Page 260 of My Unexpected Mate

Nick, Annie, and Patricia had been practicing combat in wolf form. Mike and Jack focused on increasing their stamina, which was pretty good even when they started. The rest of us focused on our magic and perfecting our spells.

Aria hadn’t been practicing. We had her on bed rest. She had been complaining for the past few days, that she wanted to practice with us, but I said no. I didn’t want to put her at risk. She could hurt herself.

We were sitting at the dining room table, eating breakfast. Nick, Jake, and I were talking about something important that had happened yesterday, and we wanted to share it with the others today. I glanced over at Nick who was playing with his food. He was nervous.

Our plan wasn’t exactly sane.

“Gabe?” I heard Aria calling me.

“Yeah?” I turned to look at her.

“Can I practice today?” she asked me nervously. “I won’t push myself too hard, I promise.”

I sighed and wanted to refuse, but Patricia interrupted me.

“Gabriel, she will be okay,” she said. “Let her practice.”

“Yeah, I will be okay, Gabe,” Aria added. “We can do it together. If you tell me to stop, I will. I promise.”

I eyed her up and down and sighed. I looked over at Nick, who just shrugged his shoulders. I knew he would let her practice because he had a hard time refusing her. I had to be the bad guy.

But I also know that she needed this. She needs to be ready.

“Fine,” I said, looking back at Aria. “We are doing it together. And I decide when we are done.”

“Thank you,” she said, and a huge smile spread across her face.

I nodded and looked down at my plate. I hoped I made the right decision. If she got hurt, I would freak out.

Jake cleared his throat, and I looked up at him. He gave me a small nod. It was time.

“Guys,” Jake said. “We have something to discuss with you.”

Everybody raised their heads and looked at Jake.

“Gabe, Nick, and I talked yesterday, and we have a suggestion,” Jake said.

“What kind of suggestion?” Mike asked, glancing between the three of us.

There was a moment of silence before Nick spoke.

“We want to call Victor,” Nick said slowly.

I immediately looked at Aria. Her eyes widened, and she was staring at Nick.

“What?” Annie asked, shocked. “Why?”

“Well…” I started talking. “We want to lure him in. We want to finish this.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Mike smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, we are hoping that the phone call will piss him off and he will come,” I explained.

“What about his army?” Jack sighed. “We don’t know how many people he has. There are ten of us here. That’s hardly an army.”

“If we wait for him to make the first move, he will have an even bigger army than he has right now,” Nick said. “We need to surprise him.”

“What makes you think he will even come?” Annie asked.

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