The Lycan Twins and the Phoenix Warrior

Chapter 5: Jacob's POV

"Jacob!" For f***s sake. "Where are you?"

I let out a deep breath. I had come here to relax and avoid my brother, but of course, he had found me.

"What do you want, Seth?" I asked with a furrowed eyebrow.

We might be twins and look identical, but our temperaments were different. Seth loved to play around, pushing people's limits and pulling pranks on everyone. I was not like that.

Seth leaned against the doorframe of the library, his usual s**t-eating grin plastered across his face. "Aw, come on, brother. Is that any way to greet your favorite sibling?"

I didn't even look up from my book. "You are not my favorite sibling."

He gasped and put a hand over his heart like I had wounded him. "You! Why do you hurt me like that? You know how much I love you!"

I let out a deep breath and shook my head.

Is he ever going to mature?

We are already twenty-four, and he should not be joking around like that.

"What do you want?" I asked as I sighed. "Don't you have someone else to pester?"

Seth groaned and came to my side. "Arlen doesn't live here anymore. Killian is in full Alpha mode. If I bother Anika, she is going to set me on fire again. The only one I can tease is you," he replied.

"What about Lillian, Jace, and Kase?" I asked.

Our family was big; we were the last three kids, and almost all of them left the pack to be with their mates, except Killian.

He was the oldest and also the Alpha King, so he had to stay. Besides, his mate, Jennifer, was part of the pack too. She was a blessed wolf, the daughter of my father's Beta, so they didn't have the same problem the rest of my siblings faced.

"Lillian always scared the crap out of me, Jace and Kase are twins so they never let me join their games," he huffed.

I couldn't help but snort. Jace and Kase were nice to me, and even asked me to join them sometimes when they hunt. It wasn't that they didn't want to include Seth, but he was too much of a troublemaker.

"Arlen was the only one who could stand you."

"Exactly." He winked, but then groaned as he slumped down to the desk." And now she is with that dragon, having kids, while I am bored here."

I exhaled through my nose, resisting the urge to chuck my copy of The Art of War at his head. "What do you want?"

Seth pushed himself up and sauntered over, dropping into the chair across from me with all the grace of a drunken bear. "Dad's looking for you."

That got my attention.

I lowered the book. "Why?"

Seth shrugged, but his eyes gleamed with mischief. "Dunno. Maybe he finally decided to disown you."

I rolled my eyes. "Funny."

"Or," Seth drawled, leaning forward, "maybe he has a mission for us."

"Killian managed that, Dad doesn't do that anymore," I replied, because this was clearly another one of Seth's antics to get me out of the library.

I liked to stay here and read. A few years back, our parents and siblings had to fight different creatures who wanted to harm us, but for at least two years, everything had calmed down.

Kase was mated to the Vila Queen, so their reign was peaceful. Jace was mated to the fairy Queen, and they had their own problems in their realm, but from what he told me, the fairies are finally getting close to him, and things have been peaceful too.

Lillian and Killian created schools for all supernatural creatures. Ours is bigger, but demons go to Lillian's school.

Why?

Because her sister-in-law is the Queen of the Underworld.

To sum it up, all my siblings were mated to strong creatures; thus, nobody dared to mess around anymore. Only three of us were unmated, and coincidentally, we were triplets.

Anika isn't worried; my mother told her she would find her mate, and my mother is never wrong. Seth and I... we aren't sure what to expect.

We don't know if we are going to have one mate or two. Our mother implied we would only get one, but I'm unsure how we will work.

Seth and I are just too different.

"Perhaps Mom had a vision or something," he shrugged. "But I am not lying."

I studied Seth's face—the slight twitch of his lips, the way his fingers drummed impatiently against the armrest. He wasn't lying.

With a sigh, I marked my page and set the book aside. "Fine. Where is he?"

Seth's grin returned full force. "The office."

"And I am guessing you are coming too?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"But of course!" He exclaimed, dropping his arm around my neck. "We are going on this mission together!"

For the love of...

"Then let's go, I don't want to keep our father waiting."

Seth laughed as we walked through the corridor to Killian's office. As we approached our destination, Seth nudged me with his elbow. "Bet you ten bucks it’s another diplomatic meeting with the werebears."

I shot him a glare. "We don't call them that anymore; that is Lillian's jurisdiction. She only called you once, and that was because you went there to bother them."

Lillian was mated to a half-polar bear and half-wolf. He was the son of our parents' friends.

"Fine, then bet me a hunt. We should bet something, don't ya think?" He winked.

I let out a heavy breath. "I have no idea who you got that horrible habit from."

My mom had a temper, but Seth was ten times worse.

"Hey! What's wrong with a bet?" He asked.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You know I hate bets."

"You will like this one," He assured with a bright smile.

I decided to amuse him. "Then what would you like to bet?"

If I’m right, you owe me a full day tracking deer with me. No books, no brooding."

I rolled my eyes but didn’t answer. Seth took that as agreement, because of course he did.

Before I could retort, the door swung open, revealing our father standing beside Killian’s massive desk while our brother sat in the chair. The one who had opened the door was Ian, Killian's Beta.

"Seth, Jacob," He greeted us.

"Hi Ian!" Seth immediately spoke up. "How's your mate and kids?"

For f***s sake...

He sees them every day!

"Same as they were before," Ian replied.

Our father cleared his throat, and finally, Seth realized it was not the time to play. I greeted Ian, and once we stepped in, he left, closing the door.

"Took you long enough," Dad said, his deep voice laced with amusement.

Seth immediately straightened, dropping his arm from my shoulders. "I had to look for Jacob over here; he was hiding in the library."

Killian leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. "Cut the crap, Seth. You were probably dragging your feet just to annoy Jacob."

Seth gasped. "I would never."

Dad snorted. "Right." Then his gaze shifted to me, "Jacob, I called you here for a reason."

"What about me?!" Seth complained. My father sighed. "You two, my mistake, and stop interrupting."

Seth snapped his mouth shut, but his fingers twitched at his sides like he was physically restraining himself from making another joke.

Dad exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Your mother had a vision last night."

That got my full attention.

Mom's visions were never casual. She was connected to the Moon Goddess on a deeper level, meaning her visions came from Selene herself, and they were always there to warn us about something.

They were warnings, prophecies, or simply the Goddess's will.

Either way, they should never be ignored.

Seth, for once, didn’t crack a joke. He just crossed his arms and waited, his usual mischief replaced by sharp focus.

Killian leaned forward, his Alpha aura pressing down on the room. "It involves both of you."

My spine stiffened. Both of us?

Dad’s gaze flicked between us. "You know your mother doesn't go into details, she can't, but you both need to go on this mission."

I have a feeling why, but until I am certain, I won't say anything.

"And what would this mission be?" Seth asked.

"A small town, just at the border with Canada," he explained.

"Near Lillian's pack?" I asked, to which my father nodded.

Lillian's pack was up north; you still had to cross one state to get to the border, but she was closer to this town than we were. That alone was strange, since Lillian and Killian managed the missions, they decided to divide the territory.

In short, Lillian should be managing this case, but since our mother insisted, we had to go.

Could this be...

A mate.

Not just any mate—ours.

Seth recovered first, his grin creeping back. "Well, well. Looks like we’re finally getting some action."

I shot him a glare. "This isn’t a joke."

"Never said it was," Seth shot back, but his smirk didn’t reach his eyes.

Dad’s voice cut through the tension. "Either way, I need you to go there and check the place out. There was a report of a blast near that area, and we want to ensure everyone is fine," he explained. "I need you to go there quickly, the town I'm telling you about is very mysterious and we don't have much information."

"Is it a human town?" I asked my father, but he shook his head.

"Perhaps calling it a town was wrong; it is much smaller than one. It is a village, to be more accurate, and although they are supposed to be human, their scent doesn't quite match one."

That was indeed curious.

"So we think they are something else, but not even Mother, or you know what they are?"

Our father nodded. It was indeed strange.

In the past, werewolves didn't care about other species, they didn't know a thing about witches or other shifters, and they didn't even care, but since we were born, my father decided to change things. After all, we were part witch, and couldn't stay in the dark.

Since Lillian's sister-in-law is the Queen of Hell, they include other creatures such as demons and ghosts.

We have a library filled with books on different species, so it is strange that Father doesn't know what we are up against.

Could this be like what happened with the dragons? We thought they were extinct, but apparently, they built their own realm, and we only found out after an incident with them.

"No, we don't, which is why we want you to go there," Killian chimed in. "Teleport if you must, but go and tell us if you find anything suspicious."

After that, they gave us more details about where this village was. Seth and I didn't need much, so we took a small bag with food, water, and clothes and teleported near the village.

When scouting, you must focus on everything, including what surrounds the village. If a blast was seen, it could have been cast by someone outside or inside the village, meaning we had to be careful.

They could still be lurking in the forest.

We were welcomed by a luscious forest when we arrived at our destination.

"Hmm, a forest," Seth commented. "I thought we would find something else.

"Father said they keep their distance from humans, another thing that makes us suspect they are not humans themselves," I pointed out as I looked around.

Everything was quiet; I couldn't sense anything in this place, not even a bird chirping.

"Or perhaps they just hate to be around someone else," Seth replied with a shrug.

It could be, but humans don't act that way.

"Let's go. I don't think we are going to find anything here," I said as I walked deeper into the forest.

Seth quickly followed, not in silence as I wanted; instead, he kept blabbering nonsense, making my head hurt.

I closed my eyes for a second to take a deep breath when Seth stopped talking.

Worried that something might have happened, I opened my eyes, and what I saw...