Rolex’s POV
Dad’s revelation had struck each of us like a blow to the chest. A
curse? Dependent on our mate to survive? The irony wasn’t lost on
me. All this time, we had treated Mia like an outsider, a nuisance.
And now, our very lives were tied to her.
I sat in the corner of the living room, running a hand through my
hair. Nathan was pacing, muttering under his breath, while Xavier
leaned against the wall, arms crossed, staring off into the distance.
Sean looked no better, rubbing his temples as if trying to process it
all.
“We’ve been complete assholes,” Sean muttered, breaking the
silence.
“No kidding,” Xavier responded dryly.
I clenched my fists, standing firm as the tension between us built.
“We didn’t know,” I repeated, my voice carrying a calmness I
didn’t feel. “It doesn’t excuse what we’ve done, but we didn’t know.
Now we do, and we need to fix it.”
Nathan let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Fix it? You think we can
just apologize, and everything will magically be fine? She hates us.
And honestly, I hate her too.”
His words stung because they were true. She did hate us, and it
wasn’t without reason. I couldn’t shake the memory of her defiant
eyes, the way she’d stood up to us despite the fear she must have
felt.
“That’s exactly why we have to try,” I argued, forcing my hands to
relax. The tension in my shoulders wasn’t going anywhere, but I
couldn’t let it show. “We don’t have a choice. If she doesn’t bond
with us, we’re dead. It’s as simple as that.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed, his smirk growing more bitter by the
second. “So what? You want to grovel at her feet? Beg her to save
us?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Xavier cut in, his tone firm. “We don’t
have the luxury of pride anymore, Nathan. This is bigger than us.”
Nathan scoffed, shaking his head. “You’re all pathetic. She doesn’t
deserve us groveling. She’s just as much a part of this mess as we
are. Why should we beg her to do what she’s supposed to do as our
mate?”
I felt a wave of frustration boil over and stepped toward him.
“Because we’ve done nothing but treat her like dirt! Or have you
forgotten how we’ve humiliated her, ignored her, pushed her aside?
She owes us nothing, Nathan. If anything, we owe her everything.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened, “You’re delusional if you think she’s going
to forgive us. She’s not that kind of person. She’s stubborn, spiteful
-”
“And who made her that way?” I interrupted, my chest tightening
as the anger swelled. “We did. We forced her to be strong because
we gave her no other choice.”
Sean raised a hand as if to calm the storm brewing between us.
“Alright, enough. This isn’t helping. We need a plan, not another
argument.”
Nathan crossed his arms, his glare shifting to me. “Fine. Let’s hear
it then. What’s your brilliant plan?”
I took a deep breath, trying to focus past the noise in my head. “We
need to apologize,” I said simply, though the weight of those words
wasn’t simple at all.
Nathan rolled his eyes. “Great plan, Rolex. Real original. What’s
step two? Bake her a cake?”
My jaw tightened, and I shot him a glare. “Step two is proving to
her that we’re serious. Words won’t be enough. She needs to see
that we’ve changed, that we’re willing to put her first.”
Xavier nodded, stepping forward. “We start by showing her
respect,” he added. “We stop treating her like a burden and start
treating her like the mate she is.”
Nathan snorted, his skepticism dripping from every word.
“Respect? That’s your grand solution? You think she’s just going to
forget everything we’ve done because we start being nice to her?”
“Do you have a better idea?” I shot back, my frustration bubbling to
the surface.
Nathan’s lips curled into a smirk, his eyes glinting with something
dark. “Yeah. We don’t ask her. We make her.”
The room fell silent, the weight of his words sinking into the air like
poison.
“You’ve lost your mind,” Xavier muttered, his expression dark.
Nathan shrugged, leaning casually against the wall. “Think about
it. She doesn’t want to cooperate, fine. But we’re her mates. She’s
bound to us whether she likes it or not. We have the power to make
her do what needs to be done.”
“You can’t be serious,” Sean said, staring at him like he’d grown a
second head.
Nathan shrugged again. “It’s the most efficient way. We don’t have
time to play nice.”
I stepped forward, my body tense as I glared at him. “If you think
for one second that I’m going to let you force her into anything,
you’re dead wrong.”
Nathan met my glare with one of his own, his smirk growing
sharper. “And what are you going to do about it, Rolex? Talk me to
death?”
Without thinking, I grabbed him by the collar and shoved him back
against the wall, my voice low and dangerous. “If you even think
about hurting her, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Nathan’s smirk faltered for a moment, but he quickly recovered.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Try me,” I growled.
Xavier stepped between us, shoving us apart with a frustrated sigh.
“Enough! This isn’t solving anything.”
Nathan straightened his shirt, his smirk fading as he glared at me.
“You’re wasting time. She’s not going to save us willingly, and you
know it.”
I stared at him, my fists clenched so tightly my knuckles ached. “If
you try to force her, I’ll go straight to Diego and tell him everything.
Let’s see how fast he pulls you from the Alpha candidacy then.”
Nathan’s expression darkened, his eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t
dare.”
I stepped closer, my voice cold. “Try me, Nathan. I dare you.”
Nathan’s glare lingered on me, but I could see the calculation in his
eyes. My threat had landed exactly where I wanted it to. He
wouldn’t risk Diego pulling his candidacy for Alpha-his pride
wouldn’t allow it.
“Fine,” Nathan muttered, his tone laced with venom. “Do whatever
you want, but don’t come crying to me when she turns on you.”
I didn’t bother replying. He wasn’t worth the energy. For now, he
was backing off, and that was all I cared about. Sean shot me a wary
glance, clearly uneasy about the growing tension between us.
Xavier, on the other hand, was focused, his arms crossed as he
studied Nathan like he was waiting for him to slip up again.
The air was thick with unspoken words, and I could feel the cracks
forming between us. We weren’t acting like brothers-hell, we
weren’t even acting like a pack. And it was only going to get worse
unless we found a way to fix this.
Before anyone could say anything else, a loud crash echoed from
the direction of the kitchen. We all froze, the sound breaking the
tense silence like a thunderclap.
“What the hell was that?” Sean asked, his brow furrowing.
Xavier was the first to move, heading toward the noise with the rest
of us close behind. As we rounded the corner, the scene before us
made us all stop in our tracks.
Scarlet and Layla were sprawled on the kitchen floor, completely
unconscious. The chairs around the table were knocked over, and
shards of what looked like a broken glass littered the ground.
Standing in the middle of the chaos was Mia, her chest heaving as
she stared down at the two cousins.
My eyes immediately went to her hands, clenched tightly at her
sides. She looked unharmed, but the intensity in her expression was
something I’d never seen before.
“Mia?” Xavier stepped forward cautiously, his gaze shifting
between her and the unconscious cousins. “What happened?”