√ Mated To Twins (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Fifteen

ALEXI

"It's believed that in certain cultures, if a person dies he or she will wake up to live another life," Slade said softly, leading me down a hall.

I nodded, still feeling confused about what had happened earlier. Surely it's not normal to be attracted to two men at the same time? I'm grateful for what they had done, maybe that's why I feel the way I do about them. The words he said before kissing me flashed through my mind. What did he mean by that? Maybe the picture I saw has something to do with it? Shaking my head, I concentrated on his words instead.

Slade pushed open a dark wooden door before he stepping aside for me to enter first. Stepping into the room, I glanced around with interest. A large wooden table stood in front of a window that faced the backyard. Three couches faced a built-in fireplace with a thick white rug between them. There was nothing personal in the room, no photo's or personal items. It made the room seem cold. Fury stepped back from the table when we entered. He only glanced at me briefly before dropping his eyes.

"You asked about the picture," Slade guided me over to the desk. "This is the only way we can think of explaining it to you."

My knees buckled as my eyes fell on the photos covering the desk. It started from the top edge spreading right across it to the right hand corner. I sucked in a shaky breath, taking a step closer. Tears burned behind my eyes as I took it all in. Memories of our time together, times I had no memories of. I can't believe it.

"Ten years ago, we met you for the first time," Slade said, softly. "You were thirteen and we had just turned eighteen. It was the school's annual football game and you came to support your-"

He stopped suddenly. Glancing up at him, our eyes caught briefly. Fury stepped closer, placing his warm hand against the small of my back.

"What?" My voice was barely audible, but I knew they heard me.

"You were there to support your brother," Fury finished. "Your brother was the same age as us, we were great friends. He was the one that first introduced us, after that we started dating."

Slade held out a photo. I took it from him with a shaky hand staring down at it. A younger version of me stood in-between two tall boys. I instantly recognized Slade and Fury, another boy stood next to him. My eyes moved to Fury again, he looked so different. His hair was short and his eyes the same forest green as his brother. So this was before he got kidnapped. I looked at the boy standing next to Fury. His blond hair was cut into some strange hairstyle, he was a little shorter than the twins built but almost the same.

"What happened?" I handed the photo back to him. "For me to have been reborn then I had to die, right?"

They nodded. For a few minutes neither of them said anything. I kept my knees locked together to stop myself from falling. These photos was memories of a few years ago.

"You and your family died in a car crash."

"The second time we met you, you were sixteen," Slade continued. "You applied for an internship at our business."

"Things were a little complicated, but we got together. We dated for a few months before you died again." Fury pointed to the photos. "You died in a robbery."

"When we met you again for the third time, we thought it would be the last time. You were eighteen then and just finished high school. We met at a music festival, I spilled my drink on you."

"The thought of losing you again made us take things faster than usual," he picked up a photo, hesitating slightly, Fury handed it over to me.

My eyes widened. "We were married?"

"We eloped, got married in a small church. After that we went to a restaurant to celebrate. You excused yourself to use the restroom. Somehow, a fire started. We rushed towards you but it was too late, you got caught in the fire."

"You died right in front of us," Slade said, his voice broke making my heart clench. "After that we believed you died for good. Third time's the charm, like they say. We packed up the pack and moved here."

"This is where we met your grandmother." Fury placed a hand on my arm. I pulled away from him, staring down at the photos.

Reincarnation. Death. Rebirth.

"I've died before." The whispered words created a heavy silence in the room.

I turned away from them walking over to the window. It all made sense now, why Fury had made me promise that I won't leave. Swallowing, I turned to face them. Slade stood with his back towards us, staring at the wall. His brother watched me silently with unknown emotion in his grey depths. I died, three times. How does one handle that news?

"Will it happen again?" Neither answered, and it gave me the answer I wanted. I'm going to die again. Be reborn and live a new life, I won't remember my old one.

"Alexi." Fury stepped towards me, reaching out to stroke my cheek.

I shrunk back from his touch, my eyes once again locking with his. They just dropped this on me and now they expect me to rush into their arms.

"What do you want us to do?" Fury asked. "You asked for the truth and we gave it to you. I'm sorry we couldn't soft soap it anymore. Beat around the bush until you finally figured it out yourself?"

"Fury," Slade's voice was low and filled with a warning unknown to me.

"You can't always have things handed to you on a silver platter, Alexi." Fury stepped closer, leaning down slightly so our eyes were level. "You died, you were reborn four times. You might die again, you might be re-"

"Fury." This time his name came out as a low growl.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, walking out of the room.

The door clicked shut softly behind him. I'm left alone with Slade standing a few feet away from me. Swallowing, I blinked rapidly pushing the tears back that wanted to fall so badly. I can't show them how weak I was. They needed a strong woman by their side, not a weak cry baby. I'm sure that in my previous lives I had been stronger than I was now.

"Alexi." Lightening bolts raced through my body when Slade cupped my cheeks.

He tilted my head up so our eyes locked. I stared at him silently, begging him with my eyes to tell me that this was part of some sick joke, but he didn't.

"If we could change it, change the  past, we would," he paused, licking his bottom lip. "But we can't baby, we don't know what's going to happen. When or if you will die again, but what we can do is spend as much time as possible together." 

I pulled away from him, staring down at our feet.

"I need some time."