TWISTED FATES BOOK 2: EVEN MORE TWISTED

Aiden

The moment I heard Sam’s words, the hairs raised on the back of my neck. Immediately I realized who she was.

It’s about time, dumbass. Jericho decided to pipe in.

Goddess, why is my wolf such an asshole?

I had heard enough heated discussions between my parents when I was younger to know precisely who she was—my half-sister. Despite the mate bond, my father had cheated on my mother once with a human. It was with Sam’s mother. His infidelity had confused me at first when I was younger, but I actually had the guts to confront my father about his unfaithfulness. The story he described was not what I had expected at all.

I knew my father’s family was strict and held a strong belief in our bloodline’s purity, especially since he was a Gamma, as was his father before him. Of course, it was only natural that his heir should follow suit. Well, in order to do that, his father, wanting to ensure strong bloodlines, forced my father into a chosen mateship with my mother. It turns out that Sam’s mother and my father had met while he was a Senior in high school. That’s where he discovered that she was his true mate, and all hell broke loose. I guess my grandfather was less than pleased that his son’s mate was a mere human, so he told my dad that he needed to ignore their mate bond and choose another mate immediately or he would get rid of the problem in his own way. My dad reluctantly complied and ended up choosing my mother, the daughter of a Gamma from one of the neighboring packs. He told me that eventually, he did end up loving my mother. Sadly, because there was never any rejection involved, he and his wolf missed their true mate. A couple of years after I was born, while on a business trip, my dad ended up running into Sam’s mother again. He said it was as if time stood still for both of them. The instant their eyes met, their bond pulled them together, and they ended up having sex; then poof, instant sister.

When he told me this story, I was really pissed. I mean, he cheated on my mom, for Goddess’s sake. And with a human. And he had a child, which made things even worse. I wanted to kill him for hurting my mom, and I told him so. My dad said that he understood that I was upset and knew that no amount of apologies could ever soothe the heaviness of his betrayal that weighed upon my heart. All he could do, was as he had been doing, which was to try and get through each day as he had been. My mother was well aware that he cheated with his mate and had a child as a result. But she loved my father and knew that he loved her as well. She even allowed him to visit his daughter from time to time. Did it cause problems? Of course, it did. My mom may have been understanding, but that still didn’t mean she wasn’t jealous of my dad being around his true mate. Hence, the heated discussions they would have whenever he would return.

After my parents died in a car crash, I thought my world came to an end. They were my only family. I had Mikey and Dev, but it wasn’t the same. My parents were my blood. As pissed off at my dad as I had been, he was still my dad, and I didn’t want him to die. The few personal items of theirs were all that I had left. Well, soon, one less. It was a photo that was found in my father’s wallet hidden behind our family portrait. I assume it was a memento he must have cherished from a time before their innocence was stolen. It was a picture of a young couple in their teens, my father, and a beautiful girl. He was smiling from ear to ear, staring at the camera, while the blond-haired beauty was leaning forward with her eyes closed. She was placing the most loving and innocent kiss on his cheek while the sun was shining behind them. It was the epitome of young love. I understand now why he would have kept it and who this photo truly belongs to.

Looking at Sam at this very moment, I can’t believe that I didn’t even recognize the similarities before. She looked exactly like her own mother when she was younger, well, other than the purple hair and tattoos, but still, they could be sisters.

I cleared my throat, and she opened her eyes to stare up at me. Her glistening green orbs held so much emotion, the strongest being acknowledgment. Somehow, she felt it, too; this odd connection that we two shared was genuine. We just never had the opportunity until this moment to realize it. But I did, and so did my jerk wolf, who decided to keep me in the dark the whole time. With our close proximity, the scent of my father, though faint, is apparent.

Fuck me; this is some crazy shit.

“So.”

“So.” She lifted herself back off my shoulder and rested her head against the wall behind her.

“Did you know?”

She laughed humorlessly.

“Nope, I had no idea.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“Should we tell everyone?”

“No. At least not now, Aiden.”

“Why?” I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt.

“Because they will ask how we figured something like this out. I mean, it’s not like you or I ever hang out on our own, so it will only raise questions that I don’t want to answer.”

“Sam-”

“No, Aiden. Please…for me?”

“But you can’t hide what’s going on forever, including your memories.”

“Please, Aiden. I am working on getting better. I promise. I just can’t deal with them knowing that I remember. Please?”

She looked like she was on the brink of breaking down again. Damn this family bond thingy.

I sighed and nodded my head.

“Fine. BUT … I don’t want you to keep hurting yourself, Sam. Believe it or not, we are family now. You have me, and if you want me not to tell them anything, you need to promise me that you will come to me, and we will work through whatever you are struggling with together. Yeah?”

Silence.

“Sam?”

“You’re not going to drop it, are you?”

“Have you ever known me to drop anything, princess?”

She glared at me, then groaned.

“Fine.”

I clapped my hands together and smiled to myself. I felt like I had done something really good for Sam.

I got up and held my hand out for Sam to take as I gazed at her beautiful green eyes that seemed to hold so much pain behind them. As she placed her tiny blood-stained hand in my own, I carefully helped her stand up without warning, her small arms wrapped around my waist as she buried her head in my chest.

“Thank You, Aid.” She whispered.

I found myself reciprocating her embrace and held her shivering form tightly. It was as if Jericho and I were making our own silent vow to Sam; no matter what, we would never, ever let anyone harm our little sister again.