MEETING

Skye was dreading what was to come. She wasn’t expecting these kinds of turn of events on top of her sister’s unexpected pregnancy. She tried to slow her pace as she held her twin’s hand as their mother lead them to a huge house in the heart of the forest.

The double doors opened and their mother was greeted by an elder man, a family butler if Skye was guessing correctly. Their family of four was then led to a dining hall, where five people were already seating. Skye’s eyes instantly met with a pair of the darkest eyes she had ever seen in her life before she was drawn back to the owner of those eyes.

Alpha Hakan.

Her sister’s supposed to be husband.

She let her twin lead her to her seat as her mind reeled on how they got there in the first place.

The prior night before the meeting

As Skye had promised, their family had settled the matter during dinner, the very same night.

Thankfully enough, their parents seemed to have heeded her warning and no shouting or any kind of name-calling happened at the dinner table. It seems that what they needed was time for the news to sink in because when everyone sat down at the dinner table, peace finally prevailed in the Vailant household.

Skye held her sister’s hand as the elder repeated the story she had heard earlier that day.

“I don’t know what happened really. The memory of that time was still a bit unclear to me up to this day. But, I did remember that my friends I and were going to a party, hosted by one of our classmates as a celebration of our last days in our second year.

“I was the one in charge of driving all of my friends back home since I said I wasn’t in the mood to drink too many. I was just chatting with other people, sometimes playing some games. I swore I only drink one cup, a beer if I remember clearly. And, I have drunk that same beer before, I have never been drunk by it nor did a single cup affect me.

“But, but that night everything was different. I could barely hear my friends over the loud music as we danced and barely felt it when I fell back onto someone, as I barely took hold of my consciousness. I felt it when I was carried by a stranger, I felt it as the body took me somewhere. I tried my best to resist, I really did but I lost consciousness.

“Then, the next thing I knew, I woke up in a bed, without all of my clothes and no trace of who that man was. Then, a couple of weeks later, I kept on getting sick, even during classes and then I found out I was pregnant, and already in my seven weeks.”

The twins watched as their mother sobbed into their father’s arms, as Skye stayed seated with a blank look on her face, staring at her parents void of any emotions. But, underneath the table, her hand was clutching her twin’s as she tried her best to conceal her raging emotions, for the sake of supporting her elder sister.

Sky-blue eyes watched as their parents stood up from their seats and made their way over to her twin, pulling her into their arms, as their mother whispered her apologies to Zella. She watched as her elder twin froze in their arms for a couple of seconds before eventually melting in them, crying her heart out as she also apologized to her parents.

The younger twin stayed in her seat, not bothering to join the three as she continued to eat her food. She had her own demons to battle. No matter how proud of her twin she was for finally admitting the truth, her unexpected pregnancy brought up several matters that now concern Skye’s own future. She kept eating, whilst her inner turmoil continued to battle against each other.

It was Zella who first noticed that something was wrong once she had calmed herself down, pushing away from her parents, her ocean blue searched for her twin, only seeing her far-off look. Now that she had her own problems sorted out, it was now time to face address the elephant in the room.

Zella took her seat, watching as their parents did the same before she sought out her twin’s hand underneath the table once more. Her hand froze mid-clutch when she felt her twin’s hand tremble yet her face was void of any emotions. The elder twin tried to bring Skye out of her daze by tugging on her hand, but the younger kept being unresponsive.

Skye kept eating, although robotically, and was only putting up a façade that she was. Not that action would escape her twin’s knowing eyes. Zella did her best to catch her twin’s attention but Skye was either deliberately or unknowingly ignoring her until she finished the food on her plate.

“Alpha Hakan.” The name left Zella’s mouth before she could even stop herself, and she watched as her twin flinched at the name, snapping herself out of her train of thought. Their parents stopped eating when the name was brought up, realization finally dawning in their minds about what the matter was.

“The agreement between Zella and the Alpha…will it continue?” Skye’s voice was barely a faint whisper but it echoed throughout the entire room.

The two eldest in the room didn’t know what to reply,  they too didn’t know what the answer was. Zella watched as their father turned his attention to their mother, giving her a questioning look that the elder woman just gave a small shrug.

“I will contact the Alpha’s family and discuss the matter with them. But, if the cooperation does continue on, the agreement might be passed on to you, Skye.”  Skye could feel the moment her whole world shattered. As her fork fell from her hands and into the wooden floorboards, her mother’s words continued echoing in her mind.

This was not what was supposed to happen.

Her twin was the one who was supposed to marry the Alpha.

While she was able to travel the world under her brother-in-law’s protection.

She was not supposed to be the one marrying him.

“I need the both of you to be ready by tomorrow morning. We will be meeting with the Alpha Hakan’s family.