~Adela~
That ugly b***h! I hate her; I hate her; I HATE HER! How dare she interfere in our lives like this? Why didn’t she just stay gone?
How could Lincoln or Landon even consider taking her as a mate? She is weak and useless; she always has been. Landon and
Lincoln belong with myself and Aida. We are stronger, smarter, and will make better Lunas. This pack knows us and will support
us over Portia any day.
I watch her drive off, contemplating going after her. I figure there would be no point. Soon, I’m sure, either she will do what daddy
said, or the boys will reject her for us. Either way, Aida and I will take our rightful spots as the Lunas of the Emerald Lake Pack. I
couldn’t believe it when Luna Kimberly told us that the twins had not only found their fated mate, but she believed that it was our
sister. Smelling her on them and her silence this morning was the confirmation needed. This must be some sick joke, but I’m not
laughing.
While training, I see Trent approach daddy. I assume he’s asking about Portia, but daddy already told us to deny seeing her. No
one needs to know about the conversation we had this morning. Trent asks Aida and me if we have seen Portia. We both deny
seeing her, and Trent leaves quickly after. Daddy nods at us, and we continue to train.
After training, Aida and I head home to shower and change. We are trying to figure out if we should head to the packhouse or
call the boys. I tried mind-linking Landon, but his block was up. He must be meeting with someone. Aida is trying to keep it
together, but I can tell this is taking a toll on her. The unknown can be worse than knowing.
The doorbell rings, and I jump up to answer the door. Much to my pleasant surprise, Lincoln and Landon are standing there. I
step back to let them in, and Aida quickly jumps up and onto Lincoln.
~Lincoln~
Landon and I decide to be honest. There is no good way to break this news, but it needs to be done. We can’t start fresh with Tia
if this hangs over our heads. It sucks to take a title away from someone, but what can we do? It would be worse to reject our
fated mate.
When we get to the Colby house, Aida jumps on me in her excitement. I know that Aida has been into me for some time now. I
almost didn’t want to start anything with her because her infatuation was too intense. She is a sweet girl but can be way too
much.
I hold Aida for a minute before carefully placing her on her feet. She pouts a little at the loss of contact, but I don’t give in. That
has been my problem with Aida; I tend to give in to her emotional outbursts way too often. That is kind of how we got started. I
felt bad about hurting her and she kind of sucked me in.
“Good morning, ladies. May we come in?” Aida grabs my hand and pulls me into the house. Adela wraps her arm around
Landon’s waist and walks with him inside. We sit on the couch, with Aida sitting on my lap and Adela wrapping her arm around
Landon’s.
This is going to be tough.
I know it is, brother. We either do this, or we reject Tia.
Landon, I won’t let Tia go.
“So…..care to tell us what happened yesterday?” Adela is always no-nonsense and straight to the point.
“It doesn’t matter ‘Dela. They are here now so we can just redo the ceremony a different day.” I roll my eyes internally.
“Aida, don’t be stupid.”
“Actually, Adela is right, and we should explain.” I look at Landon and give him a nod. He will better put the right words together
to break this news. He turns to Adela and looks her in the eyes.
“As you know, during the ceremony, we……Lincoln and I found our fated mate.” Neither Adela nor Aida speaks. I can see the
tears starting to gather in Aida’s eyes. I would usually wipe them away and try to appease her, but I can’t this time. “You two
know how long we have looked for her. We have trained all over with the hopes that we would come across her. We were as
shocked as everyone else when we stumbled upon her at our Alpha ceremony.”
“So, what does that mean?” Aida whispers, and it is clear that she is trying to keep her tears in. I turn to Aida and rub her back
gently.
“It….it means that we will be joining with her. We want to be with our fated mate.” Aida lets a sob free, and tears fall down her
face. I hate to see her this way, but I have to stay strong. I look over at Adela, and she looks pissed.
“Who is she?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, Landon. It matters! Who the f**k is she?” Landon sighs, and I decide to take this one.
“It’s your sister, Portia.” This causes Aida to break down completely. I hate seeing women upset, so this is starting to get to me.
Adela’s demeanor changes once I announce who our mate is. She looks a bit smug.
“There is no need to cry, Aida. They will realize that they are wasting their time with her. She is weak and useless. They will see
that, and they will be begging to come back to us.” Landon lets a growl rip through the room while I try to hold mine back.
“Do not speak of our mate that way.” I try to send calmness through the bond, so Landon doesn’t lose control of Goliath. Adela
throws her head back and laughs.
“Look how protective he is being of our sister,” she spits out. “It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. Mark my words, you will
be back. The question is, will we accept you?” Landon is pissed at this point. He jumps off of the couch and heads out of the
house, slamming the door open. I stand up to follow him.
“We are truly sorry. We never wanted to cause you two any pain. You will understand when you find your mates.” I turn and start
to walk toward the door when I feel something wrap around my leg.
“Stop! Just stop, Lincoln. Don’t you know how much I love you? How much I’ve always loved you? I need you, and you need me.
Let me show you.” I was afraid this would happen. Aida can be so clingy, and it isn’t the cute type of clingy. She never wants to
take no for an answer.
I lift Aida’s arms off of my leg and try to separate her from my body. This is sad and pathetic. This isn’t a surprise; I knew she
gets like this. “Aida, don’t do this to yourself. There is nothing left to say…….we are done.” I continue walking out the door,
listening to Aida’s cries as I go.