Gabriel’s POVI watched Aria and Cassie walk away.“Is she okay?” Blake asked.“Yes,” Nick sighed. “We had a small disagreement.”“We heard you growl,” Blake smirked.“Oh, that was directed at Gabriel, not her,” Nick chuckled.“What did you do?” Blake asked me and laughed.“I made a stupid suggestion,” I shrugged.Nick chuckled and shook his head.“Okay, enough about us,” I said and sat down on the couch. “We need to talk about Patricia.”“Do you have a plan?” Jake asked me.“Not really,” I sighed. “That’s why I wanted to talk to all of you. We need to find her.”“I have a suggestion,” Annie said.“Let’s hear it,” Nick said as he placed his elbows on his knees.“Well, I have been talking to Jack and Mike,” Annie explained. “Jack is an excellent tracker. He suggested that we leave and try to find Patricia while the rest of you stay here and practice magic.”“What do you mean, we?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.“Mike, Jack, and I,” she explained.I frowned. I was not sure I was com
Gabriel’s POVWe were sitting in the kitchen, chatting with Annie while she made dinner.Nick was frowning.“What’s wrong?” I asked and took a sip of my beer.“I don’t know,” he sighed. “My feelings are a mess.”“It is probably because of everything that is happening with Victor,” Annie said and turned to look at him.“I guess,” Nick said as he ran his hand through his hair.“Do you need help?” I asked Annie.“No,” she smiled and turned back to continue making dinner.Suddenly, Nick bolted out of his chair and his eyes went black.“Nick?” I called him quietly.“Aria,” he growled and started running upstairs.I ran after him and followed him to Cassie’s room. He opened the door and growled loudly.Aria was sitting in Jacob’s lap, his arms wrapped tightly around her. She was crying.“What the hell is going on?” I said angrily.“Get your fucking hands off of my mate,” Nick growled.Why the hell was she crying? And why was she sitting on his lap? Nick was going to kill him. He was seconds
Gabriel’s POV“Will you stop pacing around?” Annie sighed. “You are driving me crazy.”I just couldn’t calm down. I wanted to talk to Aria. Apologize and explain. But I could feel Nate was on edge and nothing good would come of my insisting on staying in the room with them.So, I went downstairs into the kitchen with the intention of helping Annie with dinner. But I couldn’t focus and ended up almost burning the sauce she was making. She almost threw me out of the kitchen.“I am just nervous,” I mumbled.“She is fine,” Annie said. “I am surprised she lasted this long.”“What do you mean?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.“I would have broken down much, much sooner,” Annie said and turned to look at me. “I am amazed at how she managed to keep it all together.”She was right. Aria’s whole life turned out to be one big, fat lie. She was in danger. She was scared. And she never complained. She never told us. She had been keeping all of that inside. Until she couldn’t anymore.“You are right,”
Gabriel’s POV“Come on, Aria, focus,” I said as I grabbed her hands in mine. “You can do it.”She sighed and closed her eyes. I could see her reaching for the source of her power. We had been practicing for the last three days and she was getting better. She could now project emotions, but she still had trouble with focusing them on a single person. She brought us all down yesterday when she projected pain.“Can you feel my aura?” I asked her. “Can you feel my warmth?”“Yes,” she mumbled with her eyes still closed.“Good,” I said. “We all have our auras. We all have different levels of warmth. You need to differentiate it. Separate us from one another and focus only on one of us. Try focusing on me. Feel me.”Her eyebrows scrunched together, and her hands squeezed mine.“Try focusing on what you feel for me,” I told her. “Don’t create an emotion. Project your own feelings. That should be easier to do.”She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. A few minutes passed, but I felt no e
Nick’s POV“Can we please go back?” I sighed.Gabriel had been dragging me through the forest for the past half hour, telling me about plants and potions you could make from them. I have never been more bored in my life. I still didn’t understand why he wanted to take this walk.“Why are you so cranky?” he asked me.“I don’t like Aria being alone,” I said and stopped walking.There was no way I was walking any further. We were going back. I missed her and I was not going to let him bore me to death.“She is not alone,” he said and turned to look at me.“I don’t like who she is with,” I growled.I was thankful to Jacob for helping her the other day, but that still didn’t mean I like the guy. He wanted what was mine.Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine. We can go back.”“Finally,” I muttered and turned around.I swear to Goddess, the way back took us even longer. Gabriel was walking so slowly that I was tempted to pick him up and run back to the house.“If you slow down a bit more
Gabriel’s POVThe next few days flew by in a blur. Aria and I were practicing magic, and she got better. She could focus on one person at a time, and she could manipulate it really well. Nick and I have been teaching them the basics of one-on-one combat. Jacob and Blake were great. The girls not so much. They weren’t fighters. But it made me feel better knowing that they at least knew some basics to defend themselves. Mike, Jack, and Annie still hadn’t managed to locate Patricia. They still had one more village to go through, but I was beginning to lose hope. She was either dead or hiding pretty damn well.Victor hasn’t called again. Nick was content because he thought that meant he believed our lie. I had a funny feeling. It just seemed too easy. “Any news from Mike?” Jacob asked as we were eating breakfast.“No,” I sighed. “They have arrived at the last village today.”“They won’t find her,” Aria said quietly.“Don’t be so sure, love,” Nick said as he twirled her hair between his
Victor’s POVI was standing behind the tree looking at the house where she was hiding.If she thinks she could hide from me, she was really stupid. Luckily, I didn’t need her brains. I needed her power.“Do you think the boy will succeed, boss?” Rick asked.“If he doesn’t want to see his girlfriend dead, he will have to succeed,” I said, not taking my eyes away from the house.“Do you think she knows where Calvin is?” he asked again.I rolled my eyes and looked at him. “Stop talking or you will be sleeping in the dungeons tonight.”Rick bowed his head at me and looked away.I sure hoped this bitch knew what happened to him. I knew he was dead. I was not stupid. Calvin would always pick up the phone. Always. I was sure the bastard didn’t even know how to type. I wanted to hear it from her. I wanted her to tell me what they did to him. He was an annoying fucker, but I could always rely on him. He was one of my best men, and now I had to put up with Rick.Not that Rick wasn’t good. But h
Gabriel’s POVI was lying on my bed, going through my phone, when I heard someone knocking on the bedroom door next to mine. It was Jacob’s room.The knocking was loud and impatient.I stood up and walked over to the door. I opened the door and saw a very nervous Nick standing in front of Jacob’s room.“What’s wrong?” I asked him.“I can’t find Aria,” he growled and knocked on Jacob’s door again.Before I could ask him anything, Jacob opened the door.“Where is she?” Nick growled and pushed him out of the way to enter his room.I followed behind him.Jacob’s eyes widened. “Who?”“Aria,” Nick growled.“She didn’t come back?” Jacob asked, surprised. “I came into my room half an hour ago. She said she would grab a glass of water and come back up.”“She is probably with Cassie,” I said and walked out of Jacob’s room.Nick and Jacob followed me.Nick banged on Cassie’s door. “Aria?!”“Easy, man,” I said and grabbed his arm. “You are going to break the door down.”He looked at me, and the f
Gabriel’s POV“Aria!” I yelled.Where the hell is, she? We are going to be late.I heard footsteps coming into the kitchen. Aria walked in wearing a dress and white sneakers. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had a little makeup on.“Why are you in such a hurry?” she asked. “Nick is not even here yet.”“I promised Zack we would come a little earlier so I could help him hang the sign,” I explained.“We will be there on time,” she smiled. “Don’t worry.”There was a knock on the door, and Nick walked inside. His eyes immediately went to Aria, and he gave her a small smile. That guy was totally whipped.“Are you ready?” he asked us, reaching his hand to Aria.“Yes,” she smiled and took his hand in hers.We walked outside, and I locked the front door. We got into my car and started driving to Jake and Cassie’s house.We didn’t really need to drive there, considering it was only a five-minute walk, but the sign was too big to carry, so I had to put it in my car.“Does Cassie know anyth
Gabriel’s POVI woke up in my bed and sighed constantly. It was December 12th, and it was our birthday. I smiled and opened my eyes.It was the first of many birthdays my sister and I will share.I wished this wasn’t the first one. I wished we had shared our birthdays since the first one, like we were supposed to do.But I can’t change the past. I can only be thankful that I have her here with me now. And I didn’t intend to let her go ever again.I was thankful I waited that long for a haircut.I was thankful I slept in that day and had to go to the salon later.I was thankful I opened the door just in time for her to run into me.I was thankful that she bumped into me that day.I was thankful that Nick managed to convince me to go to one more hotel.I was thankful that Mrs. Black was out that day working in the garden. I was thankful she approached Aria, talked to her, and told me about it.I was thankful for each and every decision that led me to my sister.I got out of bed and look
Gabriel’s POVIt’s been a few days since the battle.Patricia, Mike, and Jack went to Victor’s headquarters to end the inquisition. They should come back in a few days. Mike had been keeping me updated. Patricia didn’t try to take Victor’s position. For now. They were shutting his whole operation down. It wasn’t going as smoothly as we had hoped it would, but they were making progress. They were having trouble with some of Victor’s most loyal followers. They didn’t believe he was dead, and they wanted to continue with the inquisition.I trusted that Mike, Jack, and Patricia would be able to deal with them.The rest of us were packing to go home tomorrow. We stayed so Aria could take care of Zack. And she did an amazing job. Zack was up on his feet, and he was doing well. He got tired easily and he still spends most of his time in bed, but his wound healed miraculously well, and his fever was completely gone.Things around here were a little bit tense.There was something going on betw
Gabriel’s POV“What happens now?” Annie asked while we were eating.I raised my head to look at her. “Now we go home.”I took Aria’s hand in mine. We will finally be at peace. We will finally be able to live like a normal family.“It seems surreal,” Aria mumbled, looking down at her plate.“What does?” I asked her.She put down her fork and looked up at me. “Everything. Are we sure that this is over? It sounds too good to be true. What about the prophecy? What about his threat?”“He is dead, baby,” Nick spoke before I could. “He is gone forever and this whole story is over. Not all prophecies come true.”She sighed and looked back down at her plate. “I guess.”I placed my hand on her back and rubbed small circles soothingly. “Don’t worry, love. It is over.”She looked up at me and gave me a small smile. She didn’t look convinced. I sighed internally. I would make sure she felt safe. I would make sure she believed that this was over.Because it was.It had to be.Nick watched him burn
Nick’s POVI watched Gabriel walking away with my mate in his arms.My heart clenched painfully.I wanted to go with her. I needed to go with her. She was hurt and I was supposed to be with her.But I couldn’t.I had to make sure the fucker was dead. I had to stay behind and watch his body turn to ash.What he said about the prophecy not being fulfilled made my stomach twist. I had to make sure that he was gone.I watched my mate until I couldn’t see her anymore.I sighed and turned back around. Mike was standing next to me, his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the fire. Patricia was on the other side. Her eyes were filled with tears.I glanced around the field. Someone was missing.Petra.Fuck.She took Cora’s power. She has so much dark magic right now. She could be dangerous.My eyes darted around the field. I couldn’t find her anywhere.We were so focused on Victor, that we completely forgot about her.“Where the fuck is Petra?” I growled.“Gone,” Patricia mumbled.I looked
Gabriel’s POVThe way he looked at Aria made me furious. I will kill the fucker and dance around his dead fucking body.I gathered my magic and I blasted it toward Victor.He was fast. He pulled up a shield and his eyes snapped toward me.“YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!” he screamed. “I CAN’T WAIT TO TAKE AWAY YOUR MAGIC AND KILL YOU!”I smirked and fired up my magic again. Victor expected it and sent a blast my way. Aria put up a shield in front of us.At this point, everybody started fighting. Annie and Mike ran toward Petra to help her with Cora. Nick, Jake, Aria, and I focused on Victor.He was strong, stronger than I thought he would be. I glanced over at Aria and gave her a little nod. She was panting hard, trying to hold up her shield.I focused on projecting an image of a cliff toward Victor. Aria focused on projecting pain. As soon as our spells hit him, he staggered back. His magic lost its intensity and his attack stopped.I was relieved. I took a deep breath and focused on keep
Gabriel’s POVAria was next to me the entire time. I held her hand in mine and refused to let go of it, even for a second. I will not lose her again. He was not taking her away from me. She won’t get hurt.My ears were ringing from the constant noise coming from the forest. There were dead bodies lying around us. We tried not to kill, we truly did. But sometimes we didn’t have a choice.I could hear growls all around us. Aria’s eyes were on Nick the entire time. He was merciless. He was bringing other wolves down like it was nothing. He was fueled by anger, and that made him even more dangerous.“Aria!” I yelled, bringing her focus back on our task.There was a man running toward her with a knife in his hands. She snapped her eyes at him, and he was down in a second. He was screaming in pain.“Fuck,” I mumbled.That was close.Zack ran toward us. He took the knife from the man and knocked him unconscious.I looked over at the group fighting with Mike and Jack. I focused on them and pr
Gabriel’s POVIt had been four days since we called Victor. I started to think our plan wasn’t going to work.“What are you doing?” I heard a voice behind me.I turned around and saw Annie leaning on the door frame.I had been sitting in my room for the past hour, staring through my window at the backyard, trying to come up with strategies on how to defeat the fucker. We were done with practice for the day, so I decided to spend some alone time.“Thinking,” I answered, turning back to look through the window.“About?” Annie asked and walked toward me.“Battle plans,” I answered, not looking at her.I heard her sigh. She sat down in the chair next to me. I could feel her gaze on me.“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.I glanced at her before returning my gaze to the window in front of us.Was I okay? Not really. I was tense, pissed off and afraid. I would like to glue Aria to myself, but I knew that I couldn’t. I was terrified he would take her away from me. But I can’t tell her that. I
Gabriel’s POVI gripped Aria’s hand tighter and turned to Nick.“Do you have the phone here?” I asked.Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out Calvin’s phone. He placed it down on the table and looked up at me. My friends sat down at the table and nervously glanced at the phone.I looked at my sister. “Are you ready?”She took a deep breath and nodded slowly.I wish we didn’t have to do this. I wish there was another way. I was against her being here and listening to this. Others thought she had a right to know. Looking at her right now, I regret not fighting against them harder.“We are here for you, okay?” Jake said, reaching over the table for Aria’s hand.She let go of me and took his hand in hers. “Thank you, Jake.”I pulled her hand from Jake and put it back in mine. Jake glared at me, and I gave him a ‘don’t fuck with me right now’ look.Nick reached for the phone, but Patricia stopped him. “Hold on a second.”We looked at her with confused expressions on our faces.“He is