Page 18 of Spark (Damselverse #2)

Chapter eighteen

Zara

I t’s time I told the guys about my past. So, I have gathered everyone in the living room.

Now I sit twiddling my thumbs on the couch as I wonder where the hell to begin. I’m aware they have some inkling about my past.

Zavier had even hinted at it—right before he scooped me up in his arms and knotted me after a particular bad spike.

How they found out doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that they hear it from my lips.

Xavier lounges beside me casually, one arm propped up on the back of the couch as he keeps close.

At first, I wasn’t sure where I stood with the Alpha, but now he seldom leaves my side. As if I were a ticking time bomb that's about to explode at any second.

Nolan keeps close too, yet he sits on the chair on my left as he watches me eagerly.

Dacre paces back and forth.

The former has been tense ever since I came down and made my announcement. He also hasn’t looked my way once, fretting and biting his thumbnail as a low growl vibrates in his chest.

Xavier and Nolan throw him arched looks, as if telling him to cool it.

“Well, what did you want to say, Ruby?” Nolan asks.

I suck in a breath, meeting the glint in his violet irises. “For one… my name isn't Ruby.”

Dacre stops pacing, and for the first time today, his amber eyes look my way. Xavier tenses, but I glance at Nolan. He nods for me to go.

“My real name is actually… Z-Zara…”

A deafening silence befalls the three Alphas. Someone revs their car engine outside, and then a dog barks in a distant yard.

It's Nolan who speaks first. “Well… It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zara.” Nolan extends a hand, and, bewildered, I take it and shake.

Xavier scoffs, removing his arm from the back of the couch behind me. My heart freezes.

Then he stands, then says, “Zara?”

I close my eyes. “That’s me.”

The Alpha stills for a few moments, and I'm afraid to meet his eyes. I don’t want to find that same indifference that I found inside his cold gaze, like the day when I first arrived.

It turns out he had every right not to trust me, after all.

But then he sighs, reaching down and dragging me up to my feet. He presses my head to his hard chest and purrs.

My eyes pop, and I look Nolan’s way. He gives the thumbs up.

It seems I am still in Xavier’s good graces.

Now the three of us look at Dacre. He’s gone back to pacing, and what is with him? He’s been acting really odd since I came down.

And judging by the expressions on his pack brothers' faces, they’re none the wiser as to why he is so hot and bothered, either.

Nolan coughs pointedly, and the Alpha stops, eyes wide as he finds us all watching him. “Oh… Sorry, Ruby … Zara …”

A huge weight lifts from my shoulders. I have their blessing. They’re not mad at me after all, but… there’s more…

Way more they need to know.

“And… I wasn’t exactly unspoken for when I first arrived here, too.”

My gaze finds Xavier’s automatically. After all, I’m still not sure why he has the same face as the Wolf, but the most obvious answer… They are brothers. Twins.

And if they have different accents, then they must be estranged twin brothers, having grown up on two opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Perhaps Xavier doesn’t even know that the Wolf exists. But I doubt it. He is quite the notorious Alpha.

“What's his name?” Xavier asks, and he knows…

I can see it in his eyes, and also… he asked for one name. Not a group or a pack's name, but one person. One Alpha.

“His name is… Wolf. The Wolf. Some call him The Big Bad Wolf.”

Once again, every Alpha is as still as a statue. The silence is only broken by Dacre’s low growl as he paces like a maniac again.

Nolan tosses him a pointed look before his eyes settle on me. “We already know, Zara.”

I close my eyes. “How?”

Nolan sighs, placing his hand inside his pocket. He hands me the pin, and once again, the Wolf’s seal snarls back up at me.

“I found this at the sight of the fire just after I found the mother cat. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”

My eyes widen, and then I drop down onto the couch. Now I chew my lip, white knuckling the edge of the couch seat beside me.

“I’m not his Omega. Despite all the facts that state otherwise. I am not his Omega, I refuse to go back.”

Xavier scoffs. “Obviously… Do you think we’re going to give you up just like that, love?

I meet his eyes, smiling tightly. “He’s your brother, isn’t he? Your… twin.”

Xavier grins, gesturing his large hands at his chiselled visage. “What gave it away?”

Despite how tense I am, a nervous laugh escapes me. Then I twiddle my thumbs again, an anxious gesture I have assumed lately.

Xavier plonks his butt back down on the couch again, throwing his arm behind me. “We were separated at birth. I was adopted by a nice family in the North of England, while he…”

He doesn’t finish, but he doesn’t have to go on. I know of the Wolf's childhood. Abused by his adoptive father, a father who used to lock him away in a cage when he misbehaved.

The same way he used to punish me when I did something he didn’t like. It's no excuse for him growing up to become an evil piece of shit, though.

“Well, I guess we all know now why you fainted when you first laid eyes on me. Honestly, love… I thought you were just so swooned by me.”

Another course laughs escape me, and I reach across, gripping his hand. “Well, you are more handsome than he is, anyway.”

Whether it’s because he has a good soul, who knows, but I do find Xavier more pleasing on the eye.

I never once found the Wolf attractive.

Xavier speaks, “He’s the reason why I came to the States. While I may not have found one brother… I did find two others.”

He gestures toward Nolan and Dacre. Nolan smiles, throwing a pillow at Xavier. “I never knew you were so sentimental, X.”

Xavier grips the pillow in his fist, tossing it back at Nolan. “Don’t push it, N.”

Nolan barks a laugh and now they two go back and forth, winding the other up, and I could get used to this.

Real comradery.

Unfortunately, Dacre doesn't join in the teasing as he returns to pacing.

Whatever is up with him, I am bound to find out soon.

But for now, I will rejoice in whatever peace and happiness I can find.

Heaven knows it's been in short supply in my life.