004

๑♡๑DIANA๑♡๑

“We plan to acknowledge the mate bond.” He said, and it suddenly felt as though a bucket of ice water had been doused on me.

My fingers tightened around my dress. My throat constricted. I could only stare, wide-eyed, at the nightmare duo in front of me.

“W-What?” I managed to force out the words. “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to convince myself this wasn’t what I thought it was.

He wouldn’t… they wouldn’t… right?

Nero confirmed my fears by saying the exact words I never wanted to hear.

“We want you as our mate, Diana.”

I sprang to my feet before his words settled.

“No!” I panicked, stepping backward.

“Diana, wait,” Noel called out, shooting up from his seat at the same time Nero did.

Tears burned behind my eyes. “You can’t…” my voice cracked. “Are you trying to punish me? But I didn’t even want this bond.” I sobbed.

“Diana, please listen.” Nero tried to reach me. I screamed and backed away further.

“No!” The tears fell in torrents, unstoppably, down my face. I felt my body shaking from the sheer force of it. My emotions were overwhelming me. “You already hate me enough. If you hate the bond so much, why don’t you reject it? You have the power to do so. Why make me suffer for a lifetime?”

A mate bond was practically a life bond. A wolf couldn’t refuse or reject the goddess’s blessing. But they were exceptions… only if both wolves rejected the bond could it be severed.

My body crashed against something cold and solid. A wall. Only then did I realize that I had hit a dead end trying to escape.

Nero and Noel covered the distance in mere seconds, grabbing my hands and pulling me towards them.

“No!” I shrieked, fighting against their firm hold. It hurt slightly—probably because I kept writhing to set myself free—but not enough to bruise.

“Calm down, Diana.” I barely heard Nero over the panic alarm ringing in my head.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.” Noel’s voice was filled with concern, though I might have imagined it. There was no way that self-centered manic was worried about me.

“Like hell if you ever cared!”

“Of course, I do.” he answered, “You’re my mate.”

“We don’t want to reject the bond. And we don’t hate you.”

I froze, every breath slipping out of me until my lungs felt cold.

I heard wrong. I must have heard wrong. Was I deluding now? He definitely didn’t say—

Someone touched my chin and my head lifted towards Nero. His eyes were soft and he was looking at me with something in his eyes I refused to acknowledge.

“We don’t hate you, Diana.” He repeated.

My stomach churned.

“W-What?”

“We’ve never hated you, Diana.”

My gaze snapped to Noel. “What?”

I must have grown numb from the shock because now my brain seemed to have lost its ability to articulate any word other than those four letters screaming in my mind.

And now, the only thing I could hear was that this pair of nightmares never hated me.

What! How was that even possible?

I blinked. My mouth opened, then closed, opened again, and shut dryly.

“You… you don’t… hate me?” I barely articulated the words.

They slowly shook their heads at the same time. A soft smile lingered at the corner of their lips.

Somebody pinch me. Because I must be fucking dreaming.

I couldn’t believe what I just heard. It was actually so astonishing that I burst out laughing as I’d just lost my damn mind. And I might as well have. Because if this wasn’t the craziest confession I’ve ever heard, then I don’t know what is.

Nero and Noel watched me with barely concealed emotions I soon came to register as guilt… and shame.

Well… I’ll be damned.

My legs buckled, and my body sank to the floor. I vaguely heard Nero and Noel calling my name at the back of my reeling mind.

“Then…” I forced out slowly, my voice barely above a whisper I barely even heard myself. “Why did you make me feel like my existence offended you both?”

I stared at them, feeling everything and nothing at once.

The tears came faster, hotter. I felt devastated. Angry. And so much more I couldn’t understand or hold up inside. They poured out with heavier tears.

My lips trembled. My voice sounded like a broken whisper. “What did I ever do to deserve it?”

I felt their thumb sweep across my wet face, brushing off the tears streaking down my cheek. Gentle. As though they were too afraid I’d shatter any moment like glass.

My lashes fluttered. I sniffled and for one hazy moment, I actually liked the feeling of their hands on my cheeks.

“It wasn’t you, Diana. It was us.” Nero’s voice reached me through my hazy mind.

I frowned, and before I could make sense of what he’d just said, Noel’s apology came.

“We’re sorry… for everything.”

Those words hit me with a nauseating pain. How I’d longed to hear them. It was a little too late now.

I recoiled against the wall and swatted their hands.

“Don’t touch me.” I sneered. “You think an apology is going to fix anything?”

“We just—” Noel tried to speak. I cut him off sharply.

“I don’t care what you have to say.”

With whatever strength I could barely muster, I stood up, but my head still felt hazy. I wobbled, putting out a hand to stop them when they tried to reach for me.

They froze where they knelt, and I almost laughed at how obedient they were being.

Ten years.

It took ten long years and a mate bond to turn one wild Alpha prince and his cold tyrant twin—my tormentors—into meek, obedient wolves.

The moon goddess really knows how to make a joke.

“You bullied me,” I took a deep breath, the memories flooding my mind, inhaling so sharply the air almost cut through my lungs, then exhaled. I pointed at Noel. He flinched from my glare. “You called me names.”

He looked away, guilt in his eyes.

I continued. “You… hurt me. For ten years, Noel.”

I was barely holding up, but I held my ground, breathing through the massive ache in my chest.

Then I turned to Nero. He stiffened, his gaze wavering.

“And you… you mostly watched, and let him do whatever he wanted.”

He grimaced.

“So, no… you’re not sorry. You’re only saying that now because we’re fated mates.”

I was scolding them. And I could not believe it. I wouldn’t have dared dream of it before.

But I was already too exhausted to think of the consequences.

Now I just wanted to go to bed and never wake up to this dreadful day again. Because by morning, it’d all be a nightmare.

“I hate you both,” The words came out guttural, almost a snarl, and tight with every overwhelming emotion I was feeling. I barely recognized my own voice.

Their eyes grew wide fast. They looked as though they'd just been slapped for the first time in their lives, and I couldn't believe I’d finally said those words.

Yet the satisfaction I thought I'd feel from watching their wounded, conflicted expression never came. Instead, it felt as though a boulder had settled on my heart.

My wolf whimpered.

I closed my eyes for a second, then sighed. “I’m tired.”

When I opened my eyes again, I refused to look at them. I moved towards the door, feeling the heat of their stare on me.

“Diana.” Nero’s voice called out softly. I was already halfway across the room.

I paused by the door without looking back at either of them and just shook my head quietly. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say either. But I was already at the brink of tears, and I didn't want to break down in front of them again. I already hated myself for doing so earlier.

So I reached for the door, turned the handle, and without waiting another breath, I bolted out of his study.