Page 128 of Conflicted

Silence fell, all eyes turning to me.

“I’m not sure where to begin,” I said slowly. “When I first saw you enter the courtroom, I was furious. I couldn’t believe you were all putting yourselves at risk for me.”

Talk about how to instantly piss off an entire unit. It wasn’t just the twins whose expressions were identical, but all of them.

“You’re part of this unit too,” Ezekiel growled. “How can you?—”

I cut him off. “Hold your horses, Ez, I’m not done. At first, I was furious, but then I quickly realised how misplaced that feeling was. How could I be angry at you when you were just trying to protect me?”

Benji crossed his arms. “We’re a team. We live together. We fight together. We die together.”

“I know that.” I smiled at him sadly. “But I always believed that applied to the rest of you, but not to me.”

Rami frowned. “What do you mean?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Nox met my gaze and gave me an encouraging nod. “Being the leader, I’ve always looked at things differently. My job is to protect you all. To keep you safe. To keep you together. Anything that happens to me—” I shrugged helplessly. “—it’s my problem to deal with. That’s how I’ve always thought of it.”

“That’s complete bollocks.” Ezekiel looked at me like I’d lost my marbles. “Why the fuck does you being in charge mean you have to take the brunt of everything?”

“That’s how it works.”

I swear, the entire unit scoffed as one. Nox covered his mouth like he was trying to hide a laugh. I glared at him, which only succeeded in making his shoulders shake harder.

“But why?” Ezekiel demanded. “Who the fuck said you have to shoulder everything all the time?”

Dimitri sighed. “I think this is on me.”

He was stood with an arm around Dagon. The sight didn’t flay me open like it once had. Now I felt…warmth. Happiness that he’d found love with someone.

Just as I had.

That didn’t mean I understood what he’d said. “How?”

Dimitri shrugged. “Let’s be honest, I wasn’t the second you needed, especially after what went down between us.”

My cheeks flushed. Against the wall, Nox narrowed his eyes. Even though I knew I’d been in the wrong, I also knew my mate would tear Dimitri a new one if he started anything in front of the unit.

“And I’m sorry about that,” I said.

“You don’t need to be.” Dimitri glanced at Nox and smiled. “I think it’s pretty obvious now why you were obsessed with me. You weren’t, not really. You were just waiting for your mate.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” I smiled softly at Nox. “What I feel for him is far stronger than anything I’ve experienced before.”

He blew me a kiss as giggles broke out around the room. Shit, I really should’ve been more mindful of the fact that we had an audience.

An opinionated audience who didn’t know when to hold their tongues.

Sure enough, Rami made kissy noises while Breann pretended to wipe away a tear.

“Aww.” Theo swooned dramatically, clutching at his chest as he addressed his twin. “Think we’ll be this sappy when we’re in love?”

“Nope,” Nate said, kicking his brother in the shin. “I think we’ll be obsessed psychos. It’s probably best for our mates if we don’t meet them for a long time yet. Give us a bit longer to mature.”

Everyone laughed at that. If the twins hadn’t matured in the two thousand plus years they’d been alive, there was little hope of it happening now.

“Anyway,” Dimitri, said loudly. “My point is that I didn’t do the job I was supposed to. I think you’ve got so used to doing it alone, that you’ve forgotten that’s not how it’s meant to work.”

“Well that stops now,” Ezekiel said darkly. Benji nodded alongside him. “I’m your second, and there’s no way I’ll ever be distracted from the job because I’ve found my mate.”

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