Nick’s POV
I hated the nickname.
I hated the way he looked at her.
I hated everything about him.
He still wanted her. He wanted what was mine.
I almost lost it when he hugged her. It was tight and filled with love. I was the only one who could hug her like that.
I didn’t like how comfortable she was with him. I didn’t like how he held her while she cried.
I wanted to take her into my arms and run as far away from here as possible.
Nate was freaking out and growling. He kept pushing me to grab Aria and hide her from that fucker’s constant glaring.
I could see Gabriel was not pleased as well. But he was not freaking out as I was.
Aria’s friend Cassie was staring at us, wide-eyed.
“Who are these people, Ari?” Cassie asked and looked back at Aria.
“Come sit down and I will tell you everything,” Aria said and motioned toward the couch.
Cassie looked between us, confused, but she walked over to us and sat down next to her brother.
Aria turned to the other guy and smiled.
“Goddess, Minnie. You almost gave me a heart attack,” the guy said and smiled back.
What is it with that nickname?!
He stepped toward her and wrapped her in a tight hug.
Why the fuck is everyone touching my mate?! I was fuming inside, and I wanted to rip his hands off. I clenched my fists together.
“Sorry, Blake,” Aria said, hugging him back. “It is good to see you.”
“It is good to see you too,” Blake said and finally let her go.
She turned around and walked to the couch. Blake brought a few chairs from the kitchen. The couch was too small to fit everyone.
I sat back down and glared at Jacob. His eyes were still on my mate, and I wanted to rip them out.
Aria was going to sit beside me, but I pulled her to me and sat her on my lap. I breathed in her scent, calming myself a little bit.
Cassie and Blake stared at us, wide-eyed.
“Nick,” Aria said quietly and tried to wiggle out of my lap.
“No,” I growled. “You are sitting here.”
I tightened my grip around her, and she sighed, giving up.
She turned to look at Cassie, giving her a small smile.
“Cassie, these are my friends,” she said. “That lovely lady over there is Annie and the boys are Gabriel and Nick.”
I frowned when she called me her friend. I was not her friend. I was her mate.
“Hi,” Cassie said and smiled at us.
The three of us nodded and smiled back. Mine was forceful. I wanted to frown, not smile.
An uncomfortable silence fell upon us once more. Aria was having trouble explaining.
“Ari, can you please tell us what happened?” Cassie interrupted the silence. “Where were you? Who are these people?”
“I will show you,” Aria said quietly. “It is hard for me to talk about what happened. But you will see everything.”
“Are you sure we can trust them, Aria?” Gabriel spoke for the first time.
He had a point. These fuckers could be working for Victor. They could hurt her or take her away from me.
“Trust us?!” Jacob yelled, furious. “What about you? How the hell should we trust you? For all I know, you could be the ones who kidnapped her!”
I growled loudly. How dare he?!
“Stop it!” Aria yelled, standing up.
I was going to pull her back to my lap, but she slapped my hand away.
“Gabriel, I trust them. They are my family,” she said before turning to Jacob. “They didn’t take me, Jake. My grandma did.”
Jacob’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Why?” Cassie asked quietly.
“I would show you if you all stopped picking at each other,” Aria said with a frown, sitting down beside me.
I growled, but she just gave me an annoyed stare.
I took her hand in mine and pulled her closer. There was no way I was not touching her. Especially with Jacob so close to her.
Aria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A few moments later, a familiar glowing orb was in front of us.
The worst memory of my life started playing out. I had to keep reminding myself that she was beside me. Safe.
She kept her eyes on her lap, not wanting to look up.
Gabriel grabbed her hand in his, probably doing the same thing I was. Touching her to make sure she was here with us.
The memory ended and I looked around the room.
Cassie had tears running down her cheeks. Blake was shocked and angry. Jacob was shaking. His jaw clenched tight.
“My grandma took my memories away,” Aria spoke quietly after a few minutes of silence. “She gave me new ones. Fake ones. I have been living in Redwallow village for four years. Until the day inquisitors came and burned it to the ground. I am the only survivor. I ran to Moon City to find Annie. She lived in our village before moving away to Moon City with her parents a few years back. I met Nick and Gabriel at the City.”
“She took your memories away?” Cassie asked with a trembling voice.
Aria nodded. “Yes. I didn’t remember you until a few days ago when Gabriel broke the spell and my memories returned.”
Jacob looked at Aria for the first time since the memory ended.
“You didn’t remember me?” he asked her quietly.
She shook her head. “I am so sorry, Jake.”
“It is not your fault, Minnie,” he responded, reaching out to take her hand.
She reached out to him, and he took her hand in his. I wanted to rip her back and separate them, but I tried to control myself.
This jealousy was going to burn me alive.
Aria’s POV
I held Jake’s hand and stared into his eyes. I saw pain and it was breaking my heart. I didn’t want to be the cause of his pain. I wanted to take that pain away.
“Why are these people here with you, Ari?” Cassie’s question interrupted my moment with Jake.
I looked at her and took a deep breath. This was going to be hard.
“Well, Nick is my mate,” I said, looking at her.
Her eyes widened and she looked at Nick.
“Mate?” she asked, shocked.
I could see Blake’s eyes widening and his gaze going to Jake.
“Yes, Aria is my mate,” Nick said sternly. “She is mine.”
I could clearly hear possessiveness in his voice, and it bugged me. He wanted to rub our mate bond into Jake’s face.
I will have to talk to him about this later. There was no need for him to be this tense and cold.
I frowned and looked back at Cassie’s shocked expression.
“And what about Gabriel?” she asked me. “Is he just a friend?”
I took a deep breath, trying to figure out the way to tell them everything. Where do I even begin?
“I am not just her friend,” Gabriel spoke before I could. “I am her brother.”
I heard gasps coming from Jake, Cassie, and Blake.
“Brother?!” they all shouted at the same time.
Their shocked eyes were glued to me, waiting for an explanation.
“Yes,” I said, trying to stay calm. “Gabriel is my twin brother.”
Their eyes roamed from me in complete disbelief.
“How is that possible?” Cassie asked after a few moments of just glaring between me and Gabriel. “Your grandma never said you have a brother.”
“That is because Grace wasn’t really Aria’s grandmother,” Gabriel said with hate in his voice. “She kidnapped Aria from our home when Aria was six months old, and she ran here.”
I swear to Goddess, if we kept giving all this information to them, their eyes were going to pop right out of their sockets. They once again looked between me and Gabriel with shocked expressions on their faces.
“Maybe we should stop and continue this another time,” I said quietly. “Maybe all this information is too much.”
“No!” Jake shouted. “We are not leaving this room until you tell me everything.”
So I did. I told them everything. From the moment I left my village, to the moment we arrived at their house. Annie, Gabriel and Nick were hesitant at first, but then they told their parts of the story as well. Jake, Cassie and Blake now knew everything.
When I finished, Jake stood up and started pacing the room, running his hand through his hair repeatedly.
Cassie and Blake were still, their eyes roaming over us in disbelief.
“You are staying here with me!” Jake shouted and walked over to us.
Nick growled loudly and stood up.
“No, she is not!” Nick yelled back at him.
“I can protect her!” Jake shouted, his face red and his fists clenched.
“And I can’t?” Nick shouted back at him, his whole body shaking.
“Clearly, you can’t,” Jake said through his teeth. “That fucker almost took her twice. And what did you do? Not a fucking thing! And you know he is following her, and you still did nothing?!”
Nick was shaking and growling, and I was afraid he would shift any second.
Gabriel stood up quickly and wrapped his hands around Nick. I walked over to him and stood in front of him, cupping his face.
“Nick, look at me,” I said, trying to sound calm. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Nick looked down at me, his eyes completely black. I caressed his cheek and gave him a small smile.
“Come back to me,” I said quietly.
His growls became quieter, and his breathing evened out. His eyes turned back to their normal brown color that I loved so much.
Gabriel let him go and he immediately wrapped his hands around me and pulled me to him. He dipped his head into the crook of my neck and breathed in deeply.
“You are a complete and total idiot if you think you will be taking her away from me, Jacob,” Nick said calmly, not lifting his head from my neck. “She is mine and she is not staying here with you.”
“Then I am going where she is going,” Jake said. “I am not leaving her while those fuckers are out there, trying to get her.”
Nick growled and I rubbed small circles on his back, calming him down.
“Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow,” Gabriel said. “We all had a long day, and we need a break.”
“I agree,” I said and pushed away from Nick. “There is a motel just down the road.”
“No, Minnie,” Jake said and I turned to look at him. “You will stay here. There is only one guest bedroom, but we will manage.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Of course, Ari,” Cassie responded. “We have a lot to catch up on. And I would love to get to know Annie better. We could have a girls’ night. Stay here.”
I turned to look at Nick and Gabriel. I could see they were not very happy, but a few moments later they nodded.
“I guess it is safer here than at the motel,” Gabriel said.
I gave him a big smile and turned to hug Cassie. I squeezed her tightly and she laughed.
“I missed you too, Minnie,” she said using Jake’s nickname.
I smiled and let her go.
“Come on, Annie, let’s go to the kitchen,” Cassie said, looking at Annie. “We can start on the dinner while Jake shows the boys to the guest bedroom.”
Annie and I followed her to the kitchen. It felt so good to be back with Cassie and Jake. I didn’t even realize how much I missed them until I saw them again.
I felt Nick’s eyes on me as we walked away. I turned around to give him a small smile. He smiled back, but I could see the worry in his eyes. My heart clenched painfully. How do I make him stop worrying?
