Page 1 of Twisted Mates

PROLOGUE

Ten Years Ago

Alexia

Fifteen Years Old

It is so beyond creepy down here, and I know that’s the last thing I need to be thinking about at a time like this. But I quite literally cannot focus on anything else but the way that mounted wolf skull on the damp gray stone wall is glaring down at me. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have any eyes, just two bottomless holes where its eyeballs would have been. It’s still staring at me, and I don’t like it. Not when it’s dark in here and I’m surrounded by the bones of the shifters who have gone before me.

Why do we have to bury our dead in the catacombs beneath the mountains? I mean, yeah, I guess it’s kind of cool that no one else besides our pack knows they’re down here, even with everyone who travels through the Blue Ridge Mountains every year. That means no one can ever disturb our loved ones who have passed on, so that’s a plus. But damn, it’s so cold and quietand I justknowthere’s cave crickets down here, and if one lands on me, I won’t be responsible for my?—

“Hey,”my best friend whispers insistently before elbowing me in the side and waving her hand in front of my face. “Earth to Alexia. Why are you staring at the wall?”

I shake my head, clearing my thoughts, and drag my eyes away from the skull to meet Carrington’s gaze. I grit my teeth and tamp down my irritation. It embarrasses me when she waves her hand in front of my face like that; it feels like she’s bringing it to everyone’s attention that I’m “zoned out.”

But I can’t get annoyed with her today. Of all days, I can’t let my emotions get the best of me. My best friend is going through the absolute worst time of her life right now, and the reason we’re in the catacombs isn’t to go on a ghost hunt.

Her mother, the queen of our pack, Olivia Braxton, died three days ago.

She’d been diagnosed with cancer two years ago, and it had been so painful to watch Carrington and her twin brother, my other closest friend, Malakai, lose the woman who had raised them to be the strong, independent, beautiful souls they are.

So yeah, needless to say, today’s not the day for my pet peeve to come bubbling to the surface. Good thing I love my best friend more than life itself.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about how creepy it is down here,” I admit.

She shivers. “Yeah, it is. I can’t wait to get out of here and get back home. I’ve had enough of everyone.” My eyebrows dip and she tilts her head to the side. “Present company excluded of course. You should come back home with us. We can watch movies and gorge on ice cream. I got your favorite.”

I crack a smile. “Rocky road?”

“Of course, what else?”

“But won’t Clayton want y’all to have some privacy tonight?” I ask, glancing over at her father, who is obviously still reeling over the loss of his wife, shaking the hands of the Shifter Assembly elders as we prepare to file out of the catacombs. Thank the goddess.

Carrington shakes her head. “He just goes up to his office and looks through old photo albums or works on his computer. He doesn’t want to be around anyone right now. Kai and I are getting lonely.”

“That’s fair.” A thought that’s been dancing through my head all day—between musings over the creepy wolf skull on the wall and how sad I am about Olivia—sneaks back in. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she says as we follow the rest of the pack out of the catacombs, the sunlight getting closer as we step around flat stones and stray branches in the pathway.

“Where’s Xander?”

Xander is Carrington and Kai’s half-brother, Olivia’s son from her first marriage. Jack was her mate and king of our pack, but he died in a tragic accident a long time ago, leaving Olivia devastated. But a few years after, Olivia married Clayton, the twins came along, and Xander was no longer an only child.

I’ve been glancing around, wondering why on earth he isn’t here. At twenty-seven, he’s twelve years older than us, so it’s not like he’s a friend, but we were at least friendly. And I know he adored his mother. Even when he left home, he always made time for her. They kept in touch, and she was planning lunch dates with him all the time.

How is it possible he didn’t come to her funeral and interment?

Carrington slides a strand of hair that’s broken free of her slick bun behind her ear. “I don’t know. I thought he would be here, but... no one has heard from him.”

“No one has heard from him? Since when? Does he even know she passed away?”

“Yes. Dad called and told him as soon as it happened.”

“And he just... didn’t come?” I whisper, horrified at the idea of just not coming to my mother’s funeral. Granted, I understand that no-contact is a thing in some families. But when you have a good relationship, like Xander had with his mother... to justnot show up? It’s unforgivable.

She nods and bats away a tear before it slides down her face and ruins her impeccable makeup. “He never liked being in the house with all of us. We got to see him, but only on his terms.”

“I’m sorry, Care.”

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