Gabriel’s POV
I knew this was not going to be easy.
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. A nervous habit I had picked up from Nick.
“Why did I think she was going to agree?” I muttered after I heard her slam her bedroom door.
“Yeah, why did you?” Annie said angrily and stood in front of us. “We don’t know you. Not to mention all the rumors I heard about you. How do we know we’ll be safe with you?”
“Look, I know about the rumors, okay,” I said annoyed. “Most of them are not true.”
“Oh, well, now that is a relief,” she said sarcastically. “I can now be sure that the one about you killing someone is not true.”
I gritted my teeth together. “I never killed anyone, Annie.”
Nick placed his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.
“Look, Annie, I’ve known Gabriel my whole life and yes, he can be rough, but he is not a murderer,” he said, looking at her intensely. “We need you to trust us about this and convince Aria to come with us.”
“And why would I do that?” she asked glaring at him, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Show her the video,” Nick nudged me.
I knew I would have to tell Annie. We needed her help.
“What video?” she asked, anger still evident in her voice.
“Do you have a laptop?” I asked and pulled the USB out of my pocket.
She looked at the USB in my hand and I could see the doubt in her eyes. A moment later she sighed and nodded.
“It is in my room. I’ll go get it,” she said and left the kitchen glaring at us.
“Are you going to tell Annie about the mate thing?” I asked Nick while we waited for Annie to return with her laptop.
“Yes. No point in hiding it,” he nodded. “She is a werewolf so she will understand even more why I want her there.”
I nodded and heard Annie coming back.
She entered the kitchen and placed the laptop in front of me.
I pointed to the seat next to me and turned it on. She sat beside me and crossed her arms over her chest, letting me know she was still pissed.
“Do you have any beer?” Nick asked her.
She nodded. “Get me one too.”
“Gabe, you?” he asked me.
“Yes. Thanks,” I answered while opening the video file on the laptop.
“Annie,” I started talking, looking at her with the most serious expression on my face. “What I am about to show you, stays between the three of us. I don’t want Aria to know. Not yet.”
She nodded and I could see she was intrigued.
Nick gave me my beer and I took a deep breath. I know hearing all of this again is going to hurt. But I have to control myself. I couldn’t break down Annie’s kitchen.
“Nick, I need you to focus on Aria. If you hear her opening her bedroom door, you let me know. I will stop the video immediately.”
He nodded and went to stand near the kitchen door.
I pressed play and took another deep breath.
The minutes went by, and I was focused on calming myself so I wouldn’t go on another rampage.
I watched Annie’s expression go from intrigue to confusion to sadness and eventually pure shock.
Luckily, Aria never left her bedroom and Annie saw the entire video.
The video ended and she was just staring at a black laptop screen. I could see tears forming in her eyes.
“Annie?” I said quietly and touched her hand.
She flinched and looked at me. Tears fell on her cheek.
“I… I am…” she spoke, her voice trembling. “I am so sorry Gabriel.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly, my sadness clearly showing.
“I can’t believe this,” she said, pulling herself together bit by bit. “Grace was so kind.”
I gritted my teeth together. I don’t want to be rude to her. She knew a different Grace. To me, she was a kidnapper and a killer. Nothing more.
“I know it is hard to believe,” Nick said behind us, “but it is the truth.”
“Aria is going to be crushed,” she said, wiping tears from her cheek. “Grace was the only family she knew.”
“I know. And that is why I don’t want to tell her yet,” I started explaining my plan to Annie. “I want to help her discover her power and find out everything I can about destroying Victor and Cora. I want to give her strength before I destroy her memory of Grace.”
Annie nodded. “I understand. And I agree. We shouldn’t tell her yet. Even though she is going to be pissed we didn’t. I hope you know that.”
“I do. But I will deal with it then.”
She smiled at me and squeezed my hand. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I will do anything I can to help you. And her.”
I smiled brightly at her. She was an amazing friend to Aria. And to me.
Nick coughed slightly, bringing our attention to him. “There is something else you should know, Annie.”
He came to the table and sat opposite us.
“Now it’s time for you to focus on your sister,” he winked at me.
A warm feeling appeared in my chest hearing him referring to her as my sister. I smiled. She was my sister. My beautiful, kind, small sister.
Annie looked at Nick with a confused expression on her face once again.
Nick looked at her and smiled. “She is my mate.”
Annie gasped, “Oh, my Goddess. I knew it!” she yelled.
I shushed her and she turned to me, placing a hand on her mouth.
“You know?” Nick and I said at the same time.
“Of course. I mean I wasn’t completely sure, but I had my doubts,” she smiled. “But aren’t you more of a warlock than a wolf? How can you be sure?” she asked, turning back to Nick.
“Nate, my wolf, went crazy when we first saw her. I was confused at first, but then I noticed all the signs. Her smell, I can feel her emotions a little bit, the sparks when I touch her. It is just not that intense. I think I need to shift in front of her to get the full feeling of the bond. And for her to feel it too. And Nate can’t wait. He is pressing to come out and meet her every time we are around her. It is annoying because I am not used to him having this much power and control,” he explained to her the things he said to me yesterday. But she was a wolf, so she didn’t have any questions as I did. She understood immediately.
“Must be a pretty strong bond for your wolf to gain that much power without even feeling it to the fullest,” she smiled.
Nick smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly shushed him.
“Aria is coming. I heard her bedroom door opening,” I told them.
I quickly unplugged the USB, put it back in my pocket and Annie closed her laptop.
Aria’s POV
I had a nice long bath that relaxed me. I tried not to think about Gabriel and his offer, having complete faith that Annie will deal with him.
When I dried myself with a towel I put on my sweats and a hoodie. I let my wet hair down my back and walked out of my room.
I stepped back into the kitchen only to see the guys hadn’t left.
“You are going to catch a cold,” Nick frowned.
“I will be fine. It is not the first time I didn’t blow-dry it,” I replied sitting beside Nick.
Annie had a guilty look on her face, and it made my stomach turn.
“Why do you look so guilty?” I asked her.
She looked down and started playing with the hem of her shirt.
“I think we should go live with Gabriel,” she said so quietly that I barely heard her.
“What?” I gasped.
“I think we should go with them,” she said louder, looking at me. “It is getting dangerous out there and we will be safer with them.”
I was shocked. I stared at her in disbelief. Is she crazy? They were strangers. What if they were dangerous? Was she not thinking straight? And then I thought of a possibility.
“What did you do to her?” I asked angrily, staring at Nick and Gabriel.
They were surprised. “What are you talking about?” Gabriel asked.
“Did you put her under some kind of spell?” I growled, getting up and walking towards Annie.
I put my hand on her and searched for traces of magic or any spells I could sense. But I felt nothing.
“I am not under a spell, A,” she said, looking up at me. “We had a conversation, and their arguments were good. I agree with them. We should go.”
I didn’t want to believe this. It must be a spell. I have to check again.
I closed my eyes and went to that place in my body where power comes from. I pulled from it with all the force that I had. I let it flow through me and put my hand back on Annie, searching again. I felt my power consuming my energy and felt like I was going to pass out, but I still didn’t stop my search. There had to be something.
I faintly heard chairs scraping against the floor and felt a large hand pulling mine from Annie’s shoulder. I stumbled back but my back hit a muscular chest. He put his arms around me and I was unable to move.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I heard Gabriel’s rough voice in my ear. “You are going to hurt yourself.”
I opened my eyes and saw Nick standing in front of me, his hands clenched into fists by his side.
“Why are you so angry?” I asked him quietly. “Are you going to hurt me?”
He gasped and instantly his fists relaxed. He took my face in his hands and I felt peaceful. Why did I have these feelings? What was wrong with me?
“Aria, no, I could never hurt you,” he quickly said. “Why would you think that?”
“I opened my eyes, and you were in front of me looking angry and your fists ready to punch something,” I explained, removing his hands from my face.
He took a step back and let out a breath. “I am sorry. I got worried when you fell.”
I frowned and touched Gabriel’s arms wanting him to let me go.
He hesitated for a moment before removing his arms from me.
I sat back on my chair and looked at Annie. “So, what are those great arguments that they have?”
“Our safety,” she said quietly.
“That’s one,” I pointed out.
“Isn’t that enough?” Gabriel asked, sitting down beside me.
“But why?” I asked him, turning my body toward him. “Why do you care about our safety?”
He took my hand in his and I felt this inexplicable warm, peaceful feeling flowing through me.
“Because of this feeling. We are something more,” Gabriel said quietly, looking in my eyes with such intensity that I froze in my seat. “And I want you beside me, safe, while we figure that out. Please Aria. I will not hurt you. Nick will not hurt you. We want you and Annie safe by our side.”
I looked down trying to escape his green eyes.
I didn’t really have a choice. This was Annie’s house and if she wanted to go, then I had to go with her. I couldn’t ask her to let me stay here. I can either go with them or go back to the hotel. I had to go with them. I will not rule out option number two, though. I would have a small bag with all my necessities ready and if they try to hurt us, I will run. And take Annie with me. I was pretty sure she liked Gabriel and trusted him more than she should.
With that plan in mind, I felt a little bit better, so I looked up to meet Gabriel’s green eyes again.
“Fine,” I said quietly. “I will go with you.”
He smiled brightly at me and wrapped me in a tight hug.
I felt calm and safe in his arms. Warm feeling flowed through my body, relaxing me. What was wrong with me? Why do Gabriel and Nick affect me so much?
I saw Nick and Annie smile and the tension that was in the air completely disappeared.
