Page 27 of The Beta's Heart
“Oooh,” she said, wiggling her brows. “What’s a ‘real date’ entail?”
His eyes gleamed with heat. “You’ll see, mate of mine.”
* * *
By the time Friday came, Kismet was entirely smitten with her mate, and captivated by the town of Wilde Creek. Whenever she and Ren were out and about, it was clear that he was a respected pack member because he was treated so well. It reminded her a lot of the way her father was treated by his subordinates as well as his counterparts.
She waited while Ren parked the truck in front of her sort-of brother-in-law Rich’s home.
“Tell me again how he’s kind of your brother-in-law?” Ren asked as he looked past her out the window to Rich’s home. Rich was the pack doctor, and his home doubled as a treatment facility.
“When Noah and I were young, our mother married a witch male named Franklin, who was the widower of a she-wolf named Patricia. Franklin and Patricia had a daughter named Vivian, who was all wolf and not witch, and she mated Rich. Vivian was technically mine and Noah’s stepsister, although she was a good bit older than us. Because I spent so much time in the fae realm, I have very little memory of her. When she died, Noah and Rich became close, and both of them use me for herbs and plants for their healing needs. I guess you could think of Rich as my sort-of step-brother-in-law, but honestly except for those times when we’re being formally introduced to people, we just think of each other as family and don’t worry about titles.”
“Rich is a good male. He helped me out a number of times when I was younger and got injured in training or the full moon rank battles.” He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and then said, “Can I ask what happened to your parents?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were they ever married? Why were you and Noah raised separately even though you’re twins?”
She stopped looking at Rich’s quaint house and turned her attention to her mate. “Years ago, the witches’ guild approached the fae council and asked for volunteers to bear children. There was an excess of female witches, and not enough males to go around. The gist of the request was that they were hoping that some of the children might be hybrids, possessing both fae and witch qualities. One of my father’s superiors at the time made it a personal request that he bear a child with the head of the witch guild, and he agreed. My brother and I were conceived—the first, and only, twin children born of a witch and fae. Originally, our father said he would leave the child rearing to our mother, but when Noah and I were born, I had marks on my back called wing slices, and he didn’t, which meant I was a fae and he wasn’t. They agreed to raise us separately. Our father took me to visit her and Noah monthly, and I remember her testing me over the years to see if I had inherited any of her powers, which I hadn’t. I’m fully fae, the way that Noah is fully witch.”
“Was it hard to be without Noah? I’ve heard that twins often have closer connections than most siblings.”
“Yes and no. We were never together to start with. Our parents split us up when we were newborns, so it’s not as if I have all these wonderful memories of us being together and then suddenly he was gone. It wasn’t until we were adults that we grew closer, when I developed the ability to use portals to transport myself and I would pop in and visit him more frequently.”
“Do your parents get along?”
Her mind flitted back to her past, and the times when thecordialrelationship her parents had seemed so normal. They weren’t lovers or even friends, they were just two people who happened to have kids together. It was sad, really. She couldn’t imagine ever letting a child of hers be anywhere she wasn’t.
“Yeah. There’s like no emotion between them. It’s like they just decided to have kids together and the act that brought Noah and I into the world had zero feelings.”
“That’s sad.”
“I was just thinking that.”
He unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over, kissing her sweetly. “You’re stuck with me, Kismet. I’m not interested in anything but what we have together, and I can’t fathom a parent not wantingalltheir kids with them.”
She looked into his eyes, the light brown depths highlighted with little streaks of gold that had nothing to do with his inner animal and everything to do with how sexy he was. “Our kids won’t have to worry about that.”
“Good. How many kids? Because I was thinkinglots.”
She chuckled. “We’ll quantify the term ‘lots’ later. But I’m right there with you wanting a big family.”
He got out of the truck and came around to her side, opening her door and taking her hand to help her out. She’d noticed that about him—he was very chivalrous, and she loved it.
“Hey,” Rich said from the front porch. “Noah and your mother just got here. They’re in the kitchen.”
She and Ren walked up to Rich and the two males shook hands. “Nice to see you, Doc.”
“Congratulations on your mating.”
They followed Rich into the house, through the living room that doubled as a patient waiting room, and all the way to the back of the house and the large kitchen. Noah, who shared Kismet’s dark hair and green eyes, stood and grinned.
She and her twin embraced, and the sweet feeling of being with her brother enveloped her. “I’m going to count this,” he whispered.
She laughed and pushed him away. “Not a chance.” She and Noah liked to keep score with favors for each other. Each time they helped each other out, they’d count it as a favor. But there was no way that she would let him claim coming for a visit to meet her mate as a favor to her. Family responsibilities weren’t favors, they were just done.
Her mother stood and hugged her. She smelled like chamomile and lavender, scents she’d always come to associate with her mother. Chamomile from the tea she favored, and lavender from the soap she used. Her mother’s styles had changed over the years, but her scents had not.