Chapter 116

The room is silent for a long moment and I’m shocked when it’s Jesse’s voice that breaks it.

“Whaaat the fuckkk,” Jesse groans, turning in a tight circle and covering his face with his hands before dragging them down over his features and turning to glare at me, just as Rafe is.

The room explodes again into noise, everyone shouting at once, except for Jackson, who just stares at me, wary.

“Stop, stop!” I shout, putting my hands out again as tears slip from my eyes, my voice shaking. “Everyone shut up!”

To my surprise, all of the Alphas comply, going still and letting me speak.

I turn my head to look at Luca for a long moment, taking in every devastated line of his face, the shock and the heartbreak, all of which pulses down our bond as well, threatening to take me out at the knees. “Jackson is my mate,” I say quietly, solidly, claiming him. Dread fills me now, and I know that it’s only half mine as I turn to Jackson, seeing it on his face too.

Because he senses what’s coming.

“But so is Luca,” I continue, my voice hitching, my heart breaking as I look into Jackson’s eyes. Because I know – I know what it meant to Jackson to find me, to have me.

And I know what it’s going to mean to find out that I’m not his. Or at least, not his alone.

“You’re both my fated mates,” I whisper, wanting to be perfectly clear as I send all the love I can down both of my bonds to each of them, hoping to communicate how much I want them, how each of them is precious to me. “The Goddess…she gave me two mates. She gave me both of you.”

Silence again, for a long moment, before Jackson breaks it with a long moan that tears my heart to pieces. Because my stoic mate – if he’d had any choice at all in the matter, he’d never have made a sound, never have let anyone know how he feels. But this – he couldn’t help it.

A terrible sob rips from me as I watch Jackson turn away to face the wall, watch him cover his face with his hand, watch his shoulders shake as he tries to process everything. And the grief that ripples off of him in a wave – I stumble back a step, and only Ben reaching out to take me by the shoulders, to steady me, stops me from falling to the floor.

But that’s not the end of it. God, crap, it’s just the beginning.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Ariel!?” Luca gasps, stepping forward towards me, mad as hell. Jesse steps forward too, ready to intercede, but I put up a hand towards him. Because Luca’s my mate – there’s no way he’d consciously hurt me, and he has every right to be livid with me right now.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, shaking my head as I look up into his eyes. “I didn’t know…how to tell you. Either of you. It was all so new – and everyone thought I was a boy –“

“Wait,” Rafe says, and from the corner of my eye I see him step towards us, “this is…this is real? Luca is her mate? I thought Jackson -”

“Jackson is her mate!?” Jesse counters, turning towards him, and the two begin a hurried, angry conversation, comparing notes.

I keep my eyes focused on Luca in front of me, even though half my heart is with Jackson across the room, who I can tell is…well, having a little bit of a breakdown. I hear footsteps behind me moving in his direction, and I know instinctually that it’s Ben, being the good person that he is and going to stand with him.

“Ariel,” Luca says again, softer now, still angry but staring at me with his own grief written clear on his face as he reaches out and takes my face in his hands. “You…you picked him? You claimed him? As your mate?”

“No,” I say, shaking my head and wrapping my hands around his wrists. “Luca, I didn’t do this – the Goddess did – she…god, this is going to sound so weird, but she’s my grandmother –“

“What?” he sputters, disbelieving.

“It’s true, but it’s not important – but she picked Jackson, she picked both of you for me –“

“That’s fucking impossible!” Luca yells, dropping his hands from my face and throwing them out to the side. “You get one mate – one – I don’t know who told you that you could have two, but they were lying, Ariel!”

“Actually,” Jesse snaps, pausing his angry conversation with Rafe to turn to us. Luca’s eyes move instantly to him. “It’s not impossible. Their dad had two fated mates.” Jesse points between Rafe and me. “So,” he shrugs. “Family precedent. And all that.”

“Wait, what?” Rafe sputters, grabbing Jesse’s arm and making him face him. The two begin to speak again in hushed tones as Luca stares at them for a second before he shakes his head to clear it, turning back to me.

“Listen, if it’s real – and he just hasn’t tricked you into believing he’s your mate or something,” Luca shouts, “I don’t even care how it happened! But you have to end it, Ari! Just reject him!”

My eyes go wide, horrified at the suggestion.

Luca sees my reaction and his jaw drops. “You…you’re not going to reject him!?”

“Luca, no –“

He groans, turning away from me like he can’t bear to look at me anymore, his whole body starting to tremble with the insane mix of emotions coursing through him right now.

“Luca, I can’t –“

“You can, Ariel!” he shouts, turning on me and clenching a fist between us – not violent, but determined. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but you and me!? We’re meant to be together! I don’t care who the fuck that guy is, or what some Goddess said, you are my mate,” he pounds his fist against his chest now with the words as his voice cracks, and tears start to slip down my cheeks as I feel every inch of how much he means them.

I shake my head, not knowing what to say as I press my hands to my heart. “I am your mate, Luca –“

“Don’t you get it?” Luca says, softer now, coming close again, staring down at me desperate and devastated. “Don’t you get how shatteringly in love with you I am? Ariel…” he shakes his head, wrapping a gentle hand around my neck and pulling me closer to him. “I am yours, and you are mine, and that is the end of it. The end of everything – of the entire fucking universe -”

And then his hand tightens, pulling me closer so that he can kiss me. His lips move on mine like a promise, like everything is complete.

And my heart breaks, because as much as half of me sings to hear him say it – that he loves me, beyond just being mated to me –

The other half of my heart is storming towards the door now, devastated.

I pull my face from Luca’s, a little cry on my lips as I watch Jackson tear open the door, watch him move swiftly through it. I move instantly towards him, needing to catch him, needing to explain –

But Luca grabs my arm. “Are you kidding me!?” he shouts, appalled. “Ariel! Do not go after him!”

“Luca!” I shout back, gesturing towards the door. “He’s my –“

“Your fucking mate,” Luca groans, dropping my arm and lifting his hands to knot them in his hair, at the end of his patience, maybe even his sanity. I stare at him, wanting to go to him as well, to explain further – because he needs so much information, and he deserves it, I know that now –

But…

My eyes move again to the door, wanting to follow Jacks too because he deserves the very same thing. And as much as Luca is throwing a fit right now – not that I blame him, it’s a very well-deserved fit - I know that Jackson is taking this harder.

To Jackson, I was the one good thing in this world.

And now he thinks he’s lost me.

And he’s just…gone.

“Stay here, Ariel,” Jesse says, and I jump when I realize that he’s standing at my side. “I’ll go after Jacks. Just…stay in the room, all right?”

“Jesse,” I murmur, reaching for him, apology all over my face.

“It’s fine,” my good cousin says, taking my hand and giving it a little squeeze. “I mean, it’s not fine, but…” he sighs, shaking his head. “We’re fine, all right? Deal with your drama, I’ll be back when I can.”

And with that, my cousin storms off after my mate.

I turn back to Luca, who I’m surprised to see standing staring at me in a newly determined way, his hands on his hips. “I’m not doing this,” he says, shaking his head, his voice set. “End things with him, Ariel – I’m not…I can’t do this. I love you too damn much to share you with that jackass.”

Luca tears his eyes from me like he can’t bear to look at me anymore and strides for the door, yanking it open and likewise starting down the hall. I stare after him with my jaw open – not because what he said is really that surprising or even unfair…

I just…

God, what the fuck just happened? How did the entire world just explode within the last five minutes – all my carefully veiled secrets, ripped open at once…

“I’ll take care of that one,” Rafe says, sending me a glance as he, too, strides for the door. “But don’t even think that we’re done talking about this, Ariel.”

I don’t say anything, just watching in shock as Rafe, too, passes through the door and slams it shut behind him.

And then the room is…absolutely silent. Stupidly silent, after everything that just happened.

God, what the hell, they transformed into their wolves for heaven’s sake – they fought each other…

And now I’m just standing here in silence. With Ben.

I almost leap out of my skin when the dumbwaiter’s absurdly cheerful bell sounds, but I don’t even turn to watch as Ben quietly moves to the dumbwaiter and takes something out. Instead, I just stand and stare into space, trying to put the shards of my reality back together.

They know. My mates know – after months of keeping it secret…

Now they just…know.

From the corner of my eye I see Ben carry whatever he took from the dumbwaiter quietly to the coffee table, but I don’t pay attention to it. I barely notice, still staring at the door, when he takes me by the shoulders, and guides me over to the couch, and sits me down, and lays the green blanket over my knees, and puts a fork in my hand.

I only start to come back to the present moment as Ben lifts a knife to cut the ridiculous chocolate cake in front of us that reads “Congratulations!”

I sit in perfect silence, holding my fork, as Ben lifts a slice and puts it on a plate, sighing as he holds it out to me.

“Come on, Princess,” he murmurs. “You need this.”

I stare at Ben, blank, as I take the cake from his hand and settle the plate on my lap.

“If it helps at all,” Ben murmurs as he cuts another slice and leans back onto the couch with it, scooping up a forkful and lifting it to his mouth. “I’m gay and in love with your brother.”

I quietly watch as Ben takes a bite of the thick cake, chews it and swallows.

“Yeah,” I sigh, turning to look down at my plate as I cut off the corner of my cake with the edge of my fork and lift it to my lips. “I kind of figured.”

Ben just huffs a little laugh, taking another bite.