Asher looks up at us, “No one knows. He threatened to kill mom and Aria if I ever said anything. I took it so they would never hurt. I swear I didn’t know.”
“What happened Asher. Tell us.” I say. I already know. I’ve always suspected but I know he’s about to tell the truth for the first time ever. “He’s been beating me since I was six. It only stopped two years ago because I beat the fuck out of him. I didn’t know he was hurting her. I swear to God, I thought it was only me he was hurting. Is she alive please Jasper I’m begging you let me go to her! I... she ...I need her please. She’s, my sister. I need her to know I’m here for her. That I will never let anyone ever hurt her ever again.” I wipe my eyes and look up at the ceiling. Pushing my hands through my hair. I cough and look at him. “She’s alive but man he broke her. She was at the bottom of the front staircase. The doctors said her jaw was broken, fucking broken by hand. There were fingerprints across her throat. She has casts on her leg and arms. They removed her spleen, and so many fucking ribs man. One punctured a lung. Got lucky they didn’t have to vent her. Blood was pooled around her from the bone in her leg pushing through the skin of her leg. He broke her. This wasn’t just a beating. He tried to kill her. No one was in the home but her.” He cried then growled, his wolf trying to come to the surface as he fought for control, as I mentioned that it looked like their father tried to kill her. “He has cameras everywhere in that house.” He whispers. “We will find proof.” Linc nods and helps Asher to his feet, “Let’s get to Aria.” he says softly, his hands rubbing his shaved head. “Let’s take my car, Asher isn’t fit to drive right now.” They both nod and we lock my apartment and jump in my car. I start my car and Numb by Likin Park blares from the speakers. A sense of foreboding flashes through me. The same feeling, I had before found Aria on the floor. I back out of my parking spot quickly and speed all the way to the hospital. I barely threw the car in park before running into the building to the floor Aria was on. But she was gone. The nurse told us that she had left minutes ago. We sped back toward the entrance, but she was gone. Nowhere to be found. Asher slammed his fist into the pillar next to him and Linc started calling all his father's contacts trying to find her. But nothing. She was nowhere to be found. My fated mate disappeared in the blink of an eye. I should have never left her alone. I shouldn’t have walked away this morning. You’d think the fucking doctors would have encouraged her to stay longer. But they didn’t. They let her roll out. Refusing to tell us who picked her up, nothing. We spent the next year searching and trying to put her father away for the attempted murder of Aria Elaine Baker. He kept telling us it wasn’t attempted. That he had killed that bitch, his words breaking me more and more every day. My wolf and I in denial, we would feel it surely if our mate was gone. I never touched another woman. I couldn’t. It felt wrong. It took a year but with video evidence Asher and Aria’s father got life in prison for the murder of Aria Baker. The jury threw the book at him. They believed she was dead. But I didn't. I would feel it in my soul if my other half was gone. We pulled our resources together and became rich in our own rights after designing something to help victims of domestic abuse. But it didn’t feel like enough. We became club owners and started expanding to other states around the country. Expanding the pack further and further out until we encompassed over half of the states. We spent years searching for her. I could still feel her in my soul. I couldn’t let her go. My wolf going ballistic at the thought. Five years has flown by. I tilt my head back and sip my whiskey. It goes down smoother than it probably should, but it helped numb the nonstop pain that stuck in my heart every fucking day since I walked out of that hospital without her. The day she disappeared. I grin at the bartender, “Asher will be in here in a few weeks to get you some help trained up.” “Dude, we need it. I can’t believe how popular this place is. Y'all changed our entire plan, and everyone loves it. Music row is lucky you chose us to start up this place.” He grins as he throws a bottle over his shoulder and catches it before pouring a drink and handing it to the woman two seats away. She slides her money across to him and smiles at me. I pretend to not notice and look over at the door. The feeling in my stomach went from the nonstop ache I have lived with to relief, My wolfs voice echoing in my mind, "Mate, Mate" and I have no clue why. I look around casually. I tilt my head and focus on what I see walking slowly through my club. No fucking way. I look closer. There's no way. I’ve not seen her in five years, but I could never forget her. The hair is longer, but I remember how she used to wear it when we were younger. Those long black curls flowing down her back to her ass. I groan as my body wakes up for the first time in years. It’s her. My wolf is yelling at me to grab her, mark her, mate her, claim her. That way she could never disappear again. I look around and see someone else I would have never thought I’d see again. Lorelei Adams. It's her. Fuck yes. I make my way across the room. I have found her; it has to be by the Goddess hand. I need to get to her. I focus on her, once she’s back in my arms I’m never letting her go again. Aria Baker is mine.Aria present-day Looking at myself in the mirror, I was very impressed with how well the little black dress I had chosen from my closet was flattering my body today. My generous curves didn’t look overwhelming, like I normally thought they did, especially since having Eli 4 years ago. My long black hair curled softly down my back. My green eyes flashed behind my contacts, the black liner high lighting the barely there eye makeup I had donned earlier. My wolf was calm inside my head for the first time in a long time. She huffed quietly in my chest. “Hurry up bitch,” my best friend Lorelei yelled from the hallway. “Hold your horses. And stop cussing before Eli picks it up too!” I yell back. My bedroom door flew open and there she stood laughing, “Damn girl, I think I’m in love, you look so sexy.” “Shut up, you ass” I say laughing. I knew where this was about to go. “No, you're going to get it, no one is going to tell you no.” she grinned as she started singing the words.
We walked up to the doors of the bar, flashing our IDs to the bouncer. I could hear Halsey from behind the doors singing about Feeling sorry for you. I started humming along under my breath smiling as the bald, buff bouncer opened the doors and we entered the bar. He reminded me of an old friend from way back when but looking closer I could tell it wasn’t him. I shook my head trying to remove the thoughts from my head as we walked into the bar. There was no way Lincoln, Alpha Jaspers friend and enforcer would be all the way in Tennessee. My eyes widened, the dark wood floors to the long bar across the room, with male servers walking around without their shirts taking orders from tabletops. Their blue jeans low slung on the hips showing off their abs and that mysterious v that men seemed to have, and women want to lick. A crowded dance floor full of people with moves I couldn't imagine attempting. The lights flashing around the entire bar. The decor was dark but inviting. Immediately
The guy in front of me turned ashen in color, his wolf withdrawing from the shift, "m-mate?" he stuttered, "I'm sorry Mr. Kallager"His entire stature changed before my eyes, into one full of respect and a bit of fear. He turned his neck slightly to the side of a show of submission. My back tightened, and my spine straightened. I knew just one man by that name. There is no way he would be here. I tried to pull away from his body pressed against my back and side. His hand tightened on my wrist pulling it behind my back out of sight and efficiently pulling me closer to his body. The heat of his body warmed me instantly, fear and desire radiated through my body. Fear won. My wolf howling inside my head, "Mate! He's here our mate." I could feel the urge to shift coming over me."Aria!" I could hear Lori hollering my name as she made her way toward me and the 2 wolves who were facing off. I risked a glance at the mysterious Mr. Kallager and groaned quietly. It was him.
Jasper Pulling my phone from my pocket as the car drove away, I quickly type out the license plate number and description of the vehicle. It was her. Lorelei being with her sealed the deal. Aria Baker had disappeared five years ago after I made love to her and didn’t tell her that she was my fated mate, before Rhea burst back into my life by putting a fake engagement announcement in the papers and online. After I had taken her to the hospital when I found her in her home beaten, at the bottom of a flight of stairs, barely breathing, jaw broken, was enough to paralyze me with fear. Not knowing if it was my fault she had been hurt. But she disappeared from the hospital the next day, never to be seen by anyone again. Shaking the past from my thoughts I clicked over to the phone and dialed my best friend and Beta Asher. Aria’s twin brother. He picked up after the second ring. "Jas, what's
Aria’s father had been thrown in jail, after I had found the video from the home security system showed him throwing her down the stairs. It wasn’t only that night that I had found he had been hurting her. The man had kept the videos saved to his home computer of everything that happened in his home. Videos of him punching and kicking Asher and his mother as well as Aria. Fury had built up inside of me upon finding the proof of what I had suspected was happening just to Asher. I never thought that the women in the family had been abused as well. They all hid it so well. I had only suspected Asher because of the bruises I had seen as he swam in the pool at my house. Years of abuse, all on camera. The case was airtight, the videos damning. The audio, even more so. The screams, I could still hear in my dreams years later just from seeing the videos before handing them over to the police. I honestly do not know how Asher deals with the aftermath but knowing the woman I love has to
⚠️**** Trigger Warning***⚠️ talks about physical and emotional abuse for your mental health if this is something you can't read do not read this chapter Aria Pushing my hair out of my face I turned toward Lori on the sofa, our bodies covered with a soft blanket. Our feet in each other's lap, the TV muted as we ate ice cream quietly across from each other. I slowly started speaking, “You remember all the times I stayed over at your house, and you would ask why I wouldn’t go to the pool showing skin, I always had to wear a shirt over my swimsuits.” She nodded, “I always thought you just felt uncomfortable with your body.” I smirked, “Well that and I was always trying to hide the bruises.” “What bruises?” she interrupted. I swallowe
Damn, ok another question.” She grinned at me clearly trying to distract me from the pain she could see in my eyes. “Why did you decide to sleep with Jasper?” I sighed pushing my hands through my hair. I smiled sadly at her, “I had been in love with him since the day Asher introduced me to him in school. Those piercing blue eyes, his dark hair, and dimples could melt me from ten feet away. But when he talked to me,” I sighed, “Hell, if he didn’t make me feel like I was the most important person in the whole world to him.” Standing up and grabbing the melting ice cream I walked to the kitchen and threw it in the freezer, and the utensils into the sink. “Loving Jasper was easier than breathing. When he got with Rhea it broke me because I knew I wanted to be with him. So, I chose to stay home more but being home all the time made me an easier target for dad. The beatings became worse. I then chose to spend time with Asher who was always with Jasper. And Jasper told me that he had
JasperI had just unlocked my front door when my phone rang in my hand, I glanced at the screen and saw Asher's name and I brought it to my ear.“You heard from her?” I asked, excited for the first time in a very long time. I hoped he had convinced her to talk to us.“I saw her.” his deep voice whispered, sounding pained. Not the excitement I had hoped to hear. I felt my heart deflate in my chest.“What happened?” my voice deepened as I tried to adjust to the seriousness of the situation.“She hung up on me, and now Lori’s not answering her phone. Damn it Jas, I saw her. Her eyes. Fuck! The pain in her eyes gutted me.” I could hear the varied emotions as he filtered through them. I knew what he was feeling because the pain, the fear, the excitement, the anguish. All of them, I felt them too.“All she said was she wanted nothing from the pack, to stop looking for her.” I could hear the frustration in his voice, and I knew he was running his hands through his longer black hair.“B