Gabriel’s POV
It’s been a few days since the battle.
Patricia, Mike, and Jack went to Victor’s headquarters to end the inquisition. They should come back in a few days. Mike had been keeping me updated. Patricia didn’t try to take Victor’s position. For now. They were shutting his whole operation down. It wasn’t going as smoothly as we had hoped it would, but they were making progress. They were having trouble with some of Victor’s most loyal followers. They didn’t believe he was dead, and they wanted to continue with the inquisition.
I trusted that Mike, Jack, and Patricia would be able to deal with them.
The rest of us were packing to go home tomorrow. We stayed so Aria could take care of Zack. And she did an amazing job. Zack was up on his feet, and he was doing well. He got tired easily and he still spends most of his time in bed, but his wound healed miraculously well, and his fever was completely gone.
Things around here were a little bit tense.
There was something going on between Blake and Cassie. Ever since Zack was injured, Cassie hadn’t left his side. Blake was jealous, and they had been fighting a lot. Aria, Annie, and Cassie were always in Annie’s room, talking and comforting Cassie. I didn’t ask Aria anything, but I guess that the relationship between Blake and Cassie was nearing its end.
Nick was back to hating Jake. The news about them moving to Moon City with us didn’t help. Nick thought that Jake was moving so he could continue to pursue Aria. Nick hadn’t told Aria anything, so the only one he was complaining to was me. And I was having a hard time listening to him and trying to convince him that he was wrong. I really thought Jake had moved on. He loved Aria, that much was obvious. But I think he realized that they would never be more than friends, or family, as they say. He just wanted to be a part of her life. Nick disagrees, of course. He was sure that Jake was a threat. He has been so possessive of Aria in the past few days. It was getting hard to watch, and I could tell that Aria was getting annoyed. He barely left her alone, and when they were together, he had to make sure that he was touching her somehow. He told her it was because Nate was still on edge from the fight, but I think she was on to him. It was hard to miss the way he glared at Jake.
“I am tired, man,” Nick growled, placing his hands on his head.
I sighed. “You have to stop doing this to yourself, Nick. He is not after her. He is not taking her away from you. She is yours.”
“I don’t know why I am having such a hard time believing that,” he whined.
“Do you not trust her?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.
He removed his hands from his face and looked at me, slightly panicked. “No! I trust her. I know she would never hurt me. I don’t trust Jacob.”
I nodded. “I didn’t trust him in the beginning either. But I do now.”
“Why?” Nick asked and ran his hand through his hair. “What’s changed?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I talked to him a few times. He is a good man. He loves her, that much is obvious. But I think that he realized that they would never be more than friends. He looks at her differently.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, looking at me.
“Well, in the beginning, he looked at her and there was lust,” I said. “You could tell that he wanted more. Now, when he looks at her, there is only love. No lust,”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Nick growled.
I smirked. “Do you really think that you are the only one who loves her? That you should be the only one who loves her?”
Nick looked at me and growled. “She is mine.”
“She is,” I nodded. “But you have to accept that there are other people out there who love her. She grew up with Jake, Cassie, Blake, and Zack. They were her first family. Of course, they love her. And she loves them too.”
Nick kept staring at me, but he stayed silent. I sighed internally and decided to be completely honest with him.
“How do you think I feel when she calls them her family?” I asked calmly. “How do you think I felt when I heard them call her their sister?”
My heart clenched painfully. I never really said all of this out loud. But I guess I was about to.
“What are you talking about?” Nick asked, turning to get a better look at me.
I sighed. “It hurts, man. Hearing her refer to them as her family hurts. Hearing them call her their sister hurts so fucking much that I almost punched them each and every time. It hurt because I was jealous. They grew up with her. They were there for her when she needed them. She was there when they needed her. She went to them when she was scared and alone, even after we met because she trusted them more. She didn’t need me as much as I needed her. And it was hard for me to accept that there were other people in her life that she could call family. I was a selfish bastard. I wanted to be the only one who she called family. But I knew that wasn’t possible. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I should be thankful to them. They protected her. They consoled her. And they will continue to do so when I won’t be around. Not that I plan on not being around her, but you know what I mean. She has people who love her and with whom she will always be safe. And that was the most important thing to me.”
Nick was staring at me with his mouth hanging open. After my little rant, there were a few moments of peaceful silence.
“I am so sorry, man,” Nick muttered after a while. “I never really thought about how you felt all this time.”
“It’s okay,” I shrugged. “I am okay with it now. I just wanted you to know that you are not the only one struggling with their presence in her life. But you need to realize that it is good that they are here. And none of them wants to take her away. They want her to be happy and safe. Just like we do.”
Nick gulped and looked down at his lap. I hope he will think about what I said because he was hurting himself. And it would hurt Aria to know that he didn’t want them there.
There was a knock on the bedroom door.
“Come in,” I said.
The light of our lives walked inside with a big smile on her face.
Aria POV
I walked into my brother’s bedroom with a smile that disappeared as soon as I saw their faces. Something was wrong.
“What happened?” I asked immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing happened,” Gabriel answered, giving me a small smile. “We were just talking.”
“About?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Nothing important,” Gabriel answered, still smiling.
When will he realize that I know when he was lying? I knew when both of them were lying, courtesy of the mate bond and the twin thing.
“You do know that I know when you are lying to me,” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“It was a guy thing,” Nick interfered. “It probably wouldn’t be best to talk to you about that.”
I looked at him. “I know when you are lying too.”
Nick and Gabriel looked at each other. They were having an inside conversation. I rolled my eyes. I didn’t have time for this. I just hoped that they would tell me if it was really important.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I sighed, breaking their little silent conversation. “I just hope that you would tell me if it was something important, like something about our safety or health.”
“Of course, baby,” Nick said immediately.
I nodded and looked at Gabriel. “When do we leave tomorrow?”
“8 am,” he answered. “Why?”
“Cassie asked,” I said. “She doesn’t want to pack now, so she wanted to know if she would have time in the morning.”
“How is she?” Nick asked.
“She is not doing so well,” I sighed.
“Did they break up?” Gabriel asked.
I was not surprised that they knew that Cassie and Blake were fighting. I never talked to them about it because it wasn’t my story to tell. But it was obvious.
I shook my head. “No. They are trying to work it out.”
“What does Cassie want?” Nick asked me.
“She doesn’t know,” I sighed. “She is confused. She loves Blake. But Zack…”
I stopped talking and looked down at my feet. Zack was her first love. She was having such a hard time. I know exactly how she felt.
“What about Zack?” Gabriel asked.
“She loves him too,” I gave an easier answer, looking up at him.
I wasn’t going to tell them what Cassie really felt like. First love was kind of a touchy subject for Nick. I could tell he was struggling with Jake’s presence again. I didn’t need to add to that.
“I should get back to her,” I said after a few moments of silence. “I’ll see you later.”
The guys nodded. Nick stood up and gave me a short kiss. I smiled at him and turned around. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me.
When I came back to Annie’s room, Cassie was sitting on the chair near the window. Annie wasn’t in the room.
“Where is Annie?” I asked, walking toward Cassie.
I took the other chair and turned it so I would face her.
“Making dinner with Jake,” she said quietly, staring through the window.
I nodded and continued looking at her. I sighed internally. I wish I could help her.
“Cass,” I called her, and she turned to look at me.
Her eyes were puffy and red. She was pale and looked tired.
“Talk to me,” I said quietly. “Don’t hold everything inside.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Ari,” she sighed. “I am so afraid of hurting one of them.”
“Did you talk to Zack?” I asked.
She nodded. “He is an asshole. It took him all this time to tell me how he really feels.”
She clenched her fists. She was pissed at him. And she had a right to be. He was always in love with her. She gave him so many chances to tell her. She made it clear how she felt about him. But he was always stubborn. So, she moved on. She never stopped loving him, but she opened her heart to someone else. And now Zack had decided to be truthful. I will beat his ass once he heals completely.
“What did you tell him?” I asked quietly.
“Nothing much,” she sighed, looking back at the window. “I mostly cried. I asked him why he is telling me now. I asked him why he hadn’t done it sooner.”
“What did he say?” I mumbled.
“He didn’t answer,” she sighed. “He asked me if I loved Blake. I said that I do.”
I nodded and looked through the window. It was dark outside. The porch light was on, so I could see a little bit of the driveway.
“I think it will snow soon,” Cassie mumbled after a few minutes of silence.
I smiled. I hoped it would. I love snow.
“Your birthday is soon,” Cassie said quietly and looked at me.
“It is,” I smiled. “The first one with Gabriel. I want to make it special.”
“What will you do?” Cassie asked me with a small smile.
I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But I want it to be special. I will think of something.”
“I hope that there will be a party,” Cassie chuckled.
“Of course!” I smiled. “We have a lot to celebrate. Not just our birthday.”
“Great,” Cassie smiled back at me. “I need a reason to dress up. That always makes me feel better.”
I took her hand in mine and gave her a smile. She tightened her hold on my hand and looked at her lap.
We were interrupted when Jake walked into the room.
“Hey,” he smiled at us.
“Hey, Jake,” I said. “What’s up?”
“The dinner is ready,” he said, looking at Cassie with a sad expression on his face.
I nodded and stood up, pulling Cassie with me. She sighed and looked up at us. Jake walked over to her and pulled her in a hug.
“Did you pack your bag?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “No. I will do it in the morning.”
Jake nodded. “Okay. We leave at 8 am. We have a lot to do tomorrow.”
Jake, Cassie, and Blake will go back to our village tomorrow. They had to pack the rest of their stuff and they wanted to say goodbye to their parents. They found a house near Gabriel’s and will be moving there by the end of the week. Zack will go back to his village before coming to Moon City. He already had a place there because his parents used to live in the City and they never sold their house.
Cassie nodded, and Jake kissed her forehead.
“Let’s go eat,” Jake said and gave us a big smile.
