8. This isn’t my mate

Blake

As I came out of the bathroom with David, I saw that both my family and Raven’s had moved down into the crowd and were mingling amongst one another. I was happy to see everyone getting along, and that Emma and Raven looked a little less distraught, but I kept my eye on David. Floating around like a busy bee between different groups of people. Truly a chameleon.

“She’s so beautiful, congrats!” my cousin Rhea said to me as she shook Raven’s hand

“Thank you, you look stunning as well!” Rhea said and though Raven did seem to be doing better, she was still very stiff. In fact, I could almost smell the melancholy she’d been hiding beneath her precious smile she was putting on.

We continued on like that for a while, her hand in mine, but my mind wasn’t there. It was all over the place. I met aunts, uncles, cousins… but no mention of this other daughter of Leopold’s. Only the family talking up Raven and how amazing she is.

Then David nodded towards me, and I excused myself to go to the bathroom again, David making sure that no one was in there before he started talking.

“So, what did you find?” I asked.

“There is another sister,” David replied, and I nodded.

“Ah, so I did hear correctly,” I said. “And what about her?”

“Well, as I was passing through one of the little groups of aunties that were gathering around gossiping, I heard that Raven is a twin.”

“As in identical?” I asked.

“See for yourself,” David said as he pulled his phone out and handed it to me. “Identical.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said, feeling a bit heady. In the wooden framed photo he’d took a picture of, there were two girls, definitely twins. They were standing there with both Leopold and Emma at a younger age, and though they looked the same, I could see the differences as clear as day.

Raven’s more intense gaze matched her usual one, her clothes very conservative and still in the realm of Victorian couture. While the other girl in the photo had a softer smile and a more innocent, less aggressive look in her eyes…more laid back…. Much more like the girl I remembered that night from the party.

No…no that can’t be right, I thought to myself as I handed David back his phone. “Any idea why she was excluded?”

“None that I heard,” David said with a shrug. “It’s still strange.”

“Just a bit,” I agreed. “Especially since I heard them say she’s missing.”

“As in?” David asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“And Raven is still mum on it?” David asked.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Not a peep. Now she’s a pretty collected, but I can still tell something is bothering her.”

“We need to know what’s going on,” Davis insisted. “Leopold hasn’t exactly been exactly kind over the years. Who knows what this is.”

“It is fishy,” I agreed. “Keep your eyes peeled.”

“You too,” I said. “And make sure you out that right back where you found it before he stumbles upon it being missing.”

“Will do,” David replied as he ducked out the door, and as I made my way out as well, I nearly ran Raven over.

“Do you normally go to the bathroom with your beta?” Raven asked, her head cocked to the side.

“We just happened to run into one another,” I lied, though I immediately felt bad about it. In fact, when I looked into her eyes, I felt bad about doubting her or her family at all. She was so beautiful, and intelligent, a talented gardener and warrior- a perfect blend of tenacity and kindness— and yet the whole thing kept gnawing at my brain…

That was until she pressed her lips against mine, and my second head took over.

“Everyone is very preoccupied you know,” Raven whispered as she pushed me up against the wall, kissing me again.

“Really?” I asked.

“Mhmm, and this hallway has a staircase that goes the back way to my room,” she said as she winked at me, grabbing me by the arm and into the dark. “Want to ditch this thing and go up to my room, have a few drinks on the balcony?”

“S-sure,” I stammered as guided me up the stairs, and I was met with a well-lit hallway, a chandelier much like the glass ones I’d seen downstairs, lining the way. Finally, we’d stopped at one of the silver doored rooms, and she opened the door.

She walked over to a small bar by what looked like a wall to floor window covered by a thin, wispy curtain. But after she poured us a couple drinks, she pulled them back to reveal a gorgeous open-air balcony. One that overlooked her favorite place. The garden.

“I’m sorry about all that,” Raven said. “It’s been a rough day.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

“My father would kill me,” Raven said as she guided us out onto the balcony, leaning against the edge as she looked out to the garden.

“But I am your mate, am I not?” I asked.

“Of course you are darling,” Raven sighed. “My father is just… difficult.”

Raven looked up at the moon and then back out at the garden.

“My sister and I spent all day yesterday pruning and primping this garden,” Raven said. “It was a good day…”

“And then she left?” I asked.

“Mmhm,” she replied with a nod. “She promised me she’d be here…”

“Does she normally act like this?” I asked.

“No, no,” Raven said with a chuckle. “It all started with…” Raven trailed out and shook her head.

“With what?”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed my father’s kind of an asshole,” Raven replied with a chuckle, finishing her drink.

“Oh really? I didn’t, actually,” I joked, and she giggled as I finished my drink as well. Maybe it’s nothing, I said to myself. Maybe this twin thing is just some weird family nonsense that is none of my business.

“Another?” Raven asked, holding up her glass.

“I’d like that,” I said as she took my glass, refilled it and brought it back out. “Do you think she’ll be back?” I

“I’m sure she will”,” Raven said, the breeze rustling her perfectly coifed updo and causing it to frizz a little. “Tell find her and bring her back…”

“Well, I’m glad for that,” I said. “It seems to be heavy in your heart.”

“It is,” Raven replied with a bit of a frown. “I’m sorry if our engagement party was ruined over it.”

“No, absolutely not,” I insisted, taking her glass and placing it on the thick ledge, wrapping my arms around her waist.

“You promise?” Raven asked, as she’d wrapped her arms around my neck and looking into my eyes. Peering into my soul. My wolf starting to kick its feet. “I wanted tonight to be perfect.”

“You know, perfection is overrated,” I replied. “But it was beautiful and complex, just like you.”

She got on her toes and kissed me, her fingers ruffled through my hair, and before I knew it we were on her king sized four post canopy bed, and clothes began flying off.

“Shoot I can’t get this stupid down off.” Raven murmured in between kisses, and turned around, peering at me lust fully over her shoulder. “Unzip me?”

“Gladly,” I said, my staff at pull attention already as I unzipped the back and let the dress give way and drop to the floor as. But as it did, my eyes instinctively searched for that beautiful crescent birthmark she’d had the night we’d first met…and much to my horror, it wasn’t there.

It’s not her, I thought to myself, panicked. This is not the girl from the party at all.

This isn’t my mate.

Her sister is.