To protect what’s mine Chapter 67

The water soaks our fur within seconds as we enter the stream. It’s cold, but oh so refreshing. Beren has the fleeting thought to roll in the water to feel it all over her fur. She refuses to do so on the grounds that our mates are still glaring at us. We want to keep some of our dignity as we walk away. Splashing through the water, she takes off in a slow jog.

Water clings to our fur, we are going to smell like a wet dog when we get to Uncle Mike’s. Rose will wrinkle her cute little nose and make a comment. Cal and Mark… I don’t know what they are going to do. They are going to be pissed at me.

Great, it’s like my fourth day actually awake enough to talk with them, and I pissed them off. Beren and I work together to cut off their emotions, blocking them from us. We don’t want to feel their anger at us. Now we feel guilty. Great, this just keeps getting worse.

Beren turns to look back towards the twins. They are gone. I don’t know if I should feel gratitude that they respected my wishes or upset that they just left me without a fight. Beren flops down in the stream. It’s not deep enough that we drown ourselves as we lay in the flow of water.

‘Did we mess up?’ I as quietly as we watch a leaf float by.

‘No, we held our ground. Our mates have to trust us,’ she sighs in defeat. She replays our argument.

‘We lashed out in anger and fear,’ I mumble. Now that I’m not running high on adrenaline and anger, I feel hallow and empty. I start to feel numb and it’s not from the cold water. ‘Would they miss us if we just breathed in the water? All our pain and suffering could be over. A few deep breaths and then no more.’

‘That is the coward's way,’ she tells me. Beren does not snap in anger or annoyance, meaning on some level she understands and has contemplated suicide.

Goddess, I never asked for any of this. I wanted to be normal. I want Beren to experience the best this life has to offer. Instead, she was locked up for years and now has two overprotective mates.

‘You ever think of giving up?’ I ask her off handedly.

‘A few times. But I think of you and of Rose. I knew that our mates were out there and would find us,’ she sighs. I can hear the tiredness in her voice.

“Little one,” Zviad says softly as he creeps into the water, barely making a splash.

Beren perks up at the sound of our mates.

“We are so sorry, Precious one,” Aziz says as he nudges his head against ours.

Beren lets out a purr as she butts her head against him. That is all the invitation the twins need. They both flop down in the stream beside us. Water splashes in every direction, causing us to soak our back. Our combined body’s block off most of the stream, but some water flows past us on either side. With the twins on either side, our small body is lost in the sea of black fur. We are dwarfed and hidden from view by our mates.

“No, I am sorry. You were concerned about us, and you have every right to be concerned for us. We should not have lashed out at you,” she apologizes to them. I know the twins can feel our pain as we are no longer blocking them. We want them to know how sorry we are.

“You are so strong, little one,” Zviad tells us. “We are terrified of losing you both. You were taken from us before we were able to protect you.”

“If you were taken from us again, I do not know if we would survive,” Aziz finishes. He nuzzles against us.

“You do not have to worry about us,” Beren tries to assure them.

“We will always worry about you, you are our mate,” Aziz chuffs at us.

“And no matter what, we will always love you,” Zviad as he nuzzles us.

Beren starts to purr. We can feel the twins and their wolves’ amusement at us. But we are happy and content for the moment. “Can we run now?” Beren asks after a few relaxing moments.

“Little one,” Zviad sighs.

“Watch,” Beren huffs and she successfully rolls her eyes. Feeling no remorse, she wiggles out from between the twins and goes to the bank of the river. She then rolls in the mud. We are sad that our beautiful white fur is now caked in mud, but our fur is no longer a blinding white. “See!” she says proudly as she shows off her brown fur. Beren starts to wag her tails in excitement.

“Fine, but you stay next to one of us the whole entire time,” Aziz concedes.

Beren lets out a yip before she takes off through the trees. We hear our mates running to catch up. The twins let us lead the run through the forest.

It is exhilarating running with our mates. With small nods and probes they are able to redirect us as needed. We will need to figure out the mind link soon. It would come in handy to talk with the twins as we run. But for now, we make it work.

Beren sees another fallen log in the path. She gains more speed and jumps the log with ease. Once on the other side of the log, she slows down to watch the twins. Each one sails over the fallen log with grace. We are in aw as we watch them land. They slow and come trotting up.

“Like what you see, Precious one?” Aziz asks in a teasing tone.

She scoffs and turns around. Beren smacks Aziz in the face with her tails.

“Careful Little one,” Zviad purrs as he leaves his brother behind. He walks along side Beren.

“Or what?” Beren asks coyly. She then takes off again through the woods.