Chapter 502-Lying About The Mate Bond

Chapter 502: 502-Lying About The Mate Bond

Verity:

"When I came to your house, Ragnar was there, wasn’t he?" he asked me.

I swallowed hard.

"Oh, so that’s how you found out I was going to marry you. Wow."

Jaguar began clapping, each sharp strike of his palms making me more uncomfortable.

I cautiously shifted my eyes toward Ragnar, who was watching his brothers with a troubled expression.

"You know what, Ragnar?" Jaguar continued, his voice beginning to shake. "We used to feel guilty whenever we spent too much time with Gigi because we thought it might hurt you. We worried that you’d feel left out, but you..."

His words caught in his throat as tears suddenly spilled down his cheeks.

Jaguar swallowed hard, unable to finish what he’d started.

His jaw tightened, and he turned his face away, roughly wiping his cheek with the back of his hand.

They had created such an awkward situation that I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do next.

"Verity, are you going to tell them what we felt last night or not?" Ragnar demanded, raising his voice.

I flinched at his sudden outburst, while both his brothers fell silent.

Taking a deep breath, I finally forced myself to say what he wanted to hear.

"We felt a connection," I began.

But Ragnar shook his head.

He reached toward me and placed a finger against my lips, silencing me before I could continue, clearly dissatisfied with my answer.

"We felt a mate bond," he declared.

My head snapped toward him.

He had just blatantly lied to his brothers, and the two of them looked completely stunned.

"Yes, we felt a mate bond. That’s why we’ve been drawn to each other and feeling this attraction between us," Ragnar continued.

I stared at him, slowly realizing what he was doing.

He was using the exact same excuse I’d once given to explain why I’d been involved with both his brothers.

And now he was turning it to his own advantage.

"That’s not possible!" Jaguar immediately protested, shaking his head.

"She already has two mates!" Theodore argued.

"Well, the three of us are brothers. Do you honestly think the Moon Goddess would leave one of us out?" Ragnar countered. "We already know there’s something unusual going on here. She’s a special kind of wolf. I don’t fucking know."

He dismissed the matter with a rough shrug, as though he had no patience left for whatever questions they might ask.

Theodore and Jaguar exchanged troubled looks.

Jaguar stood staring at me with his eyes wide, while Theodore kept glancing around the room, shaking his head in disbelief.

"No, this can’t be happening. How can one woman have three mates?" Jaguar muttered, almost to himself. "How is she supposed to choose one and then face the other two brothers?"

He rubbed a hand over his face, struggling to process everything.

"She’s going to choose one, right? Unless she’s already made her choice."

The moment Jaguar said that, Theodore stopped pacing and looked at him.

Then both brothers turned toward me.

And suddenly, the whole game became clear.

Ragnar was the mastermind behind it all.

He knew exactly how to take control of a situation and steer it in his favor, and I was beginning to understand just how carefully he’d planned this.

"There’s only one way to settle this," Ragnar announced.

But before he could continue, someone cleared their throat behind us.

We all turned around.

Grandma Lucille stood at the entrance to the living room, her eyes wide with shock.

"Verity, you’re the shared mate of all three of them?"

She looked so distressed by the revelation that I almost felt sorry for her.

And she wasn’t alone.

Jenna stood beside her, wearing an equally horrified expression.

I had a terrible feeling that things were about to get much worse.

"There’s no need to panic. We already have a solution," Ragnar assured them.

Grandma Lucille hurried toward the couch, looking between her grandsons.

"Yes, and that solution is for all three of you to share her," she declared, pointing at them.

That was a terrible suggestion.

And I knew Ragnar wasn’t going to let it happen.

"No. We’re not doing that," he stated firmly.

His brothers immediately agreed.

"But that’s how it’s supposed to be!" Grandma Lucille protested.

Jenna remained quiet, watching me with what looked like genuine sympathy.

Perhaps she could see how badly I was struggling because I had begun rubbing my hands together so anxiously that angry red marks were appearing across my skin.

"We’re not interested in sharing, Grandma," Jaguar argued, turning toward her. "We’re Alpha Kings. We’re aggressive and possessive when it comes to our mates. You can’t seriously expect us to share the woman we’re bonded to."

His tone made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want her bringing up that possibility again.

"So what are you planning to do?" Grandma Lucille demanded. "Go against the Moon Goddess and force her to reject the others?"

Theodore and Jaguar nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, and we’ll start with Ragnar," Theodore declared. "He’s the last one she felt the mate bond with, so he should be the first one she rejects."

He extended his arm and pointed directly at Ragnar, his gesture so openly disrespectful that even Grandma Lucille gasped.

Beside her, Jenna caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

From their expressions, I could tell they were beginning to understand just how serious this had become.

These men weren’t going to share.

In fact, the tension between them had grown so intense that I wouldn’t have been surprised if they ended up attacking one another unless someone made a decision soon.

"How about we leave that decision to Verity?"

Ragnar’s voice cut through the argument, bringing everyone to a sudden silence.

He stood calmly beside me, his gaze moving between his brothers before settling on my face.

"Why don’t we let her decide?" he continued. "That was the agreement from the beginning, wasn’t it? She gets to choose whom she wants, and the others respect her decision and accept the rejection without complaining."

There it was.

Ragnar had smoothly brought the entire argument around to exactly where he wanted it.

The same plan he’d discussed with me back at the cabin.

And somehow, he’d managed to make it sound as though he was the only one being reasonable.