Chapter 10
Ten
By the time the van pulled into the garage, Aiden had worked himself into a fine fury.
Luckily, his traveling companions had wisely elected not to speak to him during the long drive to Bel’s house and had left him to stew.
He caught Ronan watching him a few times, and he could nearly hear his old friend reminding him that his sons were acting out of love.
Aiden appreciated their love and concern, but it was starting to chafe.
Inside the house, he found both Winter and Bel pacing the living room. Bel was wrapped in an evergreen robe, his wild hair standing in every direction. Winter was dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt, looking as if he’d just climbed out of bed.
Both opened their mouths to speak at once, but Aiden’s hand shot up, instantly silencing them.
“I’m assuming you’ve been in contact with your brothers. Call them now. Put them on speakerphone. We’re discussing your actions right now,” Aiden snapped.
“Our actions?” Winter gasped. “When you’re the one who’s running around during the day with him.” Winter’s hand shot out to point at Ronan, who’d walked in behind Aiden.
“Yes,” he hissed. “Call them now.” He then spun, turning his attention to Wyatt. “Would you please show Ronan to a room where he can clean up and possibly get some rest?”
“Nope,” Ronan said as soon as Aiden finished.
“What?”
Ronan shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest—a sure sign the man intended to dig his heels in no matter what Aiden said.
“I’m staying to make sure you don’t say something you regret.
You might have known these boys longer, but I can promise you that I’m better acquainted with your temper. ”
That Aiden couldn’t argue. When they’d been human, Aiden had been sure that Ronan specialized in making him angry and getting him to lose his temper.
In contrast, Aiden couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever lost his temper with his sons.
That alone should have been a sign that he was tired and not thinking clearly, but he wasn’t willing to back down.
They needed to discuss as a family what the hell was going on.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Rafe’s angry voice filled the room from where Bel had set his phone on the coffee table.
“Why did you feel the need to sneak out of the house?” Marcus demanded next. “Any one of us would have been happy to accompany you.”
“We will get to that in a moment,” Aiden said sharply.
He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over one of the chairs before stepping up to the coffee table.
He wanted to make sure he was heard by everyone.
“I want to know why my sons no longer believe I have enough sense in my head to operate as an independent adult.”
The silence was broken first by Marcus. “It’s not about sense. You need protection when you go out. You’re the king now. The European Ministry has plans for you. Former MacPherson clan members are lurking. You have ample enemies who would prefer to cut your heart out.”
“And is that why you saw fit to go out during the day, break into Ronan’s hotel room, and threaten him?”
“What?” Marcus shrieked. “What happened? Who did this?”
Aiden’s gaze narrowed on Winter and then Bel. His youngest glared at him, his expression mutinous, while Bel seemed to fold in on himself as he sat heavily on the couch. “So you kept Marcus out of your adventure.”
Rafe sighed loudly over the speaker. “Because Marcus would never have agreed with us. It was my idea.”
“Rafe’s and mine,” Winter corrected.
Marcus was saying something muffled in the background, possibly demanding from Ethan to know if his mate knew anything about the escapade.
“And they didn’t so much threaten me,” Ronan murmured. Aiden looked over to find his friend leaning one shoulder against the wall, his hands resting in his pockets. “It was more of a courtesy warning.”
“One you didn’t bloody heed,” Rafe muttered.
“Good. I’m glad he didn’t!” Aiden snapped.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm of anger and pain in his chest. “I need to know right now, as your father and your king, have you lost faith in me?” There was a loud gasp from several people before a heavy silence fell over the room, but Aiden pushed on.
“Do you think I’m addled? Do you think my mental abilities are failing? ”
“No! Of course not!” Marcus protested.
Aiden kept his eyes locked on the two sons he could see. Bel was shaking his head, looking hurt and ashamed.
“No,” Winter said stiffly.
“Do you not trust my judgment?”
“Yes, of course we do,” Marcus answered, but Winter gave a little shake of his head, and it hurt.
“Not when it comes to him.”
“He has a name,” Aiden nearly snarled.
“Ronan!” Winter shouted at him. “I don’t trust your judgment when it comes to Ronan.
We know he comes from your past, and we’re afraid that you’re not thinking clearly when it comes to him.
I can see it on your face when he’s around.
You look happy and hurt and confused all at once.
The fucking European Ministry sent him, and we all know they’re plotting something.
It’s like I told you last night; he can use that past against you, get you to drop your guard, trust him so he can put a dagger in your back. ”
“I’m being cautious,” Aiden said firmly.
“Are you?” Winter demanded. Bel rose from the sofa and crossed to where Winter was standing.
He placed a comforting hand on his little brother, but Winter shrugged it off.
“From where we’re standing, it doesn’t look like it.
You run off to hunt with him and return covered in blood and get trapped during the daylight hours. How do we know he didn’t arrange that?”
Aiden was already shaking his head. “He didn’t.”
“Aiden knows that if I wanted him dead, I’d face him myself. No knives in the back. No secret attacks,” Ronan replied in a low, hard voice.
“That might be the man you were, but we don’t know who you are now,” Rafe muttered.
“And this is where it comes down to trusting me and my judgment. Winter took in Fox, a witch who was supposed to destroy the Variks. Do you think I was excited about my son risking his life with someone we didn’t know a damn thing about?
Or that Bel was living with two werewolves linked to our enemies?
Do you think I didn’t lose sleep over that?
But you’re adults, and I have to let you make your own decisions. ”
“No! Not if they mean you could die!” Winter snapped.
“Winter—”
“No, you listen to me! Barely a year has passed since we lost Mother, and you were more of a parent to us than she could ever be. We just got you back. I’m not about to let him or anyone steal you away from us!
” Tears streaked down Winter’s flushed face as he shouted, and Aiden’s heart broke for his son, his anger almost completely evaporating.
Without another word, Aiden stepped around the table and pulled Winter into his arms, tightly holding his softly crying son.
“Shhh, love,” Aiden whispered in his hair, rubbing his hand across Winter’s shaking shoulders. Winter’s arms wrapped around him tight enough to bruise, as if he were terrified Aiden would disappear that very second. “No one is going to steal me away. I won’t allow it. My sons always come first.”
There was a soft sniffle, and Aiden held out one arm.
A second later, Bel was pressed to the other side, holding him and Winter tightly in his arms. His throat tightened, and his eyes burned with unshed tears as he held these strong, powerful men in his arms. They’d accomplished so much, but it was all done in the name of keeping those they loved safe.
“Bel?” Rafe’s voice wobbled over the speaker. Aiden wasn’t sure if it was Rafe’s emotions coming out or if he was feeling his twin’s pain.
“I have them both. Everything is fine,” Aiden said calmly. “Is this why you’re acting so impulsively and overprotectively? You’re afraid of losing me like your mother?”
To his surprise, it was Marcus who answered first. “I’ve been concerned.
You’ve been distant and distracted since you saw Ronan.
If you were simply worried about a Ministry attack, you’d talk to us.
But you won’t even discuss Ronan. When it comes to him, it’s as if you’re not even considering an attack possible. We don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“If he wasn’t with the Ministry, we might have only threatened him a little bit for flirting with you,” Rafe said.
Bel’s head popped up from where it had been resting on his shoulder. “He flirted with you?”
Aiden groaned and brushed a kiss to Bel’s temple, trying not to think about the decadent kisses he’d shared with Ronan earlier.
“Of course he has. That man can flirt with just his eyes,” Rafe muttered and then yelped suddenly, his muffled voice lost to whatever he was likely saying to a not-happy Philippe in regard to Ronan’s flirting eyes.
Aiden looked over to where Ronan had been standing only to find him gone. He quickly glanced around and couldn’t see him in the living room.
“Wyatt took him up to a guest bedroom to shower and sleep,” River informed him quietly.
Aiden nodded and released Bel so he could turn his full attention to Winter. His son wiped his face, turning sad blue eyes up to him. “I’m sorry,” Winter whispered a little brokenly.
“So am I. I should have taken into consideration that you were still hurting over the loss of your mother.”
“No, we should have talked to you first. We’re sorry.
” Bel sighed and dropped onto the couch.
River immediately crossed the room and sat beside him, practically wrapping his slender body around Bel.
Aiden wasn’t sure if he was comforting Bel or if he needed Bel’s comfort.
Possibly both. They each had such tender hearts.
“I would appreciate it if we could discuss it before you feel the need to run around during the day in the rescue van,” Aiden said.