NOAH
I’m not too ‘macho’ to pretend that I didn’t freak out as soon as I heard that my twin could be in danger. It was common knowledge that he was the most sceptical out of our little five-way; he had always been the jealous sort.
I shifted and sprinted out of the house towards the treehouse as soon as I got the message from Ava and Callum. I knew he wasn’t home with me, and that was the place that he would go if he wanted to be alone.
Fortunately, he was there when I got there.
“Theo, what’s going on, man?” I asked, voice low, calm.
“I can’t do this, Noah,” he replied, his voice full of pain. “I can’t share her.”
My heart broke for both Theo and Ava as he spoke. She had four fated mates, she’d never feel complete without Theo, and he’d never feel complete without her. “Theo… we can talk about this later, I promise, but for now, I need to get you to safety.”
He looked up at me, eyes wide. “Why am I not safe?”
I paused for a moment, wondering how honest I should be. I sighed. Honesty was the only option. He’s my twin, he’d know I was lying.
“Theo… I’m not saying this to sway your decision, I promise that, okay?” I waited for him to nod before continuing.”It’s because you’re holding back. Without all four of us, Ava is weak. Those who would hurt Ava somehow know that you’re holding back from her and have identified that you’re… you’re the weak link.”
I watched as my twin’s eyes fell closed, but not fast enough to cover the heartbreak and sorrow in his eyes. “Theo, I promise we will talk this through later, but for now, I need to get you to the packhouse, okay?”
He nodded.
“Thank you. I need you physically safe before we can worry about anything else.”
We both shifted, running in the direction of the packhouse.
“Ava, I’ve got him,” I called through the mindlink.
“Thank fuck,” she replied. “Is he okay?”
“Physically, yes… mentally, no.”
He definitely wasn’t in the headspace to be committing to her.
She sighed, and I could even feel her own heartbreak through the link. “Okay. Get him safe. You’re his twin, let me know what he needs to make this right for him, whichever way that ends up going.”
My heart stopped as she spoke. She’d let him go?
“Ava, are you saying you’ll let Theo go?”
Her heartbreak flooded through the link before she got control over her emotions and shoved that down. “If that’s what he needs, then I’ll let him go.” She paused, and I could imagine the look in her eyes as she spoke. “It’d kill me to do it, but I’m not going to force him to be with me if he’s not going to be happy. His happiness is more important than a stupid prophecy.”
“Ava… I hope it doesn’t come to that, I know you won’t be truly happy without all four of us. Once he’s safe, I’ll talk to him, I promise.”
“Thank you, Noah. That’s all I can ask.”
She closed the link, but not before I felt her starting to break down.
This was awful. On one hand, I have my twin. On the other, I have the love of my life, my goddess-given mate, who happens to be my twin’s mate too… and right now, neither of them are happy.
Once we got back to the pack house, Theo and I made a beeline for the bar. He needed to relax, and I needed a couple drinks to work out what the hell I was going to do about the broken hearts on either side of me.
“Ava, I’ve just got Theo back to the packhouse,” I said through the mindlink. She didn’t reply. That was strange?
“Callum, are you with Ava?”
No reply. What the hell?
Third time’s a charm… “Oscar?”
“What’s up, Noah?” Even through the mindlink, he sounded tired.
“I can’t get hold of Ava or Callum, are they with you?”
“They’re in interrogation, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to let Ava know that I got Theo back safe.”
“Ahh, thanks Noah! I’ll let Ava know once they’re done. How is he doing?”
“He’s struggling with the concept of sharing her.”
Oscar sighed. “I did for a while too, want me to talk to him?”
I didn’t know that. Oscar had always seemed so committed to Ava.
“If you can… we’re at the bar if you want to join us.”
“Of course, see you soon. Order me a beer, would you?” he replied before closing the link.
Oscar joined us at the bar in no time at all, gratefully nodding when I passed him a beer.
“How are you doing, Theo?” Oscar asked, voice low, considerate.
The two met each other’s eyes, both full of pain. “I don’t know, Oscar. I don’t know how you all do it.”
“Theo… is there something specific that concerns you or that you aren’t comfortable with?”
I watched Theo’s face as he was deep in thought. “I don’t really know, I’ll be honest. There’s just something I don’t like somewhere.”
Oscar nodded, taking another mouthful of beer. “I’ll be honest, Theo, I felt like that in the beginning. I have never been so jealous of anyone as I was of Callum when he got to be with Ava first. I think I felt disposable because she’s not just my mate.” He paused for another mouthful. “The way I see it now is yes, I share my goddess-given mate with my brother and our two closest friends, but we all bring something different to the table; she needs all of us, none of us are disposable to her. All four of us are our own unique individuals that tick a different box for Ava.”
What Oscar was saying actually made a lot of sense, even Theo looked deep in thought.
“At the end of the day, Theo, you don’t have to jump into or agree to everything just because one of us wants it. It doesn’t have to be all five of us in a bed every night, we don’t all have to do everything together. We can all have one-on-one time with Ava, or we could pair off, whatever we want. The key is we talk about it.”
“You and I have shared girls before, Theo. There’s no reason why, when it comes to physical stuff anyway, you can’t either just have Ava on your own, or with me. You don’t have to be in the same bed as Oscar and Callum if you’re not comfortable, Ava won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“So what do I do?” Theo’s voice was small. “I want her, goddess, do I want her. I don’t want to let her go.”
“Maybe have an evening with just the two of you, Theo. Go for dinner. Have a picnic under the stars. Something like that,” Oscar suggested.
“A picnic under the stars would be good…” Theo mused, before suddenly snapping out of his thoughts to look at me. “Aren’t you meant to be marking her tonight?”
“That was the plan,” I replied, my voice careful. I didn’t want to force that, I needed my brother to be okay too. “Mine doesn’t have to be tonight, Theo. I can wait a day if you want to have your date with her tonight.”
He shook his head. “Keep your plans for tonight. It gives me a chance to plan something for tomorrow night. Oscar…” Theo cut himself off, like he was unsure.
Oscar smiled at Theo.
“Yes, I’ll help you.”