~

“Ever heard the term; too many cooks?” Mel chuckled when the alpha inadvertently elbowed her in the back as she backed away from the refrigerator with a large plate of meat cuts in her hands.

“My mate challenged me to help,” Parker said, lifting the plate from her and twisting at the waist to place it on the kitchen counter.

“Kat is a bit of a female chauvinist,” Mel bent to grin to her from under his outstretched arm as he reached into the refrigerator.

“I’m not,” Kat hotly denied. “There are male chef’s…”

“But an alpha couldn’t possibly whip up a chocolate sponge,” Mel chuckled.

“Please, anything but the brick cakes that he turns out,” Grayson grumbled.

“It’s true, light and fluffy is more Grayson’s department,” Parker chuckled.

“Hey,” Grayson scowled.

“Does that come with a pink tutu?” Kat asked, and Mel groaned.

“Goddess, now I have the image of him in a pink tutu in my head…”

“Is he holding a wand and has faerie wings?” Kat chuckled.

“He does now…” Mel giggled.

“Okay, I can feel my balls shrivelling up,” Grayson grumbled.

“We wouldn’t want that,” Mel giggled harder, and even harder still when Grayson did a double take at her. “Nope, I’m still picturing the tutu.” She snorted a chuckle.

“Never mind, brother,” Parker grinned. “Maybe someone will buy you one of those superhero costumes for your birthday – the ones with the pink panties on the outside of the tights.”

“The kind you used to wear when we were kids?” Grayson growled back, and Kat spat out a chuckle.

“Clark Kent or Peter Parker?” Mel offered the alpha a teasing grin.

“Batman,” Grayson grinned.

“With the little ears?” Kat teased, lifting her hands and hooking her fingers on either side of the top of her head.

“Kat wanted to be Catwoman…” Mel chuckled.

“No, I didn’t!” Kat sneered. “She wanted to be a Power Ranger!”

“Peppa pig fangirl!” Mel shot back.

“Teenage mutant ninja turtle groupie!”

“Please, the turtles couldn’t even shift to human, and they were green,” Grayson frowned.

“So was the Hulk, but Kat had a soft spot for him…”

“She drools over Thor,” Kat pointed an accusing finger at her sister.

“Grayson has a guy-crush on Thor,” Parker chuckled.

“Thor’s cool,” Grayson sneered back, “unlike the tin can boy you like.”

“Iron man?” Kat said. “Way cooler than Thor.”

“Guess you two are perfectly suited then,” Mel chuckled, and Kat glared at her before turning back to chopping tomatoes.

Parker opened his mouth to speak when a howl went up through the house, rattling windows as things shook in the cabinets. Kat shot a glare at Mel, and her twin brought her shoulders up around her ears and dropped them again.

“I guess that answers the question of where Paige disappeared to,” Mel said.

“I can’t believe that Dusty wooed his mate first,” Grayson muttered.

“Competitive, or what?” Kat shot him a glare.

“It’s Dusty, the man can’t find his socks without help,” Grayson tossed back.

“Well, I’m guessing that he found the key to Paige’s chastity belt just fine,” Mel chuckled.

“A word,” Kat said with a nod of her head towards the back door.

“It’s chilly,” Mel protested.

“I’m not asking,” Kat said as she placed the knife down on the countertop and headed for the back door. “Keep chopping and don’t cut anything useful off yourself.”

 

~

~

 

“What was Paige thinking?” Kat hissed in a low whisper so that their mates couldn’t overhear her. Although, she did wonder if the brothers were standing inside with their ears pressed to the door trying to eavesdrop on them.

“I’m guessing there wasn’t much thinking going on there,” Mel chuckled back.

“You know what this means…”

“She mated with her mate,” Mel offered a bored tone and a shrug.

“It means that we don’t have a choice now. Not if we still want to see Paige,” Kat scowled. “I very much doubt that the pack would be happy for us to see her if we sent the alpha and beta bat-poop crazy by not mating with them.”

“Kat, be realistic…”

“That’s what I’m being – she’s kind of sealed our fate…”

“It’s called fate for a reason,” Mel said. “Did you really think that you could turn your back on the love of your life? Your soulmate?”

“Yes,” Kat hissed out, and her nose twitched in annoyance.

“Liar, your nose is growing, Pinocchio…”

“Better than, Grandma what big fangs you have,” she scowled back as she folded her arms and huffed. “The least she could have done was talk to us first.”

“Why? So we could not talk her out of it?”

“Stop being so bloody reasonable – are you a pod person? Who stole my sister?”

“Wow, you like him…”

“What? How did you come to that stupid conclusion, Sherlock?”

“Cos you’re all nervous and twitchy nose girl,” Mel chuckled.

“He’s got fangs and…”

“Oh, right, your fang thing…”

“Not a bloody fang thing – it’s an anti-fang thing.”

“Still a fang thing.”

“Shut up,” Kat hissed.

“Keep the lights off – close your eyes – oh, get him to blindfold…”

“Really?” Kat hissed and rolled her eyes.

“Too much like a firing squad?”

“I hate you…” Kat grumbled.

“But, I’m the nicer twin,” Mel said with a big teasing grin and followed it up with a devilish chuckle.