Chapter 126


    epting My Twin Mates Chapter 126


    Bonus Chapter 5 – epting His Fiery Alpha – I of II


    Diego


    My smouldering goddess’s fire flickered in a dying beat, watching Evie in the ck jeep roll away. An


    upset frown didn’t suit her full pouting lips. A defiant smirk, a naughty smile or a dominant challenge in


    her onyx eyes, those were the quirks that suited her sinfully angelic face and amplified her creamy


    cocoa and explosive chilli scent.


    I let the back of my hand brush against hers, the sparks of her touch electrified my arm and amassed


    within my chest. She felt it too, the twitch of the corner of her lips told me as much. Five years I had


    waited, from the moment of my shift, to feel this torrent of energy that my soul and wolf craved; a gift


    that I hade so close to losing on so many asions, starting with my father.


    ‘That co?o is no more our father than a broom handle is,’ my wolf, Dario, chuntered irritably.


    He had never liked or felt much for our father from the day he appeared and I shifted. The only thing


    that had ever tethered us to him was our familial bond and even that wasn’t enough to foster any


    fondness from Dario.


    Growing up, I had made a rod for my own back, I knew it. My disobedient and willful ways had dropped


    me in trouble from escu primaria when I was six years old to the day I was issued with my ultimatum


    from my father…


    …“Damn it all, boy. You will not disgrace me anymore with this behaviour in front of our pack,” he had


    yelled when I came sauntering home with another tattoo, another piercing and having spent another


    day with the wild horse herds in thekes of our home in Covadonga,pletely shirking my


    responsibilities. “It’s high time you start taking your Gamma duties seriously and grow up! And that


    starts with a mate.”


    He threw down a photo of a girl my age with caramel hair and honey eyes. All my usual brazen


    swagger evaporated and, for the first time, I had no smart-mouth response.


    “Her name is Esperanza and she arrives in one week. You will take her as your mate on your


    neenth birthday and that will be the end of it. Mark my words, Diego, you are the future Gamma of


    Cuna De La Luna and you shall behave like it. Or, you can leave.”


    No help came from my mother, who stood at his side, a conflicted struggle warring in her eyes and yet,


    she remained silent, never once defending me. I would have swallowed my resentment and taken up


    my role to serve an Alpha and takemands that I had no interest in. But I would never take a


    chosen mate, not when my soul’s perfect matchy in wait to burn me with her fire.


    My father meant it as an empty threat, thinking a sentence of a rogue status would keep me in line, that


    the shame of such a deplorable title would be enough to curtail me into submission. He thought


    wrong…


    …“Diego?” The divine voice of my mate, purer than the moon, tugged at my hand. “Let’s go home.”


    Home.


    That word felt as foreign as the ground I walked on. When I had one, it never felt like home, just a


    noose waiting to trap me.


    “Ever since my hermanita here…” my mate’s brother, Thiago, interrupted my brooding thoughts by


    wrapping his arm around the top of her head and poking her side. She squealed and fought her way


    out of his hold, cursing him out with every colourful insult. “…Told me about you, I’ve been dying for you


    to meet our old man.”


    The broad grin thaty under Thiago’s heavy ck stubble told me I was in for an interesting wee.


    “He’s the traditional type, I take it? Likes the old-time ways and will love a tattooed rogue as a son-in-


    law?”


    “We’ll see if we can get you sharing a ss of brandy and having a game of backgammon by the end


    of the night.”


    “I’m sure my dazzling wit will have him hitting the roof with approval in no time.”


    “Cata, the moon goddess outdid herself this time. I love this guy,” Thiago threw his arm around my


    shoulder and walked us over to the high-end saloon car. “Our mom’s been cooking up a storm and


    even tracked down a bottle of Herbero for you. She’s not as hard up as our dad, so you’ll win her over


    easily…” he went on.


    I noticed Leah roll her eyes, as her mate talked about his mother.


    Catalina caught my questioning nce, snickering into the back of her hand. ‘Our mom is great, but


    she’s a little overbearing at times. Leah feels like there’s three in her rtionship and Thiago is too


    much of an oblivious hijo de mami (mama’s boy) to notice otherwise.’


    A small smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth at the thought of a huge Alpha like Thiago hanging on


    to the skirts of his mother, but at least she involved herself with her son… unlike mine that stood back


    and remained quiet as I left.


    “So, have you ever been State-side before, Diego?” Leah asked as she slid into the front passenger


    seat, pulling her pom-pom beanie off and smoothing her flyaway hair down.


    “No, never. Just a few ces in Europe, and France, obviously… that’s how I wound up with my ass in


    a cell.”


    ‘But you’re not there now and it led us together,’ Catalina squeezed my hand like a stable rock to


    anchor my storm.


    Maybe fate would have given us another path to meet upon. Maybe there was no other way for our


    paths to cross. There was no way to know what would have happened. Those chain of events had


    been stolen.


    I had lost count of the number of times I had stared at the ceiling of my cell, or the exposed stone of the


    wall I was chained to when I acted up, and cursed myself for ever biting the offer of that dressed-up


    motherfucker, Marceau…


    Content bel0ngs to N?vel(D)r/a/ma.Org.


    …The Paris slums were a far cry away from the mour of the city’s centre. However, for a rogue like


    me, they had proved lucrative. Knowing about horses served no use in an urban environment, but I


    knew how to use my fists and, in the slums, it was all I had to make money because I was not about to


    crawl back home like a pup with his tail between his legs.


    There were a few spots that held bare-knuckle fights between wolves and the odd human that fancied


    their chances, either in dive bars, back alleys or abandoned buildings.


    It was thetter where a blond man in a sharp suit with a manicured beard and an expensive gold


    watch ambled over to me as I poured cold water over my head after winning seven fights in a row.


    “Quite the show you gave,” he casually leaned on the dusty wall. “I run my own fights, in a far more


    affluent setting than this establishment,” he circled his finger in the air and nodded towards my pile of


    winnings. “What you won there, you could win double in a single match of mine. I would provide you


    with the best food, your own lodging. What do you say?”


    “What’s the catch?” I raised my brow, flipping my moth-eaten towel over my shoulder and folded my


    wad of euros into my pocket.


    “You win.”…


    …The man couldn’t have screamed ‘stranger danger’ any louder and my wolf had incessantly yelled for


    me to walk away. But to a neen year old with no money, no home, no prospects and an over-


    inted ego that told me I knew better, the man and his outstretched offer was the answer to all my


    prayers. I practically snatched his hand off, thinking I would be making my fortune and never once


    imagined I was signing my life away as a ve.


    The scenery outside the car window shifted from a heavily tree-lined road to a t meadow and drew


    me out of my head. On the fringe, where the manicured ts of an immacte pack house garden met


    the evergreen forests that surrounded it, sat a pristine mansion built in white stone and gilded with


    Roman columns and high arching windows. To the right, neighboured an equally grand-looking house


    on a smaller scale and dotted around on meandering roads were homes that no doubt belonged to


    other pack members with families.


    “Whoa, which is the pack house,” I joked, looking between the two impressive buildings.


    Thiagoughed awkwardly. “Yeah, our abuelo went all out when he built the separate home to the main


    pack house. Our mom, dad and Catalina live in that one to the right. Me and Leah live in the top suite


    of the big house,” he pointed to the top level with dormer windows and a rooftop terrace.


    Thiago pulled the car up to a ck brick path that led to the Alpha’s private home and no sooner had


    the car rolled to a stop, that two wolves were out, front and centre, to open the doors. My home pack


    had been one to stand on ceremony at every given opportunity, so it was nothing new for me to witness


    and told me exactly what to expect with this pack.


    The main door opened to a huge foyer trimmed with gleaming dark wood that contrasted the modern


    mosaic tile walls and a grand sweeping staircase to the upper levels. The appearance was not what hit


    me first, it was the scents. Fresh food permeated every orifice; freshly fried tortis, seafood, garlic,


    roasted herbs, chilli and the sweet tang of tomatoes.


    “Daddy!” Catalina eximed, rushing towards arge-built man appearing from an adjoining archway


    where the scents flowed from.


    Dario was quick to voice his grumblings, muttering more to himself. ‘I wanted to be daddy.’


    From the mature Alpha aura rolling off of him and his heavy simrities to Thiago, only with a pinch of


    salt and pepper dusting his temples, he had to be Matías. His arms wrapped around his daughter in


    relief, calling her his princess. It was funny, my mate called her brother a mama’s boy when she was


    clearly a daddy girl.


    “Thiago, mijo,” the older Alpha embraced his son, briefly touching his forehead with Thiago’s and then


    his mate, Leah. “You two handled the pack well in my absence.”


    The fatherly pride that glinted in Matías’s eye and shone so effortlessly pricked an involuntary pang of


    jealousy. I needed no one’s approval and never had. Yet, I couldn’t shut down the re of wishing, just


    once, my own father could have looked at me like that. Not since I was a pup had he shown me any


    affection and the only emotion that flitted through his features was an increasing swell of irritation,


    disapproval and reproach.


    A tall slender woman, a virtual double of Catalina, hurried in from the same archway Matías had


    emerged that must have led to a kitchen. She hurried to take off the vibrant flowery apron from her


    neck that had protected her immacte red blouse and skirt. The woman possessed the same soft jaw


    and high cheekbones as Catalina, but with dark green eyes instead of the deep onyx-brown irises that I


    could lose myself for days in. She had to be her mother, Julieta, the Luna.


    After kissing the cheeks of her two children and daughter-inw, Luna Julieta’s gaze turned to me and I


    was obviously not what she was expecting, but she covered as best as she could.


    “Mamá, papi, this is Diego,” Catalina wrapped herself around my arm, sping her fingers with mine.


    “It’s wonderful to meet you,” Julieta replied and elbowed her mate in the gut when his hard stare didn’t


    let up.


    He nodded out of politeness, but I could tell he was sizing me up, scrutinising my tattoos, my ear


    piercings and, I gathered, my overall air of indifference. I was not ticking the checkboxes of a


    respectable wolf male to his little princess and, unfortunately for him, I was never going to be a clean-


    cut and well-behaved mate or a kiss-ass to the patriarchy. I was the rough and ready bad boy type that


    ran his mouth and I was itching to poke los huevos del tigre (the tiger’s balls), just for some fun with my


    new inws.


    “Alpha and Luna Rivera,” I began, starting with the shine first.


    “I am Diego Ortiz Guerra,” I bent at the waist in a sweeping bow. “Of Cuna De La Luna, Covadonga.”


    Julieta’s finely arched brows greeted her hairline in surprise and Matías’s mouth parted, neither


    expecting such decorum from one who looked like me.


    “A formal Spanish greeting of the continental wolf packs. I haven’t seen that in at least a decade,” the


    Alpha admired my disy of propriety. “Your father must have taught you traditional values well.”


    I would be lying if I said that didn’t strike a particrly small yet agonising nerve. Catalina’s eyes cut to


    mine, knowing the punch to my gut that Matías unwittinglynded. My father had drilled it into me and


    had been strict in my education of traditional etiquette so as to never ‘shame the family name’. But I


    brushed my hidden sting off.


    “Yeah, he was a stickler for tradition,” I drawled, regaining my cool and calm air. “Not that I ever gave a


    flying f**k for the old ways. Tradition is just peer pressure from the grave anyway.”


    The Alpha and Luna spluttered, Thiago grinned ear to ear and my mate’s face sparkled with awe. I


    hoped beyond anything, that was the first bloom of love within her heart for me and that she knew I


    could handle her family, along with anything else her father could throw at me.


    Edging my bet that Matías wouldn’t ughter me in front of his daughter, I drove it home.


    “So, what room are we in?” I draped an arm over my mate’s shoulder, my fingertips ying with the


    light material that separated me from her luscious skin, the tingles of our bond firing away regardless.


    “You will have separate rooms,” her father’s eye twitched, his jaw set firm.


    “You’re funny, Matías,” Iid it on thick. “Oh, you’re serious?”


    I suspected as much, that the older Alpha would think we wouldn’t be sharing a room, but that was


    what sneaking was for.


    ‘Separate rooms my eye,’ Dario sniggered, brimming with confidence.


    ‘Our little button wille to us tonight. I know she will.’


    My mate was every bit as defiant as I was and, between her father and me, a challenge had beenid


    down.


    ‘Button?’ My wolf repeated, tilting his head.


    ‘Yes, because we know exactly where to press.’


    I liked to win my challenges, as did Catalina and, like me, she would never walk away from one. She


    would dig in her heels and double down. My mate was the biggest challenge I had ever faced, my wilful


    equal and I knew exactly how to y her to be victorious; issue the challenge and then walk away to


    lure her into my court.


    “Why don’t you finish up the food? We’re all hungry for ourte lunch,” Luna Julieta spun her mate


    around and shoved him towards the kitchen, looping her bright flowery apron over his neck. “I’ll show


    our new family where he’ll be staying. Come along dear,” she hooked her arm with mine and began


    leading me directly up the ornate tiled staircase. “You’ll have plenty of time to settle in and get clean. I


    made all the meals tapas style, so there’s plenty to go around. I won’t have you going to bed hungry


    here… And Thiago!” She bellowed, cutting a re so sharp it would slice a bead of water in half. “If I


    hear you snigger one more time and I’ll fetch my chan (slipper). Go help your father, now!”


    I held back myughter as therge Alpha practically left a puff of smoke as his outline with how he


    shot away so quickly. A boy was never too old to receive the back of his mother’s slipper when he


    pissed her off.


    “I guess I’ll go make sure they stay out of trouble,” Leah muttered, taking off her coat and following


    after the men.


    The bright mosaic tiles continued on the upper floor, artfully fading to smooth walls painted a rich and


    earthy orange. The hall from the staircase led in two wide directions and, to my glee, Catalina followed


    behind.


    “Here you are, dear,” Julieta swung open the door, allowing me to enter the huge deep terracotta-red


    room first. “I thought you’d be mostfortable in the guest room just down from Catalina,” she


    inclined her head further up the hall with a wink.


    ‘Ok, mother-inw is cool,’ Dario nodded in approval. ‘Daddy-inw, we can still poke a little more.’


    “Is it all ok?” She followed my path and walked over to a small walk-in closet. “I didn’t know your size,


    but I’ve developed a sixth sense raising all these pack warriors. So I think you’ll find something for you


    in here. I hope you like it?”


    “It’s perfect, Luna-”


    “Julieta,” she corrected. “Come on, Catalina. Leave him to settle in.”


    “But I should check his stitches. You know, to make sure they’re ok before Diego showers,” my mate


    batted her most innocent eyes that wouldn’t fool a soul.


    “Check his stitches?” Her mother raised a calcted brow. “Yes, I checked your father’s stitches too,


    when I snuck around behind his parents’ back. Whose pup do you think you are, honestly?”


    She walked away, shaking her head, her heels clicking and fading down the stairs.


    The room was nicer than anything I had seen in over four years. The fact it wasn’t a cell that confined


    me within four hermetically sealed walls was the greatest bonus.


    While my previous cell had been unpleasant, it came with goodpany. I could have had far worse


    neighbours than Bastiaan in that goddess-forsaken ce. Some of the men there were innocent, good


    wolves forced into a terrible situation. Others deserved worse than the fate handed to them and were


    the lowest of the low. Some rogues earned their title for a reason.


    The downside of living next to an utterly hopeless romantic such as Bastiaan was, whenever the topic


    of women came up, out of his many conquests, he would fixate on the one he called Galina, whom he


    still loved. It used to irritate me, serving as a reminder of what I could never possess. Or what I thought


    I couldn’t.


    I stealthily approached my mate, who was too busy focused on her mother’s retreating steps to hear


    mine.


    “Is my personal nurse really going to check my stitches?” I closed the door over her shoulder and


    caged her between my arms on its surface, her breath hitching in surprise. “Or were you lying to take


    advantage of a poor homeless rogue?”


    I trailed my nose the length of her cheek to her jaw, following the beacon of her creamy sweet cocoa


    scent cut with the fire of a chilli pepper. The spice of her aroma could burn my tongue just from flicking


    against the air near her. Her delicate and firm hands reached up into my hair, tugging my head back up


    to her level. Our lips brushed, a reminder of our first and only kiss where she stole the breath from my


    body, and all I wanted was to give in to her temptation. If I gave in, I would go all in and we would not


    be leaving this room, or the huge bed that lurked behind me, till the next light of day and beyond.


    Pulling away abruptly, her lips chased mine and fell through the air in a daze.


    “Mi vida, that’s not where my stitches are.”


    ‘What are you doing?!’ Dario pounded his paws on the walls of my mind. ‘We could have had her


    against the door!’


    ‘Relájate (chill) wolf. Do you want to take her now or after hours of more teasing and being denied what


    she wants most?’ And I waited for the caer ficha (token to drop).


    ‘Ok, human, I see you. But I swear, if shees to us tonight and you keep ying, I’m gonna have to


    get violent with you.’


    Catalina’s eyes blinked, her darkshes fluttering back to reality and piqued that she was being denied.


    I backed away from her slowly, trailing my half-undone zip down my torso and pulling the hem apart,


    not forgetting my promise of a second striptease.


    “So, everything look ok?” The dark fabric slid from my shoulders and pooled at my feet. “Need a closer


    look?”


    I dipped my fingertips into the waistband of my pants, inching them lower and unveiling the one tattoo


    she hadn’t seen in its full glory; a snake. It had once coiled over my left hip and over my stomach, but,


    because of my s***h injuries, the head had been decapitated. The body ran down my whole left leg in


    ck and nestled in each coil was a red pasque flower… the type that used to grow around my home.


    There was no shame in her eyes as they followed every line of my finely cut muscles and tattoos,


    settling on my c**k, which sprang up eagerly to meet his mate.


    “I think everything looks in reasonable order,” my mate finally found her voice, wetting her plump ruby


    lips with a tongue I wanted to im.


    “Good!” I eximed, brightening my tone. “I’ll be able to shower without issues, then. See you at the


    dinner table, mi vida.”


    And I left her standing there, mouth agape and scent thickening as she stared at my bare backside


    sauntering away to the bathroom.


    *


    *


    *


    Luna Julieta lived up to what I expected of a Mexican mamá and she wasn’t exaggerating about the


    spread she had prepared. It was enough to feed a pack army, which I suppose a family of Alpha wolves


    wasn’t far off. The huge round and carved wooden table sat the six of us easily in rattan woven chairs


    with a ck iron chandelier suspended above from the exposed wooden rafters. The moon goddess’s


    most perfect creation, Catalina, sat to my right, still stewing that I had gotten under her skin. Her father


    and mother continued the circle around to Leah and Thiago, who sat to my left.


    The drinks flowed, from wine to ponche navide?o, a spiced fruit punch served warm that I had never


    had, and my favourite that I hadn’t tasted for years, Herbero, an aromatic herbal liqueur. The table


    groaned under the weight of the tapas, the smell of the food could have lifted me from my feet.


    We had started with bowls of pork pozole and homemade torti chips and Leah had talked about how


    her schooling was going, studying for a Masters in Clinical and Health Psychology. Unfortunately, I had


    little to add to the conversation. The topic of my family was a sore spot and talking about my time as a


    fighting ve wasn’t a light and joyful topic for the dinner table.


    Matías had silently studied me from where he sat opposite, scrutinising me from a distance. Whether


    he was trying to appraise how I measured up to the expectations he had for his beloved daughter or


    simply didn’t know what to ask me, I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t as though he could ask what I had done with


    my life up until now, he knew. I had only justnded and was breathing freedom for the first time, so


    neither did I know what I would be doing with my life from now on, except that it would involve my


    salvation sitting beside me.


    The main courses flew around the table from huge dishes to small. Mini tacos were piled high with


    every filling you could want; beef birria, gambas al ajillo and shredded chicken. Fresh empanadas were


    served alongside sopes with salsas and dips. Fresh bread with cheeses, chorizo and jamón ibérico sat


    between our ces, evenly spaced out with a staple of any Spanish table; patatas bravas and aioli.


    And I had already caught sight of what waited for dessert; churros, conchas and fresas con crema.


    “Papi, can you pass the pepper?” Catalina asked as she filled her ss with more ponche.


    Both Matías and I reached for the pepper pot in the same instance, our movements stopping short of


    the white porcin dome. I had been waiting to see if a chance presented itself to prod the older Alpha


    again, and this was too good to pass over. I couldn’t help the crooked smirk that tugged at my lip


    watching the vein that began to throb on Matías’s temple, aghast that his princess had a new daddy in


    her life.


    “Which papi, mi vida?” I couldn’t help but say it, turning to my perfectly crimson mate and tenderly


    kissing the back of her hand.


    Her mother choked on her wine, coughing into her napkin. Thiago’s breathing deepened on my other


    side, desperately swallowing hisughter, and his mate elbowed him in his side to shut him up.


    ‘If you weren’t son-inw of the year before, you just made it to the top of the s**t list now,’ Dario


    howled as the silence stretched.


    ‘Wee to the family, bro,’ Thiago tapped his ss of Herbero with mine. ‘I’ve never seen my sister


    blush for anyone.’


    ‘I do my best. Do you think your dad hates me enough yet or should I keep going?’


    ‘I’d say keep going, but only because it’s my entertainment.’


    Luna Julieta looked to be silencing her mate’s grumblings over their mind-link, shovelling more food on


    his te and telling him to eat. My mate’s hand was still held tight in mine. She hadn’t a clue what to


    say, how to act, and the pepper she had wanted was all but forgotten. I doubted many had stunned her


    into silence. She had mentioned few could handle her on more than one asion, but she hadn’t met


    someone like me before.


    “Diosa mio,” I heard Matías grouse under his breath. “My daughter is mated to a devil.”


    A small coy smile tweaked Catalina’s tempting lips. She had heard too. ‘Mi diablo,’ she whispered.


    Mine and my wolf’s chest puffed in pride at hearing her voice. I was worried that maybe I had


    overstepped even my rebellious mate’s boundaries, but it was unfounded. My Catalina was more than


    game to handle what I could throw.