Page 78 of My Unexpected Mate

I just wanted to hold her. I needed to hold her. Nate was whimpering and clawing to get out.

Stop it. I told him.

I want our mate. She is in pain. We need to hold her. He responded.

I ignored him and looked back at Gabriel. He was running his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he picked up from me.

“Aria?” he called her quietly.

A panicked sob escaped her mouth, and my rational thinking was gone. I reacted on instinct and ran toward her. My hands touched her, and she gasped. A powerful blow threw me off her and I landed on the other side of the room.

My first thought was that Gabriel hit me with magic to get me away from her. Fucker. He was not going to deny me my mate. I started growling and looked up at him, but his shocked expression told me he didn’t do it. It was Aria.

I looked at her and she was looking at me wide-eyed, tears running down her cheeks.

“I am so sorry, Nick,” she whispered.

“It is okay. I am fine,” I said and stood up. “I am sorry. My instinct was to protect you. When you started crying, Nate took over. I didn’t want to scare you.”

She didn’t respond. She looked back down and squeezed her knees tighter, making herself even smaller.

Gabriel was looking at me and mouthed "are you ok?" I nodded and smiled slightly. She didn’t hurt me. Although, that was some powerful blow.

Annie took a deep breath and slowly placed her hand on Aria’s shoulder. I tensed, expecting Aria to react. But she didn’t. She flinched slightly, but she didn’t blast her with magic.

She was afraid of men. A man had hurt her. At that moment I saw red. I was going to kill that motherfucker. I looked over at Gabriel and could tell that he too was thinking the same thing. He looked at me and clenched his fists.

“Aria, sweetie,” Annie started talking. “Can you tell us what happened? What do you remember?”

Aria sobbed again and shook her head. She was not telling us anything. Fuck.

“Aria,” Gabriel said quietly. “Do you remember we promised to be by your side no matter what you remembered? Let us do that. Let us help you.”

She shook her head and said five words that almost broke me. “I want to go home.”

Annie, Gabriel and I looked at each other. We were all visibly panicking. What does she mean by that? She can’t leave us.

“What do you mean, A?” Annie asked quietly. “This is your home.”

“No,” she shook her head and cried. “I want to go back to my village. To my family.”

I froze. What family? The only family she had was Gabriel. Wasn’t she his sister? Wasn’t she the same Aria his grandma was talking about? But it couldn’t be. They looked alike. They had the same eyes. It had to be her.

I looked at him, he was frozen. Probably thinking the same thing as me.

Annie was the only one composed enough to talk to her. Gabriel and I were too panicked to speak.

“What family, A?” Annie asked slowly.

“Cassie and Jake,” she responded and looked up at Annie.

Who the fuck are Cassie and Jake?

“Who are they?” Annie voiced the question inside my head.

“Are they really related to you?” Gabriel jumped in before she could answer.

She flinched at the sound of his voice and shook her head. I could see him relax.