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33: Stand Trial
Last Updated:
2024-12-28 12:34:09
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Alpha Aidan's Rejection 34: How Do You Plead?
TARA The next day, I made my way to the diner in a jolly mood, and even if I didn’t get to my shop to meet any early customers who usually waited to be the first to try our freshly baked goods, I wasn’t bothered. We still had the whole day to sell out. Thoughts of how the previous day was spent filled my mind, and I had to caution myself from overthinking things. I was worried that I didn’t get to tell Aidan what Jenna had told me, but I just hoped that Aidan was in good health. Nadia was so happy after everything yesterday that she fell asleep the moment we got home, and when I woke her up this morning, she got herself ready with a smile and not the usual grumbles. My baby was already in school and I could focus my undivided attention on work till she got back, so I got right into it. I hummed as I got the diner cleaned for the day, set up the tables, and mentally prepared myself for a productive day. Starting with some batter, I baked rounds of lemon muffins that I was sure w
Last Updated : 2024-12-29Alpha Aidan's Rejection 35: The Victim Confessed
AIDAN ‘How do I plead to this charge?’ Outright comical. Collin was out of his goddamn mind to think that he had me in a chokehold by his question. He was even more stupid than I thought he was if he believed that his little show of power from the woods last evening was what brought me here. After my run yesterday, I was steaming with fury. I got back to the hotel suite and Jace was still there, and I asked him to do some digging on the girl from the woods. Turns out that my thoughts about her were right, and she was just collateral damage in Collin’s games. Her parents, who were currently locked up somewhere in Collin’s pack, were indebted to him, and the young girl was left with no other choice than to offer herself up to pay him back. Her being in the woods right about the time I was there was one of Collin’s ways of getting his debt paid, but the Collin that I knew was not going to let any of them go that easily. And these were the people he called his own? People who he
Last Updated : 2024-12-29Alpha Aidan's Rejection 36: Saying Goodbye
TARAChallenge?What the heck!?How did it get to this?“Say no, please, say no,” I pleaded under my breath, ignoring the uproar from the pack members who were present and currently tearing the place apart.This was exactly what Collin wanted, and he was hoping that Aidan would take the bait and fight him. All for what?“Aidan,” my voice came out shaky, but this time it was louder. Loud enough for Aidan to hear so he could turn around to face me.My heart hammered in my chest, and at some point, it felt like the organ was going to give in.I shook my head once, willing Aidan to say no, but somewhere within me, I already knew that Aidan wouldn’t.I knew that he had this compelling need to protect me and Nadia, and maybe he saw this as his opportunity to do so. I knew that Aidan saw that this young girl was in danger, and he felt the need to protect her too.Like a true Alpha.But Collin was challenging Aidan for Attica pack! That was Aidan’s life’s work. Collin wouldn’t fight fair. He
Last Updated : 2024-12-30Alpha Aidan's Rejection 37: One Small Kiss
TARAZora was finally asleep, so Aidan and I could leave her room and go over to his.“Do I want to know how you’re so good with stuff like that?” Aidan asked, referring to Zora. “It was like you were a professional doctor with the way you handled her panicking and her wounds.”“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I replied. “With Nadia. She’s very energetic for someone with skin as soft as hers.”My smile was automatic, and it reached my eyes. I couldn’t sustain it for more than a few seconds though, as the impending doom drew nearer and nearer.“Speaking of Nadia, I have to FaceTime her. We last saw this morning before she left for school, and she didn’t know that I wouldn’t be around till later.”“That’s okay,” Aidan said. “Come on in and have some privacy.”Aidan led the way to his suite, and on getting inside, my jaw dropped. I could swear that I needed a shovel to scoop myself off the floor. Damn.If I thought Aidan was doing well for himself before, I thought differently now. The pla
Last Updated : 2024-12-30Alpha Aidan's Rejection 38: Screw Me
AIDANDid I want to kiss her? Damn right, I did.Did I want to taste her skin again, bury myself inside her, and tattoo my name in the deepest parts of Tara’s mind?Fuck yes.Yes, a fucking million times.But when her eyes fluttered open and she caught a grip on herself, taking a step back to put some distance between me and her, I knew that it wasn’t what she wanted. Not right now at least.I could work with that.It had been hours since the incident at the suite with Tara, and right after she wished me luck on the challenge, I took her home.We were back in the same place again though, because I could trace her ambrosia scent among the livid crowd.I was currently standing at the center of it all, with my shorts hanging low on my hips, and my chest bare.Much to my dismay, Jace wasn’t able to find any tangible information on what Collin had under his sleeves for the fight, but I didn’t bother about that too much.I knew he wasn’t coming fair, and I was prepared.Jace was on standby
Last Updated : 2024-12-31Alpha Aidan's Rejection 39: Goodbye, Aidan
AIDANWhen I peeled my eyes open, it didn’t feel like it normally did when I woke up from my sleep. I would usually be wide awake within the first few seconds because my slumbers were usually pretty shitty.This time, it felt like I’d been asleep for so long, but I still felt weak to my bones regardless.I struggled to remember where I was and how I fell asleep there, and the memories hit me like a moving truck.Collin.The challenge.Me winning.And me dying.Shit.But if my eyeballs could dart left and right like they were doing right now and I could remember all of these details, it meant that I had survived Collin’s attack.And that also meant that…“Welcome back to the land of the living, man.”It was Jace who spoke, cutting me off from my thoughts.I turned my head to face him.“You didn’t think I was going to let you escape from your responsibilities that easily now, did you?” He asked, looking too calm for someone whose friend almost just died.And yeah. Leave it to Jace to tr
Last Updated : 2025-01-02Alpha Aidan's Rejection 40: An Official Title
TARAI was going to pretend like I didn’t know that Aidan’s beta was currently following me as I made my way home after I walked out of them earlier.Certain that Aidan must have sent him to be my bodyguard since it was still the early hours of the morning, I walked home in silence, wondering why within the last few hours, Aidan had riled me up more times than I could count.When I got to the front of my house, I turned to Jace, who was still following me, and I watched his failed attempt to act natural like he was just some stranger passing by.“You can go now, Jace. This is me,” I said, pointing to my apartment. “It was nice meeting you, even if it wasn’t under a much better circumstance.”After a few seconds of waiting without getting any response from him, I unlocked the door and went inside. Letting my bag drop to the floor carelessly, I shrugged off my coat and my shoes.I needed to see Nadia, and then I needed coffee or sleep, or both.I was still contemplating on which one to
Last Updated : 2025-01-03Alpha Aidan's Rejection 41: Take My Chances
AIDANSince going back to sleep was out of the picture after Tara and Jace left the suite, I went into the bathroom to take a shower, hoping that it would take my mind off some of my troubles, or at least give me some clarity on things.I couldn’t help but think that I had made such a terrible mistake by getting Collin out of the picture, seeing as Tara handled things earlier.The truth is that I thought about how both of them would feel safe, but I didn’t really think through how Tara would take it. Or rather, I didn’t expect her to take it that way.As I showered, I wondered what I could do to make it better. To make her hate me less for making her upset.I came up with nothing.So when Jace came back to the hotel suite after making sure that Tara got home safely, I brought up the conversation.“Do you think we made a mistake?”“I don’t think I understand what you are asking me, Alpha,” Jace said, confused.“I mean with Collin. Do you think interfering with Vermont pack’s line of au
Last Updated : 2025-01-04
Latest chapter
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 87: Friend Turned Foe
TARAWe took a ride back home, and I could say that I’d never been as hurt, confused, and afraid all at the same time before as I was now. In the thousands of seconds that it took for us to make it back, I fought the urge to cry thousands of times, but I couldn’t. Not in front of Nadia. I couldn’t bear the thought of scaring her like that, but I also couldn’t stop thinking about it.‘Dad’s not home. He’s out with Mom. Kayla Graham.’Aidan was a father. To someone other than Nadia.And Aidan was a husband. To someone else who wasn’t me.Could there have been a misunderstanding somewhere?None of it made any sense, but I still remembered the odd sense of familiarity I felt when the teenager showed up, telling me somewhere deep inside me that this held some real bitter truth. The betrayal hurt like a thousand cuts from a jagged saw to the same spot.I almost hissed in pain, but I swallowed the feeling like a pill, waiting until we got back.The thought of going back to the penthouse wher
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 86: Dad?
TARAI’d be honest upfront. I couldn’t care less about the basket that me and Nadia spent over half an hour filling it with whatever fruits we could find at the market. All I cared about was the way my heart was doing unfamiliar things like gymnastic moves in my chest in anticipation of seeing Aidan.A little more than for me though, I was happy that Nadia did not turn into a shadow of her usual self after we broke the news of her parentage to her. She still missed spending time with Aidan and was just as excited about seeing him as me.“We have oranges, peaches, a watermelon, bananas, and even more fruit, Nadia. I doubt Aidan is going to be able to finish these all by himself, so I think we should stop here, okay?”She seemed to be enjoying the local shopping spree a little too much, but she bobbed her head in response either way.After paying and bagging our stuff, I transferred them to the basket we came along with, and pulled out the possible location list that Aidan dropped off w
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 85: Going To See Aidan
TARAThe next days were better than I could have predicted in years to come, and that meant better in the sense of things with Aidan, and even better with my mother. We frequented my old home as often as we could, spent hours upon hours in my mother’s company, and sometimes, even visited twice on the same day for days in a row.My mom was so happy, confessing to it by herself that she hadn’t been happier in years. When she randomly mentioned one afternoon that she was grateful to have seen these days, and would now peacefully go to meet the Moon Goddess, I rebuked her, telling her that I saw her spending many more years with us after this.I truly did.Nadia wasn’t left out in the merriments. Her grandmother showered her with so much love that she was the one who dragged me sometimes to go see her.And then there was my father. Just as I had suspected on the first day when we came, he was only entertaining us because of Mom. Her seeing us must have brought about a time that had been c
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 84: Apologies
TARAI kept on ignoring the voice in my head that had been echoing on repeat, making me question if I had made a rash decision without properly thinking about it. Nadia’s eyes were swollen with tears, her face, still wet and puffy from sobbing after we broke the news to her. She had let me into the room now, but I still gave her a few minutes for her occasional shudders to calm down before I started speaking.“Can I talk to you now?” I asked, watching her sunken frame on the bed and wondering when my baby became this smart. I couldn’t say “shocked” was an appropriate word to describe how I felt when she uttered those words.Nadia nodded, so I steadied myself with a deep breath before I spoke.“Aidan, your daddy, and I, first met each other a very long time ago, and as of then, we weren’t very wise to make the best decisions. Aidan hurt me by pushing me away, but I realized that he only pushed me away because he was scared for us and trying to protect you from a bad man who would have
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 83: Better Now Than Later
TARA“You know how Aidan has been here for a very long time making sure that we’re okay, we’re happy, and we have everything we need?” Nadia’s eyes brightened as she stared between me and Aidan, nodding. “Good. And how a dad always does these things because that’s what they’re supposed to do?”Nadia’s smile faltered, mirroring her confusion now. I quickly went on. “It happens that Aidan is your dad, just like you’ve always wished. He always has been, and he’s here for you now.” My forehead had gone clammy with the tension of the moment, and I felt my heartbeat thrashing in my ears. “How do you feel about that, baby?” I asked when Nadia hadn’t said a word for too long.“He…Aidan is my daddy?” Nadia’s voice was unrecognizable. Small, and unsure.Aidan answered this time, cautiously. “Yes, Nadia, I’m your daddy.”I’d thought about how this was going to play out in my head, and thought about the many scenarios in all directions that this could take. Only one truly stuck, hence my surprise
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 82: Rip The Band-Aid
TARAMy mom had insisted we spend the night with them after already staying over four hours there, which honestly felt like minutes with how much laughter and crying we did, but I politely refused, mostly because Dad’s attitude didn’t yield the whole night.Mom offered to clean my old room and set it up for me and Nadia, claiming that they had barely touched anything since after that night, and even if Nadia was excited about the idea, I didn’t want to be back in the space just yet.I promised that we would show up again tomorrow to take off where we left, even going as far as making plans to spend the day in the kitchen, all three of us—me, Mom, and Nadia— before Mom finally agreed to let us leave.My gratefulness to the goddess knew no bounds. It hadn’t even been a complete day, and my heart was already lighter as everything was beginning to fall into place.And more than anything else, I found myself wanting to share the good news first with Aidan, and I was surprised that it didn’
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 81: Tolerating Our Presence
TARAI couldn’t say if I considered it funny now, or something else. For the last couple of days, I’d been worried sick about the outcome of us coming back here, but as soon as I laid eyes on my mother, all my worries melted into nothingness.It was like she didn’t believe it was me at first, but immediately I said the word, a shocked sound slipped past her lips, and she threw her arms forward, going in for an embrace. On instinct, I did the same, laughing as the heaviest weight of the moment was lifted off my chest.Wrapping my arms around her neck and burying my face into her clothes, I felt hot tears falling from my eyes, and I didn’t bother stopping them. She was alive. She was well, and I got to see her again. To smell that familiar scent of home, of my mother.“My baby girl,” she cried, her smaller body racking with aggressive sobs against mine. “I never thought the goddess would bless me with a day to see you again. This has to be an illusion. Please tell me it’s not a dream,”
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 80: Greeted With Silence
TARAI didn’t expect to be hit with so many memories as soon as Aidan drove us past Attica Pack’s borders, those from the events surrounding my departure, and more from way before then, but I was.Attica pack had changed—in a really good way—, but with the anxiousness and the bad memories this place brought up, I would have turned around and headed back where I came from if Aidan wasn’t with me.He must have noticed my dampened mood, seeing as he rushed in and out of the large penthouse after showing Nadia to her room. Not even the jaw-dropping gorgeousness of Aidan’s condo could get me to relax.As soon as he got back, Aidan took my hands in his, automatically calming me down, and he led me to a sofa. His eyes held the most understanding and patience, something I was so grateful for. Aidan didn’t know that this was more than just facing my parents after the tragic event years ago, but also some dark traumatic experiences of mine that I barely thought of anymore because it was way eas
Alpha Aidan's Rejection 79: Getting Settled
AIDANShouldn’t I have been ecstatic that Nadia and Tara were finally coming to Attica pack, where I most wanted them to be, even if this journey was only temporary?No arguments…I was. I was happy for this development, but dread coiled itself around my neck more than joy, making me question if this was the right time, or if once again, Jace was right, and I had dug a grave for myself that I couldn’t get out of.I hadn’t entirely been honest with myself, and neither have I been one hundred percent honest with Tara. My briefcase stared at me, and so did all the evidence from my attempt to change the hands of fate.Documents for a new diner in Attica pack with keys I had intended to give Tara, documents with Nadia’s name, admitting her as a pupil in Attica’s most prestigious institution, a new home for them, and subsequently, for us, and even more incriminating information that I couldn’t dare name.These should have been a thing of joy and pride to share with Tara, but I’d gone and don
