The Twin Alphas’ Fated Mate
Fate of the Forsaken Brother Chapter 3

~Kaden-

It's good to have Max home. Even though I'm still pissed, I did miss him. But man, he did get big. Like two feet taller and 60 pounds of just muscle. What the hell did they feed him over there?

"So, you guys stay out of trouble while I was gone?" Max asks us.

"Not at all. We made a mess for you to clean up." I say.

"As usual. I expect nothing less." Max smirks.

"He's bullshitting you. We stayed away from literally everyone except our parents."

"I know. My dads told me all about how they've been training you guys hard. I hear you've become quite ruthless when fighting in your wolf form, Devin." Max says. Devin's face goes red and he looks down.

"Tyson just doesn't know when to ease up in training. He thinks every fight is a fight to the death. He's a little dumb." Devin says before his eyes go glossy. "Tyson says he's not dumb, just too strong for his own good." Devin rolls his eyes. Max and I just laugh. Devin has been arguing with his wolf since he got his. Of course, Max wasn't around for that. He left before we all got our wolves.

"Hey, we've never seen your wolf. We were all 15 when you left. Wanna go for a run?" I suggest. Max smiles.

"Yes, please. I haven't let Rosco out in over a week." Max says, standing up.

"Rosco, huh? He sounds big." Devin says.

"He is. Better not try to fight him. You won't win." Max says, grinning at Devin.

"Oh, great. Tyson will take that as a challenge and will charge you immediately." I say.

"If that happens, just know it's all him, not me. He's the ruthless one." Devin says.

"I'll take him down and show him he can't take on the Alpha." Max says walking to the door. "Future Alpha. Get your head out of your a*s." I say. Max glares at me before smiling.

"I missed you guys. Seriously, there was way too much ego at that alpha training compound. You guys always keep me grounded, reminding me to not be like them."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to end up like them. It's for your own good, really." Devin shugs. Max opens the door and I immediately smell an amazing floral scent. It's so strong and getting closer.

"Do you smell that?" I ask the guys.

"Smell what?" Devin asks.

"Maxton, I couldn't find you. This packhouse is so big and your servants put me on a different floor than you." I hear a girl with a high-pitched voice say. Her voice is somehow sweet but also incredibly annoying.

"Jaclyn, I told you they're not servants. They're our omegas. Please don't call them that." Max says. This Jaclyn girl finally comes into view and Galahad goes nuts.

"Mate! Mate!"

"Mate." I breathe out quietly. What the hell? Who is this girl?

Jaclyn looks at me, shocked but she also looks a bit disgusted. Why is she looking at me like that? Max is looking between us and Devin turns pale, clearly uncomfortable.

"Uh, are you two mates?" Max asks.

"Yeah, I guess." I say, unsure of how Jaclyn feels right now.

"Great." Jaclyn says sarcastically, "Why are you with my Maxton?"

"Your Maxton? Are you guys dating?" I ask. Are you kidding me? I get mated with Max's girlfriend of all people?

"No, we're not-" Max starts, but Jaclyn cuts him off, grabbing his arm. A pang of jealously hits me seeing her touch him like that.

"Yes, we are dating. He brought me home to meet the family." Jaclyn says smugly. Max pulls away from her.

"Jaclyn, we are not dating. I told you that. My birthday isn't for a couple more weeks. I said if we were mates then we could date, but clearly, you're not my mate. You're Kaden's mate."

"This is Kaden? Your, like, uncle brother guy you told me about?" Jaclyn says with a look of disgust. "No thanks. I would rather be with you."

"Ouch." Devin mutters. Jaclyn turns to me with a serious face.

"I, Jaclyn Hibbert, reject you, Kaden Anderson, as my mate." Jaclyn says without a second thought. A piercing pain shoots through my chest, nearly knocking me backward. Devin catches me before I fall, steadying me.

"s**t, man. Are you okay?" Max says, coming to my side. I stand up straight, panting from the pain. I look at Max to see if he's happy about this, if he wanted her to reject me, but all I see is worry. I look at Jaclyn.

"I, Kaden Anderson, accept your rejection." I say. Jaclyn flinches a little but doesn't seem that affected by it. She takes a deep breath and turns back to Max.

"There. Now that that's been taken care of, there's no reason we can't be together." Jaclyn says. Is she serious? I look at Max and he looks shocked.

"Are you crazy? Why would I want to be with you? You were my brother's mate." Max says.

"He's your uncle." Jaclyn corrects him, rolling her eyes.

"He's my family. We were raised as brothers. Doesn't matter about the technicalities."

"I just rejected him for you." Jaclyn says, looking confused.

"I didn't ask you to do that. Besides, I'm looking for my mate, not some girl just looking for the Luna title." Max snaps back.

"Please," Jaclyn rolls her eyes again, "I like you because you're hot. The alpha title is just a bonus. I would've settled for another ranked member."

"Uh, you do realize Kaden is going to be Max's beta, right? That makes him a ranked member." Devin says. Jaclyn's eyes go wide.

"What? I didn't know that. Why didn't you say that, I wouldn't have rejected you." Jaclyn says with pleading eyes. How desperate does she think I am?

"Well, I guess it's better this way. I know what kind of person you are now. Definitely not someone I'd want to be with. Plus, your voice is really annoying." I say, shaking my head. I hear

Devin stifle a laugh and Max shakes his head.

"I think it's time for you to leave, Jaclyn. I arrange for you to be taken home." Max says.

"What? No, I want to stay." Jaclyn whines.

"You're no longer welcome in my pack. Beck, please escort her downstairs." Max says. I didn't even realize Beck and Gordon had shown up. When did he get here?

"I mind-linked them when things started to get heated. Just in case." Devin whispers. I nod. Beck takes Jaclyn's arm to lead her downstairs. She starts screaming at Max how selfish he is,

but Max isn't listening.

"Mom was right." Max mutters.

"What do you mean? What did she say?" I ask.

"She said Jaclyn's aura was off. She gave mom a bad vibe when we first got here." Max said.

"Who even is she?" Devin asks.

"She's the older sister of one of the guys I bunked with. He's only 15, so he hadn't been there for long, but she visited every weekend. We got along well and I liked her, but I had a feeling

she wasn't my mate." Max explains.

"So why'd you bring her here?" Devin asks.

"She said she felt a strong connection to me. That she was drawn to me. I thought maybe she could be my mate, but at the same time she could've been lying. Now I see she was." Max says. "I'm so sorry, Kaden. You don't deserve this."

"No, it's fine. She was clearly a horrible person. I don't want to be with someone like that." I

say. Even though it hurts, it's for the best. Jaclyn only looked at me with disgust from the second she laid eyes on me. And before she knew anything about me, she decided I wasn't good enough for me and prefered Max over me. She thought all that even with the mate bond

pulling us together.

"Well, how about that run?" Max says.

"That will have to wait." Gordon says. "You fathers would like to see you."

Max rolls his eyes and sighs. "Alright."

When we get to Elliot's office, Max walks in without knocking. Elliot looks up from his desk. Arthur is sitting on the couch off to the side with Mercury. Jack and Ethan are also in the room.

"We heard there was in issue that required Beck to escort your guest out of the packhouse. Mind telling us what happened?" Elliot says. I look down at the ground while Max tells my brothers what just happened. After Max finishes, Mercury stands up and comes over to me.

"Oh, Kaden. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I know exactly how this pain feels." Mercury says. This makes me confused and a bit annoyed.

"How would you know? You have two mates and they're both right here." I ask, a bit harsher

than I meant to. Both Arthur and Elliot stand up quickly.

"Don't disrespect your Luna, Kaden." Arthur says angrily.

"I'm sorry," I say but Mercury waves me off.

"Don't apologized." Mercury turns to Arthur, "That's enough out of you." Arthur looks taken aback when she says that. Mercury turns back to me. "I don't know how it feels to be rejected, but I do know how it feels to have your mate not want you. Arthur was very cold to me when we first met. He made sure I knew he never wanted a mate. And when he got angry at me for

not blindly trusting him, he slept with another woman."

My eyes go wide. I never knew this. I look at Arthur and he looks pale with guilt. "What the hell? You cheated on mom? I didn't know about that. How could you do that?" Max

says. He looks mad.

"This was a long time ago, before you were born. Before I had even marked your mother. And trust me, no one feels worse about it than I do. I begged her to forgive me." Arthur says. "And I did...eventually." Mercury says. "But the pain I felt when he was betraying me like that was excrusiating. It felt like someone was trying to rip my chest apart."

"Mom, that horrible." Max says.

"I'm sorry you went through that." I say.

"My point is, you will get through it. The pain will pass and you will move on to better things.

You can choose a mate now, or it's possible you have a second chance mate." Mercury says. I

hadn't even thought of that. But I don't know if I'd trust another mate. Maybe it'd be best if I just focus on becoming the beta.

"You boys are dismissed." Arthur says. We all turn around to leave and head outside. Today, no these past few days have been a complete shitshow. I just want things to go back to normal.