Kira took a deep breath as she pulled back from Bryan’s embrace, her hands falling limply to her sides. She looked at him for a moment, then her gaze shifted to Aiden, unsure whether to remain angry at them or let it go… a little.
Meanwhile, Bryan smiled softly, his hand coming up to rub her cheek affectionately.
“Why don’t we talk upstairs, hm?” He asked her gently, his thumb brushing her skin with care. “Please,” he said, his voice soft and coaxing as he tried to ease the tension and make her not to be too angry at them.
Kira hesitated for a moment, then sighed and nodded. “Fine,” she muttered, but she didn’t smile. She just turned and walked out, heading to the room without waiting for them to follow.
Watching her leave, Bryan and Aiden looked at each other briefly before following her.
As they reached the bedroom, Kira pushed the door open and stepped inside.
She made her way to the center of the room without glancing at them and instead of sitting on the bed, she sat on the floor and leaned her back against the edge of the bed.
When Bryan and Aiden finally stepped into the room and shut the door, they paused. They didn’t expect they would be having this conversation while sitting on the floor.
They simply watched her for a moment before joining her.
Bryan lowered himself to the floor first, a few feet from Kira, finding a comfortable position.
He glanced at her face once he was comfortably sitting down on the floor, trying to read her mood. While Aiden sat beside Bryan.
Aiden was slightly closer to her but still left enough space to respect her boundaries.
Once they were all seated, Kira slowly looked at her mates in front of her, her eyes lingering on Bryan. She took in his expression, the way he seemed stressed, before moving to Aiden, who looked the same way.
She had not noticed it before because she was so upset with them, and now that she saw it, she started feeling really bad about slapping them earlier.
Though she didn’t speak immediately, her expression softened just enough to reveal her concern.
After a few more moments of silence, she moved closer to them, leaning forward as she raised her hands to their cheeks. One hand on Bryan’s cheek, and the other on Aiden’s.
Bryan and Aiden were taken aback because she was still upset with them, but they loved it anyway. They loved her touch. It was light, careful, and most importantly, it felt caring.
“Does it hurt?” She asked them softly, her tone tinged with guilt.
“What?” Bryan asked while smiling, his hand placed over hers on his cheek as he enjoyed her touch before he realized what she was talking about. “Oh,” he said with a quiet chuckle, shaking his head lightly. “It doesn’t hurt, love. And we deserved that.”
“What about you?” She turned to Aiden. She had also noticed he had been too quiet. “Does it hurt?”
“No, my love,” Aiden responded, smiling affectionately at her.
“Then it should have hurt,” Kira mumbled stubbornly, earning a soft laugh from her mates.
“That’s fair,” Bryan muttered.
“You are scary when you’re mad, you know,” Aiden murmured with a faint smile. “Do you really have to stay mad? We are sorry, we really were going to tell you. Really!”
“He’s right,” Bryan added. “Remember the night of your first battle, when I said there was something we wanted to tell you? This was it. I promise we are not lying.”
“We only forgot about it because it seemed like it was gone and all. We thought of it like a chapter that has been closed or an injury that has been healed, which is why it never came to mind, but when it did, we really were going to tell you, but you got so sleepy that night,” Aiden explained.
“And so…,” Bryan continued. “We decided to let you sleep. We thought we could tell you the next day ourselves, we didn’t know it was going to come back that way.”
They both looked at her after explaining, her hands still caressing their cheeks as she listened to them, while they hoped she believed them.
Without saying anything, Kira just hummed and leaned in toward Bryan. She planted a soft, longing kiss on his cheek where she had slapped him earlier, his breath hitching at that act in a good way and when she pulled back, his face was a mix of surprise and tenderness.
Turning to Aiden, she leaned up again and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. She noticed how he let out a quiet exhale, his shoulders relaxing, before she pulled away.
“I’m sorry,” Kira said quietly. “I just… I was angry and most, especially, very worried. I thought something had happened to you guys, and I was not prepared for any of that. I want to be angry, but I can’t even be upset with you two, and that’s so upsetting.”
“We know, love,” Aiden said, his voice calm and reassuring. “You have every right to be upset. We will make it up to you. We really didn’t mean to hide it from you. We will tell you anything you want to know, nothing will be left out.”
Clearing his throat, he asked, “So… Do you want us to start?”
Leaning back, Kira crossed her arms, her gaze lingering on both of them before she gave a short nod. “Sure, tell me everything and don’t leave anything out.”
“We won’t. So,” Aiden started. “Morane was the one who found out that we were cursed when we turned eighteen. She explained that she sensed something dark around us or in us. We don’t know how she did but yeah, and so she talked to us and our parents about it, saying she would like to do a spell, just to be safe and we all agreed. That was how we found out we were cursed.”