Page 90 of My Unexpected Mate

She turned to look at us and nodded.

“No!” Nick and I yelled at the same time.

She flinched and looked down.

Nick got up and started walking toward her before I could stop him. Shit. He was going to scare her even more.

He grabbed her and wrapped her in a hug. She tensed and tried to get away from him, but he tightened his grip. I started to walk toward them to push him away from her, but he spoke before I could reach them.

“You are not leaving me,” he said softly. “You can’t leave me, Aria.”

She relaxed a bit and wrapped her arms around Nick.

“I won’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to the three of you because of me,” she said quietly.

“And I wouldn’t be able to live without you,” Nick said, not letting go of her.

“The mate bond is too strong, Aria,” Annie said. “You and Nick would be in pain if you left.”

Nick let go of her and kissed her forehead. He led her back to the sofa and she sat back down.

“Annie is right,” Nick said. “Now that I shifted the bond is stronger, it would be painful for us to be apart.”

“But what if something happens?” she asked quietly.

“Do you really think that fucker can go through the two of us?” I said. “I am a powerful warlock, Aria. Nick is a powerful hybrid. He can’t win against us. And that is without the hatred we feel for him. With this hatred, I could kill him just by looking at him, trust me.”

“Hey, what about me?” Annie interfered with a smile. “I am a strong she-wolf.”

Aria chuckled and looked up at the three of us. “Thank you, guys. I feel safer around you. But if at any point he threatens either one of you, I will give him what he wants.”

Nick growled and started shaking. I put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down a bit.

“He will not get a chance to threaten us. He will not get a chance to get to you. You will not have to give him anything. It will not come to that,” I said firmly, looking at her.

She took a deep breath and nodded.

Nick calmed down a bit and ran his hand through his hair.

“Maybe you should stop saying things like that in front of Nick,” I teased. “I would like to keep my furniture intact.”

Aria laughed and shook her head. “This mate bond thing is really something.”

“It is everything. You are everything,” Nick said. “And that is the reason you will not leave me, and I will make sure you are safe.”

She smiled at him, and Annie sighed.

“You two are so cute,” she said lovingly.

Nick chuckled and shook his head. “Nate says we are strong and dangerous, not cute.”

“Yeah, man,” I teased. “Wrapping yourself around Aria and purring was so dangerous. Vicious, really.”

The girls laughed and Nick frowned. “I’ll show you vicious Richardson.”

I gave him a big, challenging smile and Annie laughed. “How about you show him vicious tomorrow? It’s 1 am.”

“Yeah, guys. We need to go to bed,” Aria said and started getting up.