Chapter 9

~Lincoln~

I step toward my mate, wanting to grab her and show her exactly how I feel about her. I want to

prove to her what I can really do, what I can make happen.

How could she tell us apart?

I have no idea, L, but I guess that's a good thing.

“How could you tell it was me and not Landon?” Tia seems surprised by my question. I know it

doesn't pertain to our discussion, but I'm curious.

“It's simple, really. Your scents give you away.” Landon and I look at each other, confused. Tia

chuckles. “Both of you have a strong peppermint scent. Lincoln, yours is mixed with grapefruit, while

Landon'’s is mixed with lemon.” Tia shrugs her shoulders as if the explanation is obvious, and maybe

itis to her.

“That's a weird combination, but it does't matter. We are here to get to know you and we want you

to get to know us. We have been waiting for you and we won't let you go. Linc is right, anyone who

doeesn't approve can leave the pack.” Tia looks over to Landon and back at me. Her stomach

grumbles loudly, causing my brother and me to laugh.

“Excuse me. I haven't eaten all day.” I take Tia by the hand and start to head to the door.

“Let's remedy that, shall we?” Tia tries to pull her hand from mine, and I grab on a bit tighter.

“You really don't have to do that. I have food here I can eat.” I turn to look at her, noticing my

brother right behind her.

Are we giving her a choice, L?

Nah, not at all. She will thank us later.”

I don't respond and continue to pull Tia with me to the door. I pull her outside while Landon pulls

up the rear. Once we get outside, Tia stops fighting me. I'm sure she realizes that she is simply

wasting her time and energy. I open the passenger door and place Tia inside. Landon gets in the

driver's seat, and I get in behind Landon.

“You know this is a human town. They won't exactly take kindly to seeing us out like this.” I chuckle.

"Don’t worry, beautiful,” Landon tells her. “I know exactly where we can go, and we won't have to

worry about anyone looking at us funny.” Tia doesn’t respond, instead looking out of the window. I

think it will take some work to get through to Tia, but I'm ready to put that work in.

We drive about 30 minutes before arriving at an out-of-the-way restaurant. It was established by a

werewolf family and set up away from humans so we could be free to be ourselves. Landon and I

had heard about this restaurant a while ago but never made the time to check it out. I can’t wait to

get to know our mate better.

~Landon~

We pull into the parking lot, and Lincoln helps Tia out of the car. She was pretty quiet on the way

here, making me wonder what she has been thinking about. I just hope that she can give us a

chance. I know things haven't been the best for her over the years, but I want to help make things

better for her.

We are seated in the back, in a half-circle booth. Lincoln made sure to ask for as much privacy as

possible. He already ordered as well, making sure to pick many different dishes, so we have a lot to

sample from. He didn't want us to have any interruptions. Tia sits between the two of us, and the

staff starts to set up the tables and plates that contain our food.

"So Tia,” I start once all staff has left the area. “Tell us about yourself. I hate to admit that we don't

know much about you. We weren't exactly running in the same circles growing up.” Tia looks

between the both of us and shrugs her shoulders.

“There isn't much to tell, honestly.”

"Don't do that, love. What about your training?” Tia looks at Lincoln with a shocked expression,

much like my own. I thought I was the only one who knew about Tia’s training. “Don’t look at me

like that, L. I have seen Tia train many times. Actually, I.....I've always had a bit of a crush on her.” Tia

scoffs.

“There is no way you had a crush on me.”

"Are you sure about that?” I sit back and watch their interaction with amusement.

~Tia~

Lincoln......had a crush....on me?! There is no way that can be real. Why would he have ever looked

at me twice, let alone actually liked me? It is mind-boggling, to say the least. I also can't believe that

they both know about my training. I always trained in private with Mark and Lynn. Dad said there

was no reason for him to teach me anything because I could never be good enough. I always

wanted to be a strong warrior regardless of what my dad thought, even though I knew that I

wouldn't be able to accomplish that while still in this pack.

Landon is sitting back, watching Lincoln and me. I wonder if he knew about this supposed crush

Lincoln says he had on me. I wonder if he plans to tell me he has felt the same at some point. HA!

Unbelievable!

“Did you or did you not wear a silver, strapless, floor-length gown to your senior prom along with a

diamond and sapphire tiara?” Ok, so he saw me prom night. That is really no big deal. I nod at

Lincoln. “And isn't it true that that said tiara randomly showed up at your doorstep the morning of

the prom?” Wait a minute. How the hell would he know that? I didn't know who had left that for me

at the time. I figured it was a gift from my mom, but when I thanked her for it, she had no idea what

I was talking about. She said she wish she had thought about it but wasn't the one who left the gift.

I look at Landon, and he has an eyebrow raised, clearly not knowing about this beforehand. I look at

Lincoln, and he has a smirk on his face. “You didn't....you couldn't have......there is no way....."

"Oh I did. I thought it would look amazing with your dress so I bought it and left it on your

doorstep. Truth be told, I was too nervous to give it to you outright, but I had to make sure you had

it.” I could feel a few tears build up in my eyes. I don't think anyone has ever done anything that

sweet for me in my entire life.

I close my eyes, willing the tears to go back where they came from. I feel sparks on my hands, and I

open my eyes to see Landon grabbing one hand and Lincoln having the other. I give them a small

smile and get one back from each of them. I clear my throat, feeling awkward and remove my hands

so I can try to eat. We fall into a comfortable silence, all of us enjoying our food.

"How did you two know about my training?” The brothers look at each other and look back at me.

“I didn’t know Linc knew about your training. I also didn’t know about the tiara or crush.” Lincoln

blushes a bit. “I stumbled across you training one day with Mark and I stopped to watch. You were

amazing.”

“I thought your dad had taught you all he knew, but when I asked Lynn, she told me that he

wouldn't teach you anything.”

“No, he has never bothered with me. It was always about my sisters. He said I was a mistake.” I hear

simultaneous growls, and I look down at my plate. I figure they would probably be mad at that, but I

refuse to keep the truth in. “Actually, the entire pack dotes on my sisters, so I wasn't surprised to

find out they would be named the Lunas. The pack already loves them, and that's important for that

position.”

"STOP!" Landon’s eyes are black as night, and his voice shakes the table. I turn to Lincoln, seeing he

looks almost the same as his brother. I gulp but say nothing else. Lincoln speaks first.

"We are very much aware of how the pack views the Colby daughters. I don't know how it came to

be that way, but their opinions mean nothing to us. We want our fated mate and if the pack has a

problem with that, they can leave.”

“Leave?!” I scoff. “Yeah, like you will be okay with an empty packhouse, with a pack of 1 or 2.”

"Yes, we will be okay with that,” Landon grabs my hands. “Having the woman who was made just for

us is way more important than running a pack. We would gladly give it all up if that means having a

happy life with you.” I can feel Andricia twirling around in my head at those words, and I truly want

to believe them. It's hard for me to fully give in because no one has ever wanted me for anything

before, yet now things are supposed to be different. Now I'm supposedly wanted by these two men,

these Alphas. It's hard to wrap my head around all of that.