Page 37 of Accepted Bonds

“Whether we want to admit it or not, each of us on our own may not have been enough to make Aurora happy.”Mateo’s deep voice carried considerable weight as he spoke those words.

“Speak for yourself.I think I could have made her happy just fine.”I grumbled.

Before Mateo could argue, Caden interrupted him.“There’s no need to argue about it.We’re all her mates now, anyway.”

“I still don’t like her dependence on Nina, though.I’m going to replace her.”Aiden said, looking foolishly full of himself.

I snorted, “Stop fooling yourself.It will never happen.I’ve known Aurora for eight years and I tried to replace Nina too, but I couldn’t.Nobody can.Have you ever thought about why Aurora is so close to Nina and so dependent on her?When she was younger, her parents’ careers were in the rapidly growing phase and they couldn’t withdraw from their responsibilities to care for her.The person who dropped everything, including her job, to accompany Aurora was Nina.”

I could see the disapproval dripping off everyone at our table as they judged Amelia without truly understanding how difficult it had been for her to let go of her only three-year-old daughter for two years because of her responsibility to the world.

“Her mom tried her best, but there was a group of terrorists cultivating contagious diseases and testing them out on humans and supernaturals.Without Amelia’s abilities, the world would have gone to hell.Unfortunately, while she was dealing with those diseases that were contagious to even supernaturals, she couldn’t see Aurora often either, for fear of infecting her.Nina was Aurora’s mother for about two years after she turned three, so it’s next to impossible for anyone to replace her in Aurora’s heart.Of course, I’ve been working my way up there for years, but you still have a long way to go.”

Aiden’s face reddened, but because he knew I was telling the truth, he could only bluster.“We’ll see about that.”

I chuckled as I focused on taking a spoonful of my already lukewarm rice porridge.

23

Levi

We played Monopoly for a while, but by the time Caden returned from his meeting with his father and Mac Tire City’s Council, we were already bored.

Since we were bored and Caden looked tired, we decided to lounge by the poolside.After changing into our swimwear, we went to one of the hotel’s small private pools and rented it for private use in the afternoon.There, I claimed the only lounge chair under an umbrella because I was a vampire and even though I wasn’t going to burst into flames when the ‘noon sun’ touched me, I was still averse to sunbathing of any kind.

There were only four lounge chairs by the poolside, so I was planning to entice Aurora to share my lounge chair and patio umbrella, but Caden got there before me.He grabbed Aurora’s arm and pulled her to lie with him on his lounge chair.

After seeing this, I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him and picked up my phone to read and sort through my work emails.After all, while Aurora was a volunteer ‘consultant’ in the Supernatural Council, I was still a gainfully employed member of the Supernatural Council, even though we were all on standby mode while Alpha Owen and Keane negotiated with Alpha Timothy.

“Aiden, please wake Mateo up.He needs to put on sunscreen or he’ll get sunburned.”Caden said in a groggy voice.

I glanced at Caden’s lounge chair where Aurora was lying on Caden, already fast asleep, before glancing at Mateo, who was sleeping with his face pressed to the lounge chair and all of his back exposed to the cruel sun, and shook my head.

Caden was such a worrywart.He was worried about everything, every time, even though the real reason we were relaxing by the poolside was so he could get a good rest.

Aiden let out a sigh before rising from his lounge chair, where he’d been reclining with his hands folded behind his neck, to rouse Mateo.

Unfortunately, Mateo didn’t want to be woken up.

“Go away, Aiden.”He said in a groggy voice.

“Aiden ...please just help him with the sunscreen,” Caden urged.

I shook my head at him, even though I knew that it was this nurturing nature of his that had made it easier for me to accept him wholeheartedly as Aurora’s other mate.

Aiden, of course, released an exasperated sigh but still agreed.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Aiden, despite being an Alpha himself, had accepted Caden as his Alpha.It was obvious in their every interaction where Caden gave suggestion-like orders that Aiden unconsciously obeyed.

“Why didn’t he just put on some sunscreen before falling asleep?He’s so fond of doing this.Who avoids sunscreen because they don’t like how it feels on their skin?He’s so ridiculous.”Aiden grumbled as he helped Mateo spread sunscreen on his back which was already as red as a tomato.

“Um ...I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”The strange voice raised my hackles and judging by Caden’s low growl, it raised his too.

“Ryan, how many times do I have to tell you to stop creeping up on people?”Aiden, who seemed to be used to Ryan creeping around, complained.

Ryan stiffened and then laughed nervously, “Sorry.I’m just used to it.”

“So, um, I thought you guys weren’t mates with each other ...only Aurora, or does that work too?I have never seen Aiden and Mateo touching, but now Aiden is massaging Mateo.I ...”Before Ryan could say more, Aiden threw the pocket-sized sunscreen in his hand at him.

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