When I walked downstairs into the living room the guys were all silent and somber. Aiden and Caden were sitting on the couch with their shoulders touching and their heads dipped to study the ground. Dante stood before them a glare on his face directed at both. Maddox was leaning up against the entryway waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. He held his hand out for me when I approached and led me to sit at the corner of the couch furthest away from the twins. It was silent for a long moment before Dante approached me. He crouched down to eye level in front of me. "How are you feeling?" He asked softly.

I knew the softness in his voice was just for me because the anger he was feeling didn't match up with the gentle look in his eyes when he looked at me. "Confused," I responded.

He nodded, "That's to be expected." He sat next to me before placing his palm over my wrist with the two beautiful designs circling it.

He clenched his jaw a few times before continuing. "There are some things that you need to be aware of. That you should have been aware of before this even happened." Dante gritted the words out.

The anger he was feeling finally poked through the gentleness he always seemed to show me. Aiden's voice interrupted before Dante could continue, "I can explain." He sounded pitiful his hand tugging at the hair at his temple again.

"No. You had an opportunity to come clean before this happened and you didn't. I expect this kind of shit from Caden, not from you! Never from you. I am so pissed off right now you better be happy you're not bleeding on the floor right now. So just shut up because if I have to so much as look at you longer than necessary, I won't be able to control my anger." Dante spoke mostly through his teeth.

His loud tone made me jump a little, but his thumb rubbed my wrist where he still held it in reassurance. When he looked back down at me his gaze softened and his tone gentled when he began to speak again. "So, I think it would be best to start from the beginning. In the Arcane world, we have what is called bonded mates. It's not what one would truly call fate because there is more than just one person out there for everyone. To become a bonded mate there are certain parameters that need to be met usually. Almost always there is a ceremony where the bindings are placed." He explained running his thumb over the designs on my wrist.

"Almost always?" I questioned starting to understand what he was getting at.

"There is one exception to that rule. Aiden found out from his mother that Sirens can compete their own mating bonds without the use of a ceremony during sex." He explained slowly.

"So, I bound them to me? How is that even okay. They didn't get a choice!" I held my free hand to my mouth to keep more outrage from spilling out.

I had bound them to me just because they slept with me. What the heck was I supposed to do about that? Dante hushed me before he responded, "They did have a choice. There must be compatibility between the bonded and a true want to be mated. The issue is that the twins knew this could happen before it did and didn't warn you about it." Dante explained his voice hardening at the end.

"They knew?" I gaped at him before turning towards the twins.

"Yes. They did, that's not the part that I know will upset you the most though." Dante sighed.

"What?" I demanded.

He paused for a moment to collect himself. His slip in composure made me understand how bad it must be. "When Arcane creatures bind themselves together as mates, they accept some conditions. In traditional marriages there are the vows of 'to death do us part' but in our mating, even death does not separate. When one mate dies the other does too. Since you have more than one mate if one dies you would still live unless the other dies as well. However, since they both are only mated to you, if you die, they do as well." He spoke with the finality of the last grain of dirt on a fresh grave.

My mind went silent for a moment as I processed this information. If I died, they would too. I stood snatching my wrist away from Dante where he still held it before pacing across the room. Maddox looked at me sadly from the place he had taken up at the entryway again. I couldn't take his and Dante's pitying looks anymore. I stomped towards the twins standing before Caden. My hands-on my hips. They both looked up at me, but I glared at Aiden. "I'm not talking to you yet." I pushed his head back down, so he was looking at the floor again.

"Why" I demanded.

Caden looked me in the eyes his shoulders back and chin raised. "I'm greedy. I wanted you to be mine. I wanted to be yours. Now we're here." He told me honestly.

I scoffed at him. "You've never stolen anything from me before, but the first thing you took was the most valuable." I shook my head at him in disappointment.

He looked up at me with his brows furrowed. The question was plain on his face. "You took my choice away," I told him.

There was understanding in his eyes before his shoulders drooped and he nodded in agreement. "I did." He acknowledged.

There was no apology, and I knew it was because he didn't regret it. His greed made him take too much pride in getting what he wanted. What could I really expect he had been claiming to want to own me from almost the first moment I had met him? I caressed the side of his face before holding his chin in place. "I'm mad at you," I told him before pushing his head back down.

I stepped over in front of Aiden. "Look at me," I demanded.

He did, his face showed the depth of the pain he was feeling. "Why?" I asked the question again.

His shoulders stayed slumped while he answered, "Sirens take multiple mates for protection. I knew you would never agree if you knew all the information, so I didn't tell you. I just wanted to keep you safe. Life before you was bland and meaningless anyway. Dying when you do is a blessing, not a curse." His voice became strong and sure at the end.

"Ditto," Caden spoke his head still tilted down wards.

My glare softened a bit. "It still doesn't change the fact that you guys took that choice away from me," I told him.

He nodded, "I know."

I noticed there was no apology from him either. Knowing where to go from here was a mystery to me. How did we move on after this? I looked over to Dante wanting him to tell me what to do. I knew nothing of this world and how it works. Navigating a situation like this was foreign to me. "What now?" I finally broke down and asked him.

I knew my voice was small and fractured sounding because his gaze sharpened and zeroed in on the twins for a moment before softening and focusing back on me. "Well, you three will need to hide those." He gestured to the designs circling our wrists.

"Fuck that!" Caden snarled.

Dante's face blanked as he stood and took a few steps toward him. "And what are you going to say when people realize that you and Aiden have the same bonded mate? What are you going to do when they realize what she is because she is the ONLY species that take more than one mate without a formal ceremony? What will you do when they come to kill all of you because you couldn't just not show off that you tricked the girl into being yours?" Dante shouted at him.

His breaths were coming out hard and his eyes were hard as he stared down at Caden. I stepped forward and placed my hand on his arm. "We'll hide them. We will stay safe. Nothing will happen to us. It's okay." I reassured him knowing it was fear making him react like this and not anger.

He gripped my hand and turned into me pulling me into a tight embrace. "Stop doing that freaky mind mumbo jumbo." He grumbled.

I patted him on the back. "Stop being so emotional, and it won't be an issue."

He begrudgingly let out a laugh before releasing me and turning back to the guys. "You three need to be careful. For your protection and hers. We need to make sure nobody finds out about this. That means long sleeves for the foreseeable future. Even in gym class." He told us.

The three of us nodded in agreement. There was no way any of us would be disagreeing after the last outburst. The feeling of doom still hung over my head though. How long could we really keep this quiet?