Our Fatal Failings (Twisted book two)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hey, this is Burntwitch. I hope to have this story all released within the next two months and immediately after start the release of a related series. That should run through the end of 2020 as I already have something new planned :)

Jonah’s POV

Lara moves in and meets her mate. The first meeting is tense and strange and reminds me of Imani and me at our first meeting. Lara is fighting it and her face is so red it looks like she’s running a marathon. Her mate is heads over heels in love. He makes every excuse to open a door, pull out a chair, get her a drink. 
 
I can only shake my head at the whole thing. She’s still young--this would’ve been her first year in college had she chosen to go. She’ll grow out of it I’m sure. 

She tugs the sleeves of her black sweater and attempts to put her glasses back on. I give her a glare and she takes them back off. Her mate assualts her with a flurry of questions. And when he’s not doing that, he follows me like a lost dog, asking questions, hoping to please. Despite how annoying Lara finds it, I don’t mind. He’s got passion and he’s loyal--good traits for an Alpha.

“Maybe you should explain to your dear brother in law what happened to your mate.” Her words drip with malice. I turn to glare at her, but her attention is away from me and on her fingernails.

“Now mate,” the Alpha Juvenis says, “your brother must mean well.”

“No, it’s an interesting story. Isn’t it Jonah? You should tell him.” The Alpha Juvenis looks torn. His mate desires something, he wants to fulfill it. But I’m the Alpha of Alphas. He doesn’t want to disrespect me either. “She ran away,” Lara says. “She didn't want to live this life so she ran away. Then he found her, brought her back and said she would be a queen. She resigned herself to it--she accepted him as her mate. But it was his over-ambitiousness that drove her away. She threw herself to a cause and now supports it with her whole entire heart. Personally, I think she was afraid of living in the shadow of our great and mighty king, the Alpha of Alphas.” 

The boy’s eyes are as wide as saucers. I toss her a mean look. “You don’t know what you’re saying Lara. Don’t speak about it.” 

“I think it’s very possible. It’s not like she hated you--no, the maids all told a different story. She was all over you. But your ambition dear brother, was what scared her off. You flew too near to the sun and she was scared. Your mate never wanted to be special. She was always so mind numbingly normal.” 

I almost leap at her, but before I can the Alpha Juvenis from California snaps at me, teeth bared. Immediately his face goes pale. He knows what he’s done--what he almost did. I draw back. He did it to protect his mate. I look at Lara. And she did this because she knew it would happen. “I know you’ve been hurt Lara, I know you’re suffering, but that was wicked. You knew what would happen if he so touched me.”

I look at the boy. He’s shaking now. He can’t be much older than eighteen. “You should go, we’re having a sibling spat. We’ll get this worked out.”

He nods, a shadow passing over his face. “Yeah, maybe this wasn’t the best time.”

He moves towards the door and Lara follows him. I almost want to grab her hand and ask what she’s doing but she moves past me and darts out of my reach. She grabs him by the hand and spins him around, pressing herself to him. Her voice is a lower whisper. “My mother’s mate died prematurely, my brother’s mate hides from him and made herself a traitor. Bad things happen to the mates in this family. Run away from here.”