TWISTED FATES BOOK 2: EVEN MORE TWISTED

Devon awoke before the crack of dawn, a lot earlier than when he would usually wake up, but he had wanted to enjoy the feel of his mate again before he had to leave her. Unfortunately for him, his mate was no longer in bed beside him. From the faintness of her scent, it was also apparent that she had been gone for quite some time. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and glanced over at the digital clock sitting on the bedside table; 4:04 am the neon numbers displayed.

Where the hell could she be? He muttered to himself as he sat up in bed.

His mind tried to dismiss his unease supposing the possibility of his mate merely being downstairs in the kitchen, perhaps preparing him a meal, a relatively common occurrence for her to do as of late. He smiled at the thought of her domesticated behavior and opted to jump in the shower to ease his tense muscles.

Once he was done showering and emerged into Sammie’s bedroom a little later, he was surprised to see that she was still nowhere to be seen.

Again, an uneasy feeling began to take over his emotions as he quickly got dressed and decided to make his way downstairs and pinpoint her whereabouts.

As he began descending the wooden staircase, he could hear faint laughter coming from the kitchen - Sammie and Aiden.

Making sure to be as silent as possible, Devon walked over to where the two were, keeping his ears on high alert, all the while listening to their conversation.

“Aid! Hahaha .. you’re such a turd!” Sammie quipped in between bouts of her laughter.

“Oh. My. Goddess! Sam, you know you like it. Quit trying to act like you don’t.” Aiden teased.

“What Ever Aid. Whether I like it or not doesn’t make it any better!”

“Of course it does.”

“No. It doesn’t. Sorry but this thing is going to be with us for the rest of our lives. Excuse me for wanting it to be perfect.”

“It will be perfect, Sam. Even more so because it will have a little of my flair incorporated into it.”

“Flair?! Flair?! If by flair you mean your lack of common sense, then sure. Keep dreaming, Aid. I want this to be special and meaningful.”

“It will be. But you have to at least let me have some input, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not like you’re doing it alone. I am going to be doing this with you too.”

“Ugh…Fine. We’ll compromise then. How about you tell me what you like the most, and I will decide which is the most pleasing, and we’ll go with that? Yeah?”

“I guess … but I still like this here.”

“No. Not this. Never this. That’s just nasty, Aid. Please, I’m sure there’s got to be something you’d prefer besides this … hmm?”

“Seriously, princess... it’s not that bad. Besides, no matter what we decide on, it will be special anyway because it’s always going to be a part of the two of us. Our special bond that no one can take away from you and me. Speaking of bonds, princess, … I know buzzkill time. We need to tell them about us, Sam. I’m tired of keeping our relationship a secret from everyone.”

“I know … you’re right, Aid. I’m just worried about Dev. I feel like he’s not going to understand. He’s going to be mad when he finds out that we kept this from him. And yes, you are seriously a buzzkill.”

“Whatevs, princess. You’re just mad cuz you know I’m right.”

“Haha yeah for once. Turdburgler.”

“Really?! Really?! So immature Sam … so immature.”

“What can I say? I learned from the best.”

“You sure did, princess, and that’s why you love me.”

“Hahaha yeah, I suppose it is.”

“Exactly. Now, what do ya say we table this for now, at least until after Dev leaves? We can decide on what we want over lunch. I’m thinking … Benihana?”

“Of course, you are.”

“What? I can’t help my love for Hibachi fried rice. I swear its magical goodness makes me happy. But oh hey, before I forget … this whole idea for Benihana is my idea. Mmm-Kay? Not anybody else’s. Remember that Sam … it’s my idea.”

“Okaaayyy … It’s your idea, Aid. Not sure why that’s so important, but you being you, I’ll remember. Happy?”

“Yes, Thanks, Sam. I’d explain it to you, but I wouldn’t want to make you a target too.”

Aiden whispered the last part of his statement for some odd reason making Sammie erupt into a fit of laughter.

“Goddess, what the heck am I going to do with you?”

Sammie quickly wrapped her arms around Aiden just as a furious Devon walked into the kitchen. Seeing his mate in the arms of another male, let alone one of his closest friends, set him over the edge. A powerful growl broke the two apart immediately. Devon’s claws were beginning to extend.

A nervous smile spread across Aiden’s face as he greeted his friend and Alpha.

“Oh. Hey Dev- “

“LEAVE! RIGHT NOW!”

“Huh ... what?”

Another growl escaped Devon’s lips as he glared over at Aiden. He was close to shifting, and it was taking all his will power to prevent it, but Aiden’s obliviousness was making it difficult to do so.

“I SAID – GET. OUT. RIGHT. NOW!” Devon asserted his Alpha Command forcing Aiden to bow in submission then immediately run out of Sammie’s kitchen patio doors. Aiden looked over at Sammie apologetically and appeared to silently mouth to her, tell him, Sam, before he exited the house.

Sammie quickly turned her attention to her mate, who did nothing but glare at her with an anger she had not experienced from him before. She could tell he had misinterpreted her and Aiden’s interaction. Earlier, they had met up and looked over a few tattoo ideas that they were planning to get together as a familial symbol and bond between them. Sammie knew his outraged reaction was her fault. Aiden had warned her on several occasions that she needed to tell Devon about their relationship, but she had been scared. Sammie was scared about revealing the truth behind their revelation. Afraid of the reaction that she would receive from her friends and her mate. It was a lot to process, and she just needed time to prepare herself. Sammie had barely made it to a place where she wasn’t thoroughly disgusted with herself and felt safe enough to be intimate with Devon.

Now here she stood in the kitchen being scrutinized by her mate for her insecurities. Sammie knew. It was time to be completely honest with Devon, and it had to be now. He was set to leave soon, and she didn’t want this destructive interaction to be the last thing they experienced together.

“Dev- “

“Not. Now. Sammie.”

“P-please. It’s not what you think. Aid- “

“Don’t you dare tell me what I think! I heard you talking. I saw you both!”

“B-but it’s not what you think, Dev. Aiden and I … he’s my- “

Devon emitted another low growl and rubbed his temples.

“Don’t. Just don’t. I can’t even look at you, let alone be in the same room as you at this moment. Maybe it’s a good thing that I am set to leave soon because If I stayed here any longer, I might end up hurting someone.”

Sammie shook her head and exhaled. This was not how she wanted Devon’s departure to end up. Once again, she tried to see if she could get through to his hardened exterior.

Slowly she reached out and gently placed her hand on Devon’s arm to calm him.

“Dev- “

“Don’t. Touch. Me.”

Devon yanked his arm away from Sammie with such intensity it was as if her mere touch had burned him.

“Looks like Selene was wrong. The real betrayer was you, Sammie. What a fucking joke.”

The last words Sammie heard him utter sent a shiver up her spine.

A sigh left Devon’s lips, and he immediately made his way towards the glass patio doors. Once outside, Devon transformed into his wolf and ran off in the direction of his pack’s territory.

Her only hope now was that he would calm down with any luck, and she could talk to him once he returned.

“I’ll just give him some space, and we can talk about this when he comes back. I can fix this. I know I can.” She muttered.

Despite the determination of her words, something in Sammie’s gut told her that things were only about to get a lot worse.

********************************************************

Devon

Fuck!

Fuck!

FUCK!

As I made my way back to my pack lands, I couldn’t help but hate the fact that I would be leaving for Ravenswood Pack shortly. I was supposed to be gone for the next couple of weeks. I know I was pissed off beyond all sense of reasoning when I saw her and Aiden together, but rightfully so. Their suspicious conversation didn’t make it any easier. What were they even talking about? Was Aiden the reason for Sammie’s distant behavior in the bedroom? I mean, yeah, last night she seemed like her old self, but what about the last few times before that? Was Sammie cheating on me? With Aiden? No. That couldn’t be possible, could it? I mean, he had marked and mated with Astrid. Surely, she would have felt something, anything if he were cheating. Right? As far as I could tell, Astrid was perfectly fine around Aiden and Sammie. Hell, it was Astrid’s push to have Aiden stay with Sammie while we were all gone.

Ugh!

Was I wrong?

Did I misinterpret what I saw? I mean, Aiden looked completely oblivious as to why I was so pissed. He’s definitely not that good of an actor to be able to hide if anything was going on between him and Sammie.

Shit! Why do I feel like the bad guy now?

Because you are asshat! Slade rolled his eyes and growled at me.

“Oh, so now you speak? Where were you when I was blowing a fuse?”

I was busy talking to Aiden’s wolf, Jericho. He was scared shitless.

“As he should be.”

I agree, but I also understand now what was going on between them.

“And?”

I can’t tell you.

“Why not?”

Not my place to tell.

“Then whose is it, Slade?”

Mate’s. You know the one you cut off while you were acting like a ballistic ass-butt and wouldn’t listen to a word she tried to say?

“You didn’t stop me.”

I was having a conversation at the time, ass-butt.

“Well, thanks for not letting me in on that piece of information at the time. It could have helped.”

Would it have, though? You were already assuming awful shit about mate.

“Again, rightfully so, Slade.”

No. You let your stupid jealousy fester and didn’t say shit. You never told her how you felt. You didn’t trust, mate!

“That’s not … ugh … whatever Slade. We don’t have time for this now. We’ve got to head to Ravenswood ASAP. I’ll just deal with this pack shit and give Sammie and me some time to cool off before I talk to her about whatever is going on between her and Aiden. Maybe this trip is needed after all.”

I don’t think so, but whatever, Devon. You know what you’re doing. Just don’t try and blame me later on when you fuck things up yet again.

With that, Slade put his walls up and left Devon to his own devices.

“Dick.”

Devon muttered before shifting back into his human form, slipping on a pair of sweats, and heading into the packhouse.