Chapter 410-Oh! It Hurts So Bad

Gigi:

Have you ever dreamed about something for so long and done absolutely everything you could to make it come true?

Only to realize that the closest you might ever get is having a small part of it, even when it was never truly yours?

That was my problem.

My dreams. My wishes. My fairy tale.

So why the fuck was that bitch getting all of it?

When I first heard the brothers arguing over her, I tried to convince myself that maybe something else had happened.

Maybe Verity had made a mistake, and they were simply defending her.

But then I heard them.

They admitted they wanted her.

Even then, I tried to rationalize it.

Fine. Maybe whatever had happened between them had something to do with why they were acting this way.

But then I heard that she was their mate.

Both of them.

I was supposed to stay outside and keep listening, but I couldn’t.

What else was there left to hear?

It was already bad enough that she had both of them.

It was bad enough hearing them confess how much they wanted her and fight for her the way I had always wanted them to fight for me.

And then they had to throw the mate bond in my face too?

I pushed the door open, hoping they would immediately backtrack.

I wanted them to look guilty.

I wanted them to act as though they had betrayed me somehow, as though everything between us still meant enough for them to feel ashamed.

Instead, they told me confidently.

Without hesitation.

As if everything we had shared meant absolutely nothing.

It didn’t make sense.

How had the Moon Goddess blessed her with this when I had done everything I possibly could?

I had even gone to a seer and asked her to cast magic.

She told me there was no spell that could create a fake mate bond between them and me.

Which meant this was real.

Verity was actually their mate.

Both of them.

How was that even possible?

"Wait. You two really think you’re her mates?" I asked, needing to hear it again because my body had started visibly trembling.

"We don’t think it. We felt the mate bond with her during the full moon," Theodore answered confidently.

"During the full moon?" I repeated. "So you’ve known for days?"

It felt like one piece of bad news after another.

They used to tell me everything. Every single thing.

Yet they had hidden this.

I suddenly realized that maybe I had only thought I knew them.

I had believed I had some kind of control over them.

Maybe I had, before Verity came along.

Before her, if a woman so much as gave one of them her number, they would tell me.

Sometimes they would even give me the number so I could find out whether she was good enough for them.

But with Verity, they had developed feelings.

They had been running around fighting over her while I remained completely clueless.

And they had only told me now because she had practically given them permission to.

"Wow," I muttered.

Then another thought struck me.

"And Ragnar knows?"

From the conversation I had overheard, apparently he did.

He had been furious because the brothers were fighting over her.

The same brothers who would have killed for each other were now at each other’s throats.

For Verity.

Not me.

"Yeah, but listen. We’ll deal with it. You don’t have to worry about any of this," Jaguar said quickly, gesturing as though he wanted to keep me out of the situation.

"How can I not worry about it? I just heard you two screaming at each other at the top of your lungs over her!"

My voice sharpened, and I couldn’t hide the disgust anymore.

"Did you forget what her brother did to me?" I yelled.

Both of them stared at me, eyes widening in disbelief.

"I think I’ll leave," Verity murmured.

I didn’t bother stopping her.

She could leave whenever the fuck she wanted. It wasn’t like she was needed here.

My problem was with the brothers.

They should have told me.

If I had known earlier that they were developing feelings for her, I could have done something to stop it.

If this had only been about the mate bond, with no emotions involved, convincing them to reject her would have been much easier.

But apparently, they had fallen for her before they even discovered she was their mate.

Everything started crashing down on me at once.

Her arrival.

How nice she had acted.

The way she had slowly and quietly worked her way into the mansion.

And suddenly, I needed to know how long this had been happening.

"Wait," I said, touching my forehead once Verity had left. "You two love her?"

They went silent.

"Does she love you back? When did you two start dating her behind my back?" I demanded, my entire body still shaking.

"No, Gigi," Jaguar replied. "We weren’t dating her. We were both flirting with her. We both had feelings for her, but we never dated."

At least Jaguar seemed to understand why I was so upset.

They had hidden something this important from me.

They hadn’t even talked to me before pursuing her or flirting with her.

"Both of you?" I asked.

The same embarrassed expression crossed their faces, and I could only imagine that Ragnar had received a similar reaction when he found out.

So that was why he had been angry.

I stared at them.

"So she was juggling both of you, and you two idiots are fighting over her just because she’s your fated mate?" I screamed. "That slut trapped both of you. I don’t know what she did, but she trapped you."

The second those words left my mouth, I expected the brothers to calm me down.

There had been other times when I had gotten this angry.

Once, a beautiful woman, kind and gentle on the surface, had been trying to make Jaguar fall for her. I noticed what she was doing and lost my temper.

I called her a whore for being so sneaky and accused her of leading him on.

Back then, Jaguar immediately cut her off.

He assured me that he had only been flirting with her and promised he would never give me another reason to become that angry.

But this time, something had changed.

The moment I insulted Verity, both brothers’ expressions hardened.

"Watch your fucking words."

They yelled almost in unison.