Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 136

Lia

Once again, I was lamenting the fact that my life was more complicated than others. I read that note again and again, trying to make sense of it.

How did they know about my supposed destiny? And why did they want to stop me?

This went deeper than I ever imagined. It must’ve been foretold for years-long before I ever knew who or what I was. But what, exactly, were they trying to stop?

I posed that question out loud, causing Rain to mutter, “Destroy the world.” Matt smacked his bicep.

“Ow!” Rain yelped, rubbing the sore spot. “Well, stop saying stupid shit!” Matt snapped.

Colby snorted, crossing his arms. “To be fair, our track record doesn’t exactly scream ‘destined for peace.”‘

Jesse, leaning against the wall with his usual unreadable expression, sighed. “It’s not about world-ending destruction. It’s about control. Someone out there doesn’t want Lia making it to the temple because they’re afraid of what she might do.”

I swallowed hard, staring at the note in my hands. Afraid of me. The idea made my stomach twist. I wasn’t some unstoppable force. I wasn’t some powerful savior. I was just… me.

“Then they should’ve just asked me to stay home,” I muttered, shoving the note away. “Would’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble.”

Rain grinned. “Too bad. Now you’ve got four bodyguards and a prophecy to unravel.” “Lucky me,” I said dryly.

Matt exhaled sharply. “Look, whatever this is, whatever they think is going to happen, it doesn’t change the plan. We keep moving. We get to the temple. We figure this out before someone else decides to ‘remove’ you from the equation.”

I forced a breath into my lungs. He was right. It didn’t matter how deep this went, or how many people wanted me gone. The only way forward was through.

But that didn’t stop the fear from creeping in. Because if they were afraid of me now… What would they do if I reached the temple?

I missed when life was normal. Why couldn’t my life be normal again? “Now you’re the one pouting,” Matt whispered to me, causing me to sigh. “Let’s just call it a night,” I whispered, giving him a pointed look

Right now all I wanted to do was crawl into my sleeping bag in front of the fire and go to sleep. I was exhausted, my mind swirling with all these questions.

One thing was for sure… I was terrified of what this meant for me.

Was I truly meant to destroy the world? I would never want to destroy the world.

But I had to keep looking into this, trying to find answers to all these buried in the back of my mind.

At least I could rest easy, knowing that my mates were going to all be by my side during all of this. It was the only thing stopping me from losing my mind.

***

Jesse

After Lia fell asleep, the four of us decided to talk amongst ourselves. “I don’t like it,” Matt muttered.

Rain grinned. “You say that like we have a choice.”

Matt groaned. “This isn’t a joke, Rain. This is Lia. Do you think I don’t notice how freaked out she is? She acts like she’s fine, but she’s not.”

“She’s always been stubborn,” Colby said. “She’ll pretend everything’s fine right up until it isn’t.”

Rain whistled. “That’s the fun part. We won’t know when she hits her breaking point until it explodes in our faces.” “Not helping,” Matt snapped.

Colby rubbed his jaw. “There’s gotta be a way to get her to open up without pushing her into a panic attack” “She needs to know we’re on her side,” I said. “She’s not used to that.”

Matt gave me a sharp look. “You think we don’t know that?” “I think you’re freaking out, and that’s not going to help her.” Matt clenched his jaw but didn’t argue.

Colby exhaled. “We need answers. But more than that, we need to make sure she’s not dealing with this alone.” Rain hummed. “You guys keep saying ‘make sure she’s not alone’ like we don’t already smother her 24/7.” “Being near her isn’t the same as making her feel safe,” I said.

That silenced them.

Finally, Matt muttered, “We just have to figure out how to do that.”

Colby nodded. “And we’d better figure it out fast. Because something tells me we don’t have much time.”