Chapter 26

RAVEN

Ten minutes later, Damon arrived and entered Liam’s office, shutting the door behind him.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” I said, our eyes meeting as Liam took a seat at his desk, placing his legs on the table and crossing them at the ankle. The arrogance and power that exuded from him were dizzying, yet at the same time, he looked incredibly handsome. Damon dropped onto one of the seats opposite, one leg stretched out, resting his elbow on the arm rest.

I could feel his aura too, and although it was nowhere near as strong as Liam’s, it was powerful. Yet there was something warm and welcoming about it. Dressed in black Nike jogging bottoms, a matching hoodie and Nike sneakers. So different…

Both were gorgeous… They both pulled at me, and once again, Al’s words rang in my head. The fear that there was no way for all three of us to work ate up at me. Both of them were watching me, I wish I had grabbed the largest hoodie I could find to hide in. Their gazes were intense, I felt so damn small and bare.

“For two people who wanted to fucking talk, you’re pretty silent.” Liam remarked, reaching into his desk drawer and taking out a small knife that he began playing with.· “I’ll start…” I said, smiling brightly.

I was standing at the end of the desk looking at both men, Liam simply raised an eyebrow as if he was bored already. Argh, he is such an asshat!

‘You got this.’ Damon said through the link.

“Thanks.’ I replied.

“Ok… First, let’s put how we feel on the table. No anger, no judgement, let’s not even think we’re mates, just how you feel

“Ladies first.” Liam said, spinning the knife and throwing it u p before catching the blade between his teeth, making my heart pound at how dangerous that was.

Goddess!

“Ok, you’re distracting me, Liam.” I said pointedly.

He simply gave me a sexy, arrogant smirk.

“Good.”

I shook my head and looked at the table instead.

“I get that this is hard for both of you, in this scenario, you are both connected to me, not each other.” I said softly. “I… I want this to work… but I won’t lie, I don’t know how. Damon i s willing to make it work, but Liam, you don’t want to. I myself know how confusing this is… If it was a three-way mate.

“Fuck gross.” Damon cringed.

“No fucking way.” Liam shuddered.

“There is nothing wrong with two men being mated.” I said displeased.

“No, there isn’t, unless you consider the other your brother.” Damon said sheepishly.

“And I’m straight.” Liam said very adamantly.

Yeah, the world knew that. From those two, I could see Damon as the one who could be bi… I shook my head, clearing another naughty image from my head. I blushed lightly and Liam glared at me.

“You better not be fucking imagining anything.”

“I was not!” I denied vehemently.

It’s not my fault that my imagination runs wild!

Damon snickered, earning himself a dangerous glare from Liam. Ever the Alpha…

“Anyway, I don’t want to hurt either of you, I love you both…I always have loved you both, even if that love changed to something else. Growing up, I loved Liam and hoped that he’d be my mate… That maybe I was worthy of him, hoping that if I was a good girl, the moon goddess would bless me with you. Damon always had eyes for Kiara, and I didn’t mind that, I loved him as a friend. But when Uncle A passed away, that changed to something more. Then I was confused. All my life I thought I wanted Liam and then this happened. I know it’s selfish, and both of you deserved your individual mates… Not just me, who is just… nothing special.” I looked down at my hands, before my eyes blazed as I stared at them both with reborn confidence.

“But I have an ultimatum. I swear on my life, that I won’t accept either of you unless you make amends with one another. If your bond, that bond you had as brothers, as best friends, is gone, then this mate bond is gone too. I will not let a newer forged bond destroy one that is years old. Stop hurting one another, because it’s killing me inside knowing that I am the reason you two are like this. That I destroyed that friendship and brotherhood.”

I looked at them both, though my eyes lingered on Liam. That cold exterior had a crack on it and the guilt he felt was clear in his eyes. He stood up suddenly, walking over to me. Despite moving back, he pulled me roughly against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around me making me gasp and very aware of a certain something pressed against my stomach.

Damon… I didn’t want to hurt him either. I looked at him, he gave me a small smile and a wink that made me feel better. For a moment I let myself relax into Liam’s embrace, inhaling his intoxicating scent. ‘Someone’s going to have to build bridges, Raven, and if that means you two working on your relationship, I’m all for it.’ His voice came through the link. My heart skipped a beat, and for a moment I relished in the embrace, trying not to focus on certain body parts touching me before looking up at him.

Please hear him out.’ I mind linked him. I felt him tense slightly, before he moved back, leaving me feeling lightheaded and my heart pounding loudly in my chest. “Your turn.” Liam said to Damon coldly before taking my hand and making me sit in his seat. I looked up at him, only to see him sit at the edge of his desk, one knee bent on the desk and his other leg on the floor next to mine as he looked at Damon. Despite the hostility I could sense from Liam, he at least was willing to listen. Damon glanced between us both before blowing out a sharp breath. Threading his fingers together and placing two fingers on his gorgeous plump lips. “When you left, it fucking hurt. Everything seemed to have fallen apart and I felt guilty… I knew that you always loved Raven, and then I was thrown into the mix. I know you hate the fucking idea, but if you did agree… I promise that I will take it at your pace… I won’t take her from you or expect more than you are ready for her to give me.” He looked down. It hurt that he was yielding to Liam, but it also warmed me. Obviously, there had to be a way the moon goddess wanted this to work, right? They needed to be opposites.· I stood up and walked around, placing my hand on his shoulder, I gave it a gentle squeeze. I looked at Liam, who was watching him coldly. His jaw ticked but he didn’t speak, allowing Damon to carry on. “I do love her, regardless of Robyn. I needed to cope and that was the easiest distraction.” Damon said, I could sense his guilt.

Those images returned to me and I felt a pang of pain.

“Anything else?” Liam asked calmly.

But his calmness made me uncertain too. Right now I couldn’t read him, but his eyes seemed to look darker than his wolf eyes. That same dark navy I saw yesterday…

My heart was thundering. Damon looked up at me sharply, then at Liam, who was once again playing with the knife, his eyes hidden from my view. What was that?

“I love you as a brother, as well as my Alpha and best friend, Liam. I don’t want to ruin that, I’m holding out hope that you’ll remember that this brother of yours never wanted to hurt you.” Damon finished looking at Liam, who didn’t even bother looking over.

He simply nodded, licking his lips.

“Fine, so you messed around as you needed a distraction? When I left, I told you to do what the fuck you wanted. Why didn’t you two mate and mark each other? You had that chance.” He asked us both.

Despite the hatred in his tone, his voice was steady.

“I couldn’t betray you, I wanted you to be ok with this.” Damon said, quietly.

“And you, darling?” Liam asked, yet the mocking tone in his voice made me frown.

“Neither of you bothered to pursue me and I didn’t know what to do. I felt shocked, numb, confused –

neither of my mates wanted me. Back then I felt I was the extra in your relationship, so I ran away…

After you left, Damon avoided me because he couldn’t just forget you. Neither of you bothered to even try to talk to me-”

“Hold up, let’s not play victim love,” Liam said dangerously. A frown creased his brow as he pointed the knife at me. “I tried t o mind link you that night and you didn’t answer.” .

“I had drunk a lot that night, I was completely knocked out!” I said, my heart aching. “It was night. You could have tried to-”

“Really? Then how about when I came to your house and your dad said you didn’t want to see me?”

Did dad say that?

My heart was thundering. What was going on? Why would Dad do that?

“And what about those texts? Those fucking messages that you read but never replied to.” He growled, his eyes blazing. I frowned, my heart skipping a beat.

“What messages Liam?”.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and unlocked i t. After a moment, he held it up to me. I stared at the three messages that were clear on the screen and, sure enough… The word ‘SEEN’ was as clear as day under the final text…