Jacota stared at his reflection in the mirror. A twenty-three-year-old man stared back. His skin had tanned from years of spending all his time in the summer's sun. He always enjoyed to be outdoors, and the wolf within him preferred to spend his time in the garden. He ran a hand down his arm, feeling at peace with his own body, enjoying the reflection looking back at him. He never thought it would be possible to love himself, to like what he saw. One thing Jacota wished he could say to his younger self: he's stronger than he thinks. He has always been stronger than the person he believed he could be.

Hunter stalked into the room with a moody frown, like someone had trod on his foot or insulted his favourite TV show. He felt Jacota's eyes follow him, but he didn't give him the satisfaction of connecting their gaze.

"Did Sam eat all of your pancakes again?" Jacota asked, raising a brow when he got a blunt grunt as a response. Before Hunter could shove the toothbrush into his mouth, Jacota took it from his grip. "Let's talk."

"About?"

"Your mood. You've been really grumpy ever since the vampire world entered ours. I thought after last night, you might be a bit happier."

Hunter rubbed his eyes with a sigh. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well because of last night. Seeing Nana again... I didn't want to sleep in case it was just a dream, or I'd forget her face by the morning."

Jacota turned his mate towards the mirror, holding his arms and resting their cheeks together. "I know you feel more at peace now. What else is bothering you?"

Hunter watched himself, surprised by his own gloomy scowl. "You already know what's up. Why do you bother asking?"

"I want to hear it from you. We've been together for so long Hunter. Sometimes I wonder if you forget how to express your emotions to me."

"Or sometimes I don't bother because you always know how I feel."

Jacota sighed and handed back his toothbrush.

"Anyway," Hunter continued, "are you coming for a run with the pack?"

"Excuse me, don't try to change the subject." Jacota's voice was drowned out by the sound of the running water. "Fine. If you're not gonna tell me how you feel, then I'll tell you how you feel. You're scared. Having an entrance to the vampire world has made this war feel a lot more real."

Hunter stopped with the toothbrush in his mouth. "The war is breathing down our necks, and I don't feel ready for it. I'm not prepared to say goodbye to people I love, not knowing if the next time I'll see them they'll be dead. Nobody is safe, and that's why I'm scared."

"Oh, Hunter." Jacota waited until he finished. The concern leaked through his brown eyes as it always did, open and raw. "We can't think like that. You're supposed to be the strong-minded one here," he smiled, squeezing his shoulder.

"It seems like that's not the case today. I see you got over the God's arrival quickly."

"I'm their leader. It's time I started acting like it. I'm sick of being walked all over." Jacota could hear William telling him that people take advantage of his kindness. "I know what we can do today to take your mind off things."

"What?" Hunter mumbled, running his finger along Jacota's arm until reaching his hand.

"Hunt down the white wolf."

* * * * *

Sam entered the kitchen, almost tripping over William's walking stick in his quest to kissing him. "Good morning soulmate," he beamed, blushing from almost face-planting the floor tiles. "You're up early."

"So are you," William grinned, leaning closer to steal another kiss.

"Hunter stood by the bedroom door, throwing things at me until I got annoyed." Sam took a sip of William's coffee and cringed at the reminder of him enjoying a lot of sugar and milk. "He said we have something important to do today."

"Are you going into the Vampire world? Can I come?"

"Of course you can." Sam caught Anthony's gaze who smiled and quickly looked away. Sam noticed his sunken eyes and wondered what was bothering him.

"We're not going into the vamp world," Hunter said, pulling on Sam's shoulder.

"Hold on! I haven't had breakfast yet-"

"We're going on a mission," Hunter continued like Sam hadn't said anything, "to find the Alpha wolf who reported horrible things about Jay to the other Gods. You're coming with us. I need my Beta wolf."

"Hold on," Margo said quickly. She looked just as tired as her husband. "We need to talk to you and Sam-"

"Later mum, we-"

"It's important." Margo's stare was drilling holes into Hunter's eyes and her mouth twitched, the way it did when she was holding back emotion. "Please. It's really important." She held a small shoebox in her hands.

Hunter and Sam looked at each other, wondering if they were in trouble. It has been a while since they were tolled off by Margo, but it usually involved the boys breaking something from being too boisterous.

"Whatever it is, I can guarantee it was Hunter's fault."

Hunter clenched his jaw with amused eyes. "If this is about that weird statue in the corridor, it fell by itself-"

"You broke my statue?" Margo asked with a sudden frown.

"...No." Hunter scratched the back of his head, then noticed his dad. Anthony stood with a face made out of marble, still and serious. He could sense the tension around him and the humour was sucked out of Hunter's eyes, replaced with the same worry he felt upstairs. "Is Nana and Granddad okay?"

"They're fine, and they're on their way here now." Even Anthony's voice sounded different. "Look, we should talk in private."

Jacota and William watched them move towards the living room looking as confused as their mates.

Anthony pulled out a small bronze key and locked the door once everyone was inside the room.

"What are you doing?" Hunter asked, matching his father's 'no laughing matter' expression.

"I need to make sure you're not going to run. What we're about to say might make you want to do that, but we need to stay and talk as a family."

"Um, a-are you sure I'm supposed to be in here if it's family issues? Should I get Jay-"

"Sit down boys." Margo could no longer bear to look Sam in the eyes.

"Has someone died?" Hunter looked a little pale. His heart thumped in his chest as he watched his parents sit on the small wooden table, expecting him and Sam to sit in front of them.

"No." Anthony's hands trembled. He linked his fingers to keep them steady, but Margo was already fighting back her tears. He swallowed thickly, feeling his throat dry and sore from discussing what he would say to his children to himself in the mirror. "Before anything is said, we don't expect forgiveness."

There was a stale silence in the small room. It usually felt cosy and comfortable. Now it felt too hot and too quiet. The walls felt like they were closing in on the werewolves.

Hunter sank into the couch while Sam pulled a cushion to his chest.

"I don't know where to start," Margo whispered. A tear slipped down her cheek. She seemed too beside herself to wipe it away. Her lip quivered almost as much as her mate's hands.

"What have you done?" Hunter asked with a small voice, not sure if he wanted an answer.

"We-" Anthony sighed. Even when he rehearsed his speech in the mirror, the words choked in his throat. "We, first of all, want you both to know how awful we feel to have kept this a secret. We had no right to keep this from you both for so long."

Sam kept looking from Hunter to Anthony, feeling very out of place to be involved in something so personal.

"Just say it," Margo mumbled sadly. "We can explain later when they're over the shock."

Hunter tensed when his dad opened his mouth. He knew that whatever he was going to hear would be life-changing. His parents never acted like this. And whatever it was that they had to say, Sam was heavily involved otherwise he wouldn't be sitting next to him, feeling just as nervous as he tugged on the frayed side of the cushion.

"You're-" Anthony gripped the table, staring somewhere behind the boys and took a breath for his overworked heart. "You're here because- because-"

"You're twins!" Margo blurted out, fed up of her husbands stuttering, fed up of feeling like her heart would crash out of her rib cage, fed up of trying to imagine how the boys would react and wanted to see it for herself.

Hunter and Sam frowned and opened their mouths to speak at the same time, but no words came out. The longer they stared, the more they realised that it wasn't a joke and the relief on Anthony and Margo's face's spoke a thousand words.

"What do you mean by twins?" Sam asked with a humourless snort and ringing ears, not daring to look in Hunter's direction.

"You're our son." Margo couldn't stop her tears. "I gave birth to you both. You're brothers." She searched Sam's eyes, picking out the different shades of blue, but they looked like stones, hard and blank compared to their usual mist of emotions.

"I don't believe you." Sam heard the bitter tone in his voice. "I don't- I don't-" he ran a hand through his hair, his eyes forming a layer of his own tears. "I don't understand. Why would you say something like that?"

"It's true." Anthony looked down at his hands. His knuckles turned white as he continued to squeeze the table's edge. "We're your parents, your real parents."

"I'm twenty-four." The first tear slipped from Sam's eye, rolling down his cheek like a raindrop on an icy window. "You-You waited this long..." Sam could barely breathe. He pulled at the collar of his t-shirt, feeling a cold sweat forming on his head. "No. I don't believe you. My birthday's a week after Hunter's. We're not twins; we're not even related."

Margo finally wiped away her tears, knowing it would soon be time to explain. "That's not your real birthday." She picked up the small shoe box. It was a pastel blue colour and dirty on the edges. The right side was slightly caved in from years of pulling it back and forth from underneath her bed. "Here."

"No!" Sam stood up and rushed to the door. He pulled on the handle, but Anthony had locked it. "Please. I can't be in here anymore!" He knocked weakly, feeling more tears rushing down his flushed cheeks. "Please, let me out," he whispered and dropped his head against the wood with a small whimper, sucking in his pained breath.

Hunter had stayed as still as a robot. His appearance was unreadable until he finally turned to look at Sam crying against the door. Margo saw a mixture of sorrow and attentive concentration, but he didn't show signs of being surprised. Slowly, Hunter made his way over to his Beta wolf and rested a hand on his arm, so gentle Sam barely felt it.

Sam looked up with bloodshot eyes, struggling to see his Alpha's face through the water that clouded his vision. His bones felt like they had been replaced with a dense metal. His heart was replaced with a piece of coal, no longer reachable, buried beneath layers of earth. His brain turned to mush, and Anthony and Margo were the ones stamping on it.

Without a single utter, they fell close, clasping their arms around one another and sinker their faces into each other's shoulders.

Hunter couldn't bring himself to cry. His mind scrubbed at every memory of Sam until they were bright and clean. All those times they spent together, all those years of feeling like there were unrelated brothers. Now, their close friendship, loyalty, the devotion to be by one another's side no matter what, the coincidence of finding themselves on the same path all made sense. "Twins," he whispered, testing how it felt to say the word and mean it. It tasted sweet, flowed well, and felt right when directed at Samuel Fletcher.