaze towards them; they’re smiling at me.

“We love you with both body and soul. You’re our princess, and everything we have, you make us whole. The reason we wake up in the morning is you. Every night, you’re the last thing we think about and the first thing we think about when we wake up. We love you,” Miliano says.

Happy tears are cascading down my cheeks, and my smile is so big that I’m afraid that my jaw is going to break. So instead, I hug them both close to me.

When we get home, I walk with Miliano to his room; before I have time to think, I push my lips to his. Sparks fly through my entire body and make my heart beat faster than a police car on patrol. I know he’s been waiting for this for a long time, and it’s noticeable when his hands land on my waist. We back down to catch our breath, and he puts his forehead against mine.

“Thank you,” he whispers, smiling. “Good night.”

I walk out of the room, down the stairs, tap Kian on his back, and he turns around.

“Aleida? Wha...” he begins put I interrupt him when I put my lips forcefully on his, and he complies.

Kian has also been waiting for this moment. His kiss is strong and dominant, unlike Miliano’s, who’s soft and gentle. Which just shows what different personalities they have. Without a word, I turn around and walk out of the room. Before I walk up the stairs, I turn to him and smile at him. This night, to say the least was epic!