Chapter 49
“If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were.” ― Kahlil Gibran
Rose's POV
The next day, Aiden was in the shower when I finally picked up his phone which had been ringing off the hook incessantly.
I gave a small start when I saw that it was Lexia calling him.
What did she want now? Would it be wrong of me to pick up the call?
I still hadn’t forgotten the lie Lexia had told Jake.
During my moments of indecision, Aiden came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Lexia is calling you,” I stated flatly, handing over the cellphone to Aiden. Despite the gravity of the situation, I took a moment to openly admire Aiden's sculpted chest.
Aiden sighed, picking up the phone in front of me. His face became solemn. I could hear Lexia's frantic cries, but I couldn’t make out exactly what Lexia was saying.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Lexia. At least you had more time with her. Rose and I will stop by when we get back from New York to pay our condolences.”
My eyebrows furrowed together. What was going on?
“No, Lexia, we can’t come to the funeral.
We’re in New York right now, we won't make it back in time since you’re having it within the week.
But as soon as we’re back in town, we’ll come over.
OK...hang in there, Lexia. I know you’re a strong girl.
” And with that Aiden shut the phone, gazing at me sadly. “Mrs. Evans passed away.”
I brought a hand to my mouth in shock. I couldn’t believe it. Mrs. Evans had been such a nice lady. We stood there in silence for a few minutes, absorbing the sad news.
Aiden broke the silence after what seemed like an eternity. “Dr. Danvers had already told the family the day after admitting her into the clinic that she wouldn’t make it past a few days. She had cancer that had spread throughout her body.”
“She had cancer?” I gasped. Out of all the diseases werewolves were immune too, cancer wasn’t one of them.
“Mrs. Evans' illness was a secret, but I find it more and more distasteful to keep even a single thing from you. You’re an extension of me and people around me should live with the fact that anything I know would automatically be known to you by default,” Aiden said softly.
“Is that why you were at Lexia's place the next day after she visited our place?” I queried. “I felt your presence there,” I admitted.
Aiden nodded grimly. “Lexia was a mess. The least I could do was be there for her.”
I sighed. I had to tell Aiden the truth.
We were in this together and I wasn’t going to hide things from him anymore no matter how trivial they seemed.
“I’m not saying this to discredit her. She’s going through a tough time but, Aiden, despite being a mess, she had the time to give your book back to Jake and make it seem like you left it there after spending the entire night with her. ”
Aiden was brought out of his glum stupor in an instant. His neck snapped to look at me.
“What?”
I nodded. “If you don’t believe me, you can view my memories.
I’m not telling you this for any other reason except that you should know what’s going on.
” I bit my lip hesitantly before proceeding.
“I really am sorry to hear about Mrs. Evans. She was the only person I sincerely liked in that entire family. Lexia is probably broken right now and trying to figure out how to get you back because she lost one of the most important people in her life. I can understand how her grief is making her frantically try to grasp onto the relationships that have always mattered to her. However, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t meet her alone for a while.
I don’t want her spreading any more rumors. ”
“I was never hers to try and get back to begin with,” Aiden said grimly. Aiden looked at me apologetically. “I wish you’d told me this sooner.”
“Well, I get the feeling she was doing all this just to get to me, so we’d end up having problems. She did it so I wouldn’t trust you.
But I didn’t let it get to me,” I added the last part proudly before adding in a sober voice, “But Jake was so angry.” I shuddered at the memory.
“I don’t want any more problems between you two.
He’s my friend, and he’s your cousin. You guys should really make an attempt to get along. ”
Aiden nodded ruefully. “For you, Princess.” Then Aiden sucked in a breath when I teasingly ran my palms down his bare chest, dipping under his towel to grip his hardening member.
“We’ll be late for your appointment,” Aiden groaned as I hooked a finger into his towel, pulling it so it fell to the floor.
“We don’t have to be there for another hour.” I nibbled on his ear.
“It takes thirty minutes to get there,” Aiden breathed the words out in a voice that clearly wanted me to keep going.
“It takes you about twenty minutes to get ready. So you’ve got about ten minutes to make me fall apart in your arms.” My hand trailed down his waist, fingers softly grazing over his skin.
Aiden hissed. “You’re not up for the challenge?
” I asked innocently, standing up on my tiptoes to press a kiss to his mouth.
The gauntlet had been thrown.
Aiden looked at me mutinously, grabbing my wrists.
“I’ll show you and I’ll do it in less than ten minutes babe,” he glowered, pinning me to the wall and sending me into a spiraling frenzy within two minutes flat. I came after five. And then again after another five minutes.
I loved the campus, I enjoyed meeting with my academic counselor, and I almost squealed in delight when Aiden started asking about family accommodations.
It meant he might be considering moving up here with me.
That would be wonderful. They were willing to accept me on a scholarship too!
I almost thought my ears deceived me when Aiden inquired about doing his masters in one of the nearby universities.
"I could take a semester off,” Aiden suggested as we sat in a small cafe eating lunch.
"Concentrate on getting things lined up in the pack while you train with Dr. Danvers for your certificate. Then I could come up here with you and finish up the remaining three semesters for my masters while you do med-school. We could go down home to check on things during holidays and summer vacations. Long weekends. New York is only a three hour plane ride from here. It’s totally doable. ”
I leaned back in my chair, looking at him appraisingly. "You'd do that for me? What about the pack?"
Aiden gave me a small smile. "I'd go back a few times in a month to make sure everything was in order.
If Dylan co-rules with me, he'd be able to handle a lot of alpha duties in my absence.
It would work out for the best. I'd have a masters from a university in New York and I'd get to live with you.
" He gave me a fond smile. "We'd have to still attend regional meetings and go down to the pack to keep things running smoothly, but it would be manageable.
And it's not forever. Just for a while."
Aiden almost dropped his sandwich when I launched myself at him, throwing my arms around him in a fierce hug.
The fact that he was considering leaving his precious pack in someone else's hands all to be near me was startlingly clear to me.
Because no matter how much he said he'd benefit from it, the fact was he never would have entertained the idea if it hadn't been for me.
Why did this all seem too good to be true?
Aiden's POV
When we finally returned from New York, we went to pay our condolences as alpha and luna of the Bloodfire Phoenix Pack.
I made the nature of our visit emphatically clear when Lexia opened the door to receive us.Lexia looked paler and thinner in a modest black dress.
Even her eyes looked lifeless, no longer the sparkling blue we'd always seen them as.
We sat with Alistair Evans for a very brief amount of time, my hands laced with Rose's, before the old alpha finally excused himself from the room. "We should be going,” I politely stated.
"So that's it? All those promises, down the drain?" Lexia finally spoke on a choked sob.
Was Lexia really going to get into this now?
"You promised me even if you found your mate, you'd reject her. I made that very same promise to you. You've ruined everything for me!" Lexia was sobbing hysterically now.
My mouth tightened into a thin line.
"People change, Lexia. Feelings change,” Rose finally spoke up.
Lexia was grasping at straws, trying to hold onto something that no longer existed.
"Easy for you to say. The love of your life didn't just up and leave you." Lexia's voice was bitter. "If he'd done this to you, you'd be singing a different tune."
"I wouldn’t,” Rose's voice was sharp, cutting and downright stern. "I'd be sad. I might cry." She cast a tender glance at me. "But if he was truly happy, I'd be happy for him. I wouldn't chain him to me and make him miserable. Relationships based on duty and obligation don't work."
"The only reason he's with you was because of your powers and because you're the chosen luna. If that's not making decisions out of duty, I don't know what is,” Lexia snapped, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"Lexia!" I exclaimed, barely reigning my anger in. "We chose each other. If Rose hadn't been happy with me, if she wanted to be with someone else, I would have let her go. It would have been the death of me, but I would have."
Rose cast me a tender smile.
"Love isn't holding on so tightly that you suffocate the other person, it's letting them go so they can fly,” Rose added. This time, I was the one looking at Rose with affection.
"It's just your mate bond. If you guys didn't have that—” Lexia started in again.