Twisted Souls (Edited) 3rd Edition

Chapter 5

The living room was abuzz with conversations, some loud, some whispered and conspiratorial. All on the same topic: the white wolf laying on the front porch, staring at the road. The conversations also seemed to pivot around the two siblings. Ian and Jazzy sat by the open door with their heads bent in frustration.

Ian placed his arm on the couch arm and sighed. The tousled hair of his waved with the little breeze the open door allowed in. "Have you . . ." –a pause of confusion– "did you know?"

Jazzy harrumphed, smacked her brother, and reclined backwards again. "You're an idiot if ya think I did!" How could she know? If someone was able to squash and shift her scent like Kaya into that of a human, who could tell?

Ray was lounging against his boyfriend, smacking on some chips and licking his fingers in delight. His boyfriend, Jermoni, bit the chip that Ray was lifting to his mouth. Their eyes met; Ramone's indignant. They shared a brief kiss before Ray said what was on his mind. "Ian, she said the white wolf killed her twin." That statement froze conversations around the room. Outside, everyone could hear a whimper.

"I've been thinking on that as well."

Jaz frowned, standing up and pushing her brother's shoulder. "Maybe she meant their first shift?" Another whine from outside had the trio standing up and walking outside. Coming up the drive was a beat-up pickup truck that housed two spirit animals. The smell was unfamiliar to Betsy, who sniffed and whined again, brushing her bushy tail against her mate's leg. Ian shifted closer to his mate's spirit animal, smiling since she was seeking his comfort. Ray smirked, leaning against the wall as Jermoni crashed through the screen door and stood in front of his boyfriend.

Once the car's engine withdrew its' rumble, two doors opened, and two people stepped out. Betsy's blue eyes narrowed in on her mate's look-a-like. The same tousled black hair, the same brown eyes, same tint to his skin; the nose was more curved and crooked than her mate's. He looked older, maybe by five, perhaps six years. As the man walked forth, a petite female with fiery red-blonde hair pulled up in a sloppy bun stepped next to him. The guy drew her in close with an arm flung over her shoulders. The woman snuggled, looking up at him with a dazzling smile that pronounced her dimples. She looked to have no mar at all on her body, save a small scar on the elbow not wrapped around the man's waist.

Now, the scars on the native's body weren't something she was ashamed of. They were a mark she bore as a survivor and as a fighter. The only one truthfully inflicted on her was the one following her spine. On her wrists were scars from being tied up for so long, and they only scarred because she fought against everything and broke anything they cuffed her with. Every other scar she got from each escape, and they were her pride and joy. Looking at this beauty before her, wrapped around a man that looked too similar to her mate to not be related, had Kaya uncertain about the scars for the first time in her life.

"Jazbel, still piercing your face?" Betsy looked away from the pair to look up at Jaz. The Chicana woman rolled her eyes and smiled.

"They match the pierce in my heart, Miguel."

The man, Miguel, frowned while his mate chuckled. "Leave her be, she's young. Let her experience life." Her voice was soft and dainty but full of a coarse emotion neither Kaya nor Betsy could discern. "What do you think of her, Kaya?" The spirit of Kaya, stuck within the form of Betsy, growled. She's too pure. I don't like her.

Miguel looked at the white wolf glaring at him and rose an eyebrow at his siblings. "Who is this?"

Ian stiffened, staring at his older brother. They were currently arguing with each other over something that made no sense, but Ian wasn't going to admit that. Neither was Miguel. After their parent's passed, Miguel took it upon himself to keep his siblings in line, and Ian looked up to him. Until Miguel found his mate. "She's not your concern."