Page 302 of My Unexpected Mate

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.”

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