(Rigel)

She is a Fae. She carries magic in her veins alongside that sweet sweet blood of hers.

That’s what my shadows had been trying to reach. They could detect that magic inside her while she kept it hidden from everyone.

"Why is she not waking up?" Mintaka asks, frustrated and enraged. His twin is still holding him.

I keep her in my arms, not wishing to let her go. There are two new red streaks in her ebony hair, alongside that silver streak.

Could it be because of the twins?

"Her energy is depleted. Give her time, she will gain consciousness," Alnilam answers his brother, moving towards one of the single sofas in the corner and dropping himself on it.

The big guy remains alert as he watches me with guarded eyes. His aura always cancels out mine and my shadows don’t even fight him.

What a mystery.

"Put her down. Let her rest," Mintaka irritably says to me.

He is also her mate. Why is the bond settling between them so late?

Did that happen when she transformed?

But Alnitak had already recognised her as his mate.

Did he know?

Gently I press another kiss onto her head and lay her down on the mattress. Not because he asks, but she needs to rest.

"Did you know she was a Fae?" I question the twins while covering Amaia with the blanket that has slipped from her body.

"No, we didn’t." But their eyes waver to their elder brother. He is massaging both his temples with his index and middle fingers joined together.

"You knew. Didn’t you?" I turn my head and question Alnilam.

His sharp and annoyed gaze shifts towards me. "Yes, I did and I wish it had stayed that way. Now a bunch of idiots know her deepest secret, and I can’t even relax," he sharply says, and Saiph lets out a slow, choked laugh.

"She is our mate. We will never jeopardise her safety." Mintaka comes and lowers himself on the mattress, just on the other side of her. He reaches out and gathers her hand in his.

It’s strange, it hurts and it annoys me to no end that other men are touching what should have only been mine.

But I had promised Amaia I won’t hurt the people she cares about and I intend to keep it.

She will never forgive me, and can even reject me if I hurt them. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"How did you know?" I ask leaning back against the wall. My hand stays in Amaia’s hair. My shadows gather around her head, protecting her and massaging her head.

"Her magic revealed itself to me." Alnilam’s words make my body freeze. A Fae’s magic doesn’t just reveal itself to anyone. It had been trying to connect with my shadowy magic but didn’t reveal itself but it trusted Alnilam enough to do with him.

Could he be her mate too?

The idea makes me feel dizzy and I don’t know if I can handle the truth. He doesn’t appear very bothered by it, though, or maybe he is good at hiding his true feelings.

Does he even know? Or is that another of Amaia’s secrets?

"And you protected her?" I ask, my voice not remaining that harsh.

"Can’t let the Dread Army find her. On the very topic of that." Alnilam’s eyes drift towards his brothers and their bodyguard. "We never saw the Reavers but the creatures and Chitterings acted weirdly. That’s the story we will stick with. We don’t know what happened to them."

They all nod in understanding.

"What happened to them?" I had been in that ground, there was a whole massacre of creatures.

"Amaia, vaporised them with her powers," the bodyguard says, astonishing me.

My eyes drift to her angelic face.

"Wow, what powers she possesses?"

"Wind and electric. At least that’s what we saw," Alnitak answers, watching my hand playing with her hair.

"Impressive." A small smile comes to my lips. "My mate is one of a kind."

"Our mate. She is not merely yours," Mintaka instantly corrects me, jealousy dripping from his words.

Not at the moment, but once Amaia is better, I’m going to have so much fun making the twins jealous. They look exactly the same, but their scents are different, which makes it easier for me to recognise them.

"Maybe, she will wake up and decide to reject the ones she doesn’t want," I emphasise.

"We will see who survives and who gets rejected. The only one whose future seems bleak is you, Ezran. At least we don’t drink her blood." Alnitak is never going to let this go and will keep dangling this on my head.

"That’s enough. Try to act civilly given the situation." Alnilam’s disappointment is so apparent.

My eyes take in the large glass displays, filled with all kinds of items, especially pens. It makes me wonder if he had been the one to give her that pen.

"Can’t we take her to the Infirmary? Her appearance has been cloaked." Mintaka addresses his older brother.

"And tell them what? She doesn’t have any physical wounds. We can’t just say she depleted her energy using her powers." Alnilam leans back on the sofa but his words make sense. "I haven’t told anyone that Amaia got hurt except Kacir and Rahria. Not even our parents know. That will raise too many questions."

So he doesn’t trust his parents? That’s new.

"What about Jamina?" Alnitak questions. He gets up and goes to sit near Amaia’s feet and places his hand on them.

Alnilam doesn’t answer but we hear a slow knock on his office door. The partition is still open.

Their guard turns to watch the door and then turns back towards Alnilam with questions in his eyes.

"All of you stay inside here. Don’t make noise and don’t fight. Let me handle this." Alnilam gets up and leaves the space alongside the muscular man. They close the partition behind them so any sound from here would be cut off.

Now this is going to be awkward. Three men who hate each other with their mate.