Aaron #2
“Aaron?” she calls out, breaking my thoughts.
“I need a shower,” I tell her, trying to hide the hurt that’s threatening to swallow me whole. “Help me to the bathroom.”
She grins, oblivious to what just opened up inside me, and pulls me toward the bathroom door.
I won’t lose her again. Not even to the truth.
By the time I make my way down the stairs the smell of coffee has reached me. My head is still throbbing but the shower helped a little.
She’s in the kitchen, holding a small mug. She turns to me and smiles.
I’m genuinely impressed. Mara is taking my unhinged moment better than I thought she would. Which makes me think about how she got me back here. As much as I hate to admit it, I owe Eric for this one. Big time.
Because my mother and Jacob’s plan for fixing this was to wait out a few months for the cabin build and then approach the pride properly. A few months without Mara. Hell no. That was never going to happen.
The thought sits sour in my stomach. Using Eric’s advice, relying on him in any way, feels like a betrayal of everything I believe about myself. But Mara is here. She’s home. And I’d make the same choice again in a heartbeat.
I shake the thought off. I’ll deal with Eric later.
“Mara. What are you doing?”
She sets the mug in front of me. As much as I don’t want her serving me anything right now, the coffee is steaming exactly the way I like it, and I am not about to lose this fight. I pick it up and take a sip, the familiar bitter warmth grounding me.
I watch her over the rim. Her tail stiffens and her ears go alert.
Then, she hisses.
I take a longer sip of coffee, set the mug down, and look behind me. Then back at her, confusion rising.
“Huh? Did I miss something?”
She hisses again, the sound sharp and defensive.
“She does not like me.”
“Who?”
Then I hear them.
Footsteps on the front porch. The door opens without a knock and my mother walks in first. Jacob is behind her with a covered tray that even from here smells like spaghetti and meatballs.
“Good. You’re up.” My mother beams. “And you look well, considering what you went through yesterday.”
Jacob nods at me as they both come into the kitchen. I step aside and he sets the tray down on the counter.
“I made you some spaghetti and meatballs with some bread.”
“I can smell it already.” I smile at her, trying to defuse the tension I can feel building. “Thank you, Ma.”
“You never complained about my cooking before.”
“And I’m not starting now.” The exchange is familiar, comfortable, but there’s an undercurrent that wasn’t there before.
She glances over at Mara.
“Hmph.”
Mara hisses, the sound primal and defensive.
I freeze with my coffee mug halfway to my lips. There has always been tension between these two. They’re nice in front of me because they love me. But this is something else. Something happened while I was unconscious.
I look at Jacob and he shrugs.
“Did I miss something?” I ask, looking between them.
My mother turns her back on Mara and starts unpacking the tray, the gesture deliberately dismissive. “I didn’t bring you a plate, Mara. I know you won’t eat it.”
Mara looks away from her. Her tail goes flat on the floor, a gesture of submission that makes something protective rise in me, fierce and immediate.
“I will go to the Academy and leave you with your family,” she says quietly.
I set the mug down. “Oh, hell no.”
She walks around the island. I step around my mother, catch Mara by the arm, and pull her back to me.
“We just talked about this. Don’t leave me.” The naked plea in my voice would embarrass me if I had any pride left where she’s concerned.
“I’m coming back. But I do have to explain to the Headmistress why I haven’t shown up for—“
“I already got that covered,” my mother interrupts. “Headmistress Ebony said to take the rest of the week off and work on your mate bond.”
Mara scoffs. “I haven’t even had this position a month. I cannot cancel work like this.”
“Well.” My mother still doesn’t turn around, her shoulders rigid with disapproval. “You should have thought about that before you got all dramatic and ran off.”
Mara hisses, the sound low and dangerous.
Jacob gives her a stern look. “Angie—“ His voice holds a warning.
I lift my hand and the room falls quiet.
I look at Mara. I keep my voice even but my eyes don’t soften.
“Sit down.”
“Aaron, I’m going—“
“I said.” I point. “Sit down.”
Her tail slumps and her ears go flat. She turns away from me, walks to the chair at the island, and sits. Her shoulders curl in. It guts me, but I do not have time for it right now.
I walk around to a second chair. I pull it out, far from Mara’s, with the whole length of the island between them, and I point at it and look at my mother.
“Mom. Sit down.”
She turns slowly, considering whether to pick this fight. She decides against it and sits.
I walk around the island and plant my hands flat on the counter, looking up at Jacob. He smirks at me and folds his arms over his chest, and the approval in it steadies me.
“Mom. We gotta stop this. Right now.”
She bristles. “Why am I getting blamed—“
Mara cuts in, low, “Aaron, please. I’ll just go upstairs.”
“No, you won’t.” I hold my mother’s stare, my voice hardening. “This is your home. You aren’t dismissing yourself because you’re uncomfortable.”
I wait until Mara settles back, the tension in her posture easing slightly. Then I turn to my mother, letting her see I won’t bend on this.
“Why won’t you just accept her?”
My mother scoffs and crosses her arms.
“I see what she’s doing to you. And I don’t like it.
You want me to sit here and be quiet, well, I won’t.
She is slinging you around mentally like a rag doll.
” Her finger comes up, pointing across the island at Mara, who lowers her head in a gesture that breaks my heart.
“Look at her. The demands she’s making. When she couldn’t even draw up the courage to tell you who you were to her when she knew she was fated to you.
She sat right in my face and was cryptic. ”
“Ma.” My voice is sharp, cutting through her words. “You gotta stop.”
“You’re my son, Aaron. I don’t understand why everyone is expecting me to just sit here and watch you get slung around.” She snarls.
“Because I’m not a little boy anymore, Ma.” It comes out flatter than I meant it to.
Something passes across her face that she doesn’t want me to see. Her eyes drop to the counter.
I keep going. I have to, even though each word feels like I’m driving a wedge between us.
“And I am selfish. Unapologetically. I want this woman with me for the rest of my life, and you can’t see it because I’m your son, of course you’ll be biased.”
Jacob walks around the island and puts a hand on my mother’s shoulder. My mother is starting to fume, the hurt transforming into anger the way it always does with her.
“So you want me to sit here and say nothing.” Her voice trembles slightly, betraying the emotion she’s trying to hide.
“I want you to meet me halfway, Mom. Mara isn’t going anywhere. And if you want me in the pack? Then it’s up to you.”
My mother huffs, then she stands from her chair.
She lifts her palm. Blue-gold cracks the air open into a portal. On the other side I can see their kitchen at House of Zorah, Seth walking through with a sandwich, mouth full, enjoying the quiet of an empty house. He sees my mother stepping through, eyes huge, and runs off down the hallway.
My mother steps through, muttering, and the portal stays open for a moment.
Jacob looks back at me. He gives me a slow nod, pride in his eyes.
“You did well today, little alpha.”
He hasn’t called me that since I was a boy. It hits me sideways, warming something cold and afraid inside me. I don’t trust my face to hold steady so I look down at my coffee and nod once.
Jacob bows his head to Mara. “Give her time. She’ll come around.”
Mara smiles and bows her head back to him.
He steps through the portal. It snaps shut behind him.
Through it I catch one last glimpse of my mother in her kitchen, swiping the island down with a rag, hurt sitting on her face. Guilt gnaws at me. I didn’t want to hurt my mother. But I had to choose, and I chose Mara. I’ll always choose Mara.
I drag a hand down my face. When I look up, Mara is watching me, her tail high, and her ears alert. She’s looking at me like I just did something she wasn’t sure I had in me.
I lean my elbows on the counter and look at her.
“Sorry to disappoint you. But we aren’t moving to House of Zorah until this resolves. You are not staying in a pack where you’re not accepted.”
She starts to purr. She looks away from me, frustrated with her own body, the way it betrays her.
“You’re trying to put a cub in me right now.” She mutters.
I smirk and pick up my coffee, hiding my smile behind the rim.
“Is it working?”
Her tail does a slow sway, but she doesn’t answer. I chuckle and take another sip, my headache is finally starting to back off, and I set the mug down and turn toward the fridge.
“Don’t worry. I’m not pushing it right now. You’ll fall into another heat cycle soon.”
Behind me, she shifts in her chair and lets out a soft whimper. My dick twitches.
“And when you do? Consider yourself pregnant.”
She huffs, but the sound lacks conviction.
I open the fridge and stare into it without really seeing anything.