57. Aiden
57
Aiden
“You going down there alone is suicidal,” Constance snaps. “You really think Nyx Calloway is just going to let you waltz into his lands?”
“Weren’t you the one arguing with me that I need to get my mate back?” Glancing over at Camden, he’s wearing a similar frown as Constance.
He’s been quiet since I announced my departure. With him needing to stay here in order to take care of the pack and whatever issues arise while I’m gone, he’s less than thrilled with me leaving for the South.
Outside of Delilah and me, I’ll have a few enforcers with me too. The downside to approaching the other alpha king’s territory is that there is a balance that needs to be had. Arriving with too much force behind me will allude to me coming with bad intentions.
However, showing up with too little will leave me vulnerable to any threats that may arise.
With Delilah being good at sneaking around undetected, I’ll be sending her in behind me while I’m busy with Calloway and whatever army he brings with him to meet me at the border. Hopefully he’ll be pompous enough to bring his entire force with him, sparing an opening for Delilah to pass through.
Tracking down Raine is the hard part, given that I have no idea if Calloway even still has her. He could’ve simply gotten bored of her by now and sold her off, much like she’d been before.
“That’s not the point and you know it.” This entire morning, Constance’s attitude has been just under the line of fed up. With her having to stay behind too to keep up the appearance of my advisors with our elders, she’s also pissed.
“Look.” Lifting myself up from my chair and crossing over the room to where they are, my arms fold over my chest. “There’s no other way around this. If I’m going to be taking Raine from him, I need to act serious about it. Sneaking her out will be impossible with us not knowing the terrain. It could get her and whoever I send killed.”
“It’s impossible to get her with your plan too,” she says.
“I have to try, Constance.”
Her mouth clamps shut instantly.
Even if this entire journey ends with me hanging for my crimes, I’ll at least have tried my best in getting Raine back. My pack will be left in good hands with Camden, I have no doubt.
“I’ll send word to you both once I make contact.” Focusing my attention on my beta, I say, “Keep Anais contained. The last time we talked, she threatened to go to the elders.”
He nods once. “Got it.”
“She needs to be told something about you leaving.” Constance sighs. “Or else I’m worried she’ll try to go to her father about you holding out on your mating ceremony.”
An unfortunately good point.
Not only is Anais’s father an important member within our pack, she’s the daughter to my father’s former top advisor. Her family’s status within the pack was a driving force behind the elders choosing her for me, along with her docile nature.
Lately it seems she’s been taking a backseat to that and letting her emotions run wild. I can’t have her running around spreading rumors while I’m gone, especially with our mating ceremony still in the works.
If I’m to hope that I’m coming home with Raine and my elders will accept her once she’s here, I need to keep Anais as far away from exploding as possible.
Her reaction to Delilah told me plenty on how meeting Raine will go down.
But that’s a problem for another time.
“Why don’t you keep her occupied with planning the ceremony,” I suggest. “Tell her I’ve left in order to bring her something back as a gift for her.”
“Like what?” For once, Camden speaks.
I shrug. “Keep it vague. No need to go into details. Besides, it’ll keep her mind wandering on what exactly I’ll be bringing back that is important enough to leave the pack.”
“Good point,” he sighs.
Looking between them, I say, “I trust that you’ll both keep our pack running smoothly. Thank you. I’ll keep you updated once I get down there.”
“I don’t like this,” Constance mumbles.
“I know. But he’s not going to kill me the second I get there. He may be insane, but he’s not stupid. Lashing out at me without any prompt will get him chased down faster than he can outrun. I’m not na?ve in thinking he’ll let me past his borders without a fight. That doesn’t mean he’ll be looking to kill me right then and there. He’s too calculating for that.”
She nods, even though the frown on her face doesn’t let up at all.
“What should we tell the elders about your absence?” Camden asks.
“I already talked to them.”
They both share a look with each other.
Honestly…sometimes they both make me feel like a little kid again.
Which is ironic considering that growing up, Camden was the one always slacking on his studies. Constance came to our pack a little later in life, but she made her mark in moving up the ranks while my father was still sitting on the throne.
“I told them there’s been some strife down at the Southern border that I need to check out.”
Constance nods slowly. “I’ll sprinkle that in somewhere in my next meeting with the other advisors. They’re going to be pissed that they weren’t told before you left, so Camden, you’re going to need to cover for him.”
“Will do. I’m good at bullshitting those meetings.”
She gives him a look. “Are you serious?”
He blinks at her. “What?”
These two… “Alright, then we’re settled?”
Constance sighs once more. “Yes. For now. I want word sent as soon as you’re down there. And don’t do anything reckless. I swear, if I have to go down there to claim your body, I’ll be pissed.”
Smiling a little, I nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Though, I doubt if Nyx wants me dead that there will even be a body to claim.
***
After collecting Delilah and my brigade of enforcers, we head off to the Southern border.
From where Pollis is, the trek is more than a few days, even with minimal rests. While on our travels, my thoughts are consumed with not just worries of my pack and the state that it’ll be in once I finally return, but of my mate too.
It’s been weeks since she was sold to the other alpha king, and who knows what state she’s in. I don’t want to think about the negative and worry myself into an infinite circle that keeps me up at night while I catastrophize the entire situation.
She could be dead. She could be alive. She could be taken care of, for all I know.
My only hope is that she’s no longer being hurt like I’d been too blind to see when she was with me for that brief period of time.
At this point, I don’t care about the child anymore. If she’s still pregnant, then by all means I will take care of her and the baby once it arrives. And if she isn’t? If she was forced to get rid of it for the sake of getting pregnant by another alpha, or worse—if she lost it due to stress, then I’d help her through that too.
I’m not delusional in pretending like she won’t hate me by the end of this. She has every right to, especially with what Delilah’s told me in how she was treated before being sold. If she wants to live in Pollis and spend the rest of her days avoiding me at all costs, then so be it.
As long as she is safe within the borders of my pack.
“You look upset.”
Turning to the sound of the voice, I spot Delilah coming up over the hill. We’d decided on taking a break for the night just as the sun began to set, our traveling brigade just on the outskirts of the last few stretches of land heading into the Southern pack territories.
“I’m only thinking,” I tell her, moving back to look over the small human town down in the valley, its lights twinkling.
“Yeah, sure. And I’m rich beyond measure.”
I throw her a look briefly.
Unperturbed by it, she says, “You know having emotions is okay, right?”
“Yes,” my voice drawls. “I’m aware.”
Honestly, I’m regretting not taking Constance with me as a buffer. Delilah isn’t exactly a nuisance to be around, however she tends to pull out the childish side in me, almost like a little sister would.
I wouldn’t say I exactly see her as something like that—maybe a forced acquaintance turned friend. She’s been invaluable during this entire situation, no matter how many times she refuses to take credit for it.
Once we’re back in Pollis, I’ll grant her whatever kind of asylum she wants. Whether that be a home in Pollis or a pardon for leaving her pack so she can join them again with no repercussions.
Hell, I’ll even go with her to tell the entirety of Andromeda myself.
“Delilah…”
She looks over at me. “What?”
“Your family.” Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m curious. “How do you feel they’re taking your absence?”
“Oh, I’m sure not well. When I got caught helping Raine escape, my mom was begging and crying on her hands and knees at Daniel not to throw me down in the cellar. He did anyway, so I’m sure she was a complete mess.” Her face falls into a far-off look.
Despite her factual tone, it seems that she misses the pack she once called home. Growing up in an environment like that may look like torture to any outsiders looking in—gods know my own childhood wasn’t something to write home about—but when it’s all you know, you long to go back to it once it’s gone.
There have been so many times since my father’s passing that I’ve missed his bellowing call to me in the mornings, demanding for me to get up and get to work before I even had an ounce of breakfast in me.
Or his harsh tone when correcting me on some obscure policy that hadn’t been documented or used in decades.
Looking back on my childhood, I have a sick sense of fondness for many of the fucked up things that went on, but were so normal that I never considered them to be harmful until I was much older.
By then, the damage was done, and now I’m doomed to forever miss those times.
“I’m sure they’ll be happy when you go back home to them,” I say.
She shakes her head, though. “I don’t think I can. Not after everything that’s happened with Daniel. How can I trust my own pack alpha after he sold my best friend and kept me locked up for a whole week so I couldn’t go after her?”
“But your family. Won’t you miss them?”
“Yes.” Her hands tuck behind her back. “Don’t you miss yours?”
“Mine are dead. That’s not the same thing.”
“Why not? You still miss them, don’t you?”
I sigh.
This conversation has veered off into a complicated subject that I don’t wish to talk about. I miss my mother quite often and wish for her to come back, like she’s been away on some extended business trip and is due back any moment.
My father, on the other hand, is a completely different story.
He’d been well respected within my pack for many decades. Filling his shoes is already a monumental task that I’ve been struggling with since being named alpha.
Missing him, however?
I wouldn’t go that far.
“You know…” I mutter. “You are far too nosy for your own good. As your alpha king, you should at least pretend to be more respectful.”
She smiles at me. “Well, according to your soon-to-be Luna, you’re not alpha king yet.”
Ugh. That has me groaning.
I can’t believe Anais. Of all the times to burst in and accuse me of such heinous acts with my mate’s best friend, who has been helping me locate her, is just…I can’t even put it into words.
Her anger at me was new. I had a feeling that her being pushed away from me would build some kind of negative feelings toward me, but I never considered it would be resentment.
“I have Camden handling her,” I say.
“Wow, I feel bad for him.”
“Me too.”
She laughs. “What a nice pack alpha you are. Throwing your poor beta to the bears like that.”
“Look, he’s going to need to face tough challenges while I’m gone sometimes. Why not start with my clearly overly obsessive future Luna?”
Delilah laughs again, nudging me with her elbow. “You’re terrible. I hope you’ll at least let him get in a good swing once we get back.”
“Absolutely. He’s earned it. And Constance.”
Though, knowing Constance, she’ll just give me a tongue lashing instead. Her lectures tend to cut deeper than any physical wound I’ve ever received. Her knack for pointing out the flaws of everyone around her should truly be studied.
“Will you be staying with us once we rescue Raine?” I ask.
Delilah sighs. “I don’t know. Actually, I don’t even know if Raine will want to stay.”
I don’t like the sound of that.
While I figured Raine would have a tough time adjusting to life away from her home pack and whatever she’s endured at the hands of Calloway, never did I consider she’d want to leave Pollis for somewhere else.
Getting her back after so long not seeing her, even just thinking about it is making me twitchy.
“We’ll see,” is all I say.
“I’m serious, Aiden. She probably isn’t going to want to stay in Pollis.”
“Where will you both go, then?” Trying to keep the challenging tone out of my voice is nearly impossible. “Back to Andromeda and to the alpha who sold her?”
“Gods,” she breathes out. “No. Of course not.”
“Then where, Delilah? There isn’t a corner of this earth that you both could run to that I won’t find her.”
Her frown is deep as she stares at me. “Gods, you mated males really are something, aren’t you?”
That has me snapping back to reality for a moment.
She shakes her head. “Anyway, all I’m saying is be prepared. That’s it. If you really love her, you’ll respect her choice on where she wants to go.”
I…hate that.
I will respect Raine’s choices, just not with her leaving my packlands. The last thing I want to roll the dice on is her getting taken again. As long as she’s within my borders, she’s safe.
That I can guarantee.
“You should get to bed,” I say, turning to head back down the hill. “We have a long day tomorrow.”
Delilah doesn’t follow me when I descend. Well, if she doesn’t want to listen to me, then that’s on her. We’ll be heading for the Southern border tomorrow whether she’s ready or not.