Promised To The Alpha Twins
Chapter 4

With my heart still racing, I finished my shift that day and accompanied Aly to her house, not wanting her to see the place where I lived, let alone risk Dub sitting on the porch dressed only in his underwear, which was not unusual.

“Will you be okay?” Aly asked at her front door, a beautiful family home already emanating the pleasant smell of freshly baked blueberry pie.

“Yes, don’t worry, Aly. I’m just a few blocks away from my house.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Aly replied with a smile. “I mean, with all this twin business. I don’t know why they’ve decided to bother you so much.”

I swallowed and I think I blushed a little.

“I think they’ll get over it,” I said. “It must be just because I’m new and I accidentally bumped into one of them. Maybe by tomorrow, they will have already forgotten about my existence.”

Aly pursed her lips, not very convinced that would happen.

“Well, Sussan, I’ll accompany you to your house later, maybe tomorrow, after our shift at the restaurant.”

I nodded, and we said goodbye with a hug. It was nice to have found someone like Aly who made my existence more bearable, especially now that, as she said, the twins seemed determined to bother me. While I sometimes wished it would end because it could bring me problems with their girlfriends and ruin my intentions of going unnoticed at school, on the other hand, I didn’t want it to end because, despite them being annoying, I still felt very attracted to them and wanted them to be close to me, both of them.

With these thoughts in my head, the walk home felt shorter, and as I feared, Dub was sitting on the porch in his underwear, although he was also wearing a shirt. I knew there would be trouble as soon as his eyes saw me approaching, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lia’s car was not there.

“Are you already seeing a boyfriend?” Dub asked when I tried to pass by him without a single word or glance exchanged between us. I sighed.

“I just came from work,” I replied as I opened the door, hoping he wouldn’t get up, but I saw him do it, quickly, perhaps faster than usual.

“Wait, wait, where are you going? Why don’t you sit with me? Grab a beer from the fridge and join me.”

I was getting nervous. I didn’t say anything and tried to go, as quickly as decorum allowed, to my room, but then Dub stretched out his heavy, thick hand to grab mine.

“Don’t be shy, beautiful.”

Now I was truly scared.

“Let go of me!” I demanded as I tried to free my hand, but Dub was much stronger, about ninety times stronger than me.

“I’m inviting you to have a drink with me. You don’t have to be rude.”

His warm, alcohol-laden breath reached my face, further unsettling my fragile nerves. I looked into his glassy eyes, which roamed my body with a mix of morbid and eager gaze.

“I’m not going anywhere except my room,” I said. “Now let go of me or I’ll tell Lia.”

I was hoping that mentioning my mother would be enough for him to let go of me, but no, Dub seemed determined.

“Then invite me to your room, and we’ll have that beer there.”

I knew that if I didn’t manage to free myself from Dub in the next few seconds, he would drag me towards him and start crossing boundaries. I demanded that he let go of me once again.

He didn’t, and what I feared happened.

“Don’t be rude to me, I’m your stepfather.”

“You’re not, you’re nothing, let go of me!” I shouted.

I don’t know what he heard because I was so nervous and scared that I couldn’t see anything except for the door of my room, which I desperately wanted to reach. But he released me and, almost pushing me, as if my body had burned him, he headed towards the exit of the house. At first, I thought he had heard Lia’s car, but no, the silence was almost absolute. Knowing I was free, I walked towards my room, but then I heard it and couldn’t help but turn around. It was the same thing that had frightened Dub.

“A wolf?” he asked, not addressing anyone, as if merely asking the question would yield an answer.

I looked towards the slightly open front door, a result of my eagerness to reach the sanctuary of my room and Dub’s attempt to catch up with me. There, under the porch, I saw the same thing Dub’s eyes were fixed on. Yes, it was like a wolf, but I couldn’t believe it. What was a lone wolf doing at our doorstep? I would have easily believed it was a jackal, a coyote, or even a bear because in towns like this, surrounded by an immense forest, it wasn’t uncommon, or so I had heard. But a wolf? And not just any wolf, but a beautiful and enormous one. At the moment Dub stopped and I stood two steps behind him, with my eyes fixed on the extraordinary creature that was visiting us—and had saved me—the wolf turned around and left. I don’t know how much longer Dub and I stood there, staring at the entrance of the house, hypnotized by the image of that spectacular creature with fur so thick, shiny, and black that each strand seemed to be made of onyx. It truly was a creature more beautiful than terrifying, although the latter couldn’t be ruled out because of the former.

The headlights of Lia’s car snapped us out of our enchantment, and without wasting another second, I headed to my room, which I locked with two keys and placed a chair against the doorknob. As I checked the window lock, determined not to give Dub any chance, I thought I saw, among the overgrown bushes at the back of the house, the companion of the first wolf. Although I only caught a glimpse of it for two seconds, I had the impression that it wasn’t the same one from the entrance, although it bore a strong resemblance. But there was something different in its gait, and as crazy as it sounded, I associated wolves with twins.

“I’m crazy,” I thought immediately. “I have to get them out of my head, no matter what.”

But despite what I thought, I fell asleep with the absurd and strange fantasy that indeed, those two wolves had been Ethan and Liam, who had passed through my house transformed into those two beautiful creatures to protect me from Dub. Although it made no sense, right?