Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 128

Lia

I walked into the town and to the building where they had made themselves at home. The elder I spoke with before looked at me, frowning.

“You’re late.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” My voice came out rough, heavy with exhaustion. I held out the relic. “And I got what you wanted.”

The elder stepped forward, taking the relic from my outstretched hand. They turned it over slowly, inspecting every jagged edge, every faint pulse of magic.

“This will do.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “That’s it? I nearly got torn apart for this, and all you’ve got is ‘this will do’?” Their gaze lifted to meet mine. “You knew the risks.”

“That’s not an answer.” My fists clenched at my sides, nails digging into my palms. “I need to know-will this fix things? Will it make everything better?”

A beat of silence stretched between us, thick and heavy. “I don’t know.”

The words slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs. “You don’t know?”

“The relic is powerful,” they said, voices even, like my entire world wasn’t hanging by a thread. “It will help. But nothing is simple when it comes to the dragons-especially not with your connection to them.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. “My connection…” The words burned as I forced them out. “What does that mean? What aren’t you telling me?”

The eider’s expression shifted-just enough for me to catch it. Worry. Maybe even fear. “Your bond is stronger than we thought. It’s not just a link, Lia-it’s a tether. And the more you use their power, the tighter that tether will become.”

I blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“Somehow, your blood is tied to them. And I also assume that you got visions when you touched it, right?” “Yes, but how do I stop it?”

“I can’t,” I said carefully.

I shook my head, my pulse pounding in my ears. “So, what-you’re saying I’m stuck like this? That there’s no way to break it?”

“There may be a way,” they allowed. “But it won’t be easy. And it won’t be safe.” Of course not. Nothing ever was. “And if I don’t break it?”

Their eyes softened-just a fraction-but the weight of what they didn’t say settled like a stone in my stomach. “If you lose control,” they said quietly, “you won’t just be a danger to yourself.”

I swallowed hard, a chill creeping beneath my skin. “Great. So, either I fix this, or people die.”

“Yes.”

Ashaky breath escaped me as I ran a hand through my hair, trying to push down the rising panic. “And what if I can’t fix it? What if-” My voice caught in my throat. “what if it’s already too late?”

“It isn’t,” the elder said, more firmly this time. “But you don’t have the luxury of hesitation. You brought us the relic-now you need to prepare for what’s coming next.”

I laughed softly, though nothing about this was funny. “Right. Because the last thing wasn’t hard enough.”

“You survived.”

“Barely.”

The elder tilted their head. “And you’ll survive this too. But only if you’re willing to accept what you are-and what you could become.”

My stomach twisted. “what could I become?”

There was a pause-too long, too heavy. And when they finally spoke, their words chilled me to the bone.

“You’re not just connected to the dragons, Lia. You’re becoming something else entirely. And if you’re not careful…” They let the rest hang in the air, unspoken but loud enough to drown out everything else.

I didn’t want to know how that sentence ended.

“Rest,” they said, their voice gentler now. “You’ll need your strength. This is only the beginning.”

I hesitated in the doorway, the weight of their words pressing down on my shoulders. “And after that?” I swallowed. “Are we going to attempt to put them to sleep come morning?”

“Yes.”

My stomach tensed. “But you don’t think it will work?”

“No, I hope it will work, but it also could bind you to the dragonstone-which is likely, given your ancestor’s connection to it.”

I squeezed his hand a little tighter. “And if I lose control?”

Jesse’s grip on me didn’t waver. “Then we’ll pull you back Every time.” A lump formed in my throat, thick and heavy. “You can’t promise that.”

“I can,” he said without hesitation. “And I will. You’re not fighting this alone, Lia. Not now, not ever.”

I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to believe him so badly. But the eider’s words echoed in my mind, cold and cruel. You’re becoming something else entirely.

And deep down, I wasn’t sure anyone could stop it-not even them.

Still, I let Jesse hold my hand as we walked back to the others. For now, it was enough to keep the fear from swallowing me whole.

“I’m scared,” I admitted again, my voice trembling this time, as if giving voice to the fear would make it all the more real.

Jesse’s thumb gently brushed over my knuckles, a soft and reassuring motion. “It’s okay to be scared. Doesn’t mean you’re weak It means you’re human.”

“But what if being human isn’t enough anymore?” The question hung in the air like a heavy fog.

He stopped walking. His eyes met mine, and there was something fierce in them, something that burned with a promise. ” You’re not just human, Lia. You’re stronger than you know. And we’ll be with you every step of the way. You don’t get to face this alone. Not ever.”

I didn’t know how to answer him. There was so much swirling inside of me-fear, doubt, longing-but none of it seemed to make sense. How could I stand up to what was coming if I wasn’t even sure what I was anymore?

“Lia,” Jesse said softly, lifting his hand to cup my cheek, his thumb tracing the curve of my skin in a gentle, grounding touch. “We’re not asking you to do it all at once. Just trust us. Trust yourself. You’re more than capable of handling this.”

But nothing was changing the fact that something was going on here. It was strange, and I wasn’t sure what to think.

That night, I tossed and turned. It was hard to sleep with the knowledge that tomorrow we were going to do the binding ritual and hopefully they would be asleep.

I was hopeful that they would stay asleep or be able to sleep longer-long enough for us to figure out what the hell we were going to do.

Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn’t sleep and gave up trying to sleep. I just got up and realized that there was no going to sleep.

Rain joined me on the balcony after a while, and so did the rest of my mates. It was crowded but I didn’t care. At least I had them by my side.