Chapter 45
“When you trip over love, it is easy to get up. But when you fall in love, it is impossible to stand again.” ― Albert Einstein
Rose's POV
The following day, Aiden was quiet as he drove me to University.
He was so distant. I couldn’t help but pick up on it.
I decided he must be worried about Dylan and realized he probably needed some space to process his emotions.
Aiden seemed perfectly fine with me. He even stopped at the coffee shop, buying me coffee before giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.
I turned to leave, but Aiden grabbed my arm impulsively.
“Rose…” he began, earnestly. He was looking at me and apprehension played across his face.
“You know I never want you to do anything that you feel forced into, right? This…us…it’s a choice every step of the way.
We’re together because it’s a choice. Right?
And if you ever feel forced into something or backed into a corner, you’ll tell me.
You won’t do something you don’t want. Promise me that.
Promise me you’ll exercise your right of choice when it comes to us. ”
I gave Aiden a confused nod. “I’d like to think we chose each other.” I said the words carefully. “What are you trying to say here, Aiden?” Alarm bells were going off in my mind and I tried my best to get them under control.
Aiden swallowed, bringing me into his arms for a minute, hugging me, inhaling my scent, before finally letting me go.
I walked away confused over such vague statements.
When my lab ended, I was surprised that Dad came to pick me up later that day in place of Aiden.
He told me Aiden had gotten caught up in something.
When Dad brought me home to the alpha mansion, I was happy to see Josie and the kids over for lunch.
My eyes landed on a ring box laying open on the kitchen countertop. It held a beautiful princess-cut one carat diamond ring. The ring every alpha of Bloodfire Phoenix Pack gifted to his luna.
“What’s this?” I asked Josie, motioning to the open box on the kitchen counter.
“Oh!” Josie exclaimed hastily, reaching over to shut it quickly.
“Aiden wanted it resized, so I offered to do it for him!” Josie exclaimed.
I gave it a start. Was it for me? But if it was for me, why hadn’t he mentioned anything or gotten it done sooner?
Why now? I tried to feel Aiden out, to figure out where he was and almost lost my footing walking up the steps when I realized he was at the Silver Creek Pack.
He was at Mr. Evans’ mansion. At Lexia’s house.
Why?
I heard him come in later that evening but couldn’t bring myself to go see Aiden. He’d gone to Lexia’s place and hadn’t even deigned to tell me. He was being distant. He mentioned that this relationship was a choice. Was he about to change his choice? Is that what he was insinuating earlier today?
I left Aiden alone for the remainder of that evening and night. I kept waiting, hoping he’d come to my room later at night, but he didn’t show up.
The next morning, I looked around for him only for Lorraine to inform me that Aiden had left the house early to pick up Josie and then go meet with Dr. Danvers about Dylan’s situation.
I left for university only to run into Jake, after I had finished filling out paperwork for my physicians assistant degree. Jake shoved something quickly into my hands.
“Rose, I’ve kept quiet long enough but enough is enough,” Jake spat.
I looked down to see that Jake had given me a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. No...wait, the worn pages, the creases across the cover looked oddly familiar. I flipped the book open to see that it had Aiden's name in it.
“Why do you have Aiden's book?” I queried.
“Not me. Lexia. She had it. She had the book. Said Aiden left it when he came to spend the night at her place last night,” Jake huffed angrily.
“She insinuated he wanted to do more than sleep.” Jake looked at me shrewdly.
“You can’t seriously want to stay with someone like that.
He can’t seem to make up his mind, apparently. ”
I sat down with shaky legs. No. It couldn’t be true.
Was he trying to get back with Lexia? Is that why he was being so distant?
But Aiden said he cared about me. I had to take a deep breath and look at the facts.
Aiden had been home last night. I'd smelled him in the house. It wasn’t possible he’d stayed the night at Lexia's.
Was it? Had he left when I'd fallen asleep?
I bit my lip, trying to piece together the information I had.
He hugged me yesterday morning. Would he do that and then go get with Lexia?
No, Aiden was a one-woman man. He'd never cheat.
“Lexia was at our place a few days ago. She could have picked it up then. Aiden may have given it to her,” I finally supplied. That seemed like the logical explanation to me.
“Rose, it looks to me like he’s just using you as a means to an end. I think he’s going to break it off with you when he figures out a way to get around the bond,” Jake said with a strained voice.
But I had already found the loophole for Aiden. If he’d wanted to end it, he would have ended it already. He hadn’t.
I took a deep breath and scolded myself for giving into my own insecurities even for a millisecond. If I was going to build a strong relationship with Aiden, I had to trust him and be confident in our relationship.
“He won’t do that, Jake,” I said sharply. “We care about each other. He’d never do that to me. If he didn’t want to be with me, he would have told me already.”
Jake opened his mouth to argue.
“I won’t hear another word against Aiden,” I snapped, shoving the book into my bag.
And with that, I turned my back on him to go to my car and go home.
Things might be strained between us but that was no excuse for me to think the worst of him.
Until I had the facts, I couldn’t jump to conclusions.
That’s what almost ruined everything between us before.
But when I got home, Aiden still wasn’t home.
Ashamed over my own uncertainty, I felt out his location and gave a sigh of relief.
He wasn’t at Lexia's. He was still at the pack clinic, most likely with Dr. Danvers and Josie.
I waited for Aiden's return with bated breath and began haranguing him the moment he entered the house.
“What did Dr. Danvers say?” I asked as I followed him from the doorway, up the stairs and into his room.
Aiden's expression was shuttered again. He blinked at me before speaking, shrugging out of the sweater he’d worn to ward off the early November chill.
“He said the ceremony might help Dylan or harm him. It could go either way, but that Mom should get more of those potions from the magical healer to give to Dylan. If the poison starts affecting him again, we can give him another batch.” Aiden rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
He stood in his polo and jeans, looking tense.
“So what are we going to do?” I queried.
“Nothing,” Aiden replied quietly with a shrug. “Yet. We still have some time. It’s not like Dylan’s hurting right now. The poison’s been temporarily stalled; his alpha genes aren’t hurting him—”
“But it's better to just go ahead with it,” I cut in swiftly.
Aiden gave a shuddered breath. I looked at him critically. Judging from his reaction, it looked like he’d already had this argument with someone else.
“Josie wants you to do the ceremony as soon as possible, doesn’t she?” I challenged him.
Aiden gave a curt nod.
“So we’ll do the ceremony,” I insisted, coming to stand in front of Aiden. My hands ached to reach out and rub his tense shoulders but in his present mood, I was wary.
“You can’t,” Aiden replied, hands going in his pockets, looking at me with an inscrutable expression on his face.
“Sure I can,” I primly stated, looping my hair behind my ears. “I’m your luna, aren’t I? The alpha and luna of the pack can perform it.”
“Not if you’re still a virgin. The ceremony has to be performed by a mated pair,” Aiden countered, staring me straight in the eye.
My breathing stilled in shock. We weren’t a mated pair. How could I have missed that?
“Oh,” I muttered. “Well…that does…pose a problem.”
Is that what had Aiden so stressed out? It wasn’t like I was still scared. I wanted to be closer to him, to experience him as a lover. I was ready. I'd been ready for a while now.
“I’ll tell them we need to delay it. I’ll come up with something,” Aiden stated, brushing by me to leave his room.
I felt my heart sink as I looked at his retreating back; the ugly monster inside of me reared its ugly head. My mind became filled with ugly whispers…
Lexia would have been able to perform the ceremony. That’s probably why he went to see her. He could make her his luna and they could perform it together. It's already clear he doesn't care about tapping into the latent power to converse with the elders. He doesn't want me!
Apparently, that's what it looked like to me if he was so adamant not to perform the ceremony with me!
“Is sleeping with me so horrible?” I questioned, cocking my head to the side. “You’d rather avoid it at all costs?”
Aiden stilled mid-stride. He didn’t turn to look at me.
“I mean, I thought…” I wrung my hands nervously in front of me. Then exhaled. “Never mind what I thought. If you’d rather not then…”
Aiden swung around.
“I don’t want to do anything with you, Rose…” My heart sunk at those words. “Until you’re ready. It’s not about me. It’s about giving you time.”
“We don’t have time,” I replied, side-stepping what I really wanted to say. “Stop trying to be so chivalrous.”