CHAP 5:What do you mean mates?

Alisha

It was getting quite cold and the kids were ready to call it a day. It had been fun. The kids had splashed her endlessly and she had returned the favour as well. They were throughly wet and bone tired. It had been a good day to come to the lake and Alisha was happy that she was able to spend it with the little cubs. Alisha knew that this would be one of the last times she would spend with the cubs as the graduated to the big kids' school next month

Suddenly she heard someone approaching. Alisha looked around for something to cover her revealing swimsuit There was no way she could walk out of the lake without them noticing how much of her skin was exposed in that swimsuit. Alisha's ears burned thinking what would happen if someone saw her wearing this. She cursed the fact that she had chosen this suit to wear."As if I had many more choices of swimsuits!" she replied angrily to her own predicament

"By the goddess, why now? Why couldn't these strangers come half an hour later? I could have been properly dressed by then" she growled with displeasure.

She heard one of them say something about the three of them being in the water too long. She thought he said "water crazy" but she couldn't be sure.

Without another thought, Alisha allowed herself to sink underwater. Maybe there was another way ... another way out of this lake! She looked around frantically for the elusive other way but could not find any. There was no other way she could get out of this lake without making a spectacle of herself. She realised that sooner or later, she was going to have to get out and walk in front of the two strangers to get to her mat beside the lake. She heard murmurings from the surface of the water."What were Alex and Alia doing talking to these strangers?" Alisha wondered as she started struggling to breathe. Suddenly she saw Alia's feet moving towards the edge where the strangers were standing. Alex's feet also started moving forward...

Oh no...

The kids were going towards them."What if they were murderers?

What if the strangers took the children and ran off with them? What was she gonna tell Gamma Nicholas?" so many thoughts sailed into her head as she tried to hold her breath underwater

She was not going to allow anything to happen to those kids...

She stood up in the waist-high water and saw Alia and Alex getting towelled down by two strange wolves. She knew the men were wolves.No human had ever been seen so far inside the woods.

She heard Alex and Alia call out to her. Alex's voice was muffled by the large sandwich which he had unceremoniously stuffed into his mouth"Oh no! They are kidnapping Alex and Alia!" she thought. Why weren't they moving from their place by the lake? What did they want from her?" she thought becoming more frantic by the second. There was no way, in all of the Moon Goddess's glory, she was going to let them take the kids. That was NOT going to happen on her watch!!

She emerged from the water ready to fight the men. She called out to the kids to warn them.

How could Alex and Alia leave her and follow those men? What happened to "stranger danger!!" She knew that the cubs knew how to behave with strangers as she had just taught them that topic this week during class.

"Where do you think you are going, Alex??" "Come back here now Alia!!" she shouted while trying to appear confident and strong lest the strangers saw her shivering in fear.

"No one can take the kids away from her! She would die to protect them. In fact, they would have to pry the cubs from her dead fists before she would allow the kids to be taken away." she vowed silently as she emerged from the lake ready to tech these two men a lesson about take kids who belonged to her

Just as the last syllable left her lips, Alisha took a deep breath and she got a whiff of the most delicious smells.

She felt like she had opened the door to a bakery selling cinnamon buns dipped in caramel. Those were her favourite. She greedily inhaled again, swaying forward, unable to keep herself away but with the next whiff, she also got another combination of deliciousness. This time Alisha got a nose full of mint and fresh rain. She couldn't believe her nose!! Her two most favourite smells in the world emanating from the visions of handsomeness in front of her.

She looked up into the sky and whispered a hasty prayer."Oh, my glorious moon goddess! Who were those two god-like visions of maleness? Could one of them be my mate?" she wondered. Alisha took in another gulp of air savouring the sweet smells that were tickling her nose. She didn't understand why she was smelling two distinct smells so she took in another breath for good measure and looked toward the shore again. Her nipples pushed out pebbling on the surface of the swimsuit. Her stomach clenching with anticipation.Her wolf, Heera, pushing against Alisha to be let out so that she could go to them and play.

"Mate! Your mine" said Markian gruffly while he took a step toward her reaching the edge of the water.

"Mate! She's mine" growled Mitchell also taking a step towards Alisha who was slowly walking out of the lake in a daze.

Alisha heard the one word that made Heera jump with joy. Her heart began to thump hard and she began to blush as she realised that both of them were looking at her with hunger in their eyes." What in the world ??" she thought...."Two mates!! How can I have two mates? Is that even possible?"

Alisha looked bewilderedly at both the men in front of her. Both looking at her like she was a bowl of food and they were starving wolves! They were huge men! Two of them! Both looking good enough for her to bite into as well. Was that possible? Was it some trick? Was she being Punk'd? Was Ashton Kutchner going to jump out from the bushes and tell her that it wasn't real! Tell her what she was feeling in her heart wasn't real?! What she was smelling was a figment of her imagination? She didn't know what to think. Her heart wrenching not wanting to hope but already worrying about how she was going to process this new development in her life

Markian and Mitchell looked towards each other. They could see the look of confusion on Alisha's face. At the same time, both of them realised the glaring fact. She was THEIR mate....the both of them. They suddenly grinned and turned towards Alisha.

"We are twins. We share everything ....and it looks like we are sharing you" said the one that smelt of caramel and cinnamon.

"This is going to be a very interesting mating process but I think I am up for it," said the one that smelt of rain and mint

"Are you out of your minds? What do you mean you're sharing me?? I am not a sandwich that you can split into two!! How did this happen?"Alisha cried in confusion. She didn't understand how the Moon Goddess could be so cruel as to play such a trick on her. What was she going to do? Who would she choose? Heera whined in denial. Choose one! Heera wanted both of them. There was no choice here! Impossible!

Mitchell saw the confusion in Alisha's eyes turn into sadness and regret. He ached to walk up to her and smoothen that cute wrinkle between her eyebrows. He already felt his heart enlarging with love for this beautiful creature. He didn't care if it was the mate bond that was making him feel this wave of protectiveness toward the female wolf. He just knew that his mate was feeling sad and he needed to do something about it. He wondered why was Alisha looking at Markian and him with regret." What was she thinking?" he wondered. Suddenly a stray horrible thought jumped into his head."Was she thinking of rejecting one of us!!??" he nearly shouted in dismay

He looked towards Markian and asked "She's not thinking what I think she's thinking, is she? I mean she couldn't be thinking of rejecting us?" through their mind link.

Damon, Markian's wolf whined in shock."No way!! She must realise that we are both her mates and it is unacceptable to make a choice between us. It is impossible!!" Markian whispered urgently, mind linking his twin uneasily

"Little mate...don't do anything hasty now. Come out of the water and let us talk to you!" said Caramel. Alisha still didn't know what their names were. She just knew that one smelt like caramel so she was going to refer to him as Caramel and the other was Mint, and for the same obvious reason, she was going to call him Mint. At this point of time, will so many thoughts whirling in her head at the same time, Alisha forgot that all she had to do was ask them their names

They were both equally intoxicating and this was making her even more distressed as she couldn't decide who she was supposed to reject and who she was going to accept as her mate. How she wished for Marissa, Alex's and Alia's mother, to be here. At least she would have been able to help Alisha decide which one was going to end up her mate and which one wouldn't be."Why had she not asked Marissa to come along for the swim she"she sniffed in contrition as a stray tear decided to trail down her cheek

Caramel looked like he was going to rush into the lake and carry Alisha out of the lake. She raised her hand to stop him from coming in. Alisha knew that she couldn't make a decision if she was touching one of them. Even the thought of touching both of them started a wild fluttering in her stomach

"Wait there! I am coming out. Please! Please don't come to me. I know I will not be able to think clearly if the both of you come close to me" pleaded Alisha beginning to tear more out of her beautiful aquamarine eyes...

Alisha walked out of the lake cautiously. She could hear both men let out deep breaths as they saw her get out of the lake. She walked towards the mat that she had placed on the ground a few hours ago. Emerging from the lake like a goddess drenched in golden rays of the sun, the water droplets sliding off her skin like tiny diamonds. Markian heard a moan emanating from Mitchell's direction as he witnessed this exquisite creature walking towards both of them. Markian suddenly imagining licking the droplets of water one by one of this mate's soft skin. He shifted again uncomfortably as he realised even his body was reacting to her nearness and his brain, well....this brain of his, had taken all of the sensations he was feeling one step further and was already starting to imagine her writhing under him in abandon as he kissed her to oblivion. He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts, however sexy those thoughts were. Markian was still unsure if this vision in front of him was going to reject his, or his twin brother's butt out of her life and that thought scared him. The thought scared him so much that his brain and body stopped their perverted thought at once.

Alisha folded her arms across her chest as she reached the water edge. She didn't realise that by crossing her arms in front of her chest, her nipples were pushed onto the material covering her breasts and it made her state of undress more apparent to the two alpha wolves standing in front of her. Markian and Mitchell's mind linked each other again asking themselves if she was an angel sent down by the Moon Goddess as a reward for all the good they had supposedly done in their lives.

Alisha heard another moan coming from her mate who she referred to as Mint. Thoughts of the two wolves being kidnappers flying out of her head as fast as they came in. These two gorgeous men were her mates. Heera, her wolf kept leaping for joy "Mates! Mates! Go to mates" shouted the she-wolf looking in the direction of her mates.

"Are you alright? Did you injure yourself just now while trying to come into the lake? Are you in pain?"Alisha asked worriedly as she didn't understand why he was moaning. Alisha didn't see him stumble or wince in pain but she already felt her protective instinct for this wolf flare-up in her chest. All she wanted to do was hold him close and make sure he was safe and cared for. She didn't exactly understand the feelings that were welling up in her heart but she knew that she didn't like the thought of her mate being injured

She turned towards Mint and put her hand on his chest. She felt a tingling sensation on the tips of the fingers that were touching his chest. It was like an electric shock passing through her body. She pulled back in surprise as she hadn't expected to be affected so much by a single touch. She felt the shudder race through her fingers and settle into a low throb at the apex of her thighs.

As she turned towards the one mate who she had named Mint, the other who she called Caramel came to stand behind her. He suddenly took a quick breath and hissed "What in the Goddess's name are you wearing?" His breath hitched as he strangled out the question

Alisha forgot about the revealing nature of her swimsuit. She jumped back to see Caramel's eyes change colour. She thought that the colour of his eyes was blue but now they were black. She had heard the married women of Moongaze whisper that it meant that their wolf was trying to get control...The women whispered that it was exciting when some men let their wolves out. It happen sometimes when the men were unable to control their feelings of anger or of passion towards another wolf. Some women laughed when she had asked them about those feelings. They said that she will understand when she found her mate. Alisha wanted to ask more questions as she didn't understand but she didn't want to appear disrespectful so she had left it at that. She hoped that she would be able to ask her mate if ever she met him about these feelings.

At the time of the conversation, she hadn't been interested in finding her mate anytime soon. She didn't tell anyone in Moongazer pack that she had a more serious mission. A mission to avenge the death of her parents. She wished she had asked them more about it though, as now, standing in front of her mate, she didn't know what was going on and she didn't think she was brave enough to ask the wolf in front of her.

Caramel's eyes were black as the night's sky. Alisha looked down at his clenched fists and his rigid stance. She didn't understand why Caramel suddenly looks so distressed. Alisha felt a strange need to go nearer to him so she hesitantly took a step towards Caramel and rested her hand on his chest. Again Alisha gasped as she felt the same tingling sensation crawl up her fingers from where she was touching him on his chest."What's happening to me?" she wondered as the strange yet exciting sensations coursed through her veins.

Alisha's stomach clenched in excitement. All that she wanted to do was take one more step forward and lay her head on Caramel's chest to hear his heartbeat. She couldn't understand why she was feeling the way she was  but she could nog stop herself.He felt so good!!Her hand clenched over the hair on his chest. The stiff hairs tickled her palms and she felt her knees become weak.