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Chapter 25
It wasn’t fair. Why him? Why couldn’t I be the one to go down?
Clearly, the guys needed to come together, but if it wasn’t enough while I was in a coma, then what would it take?
Theo and Sai came and leaned against Niall’s bed while Kaden sat on his.
“What do we do?” Sai asked. “If we don’t fix things soon, someone else will be drained.”
“Most of the bond mates I know act like married couples.” Theo dropped his eyes to the floor. “I think the sexual relationship is a big component.”
I nearly growled in frustration. “But what about sibling bonds?”
“That’s usually within a species, like a bear pack or wolf pack, to strengthen the pack’s hold in territory or power,” Kaden explained.
“But that's nothing like our situation,” I realized. “So that's an expectation?”
He nodded, and I wanted to scream.
“Stop leaving things out! Stop feeding me half-truths to make me feel better. It’s obviously hurting more than helping.” I waved a hand at Niall. “We need to be completely honest, starting now.”
Kaden pulled up a knee to his chest and wrapped his arms around it. “The bonding ceremony is a step, but the bond isn’t fully in place.”
“What?” I bit out.
“Bonded pairs have a connection that we haven’t established yet. We should be able to communicate with one another.”
“Telepathically,” Theo added.
Sai rubbed the back of his neck while avoiding looking at me.
“So we’re not really bonded yet?”
“Yes, the ceremony made it official, but . . .” Kaden looked to Theo.
He started. “It’s like a wedding. The couple is married in the eyes of their friends and family, but the marriage license needs to be filed for it to be official to the government.”
“So we need to fill out paperwork?” That didn’t make any sense. How would that complete things for us?
Sai coughed. “No, he used a bad example. A marriage isn’t official until it’s been consummated.”
I shook my head. “No. You guys said it didn’t have to be sexual.”
“That’s the exception,” he replied.
“Which proves that it doesn’t have to be sexual. Like siblings generally have an incredibly strong relationship before the bond even happens. There’s already a base of love, trust, devotion, and selflessness. Think of Aiden. Would you do anything for him? Protect him? Tell him your secrets? Rely on him if he was a bit older?” Theo asked.
I nodded. “Of course.”
“That’s what we need to be like. We need to reach that level of connection.” Kaden looked around at each of us. “We barely have a relationship with each other. That’s what needs to change.”
“How?” I asked. “How do we get to that point as quickly as possible?”
That level of love and respect could take months, if not years. We needed to open up to each other. Being vulnerable was a great first step.
“Maybe I could talk to each of you alone?”
Theo shook his head. “No. No more secrets. We need to learn to talk in front of each other about anything. We are a family. We are a unit. We have to be able to share our wants and needs. Our fears and troubles. That’s how we build trust and love.”
