Chapter 9: Revelations

Try as she might, Nora could not deny the way her body her reacted to Dante. The thought of him alone gave her chills. His voice was enough to inspire her lust for him. Whenever her memory drifted to their encounters, a familiar ache bloomed between her thighs.

"Damn, in the library?" Kai laughed. They sat in a small cafe in Downtown Starling. Spring break was upon them, and the school was closed for two weeks. "That's hot. How far did you get?"

"Not far enough," Nora muttered.

"YAS!" Kai cheered. "I knew that beneath that witchy bookworm exterior beat the heart of a true hoe !"

"Stop!" Nora blushed, throwing her napkin at him. "It's no secret that we want to take things… further, but he is engaged. I can't keep seeing him."

"Psssh." Kai dismissed her concern. "It's a damn marriage of convenience. I bet Leah has her own little side piece."

"I don't want to be anyone's 'side piece.' I want…" Nora's blush deepened and she looked away.

"Nora," Kai gasped. "You're in love with him. Aren't you? Admit it!"

"I… I'm not sure. I don't want to say if I am or not until I can find out about what that mate bond means for someone that isn't a werewolf. I want to be sure my feelings are mine, and not being dictated to me by destiny, or whatever."

"Well, you can't do any research. School's closed for the week. You'll be okay while I'm gone, won't you?" Kai reached over and took his best friend's hand. Nora smiled at the gesture. Kai and his parents were going on a trip to visit his maternal grandparents.

"I'll be fine. I know this trip is important. I'm just going to stay home. Maybe I'll pop into Raven's Hollow and see my parents. And the full moon is a few days. I'll be able to restore the book."

"Be careful. I have bad feeling about all this."

"You're the one who told me to stop hiding from who I am. I'm a witch. It's time I started acting like one." Her smile was devious as she levitated his drink from the table.

"You've been practicing!" Kai clapped.

"Here and there," she giggled. "I'll be a pro by the time you get back."

"We'll see. But all jokes aside… this thing with Dante. It's all hot and sexy now. But do you think he has any actual feelings for you?" Kai's warm eyes were sad.

"I'm not sure. I know that the mate thing tells him he does, but I still don't know what it means. So much about the history and culture about witches and werewolves has been erased. I found plenty on vampires and humans, though."

"Hmm, that's interesting," Kai mused. "I'd say that the lack of information on something is just as telling."

"I thought the same thing. Well, you should go. Your mom hates it when you're late," Nora chided.

"Right." They stood from their table and hugged each other goodbye.

When she got home, Nora decided it would be a good time to go over what she was able to find. Kai was definitely right. The fact that she couldn't find much about wolves or witches made her alarm bells ring. Someone didn't want people to know certain things. 'Why?' she wondered. The more she learned, the more suspicious everything seemed to feel.

She began to use her Magic more and more and found that most spells came naturally to her. Her bloodline must have been stronger than she thought. As she practiced, she started to realize that she just knew things. The names of plants and flowers, and their uses, would just come to her via scent. Potion brewing appealed to her bookish nature. The intricacies of herbs and measurements fascinated her, and she found it to be her favorite use of Magic.

Her living room was littered with empty bottles, various sachets of herbs, and books open to all different potion recipes when she heard a knock at the door.

She froze. She wasn't expecting anyone, and Kai wasn't due home for another week.

'Maybe if I don't answer, they'll go away,' she thought. But then an errant thought ran through her mind and excited her. 'What if it's Dante?'

"Hello?" voices said when she took too long. "We know you're in there. We can smell you."

"We?" Nora repeated. Realization struck her and she dashed to the door. Ruby and Jade Silver stood outside her door. They wore shawls over their heads, and each sported a pair of large sunglasses. "Um, hi." Nora said. "Come in, I guess? Sorry about the mess."

"Thank you," they said. Nora cleared a space for them on the couch and sat across from them. The Silver Twins in their apartment? Kai would die if he wasn't already half undead.

The Silver Twins, as they were known, were gorgeous. Tall, curvy, long-legged beauties with perfectly curled long brown were sitting on her dirty couch. They were identical with the only thing distinguishing one from the other were their eyes. Ruby's were a deep red, almost purple color while Jade's were a lush green. Their every movement was in sync. It looked like choreography.

Nora had found a legend about werewolf twins. It was said that werewolf twins were a split soul. One soul in two bodies. If something happened to one, it would greatly affect the other. There were even some stories that mentioned a set of twins having the same mate. 'Ew. Messy,' Nora had thought. Looking at Ruby and Jade now, she could believe it. They were the same person.

"So, how can I help you? I assume this isn't a social visit," Nora said. "Is this about Dante claiming me as his mate?"

"Has he marked you yet?" they gasped.

"Marked?" Nora narrowed her eyes at them. Just then, an idea struck her. She wanted information about werewolves, and here were two of them right in front of her. "No, he hasn't. To be honest, he hasn’t explained what any of this means. I don't know what happens when you're someone's mate."

"Of course." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"He's probably too busy thinking about other things," Jade added.

"Please, no details," they interjected. "He is our brother."

"Right." Nora blushed. "Could you two possibly explain what is going on?"

The twins took a deep breath.

"Okay," Ruby began. "A werewolf's mate is chosen for them by the Moon Goddess herself. They are that wolf's perfect other half."

"The Goddess is never wrong," Jade added. "A mate is a part of your soul. You find your mate through scent after turning eighteen. Then once you find them, instinct takes over. Our wolf becomes desperately insatiable for them."

"Wolf?" Nora asked.

"The wolf half of our spirit," Ruby clarified. "The mate is perfect for both the human soul and the wolf soul."

"The mate bond is sealed when the mated pair mark each other. That way, you'll always be able to find each other and can mind-link as well," Jade said.

"But, I don't have a wolf soul. I'm a witch." Nora let her head fall into her hands. "This is so confusing."

"Werewolves have mated humans in the past," Ruby said. They squirmed in their seat.

"But never witches," they said. "Not that we know of."

"But the Moon Goddess is never wrong," Nora repeated.

"Right!" they said. The twins reached and each grabbed one of Nora's hands.

"The reason we came to see you is," Ruby said.

"We need you not to reject Dante," Jade concluded. "Being rejected by a mate can be fatal, and we aren't sure that he would survive it."

"Rejection?" Nora stared at them with wide eyes. "Fatal?"

"Listen, we know that he's engaged and you're a witch and there are a million other things that will probably keep you apart," Jade pleaded with her eyes. "But you can't reject him. We can't lose our brother."

"I don't want to reject him. But I don't know if my feelings are real or not."

"We know who you are, Nora," Ruby smiled. "You're the girl he met at the dance years ago."

"He told you about that?"

"He sure did. After getting home that night, he was acting like a love-sick pup. He said you were the most beautiful girl he'd ever known. It was love at first sight for him," Jade said.

"We know it was for you too," Ruby added. "We know a little bit about witches. We did some digging when Dante told us you were one."

"He told you about that too?" Nora yelped.

"We're really close," they said. "He tells us everything."

"Witches don't mate but can be chosen as mates. The Moon Goddess chose you for our brother." Jade stood and hugged Nora.

"But he's going to marry Leah."

"Stupid bitch," Ruby spat. A low growl rumbled from Jade's throat.

"I want to be with him, I do. But I can't be the other woman," Nora said.

"That's the point! Technically, Leah is the other woman. You are his. You were always supposed to be his," Ruby squealed.

"His." Nora loved the way that sounded. She wanted to be his in every possible way. "I like how that sounds."

"You do love him," the twins sighed, leaning against each other.

"I…" Nora hesitated. Did she love him? "I don't know. I feel something for him. Whether or not I can call it love yet, I'm not sure."

"Nora," Ruby began. Before she could finish, Jade's phone rang. The twins looked at each other, a touch of panic in their eyes.

"We have to go. But please, count on us for anything. We're here for you. Sister." The twins stood and embraced Nora. She was surprised by their affection; it felt that it was genuine. They left her apartment, and Nora was left alone with nothing but her thoughts.