Chapter Eight

Author's POV

‘Why Today?’ Aubrey pondered to herself.

Shell-shocked and confused, Aubrey stood at the door with Shannon and Rory standing underneath her skirts while peering at the strange men.

She wondered who was Aiden among the two and what the fuck was going on?

Why now?, She reflected again in anger.

They looked surprised and relatively happy to see her.

Their eyes kept her at a standstill as she recognized them… Their scents were practically the same, and the bond they shared made her wolf want to seize the reins of control after all these years.

The green-eyed man Aiden was definitely the one that had held her while she had rushed out of her room to the marriage hall; he had also stopped from leaving the wedding before playing the tape.

In dread, she wondered if he had been the one to touch her because she had remembered that his hands were so familiar when he held her in the hallway.

Now standing in front of them, those feelings past forgotten filled her up, and she felt a tear slipping out.

Aiden's with blue eyes trailed down her face down to her chest and just then she noticed his gaze heavy on her naked body, tingling.

Curse the bond for making her act the opposite of how she had imagined this whole scenario.

They were twins…identical ones.

Worse still was Aiden had gotten his wolf before she left, which meant that he knew…he knew she was mated to him, but still thought it wise to treat her like trash.

And to think that she had almost died because of them.

“Mummy, are we going to stand all day?” She heard Shannon ask and just as one of the  Aiden moved closer to talk, pulling her out of his hold and not giving him the chance, she slammed the door in their faces. 

“Mummy…” Rory drawled, staring at her uncertainty, while Jay's eyes glowed with guilt.

He thought that somehow he had messed it all wrong by opening the door for the bad men.

Not minding that she was in front of the youngsters, she slid down against the door…ignoring the soft knocks of the men who had broken her.

As memories of the past hit her, she burst into tears, frightening her kids, who were clueless about what to do.

She cried at the betrayal they had made her go through and the casting away by the pack she had once called home.

“Mummy…” Jay called out softly as Shannon urged him towards him their crying mom.

“Not now Jay!” she sobbed, hoping they would give her some, but they all ran into her arms as though they were reminding her she had them.

Aiden and Damon, who were once knowing at the door, could hear her sobs and reassuring words from her kids.

Damon glared at the door but was held back by Aiden.

They had to remind themselves that this wasn't a world where they ruled with power.

If they broke down the door like their wolves longed to do and carried her away alongside the children Damon was sure were his, then all hell was going to break loose…and they would further, more endanger their community.

Damon strolled back to the car and stared at the house with so many mixed feelings.

Memories of the night he had spent with her filled his mind and when she had walked towards the door to meet them clad in just a shirt and boxers underneath, his wolf had raged.

He had suggested that they carry her off, rather than trying to win her over.

The amount of hurt she had passed through because of him would not make this a simple task.

Damn doubted if she would ever forgive him, for he especially was the one that had caused it all.

He was responsible for being the second person to walk into the room and lay with her, making her confuse him as Aiden.

Also, the one that had then taped her, although back then he had believed it was all for the better good…even if it meant losing her.

What she didn't know was that her tape wasn't the one that was released but her face was added to another alongside his. It was all part of the plan until she felt out of the radar.

Aiden, on the other hand, couldn't believe how much she had changed. He felt his heart stop when she glared at them with different emotions swirling through her eyes.

The most prominent ones were rage and hate!

Who would criticize her, though?

If only his brother hadn't…

His thoughts trailed off as he looked at Damon who was wallowing up in guilt. He couldn't condemn him too…all these were mistakes of their father which had rubbed off on everyone in bad ways.

Damon wasn't the only one in the wrong too. He had played a part which was also unforgivable…if only she knew the reason.

While Aiden drove back to the place they had lodged in for the time being, Damon laid down with his face covered as the past slipped in.

He recalled that just as Aiden had left the room, he counted five minutes before slipping in…her scent had enveloped his nose, provoking his wolf to protest against his plans.

There was no going back…not now. He was doing it all for them.

After shutting the door behind him, she gasped as she turned to face him, causing her hands to loosen around the towel.

In delight, his eyes twinkled as her towel slipped off her body before dropping to the ground.

He perceived that giving her a chance to speak would cause his plans to go array, so he dropped the camera and without granting her a chance to talk, he had pulled her back to his lips.

After watching her for days, he had longed to know how she tasted and as her lips touched his…he knew there was no going back.

He recalled the feel of her breasts against his palms, how she had shivered in delight when his lips found her wanting neck.

The uncertainty in her eyes made him want to stop, but he had to do it…so he thought.

“Open up baby and let me fill you up for this may be the last time…” he relived saying as his heart ached in pain.

That night, Damon LOST HIS VIRGINITY while betraying her.

The next he had heard was that her scent had gotten absorbed in the river closest to the pack, and it broke him.

Until the seer has announced she was alive and well, while holding the key to their survival.

Tracking her, he alongside Aiden, had seen her at the movies with that man who reeked of danger.

His wolf spiraled out of control and today seeing her shut the door and cry behind that door.

All he just wanted was to pin her to the wall and do things to her that would make her forget it all.

He was pulled back to the present by Aiden, who had today parked the car in front of their temporary residence. “Are we going to talk about the children?”.

“Don't think about it, it ain't his…those kids are mine!”

Aubrey woke up hours later to see herself on the bed, the last she had remembered was falling asleep on the floor with her kids around her.

“Hi” she croaked, causing Hayden to smile at her before giving her water.

“How long?” she asked him as she stirred to see the triplets laying down beside her. 

“A crying Jay had called me pleading that I come home, and they told me about the bad men who made you cry to unconsciousness. "

Aubrey gulped as guilt suddenly filled her up. The shame of having lied to him about her past filled her up.

He deserved to know the truth. Maybe not about her identity, but about what had happened.

“Is there something you'd like to share?”

Unable to hold herself, she broke down in tears and told him about her past, starting from her relationship with Aiden and how he must have planned with his brother that she had just found out about to chase her out of town.

Nothing could justify why I had pretended to forget, but she told him that he made her feel safe, so she stayed.

When she was done, Hayden was left with a motionless face which drove her to wonder if he knew she was lying all these while. 

“Aubrey, you seem to underestimate how much I feel for you” He held her before sharing with her he would not let her go through any of that again.

Till date she was still confused as to how she came back to life but a few months after Hayden took her in, she had walked up to her.

As she remembered the predatory look they had sported, a fresh stream of tears flowed down.

Just as Alicia had picked, she sobbed, “They found me”.