GIVEN TO THE TWIN ALPHA KINGS - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Delaney
"Wait, wait." I pulled myself up from the bed, shaking my head.
"Are you accusing me of killing Lucy?" I asked, a chuckle of disbelief passing between my lips.
"Can you blame me?" Kai asked. I took in a deep breath, swallowing a string of curses.
"What Kai means is that Lucy died during her shift, right before your first run here, and that has never happened before," Ronan chimed in, his words sending a stabbing pain across my heart.
"You know what?" I lifted my hands in the air, taking another deep breath. "I barely had breakfast earlier or anything to eat yesterday at dinner, and right now I am starving."
I didn't wait for any more accusations as I excused myself, blinking back tears. I had been in the capital for barely 48 hours, and I was already being slapped with such allegations. How was I supposed to stay with them with their judgement already tabled out?
"Calm down, Delaney," I assured myself quietly in the hallway. Every atom in my body was telling me to go back in my room and give the alpha kings a piece of my mind. But I resisted, forcing myself to walk to the kitchen.
"You don't look so good," Maribel pointed out the moment I stepped inside the kitchen. It was better dealing with her at that moment than with the alpha kings.
"I am okay, just starving." I forced my lips to stretch into a smile.
"You don't have to fake a smile with me, Delaney," she assured. "Whatever you are avoiding must be serious for you to willingly prefer to come here, knowing that I really know who you really are," she added, observing me.
"Well, I need something to eat. It took me a while to realise I shouldn't have walked out during breakfast earlier." It wasn't entirely a lie. "Plus, I can't really avoid you forever." My stomach chose that time to rumble.
Maribel let out a hearty laugh, pointing at the fridge with the knife she was chopping green peppers with. "I knew you'd eventually come back for food. I'm sorry I dropped a bombshell on you earlier."
"Tell me more about the prophecy," I requested, opening the fridge. Maybe I could use it to distract myself from the alpha kings.
"Check the white container on the second shelf. I preserved the leftover pancakes there," she pointed out.
"The prophecy has been passed down from generation to generation," she began, putting down the knife on the large chopping board. I picked up three pancakes and wrapped them with a wet towel for heating in the microwave.
"How did you know that the prophecy was about me then?" I pressed, leaning on the counter. I was planning on having the pancakes with milk, just like my dad and I ate them.
"Simple, my dear," she said, looking at the door before adding. "You have no wolf."
"But you can't tell me that I am the only werewolf to ever exist without a wolf," I pressed, tilting my head as she walked over to me. She pulled a glass of milk from the fridge and poured a glass, then handed it to me.
"Wow, half full," I whispered. "Just the way I love it. Thank you." I eyed the glass, wondering whether she was also a mind reader. How did she know I preferred milk to tea, coffee or even juice and that it had to be half full? I thought, tapping my foot on the kitchen floor.
"I can't believe this," she muttered, taking a couple of steps away from me, her eyes widening a bit.
"What is it? Are you okay?" I approached her, but she spread her palm in the air, stopping me. I blinked, wondering what the hell was happening. One minute we were chatting about the prophecy, and the next she was distancing herself from me, as if she had figured out something I had no idea about.
"I wasn't sure it was you when I talked about the prophecy, and now..." She trailed off, staring into space.
"It is really you, my—"
"There you are. We thought you had escaped, or tried to," Ronan suddenly interrupted, coming into view at the kitchen door. Kai was right behind him, his eyes directed at me.
"I don't want to be anywhere close to you two," I clarified, the mere imagination of being labelled a murderer using magic making my hand tremble.
"So you were avoiding them," Maribel chuckled, her previous sudden behaviour dissipating as if I had imagined it. I really wanted to know what she was going to say before the twins interrupted. It seemed she was withholding information from me.
"What did you boys do to this beautiful young lady?" she asked, holding either side of her waist.
"Nothing, Gigi," Ronan mumbled, while Kai looked aside.
"So why did she come here, eyes all red? "Is there a reason why she was crying?" she pressed, looking alternatively at both of them. It felt good to see the alpha kings being questioned, and also being defended, which elicited a small smile from me. She was acting like the grandmother I never had, or at least how I pictured her to stand up for me.
"We had a minor misunderstanding," Alpha Kai shrugged.
"You better sort it out," she reprimanded.
"Can we talk to you?" Ronan asked after a few silent looks with Maribel.
"No!" My voice arose unintentionally as I rushed to where Maribel had left the chopped peppers.
"I am helping Maribel," I quickly said, picking up the knife and a green pepper from the board. I was rushing to ignore them; I didn't really check what I was doing until I cut my index finger.
"Are you okay?" Kai asked, while Maribel rushed to my side.
"I'm fine." I sidestepped her, my heart beat leaping under my ribcage. I pressed my hand to the bleeding cut, willing it to close, to scab over or anything. But it kept dripping, slow and obvious, like a damn countdown down to the revelation of my secret.
A normal werewolf was supposed to heal almost immediately after the small cut. If I stayed there, then the twins would no doubt find out that I had no wolf. So without thinking twice, I ran out of the kitchen, ignoring their calls.
I hoped neither of the two would question my sudden reaction.