Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 125

Rain

I gave a slow clap as the barrier went down. “And just like that, Lia has officially out-magicked every ancient wizard in history. Someone get this girl a trophy.”

Colby groaned. “That was awful.”

Matt shook his head. “I’d say ‘do better,’ but I know you won’t.”

Lia rubbed her temples like I was physically giving her a headache. “Rain, I just exerted a ridiculous amount of energy breaking an ancient magical defense. I will not hesitate to hex your mouth shut.”

Jesse exhaled slowly, looking like he was reconsidering every decision that had led him to standing there with us. “Rain, I need you to be quiet and save the jokes for when we aren’t in mortal peril.”

I gasped, placing a hand over my heart. “You wound me. You want me to be quiet?” “Yes.”

“Like, right now?” “Yes.”

“Even if-“

Jesse turned, leveling me with the kind of look that could probably kill a lesser man. I cleared my throat. “Okay. Message received.”

Colby patted my shoulder. “Proud of you for learning.” “Character growth,,, Matt muttered.

Lia was already walking ahead. “If you idiots are done, we should move before whatever was supposed to be kept out realizes the barrier is down.,,

Jesse nodded. “For once, she has a point.”

I fell into step behind them, grinning. “I always knew you liked my jokes, Jesse.,, “I don’t.”

“You do.”

Matt sighed. “Rain, shut up.”

I smirked but did shut up. Temporarily.

We walked in silence for about ten whole seconds before I decided that was enough.

“So, Lia,,, I said casually, stuffing my hands in my pockets, “on a scale of one to ‘I’m a magical genius,• how hard was that?” Lia didn’t even look at me. “Oh, definitely a solid ‘shut up, Rain.'”

Colby chuckled. “Sounds about right.,,

“See, that’s what I love about this team,” I said, grinning. “The unwavering support.”

Jesse let out a slow breath, the kind that made me think he was internally counting down from ten to keep himself from committing a felony. “Rain.”

“Yeah?”

“Still mortal peril.”

I squinted at the eerily quiet forest around us. “I mean… technically, the danger hasn’t presented itself yet.” Matt side-eyed me. “That’s because it’s waiting for us to be even dumber before it attacks.”

“Oh, so it’s a smart threat. Love that.”

Lia stopped so fast I nearly ran into her. She turned, narrowed her eyes at me, and then, in a flat voice, said, “Rain. Do you want me to put the barrier back up and leave you on the other side of it?”

I considered this. “Would you do that?”

A slow, terrifying smile spread across her face. “Try me.”

Colby snorted. “Rain, buddy, you’re about to get magically exiled.” “Alright, alright,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’ll be good.” Jesse shot me a warning look.

I sighed. “For real this time.”

Lia nodded, turning back around. “Good. Now, let’s go before Rain’s mouth gets us killed.”

Matt clapped me on the back as we started walking again. “See? Even she knows it’s a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if.”‘ I grinned. “You guys act like I don’t provide necessary morale boosts.”

Jesse muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “Necessary brain damage,” but I chose to ignore it.

Even though I kept dropping hints that I wanted to go back because of how dangerous this seemed, I wasn’t about to leave my mates.

With my hands shoved in my pockets, I followed along.

This place was so strange. It wasn’t something I could ever imagine seeing, but here we were. I kept looking around as if I was afraid that some dragon was going to pop up out of nowhere.

“Fantastic,” I grumbled under my breath, but I fell into step behind her anyway. I wasn’t about to let her go on without me, no matter how much my legs wanted to turn around and bolt.

As we moved deeper into the forest, the pulse beneath the ground grew stronger-more insistent. Each beat echoed through my bones like whatever was beneath us wanted out.

“I hate this,” I said quietly, but everyone heard me.

It’s hard to say how far we walked but we can across this strange underground cave. I noticed some strange pictures drawn on it.

The strange part? It looked like Lia. One picture was her slaying the dragons and restoring balance, while the other was one of her destroying the world.

“Uh, guys?” I squeaked out, motioning for them to come closer. Jesse sighed. “Rain, what are you getting on about?”

“The pictures!”

Lia walked over and looked at the pictures. She stood there with the rest of us, staring at it with shock written all over their faces.

“This… is very strange,” she whispered.

I groaned. “This is why I was trying to call you guys over here! Look at this-it’s like Lia, and she’s like destroying the world or something. It’s weird.”

“I don’t want to destroy anything.”

“No one’s saying you will,” Colby said quickly, his voice softer than usual. “But… this doesn’t feel like a coincidence.” Matt stepped closer, tracing a finger over the carved lines. “These aren’t new. They’ve been here for centuries.”

Lia’s expression darkened as she studied the two images-two completely different outcomes, both tied to her. “Why am I even here at all?” she muttered. “What if the coven knew about this?”

“They probably did,” Jesse said flatly. “And they didn’t tell us because they figured it’d scare us off.” I swallowed hard. “Well, it’s working.”

Lia shook her head, resolve hardening her features. “We keep going.”

Who wanted to think they were going to destroy the world? I didn’t want to think that. Certainly Lia didn’t want to think about that either.

This was so fucked but at least we were doing this all together. It was the only thing that mattered, to be honest.