Twin Alphas: Desired (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (6 page)

“So, after the festival, I guess you all go back to your pack and do the whole Alpha’s Mate ceremony?” Karlie said. Her sister Amelia had done that the year before, after she’d been claimed. Karlie had been invited to the ceremony.

Mackenzie gave a fist pump. “Yes! More partying! Ooh, you could come. Vita and Karlie could come, couldn’t they?”

“Absolutely. We have guest cabins on the property,” Ajax said. “The Alpha’s Mate ceremony is a big ole party. That’s why we don’t plan too much for the month of June. Festival, claiming ceremony…week long hangover…”

“Will your family be coming?” Barron asked Mackenzie. “I know your mom passed away.  Is there anyone else? We never did get to talking about your family very much.”

“That’s because Barron’s such a pig he rushed you right into bed without any chit chat,” Ajax said, shoving four sausages into his mouth. “Me, I’m the sensitive, gentlemanly type,” he said as he chewed the sausages. He dodged Barron’s punch and grinned at him.

Mackenzie laughed. These guys would never bore her.

“My mom was my onl family. Dad skipped out when I was young. I was an only child; Mom could barely support the two of us on her waitress salary, and she never remarried. I always wanted siblings. Seriously, I can’t wait to have cubs,” Mackenzie said happily. “They’ll all have so many brothers and sisters they’ll never be lonely.”

She felt that flare of worry coming from Barron and Ajax again, more strongly this time. She glanced at them, frowning. “What?”

“What what?” Ajax looked puzzled. “I didn’t say anything. Other than that you look incredibly sexy this morning.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.  “You didn’t say that.”

He winked at her. “I was saying it with my eyes.”

She started to laugh, then forced herself to be serious. She wasn’t letting him bamboozle her with his charm…even if he was awfully damned charming. “No, really. When I talk about having cubs, you guys act weird. What’s up with that?”

Barron looked puzzled. “I’m not acting weird.  Am I?” He glanced at Karlie and Vita.

Vita shrugged, smiled, and ate more pancakes.

“I have not yet had enough coffee to form intelligent thought,” Karlie said. She took a big gulp of coffee from her mug. “Also, you’re werewolves. And wizards called Mages are walking around making doves burst out of bushes and flowers grow and your power source comes from Spellectricity. Everything in this universe is weird to me. I mean, not in a bad way, wonderfully weird. What were we talking about again? Jeez, I need some sleep.” She shot Vita a reproachful look. Vita, pouring syrup on her pancakes, didn’t notice.

Then she looked at Mackenzie. “What happened to your head?”

Mackenzie patted the red spot on her forehead. “Oh, I was using a curling iron and I burned my forehead. Seriously, speaking of lack of sleep, I am so clumsy this morning.  I tripped and banged my elbow coming out of the shower.  Then there was the curling iron thing. Then I dropped a mug of coffee and burned my foot.  After breakfast I should probably go take a nap before I hurt myself.”

Mackenzie saw the stricken looks on Ajax and Barron’s faces. “What?” she laughed. “I’m fine! Minor injuries! It is so cute that you’re worried about me.”

She grinned at Karlie.  “You seriously, really need to hook up with an Alpha pair.  I’m not even kidding.  See how protective they are? And sexy, and thoughtful.”

“I’m on Team Celibate for Life, thanks. But you enjoy.” Karlie finished her coffee and poured herself another cup.

“Hmm.” Mackenzie looked at Karlie thoughtfully.

“Don’t hmm me.” Karlie shook her head. “Now you’re looking at me just like my sister does when she wants to fix me up with someone.  It will not happen.  I have already had my heart sliced, diced, pureed, and handed back to me on a platter, thank you very much.”

“On a platter? After it was pureed? Wasn’t it kind of liquid-y at that point? Wouldn’t you need a cup? Ow.” Mackenzie winced. “Bit my tongue. It’s okay, really. Quit that! I am not a fragile glass vase!” she added to Ajax and Barron, who were looking at each other with alarm.

“Anyway, no fixing me up, no dates, no nothing,” Karlie said.

“Of course not,” Mackenzie said, not meaning it. She was already mentally compiling a list of guys she could fix Karlie up with. She wanted Karlie to feel the way that she was feeling this morning. And Vita. And everyone.

Everyone in the world deserved to be as happy as she was right now. Everyone deserved to wake up next to two incredibly sexy werewolves who loved them.  She was grinning like a fool, and she didn’t care. Karlie was getting matched, damn it. She would be matched, and she would like it.

              After breakfast, Mackenzie, Ajax and Barron headed back to their cabin. As they passed by one of the stages where bands would be playing later in the day, Mackenzie heard a creaking sound.

              “Look out!” Ajax shouted. He pushed her out of the way, and he and Barron jumped in front of her just as a piece of scaffolding fell. Barron blocked it with his body, and she heard a sickening crunch as the scaffolding came down.

              People came running over, shouting.  “We’re fine, we’re fine. Just a scratch,” Barron called out,  crawling out from under the scaffolding.  He was cradling a broken arm as he climbed to his feet. 

              She stared at Ajax and Barron, horrified.  Blood streamed from Barron’s arm. Ajax had a broken nose and it looked like his cheekbone had shattered.  His face rippled as the bones moved underneath the skin, resetting themselves.

              “Oh, dear God. Are you all right?” she cried.

              “Never better.” Ajax spit out a tooth. “Don’t worry. It’ll grow back within the hour. It’s all good.” He flashed her a bloody grin, and she clapped her hand to her mouth and tried not to pass out.

              A group of stagehands gathered around the scaffolding, staring at it in dismay. “I put that up myself, and I swear to God that was rock solid. There’s no way it should have fallen,” one of them said, scratching his head.

              Ajax and Barron exchanged glances. “We should get back to the cabin. Now,” Barron said.

* * *

              Barron cast a worried glance behind him.  Their injuries had healed, and Ajax and Mackenzie were inside the cabin.  Could anything happen to her while she was inside? Probably, but Ajax would literally be sticking by her side every minute.  As long as the roof didn’t fall in on her, she should be fine.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his aunt’s phone number. She answered after a few rings.

“Aunt Millicent.  Hello. Urgent question here.  Was our mother suddenly very accident prone after she bonded with our fathers?”

“What’s happened?” she demanded. “Tell me you didn’t bond with anyone.”

He winced. “I wish I could tell you that.”

“Barron! What were you thinking? You’re supposed to wait until we figure out how to lift the curse! You know the risks!”

“We…bonded with Mackenzie. The woman we told you about last year. Somebody drugged our beer, and we all ended up in the cabin together.”

“Somebody drugged your beer? Who?” Millicent’s voice was a squawk of alarm.

“Believe me, we’re trying to find that out. But this morning she’s been having all these minor accidents, and then a piece of scaffolding almost fell on her. So, what about our mother?”

There was a long pause. “Yes. Your mother became very accident prone after she bonded with your fathers. The thing is, she was always kind of clumsy before that, so we didn’t really think anything of it.  But she was in the hospital several times with injuries before she…”

She didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t have to.

Before she died.

Barron heard her stifling a sob on the other end of the line. Millicent still missed her sister, twenty six years later.  He’d never even had the chance to know his mother.

“We have got to get to the bottom of this,” he said urgently. “Mackenzie’s life depends on it.”

“Well, it all started with your fathers, so that’s where I wouldlook,” she said.  “I wasn’t that close to your mother at the time that she met and bonded with them, and I will always regret that. We’d just drifted apart.  Silly sister arguments, nothing which was worth fighting about, in hindsight.  Anyway,  I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years when she bonded with your fathers. Then she got pregnant with you right away of course, and she called me, and we were starting to reconnect. I came out to visit her one time when she’d slipped on the ice and broken her leg. She was maybe six months along at the time.”

“And you weren’t aware of my fathers or their pack having any problems with anybody at the time…”

“Barron,” she said patiently. “ You’ve asked me that many times.  Nobody that I know of.  But if you went back there, and asked around, people might know. You could go after the festival.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I know anything,” Barron said grimly, and hung up.

He couldn’t wait until after the festival. Mackenzie might not last that long.

“Curses are a thing? They’re real?” Karlie asked skeptically.  Barron had sent for her, and Vita had tagged along. Mackenzie was inside the cabin napping, and Ajax and Barron stood outside, keeping a watchful eye as if the cabin might burst into flames.

Ajax nodded. “They are very real,” he said.  Vita nodded too, vigorously.

              “So that’s…legal? You can just get a Mage to curse anyone that you want?” Karlie was appalled. “Like, if I lived in your world and wanted a promotion at work, all I would have to do is get someone to curse whoever else was up for the job?”

              “No. There are rules.” He shook his head.  “The person who’s been cursed must have committed a grievous sin against the person cursing them.  The Mage placing the curse must do a truth spell to ascertain who orders the curse is telling the truth, and they really have been wronged.  This curse shouldn’t carry over to the next generation, though, and as far as I can tell, it originated with my fathers. So it shouldn’t still be affecting us, but is. Not only that, but it’s only supposed to affect the person who is cursed.”

              “Well, then, if the curse is breaking the rules, can’t you get it lifted?”

              “Only the person who placed the curse can lift it. And we don’t know who did it,” Barron said. “We tried to talk to Cornelius about it – he’s in charge of all the Curse Mages. He refused to speak to us.”

              Vita’s forehead wrinkled in concern. “Even if you can find the person who placed the curse, they must have believed that there was a reason to place it, so why would they lift it?”

              Ajax scowled. “Because if they don’t, I’ll rip their god damned head off. Literally.” His fangs briefly descended and his ears went pointy and hairy.  Karlie had no doubt that he meant it.  

              Barron shook his head at him reprovingly. “We need to be able to prove that the curse was placed in bad faith, and then they will have no choice. If we could get that kind of proof, then even without Cornelius, we could go to the Council of Mages and force the person to lift the curse.”

              Karlie folded her arms, pacing back and forth. She thought about the family history that they’d just recounted. “Wouldn’t it make sense to go visit your fathers’ former pack mates and ask why somebody would have cursed your family? If they see you face to face, if they understand what the stakes are…”

              “They absolutely freak out whenever we contact them – the few that we can find. They refuse to talk about it or try to pretend they don’t know what happened,” Barron said.

              “If that’s the case your fathers must have been cursed because they did something dishonorable,” Vita said, looking puzzled. “Something that brought shame on the pack.”

              “That is my family that you’re talking about!” Ajax’s face went hairy and his jaw lengthened. His fangs shot out, and his voice dropped to a guttural growl. “There is nothing more important to a wolf’s pack than our honor. You will not disrespect those who are no longer alive to defend themselves.”

              “Hey! You’re not the only one who lost their parents.” Vita blinked back tears, stepping back and clutching at her sunflower necklace defensively.

              Barron grabbed Ajax by the arm and dragged him aside. “Get a grip on yourself.  Blowing up like this isn’t going to help anybody.”

              “She insulted my pack’s honor,” he growled.

              Karlie walked over, stood in front of him, and glared up at him. “Mackenzie’s life may depend on you being able to think clearly. What’s more important to you right now, having a temper tantrum, or figuring out why somebody would curse your family?”

              He took a deep breath, and the fur sank back into his face.

              “Now apologize to Vita,” Karlie said.

              “I am sorry I snapped at you.” He didn’t look particularly sorry.

              Barron turned to Karlie. “Here’s the reason that we called you here. You can get help me sneak  out of the festival.  There are Sentinels all around here so I can’t get off the festival grounds un-noticed , but you can lead me through to the other side, and then out of the festival area, and then back to my world.”