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48: Lurking
Last Updated:
2025-01-11 19:47:01
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Alpha Aidan's Rejection 49: Smell So Good
TARAIn the eight years plus that I had lived in Vermont pack, StoneWolves were not once heard of. Other packs may have been experiencing their terrorism, but not Vermont pack.Collin may have been a shitty alpha during his time, but with the help of Jenna and the rest of the pack’s trackers and fighters, we were able to keep them away.Jenna rushed out of the spa in such a hurry that I had no time to process my thoughts, but hearing news of StoneWolves roaming around the pack’s borders wasn’t something I or anyone else was interested in experiencing.They wreaked havoc wherever they went, and took more numbers than they came along with them. Stories about them were never pleasant.I just hoped that it didn’t get out of hand and that none of the people who sighted them was harmed. Even more, I prayed that they didn’t find their way into Vermont pack, or any pack at that, because running into a StoneWolf was worse than what one could imagine.Pushing that to the back of my mind, I pati
Last Updated : 2025-01-12Alpha Aidan's Rejection 50: Never Once Asked, Or Thought
TARA“What date did you both talk about now?” I asked, voicing out the question that came to my mind after Nadia's last statement.Aidan looked like ants had suddenly invaded his boots with how uncomfortable he felt, and Nadia only made a weird expression on her face, mouthing the word “awkward” to herself.Aidan finally responded after some silence.“She made me promise a while ago to take you out on a date,” Aidan said, shocking me. “More like many dates,” he added, smiling to reveal a dimpled cheek.Thankfully, I didn't allow myself the chance to get sucked in like I usually did. Now wasn’t the time.Nadia spoke now. “But he said you both first have to agree to go out, and Aidan was down, so I’m guessing it’s left to you.”Opening my mouth and closing it back twice because I couldn’t find the right words, I locked eyes with Aidan who only gave a guilty shrug.“I mean…” I started, “Aidan hasn’t asked me on any dates, Nadia,” I said slowly, seeing that what I said was the truth, and
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Alpha Aidan's Rejection 51: Rough Day
AIDAN‘We will be out of your hair by the time you return,’ Tara said.Did she not know that I wanted nothing more than for her and our daughter to be all tangled up in my hair with no way of getting loose?‘If you ever will,’ she said.Fuck.Her words played in my head on constant repeat as I drove back to the hotel, having canceled every other of my plans for the day. I couldn’t be productive in my state, so I just went back to my suite.And yes, immediately I got to my room, the first place I headed was to the minibar to pour myself a glass of my thousand-year-old cognac. The strongest.If the circumstances we were in were completely different and Tara had said those words to me, I would have been offended by it. But this? This was well deserved.She deserved to know, and I was a douchebag for not having the guts to open up to her, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. It was just too much.So what did I do? I drank with the intention of passing out so that when I woke up, I would f
Last Updated : 2025-01-14Alpha Aidan's Rejection 52: Does Pumpkin Know?
TARAWatching Aidan leave after our fight wasn’t easy. I could barely describe my feelings because they were all over the place, but I couldn’t help the way I reacted to hearing about the supposed date plans he made with Nadia.A part of me wished that things were different, but we couldn’t just erase all the things that happened. I knew very well that the first step to healing things was a conscious effort from both parties to let the past go, but it wasn’t so easy when I was the only one on the receiving end.It had been days since Aidan left the house, still without an explanation, and I didn’t know if he had returned to Attica pack or not. I couldn’t even bring myself to ask around about him.The line was between pride and hurt, but I couldn’t choose a side.Nadia already asked me about Aidan a couple of times, but I had no words for her. I just hoped that with time, she would ask fewer questions, and eventually, he would slip to the back of her mind.I couldn’t bear the thought o
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Alpha Aidan's Rejection 53: Supposed To Be Here
TARAI woke up expecting to see Nadia in my room as she sometimes did since I slept much later than she did, but the door was still closed as I left it before my nap, and she wasn’t in my room.Stretching on the luxurious bed that was as soft as a thousand feather pillows put together, I smiled to myself.Figuring that I must not have slept for that long, I rolled to the side of the bed and got on my feet, making my way to the bathroom to relieve myself.Splashing some water on my face to wake me up faster, I went back into my room and checked the time to see that it was past five pm already.So I did sleep for a long time.Knowing that Nadia would be wide awake by this time or just stirring up as I did, I prepared to go down and get started on dinner.I decided to first check on her, so I made my way to the next room on the right side of the one I chose as mine for our stay in Aidan’s house, as I wanted Nadia to be as close to me as possible in the unfamiliar environment.She wasn’t
Last Updated : 2025-01-16Alpha Aidan's Rejection 54: Keep Her Safe
TARAIt had been twelve and a half minutes since Jenna said she was going to call me with an update about finding Nadia, but she hadn’t. These were the longest twelve minutes of my life, and I had never cried so much in so little time.All Esme could do was pray for Nadia’s safety and comfort me, because not only could no one dare go out when StoneWolves were roaming around, but there was also a storm that had just started.It wasn’t so severe as this wasn’t the time of the year when the storms hit, but it was enough to make everyone shut their doors and not willingly leave the comforts of their homes.Different thoughts took shape in my mind, the next worse than the last, thinking of how much danger my child was in.She would be scared no doubt, and I just couldn’t stomach the thought that something had happened or would happen to her.Dialing Jenna’s number again, I put the phone on speaker and laid it on top of the kitchen island. My hands were weak and shaking so badly that I coul
Last Updated : 2025-01-17Alpha Aidan's Rejection 55: I Was Dying
TARAI had never run into a Stonewolf before, but from what I’d heard, they only needed to swipe you with either their claws or fangs to get the tiniest bit of their DNA streaming in your blood, and that was it.The figure in the storm must have noticed me from afar, and when I’d gotten close enough to identify his face, I realized that he was wearing a mask over his head. That was the first flag, but that wasn’t what made me freeze.It was the rough dark-brown patch of skin that had spread from the tip of his fingers, running up his arms, and disappearing into his shirt. It was almost scaly like a land dried up with drought, and that meant only one thing.A StoneWolf.A shaky gasp escaped my lips on realizing this, and adrenaline kicked in.“I don’t want any trouble,” I still said, trying to talk my way out, but my voice came out in a squeak, and he laughed.No. He cackled.“Please, I’m just looking for my daughter,” I said, taking a wobbled step back, and hoping that that would mak
Last Updated : 2025-01-18Alpha Aidan's Rejection 56: The Children’s Hospital
TARAThis wasn’t supposed to be happening. ‘What?’ You would ask.All of it.None of this was supposed to be happening.Aidan wasn’t supposed to be stepping into my life and doing a three-sixty on everything I knew or thought I knew about him.Aidan was supposed to be the man who sent Kayla to bathe my baby in acid and stick a blade in my stomach, and not the one whose body shook and eyes glazed with tears when he thought that my life was ending. Aidan was supposed to be my nemesis, not my hero.His voice cut through my thoughts. “Tara, keep your eyes open.”He scooted closer to me on the floor and pulled me to his chest. This way, I could feel all the heat from his bare body, and hear the way his heart was pounding erratically in his chest. Aidan rocked me back and forth against himself, sputtering words, and something hit me.Aidan was praying.I slowly snapped out of whatever shock or haze I was in, and I shook my head, finding my voice.“Aidan.” He made an unintelligible sound,
Last Updated : 2025-01-19
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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
