Chapter 34
Jason
Watching Ariana’s shyness fade has been a blessing.
Partly because it’s like watching a beautiful flower bloom and show its petals for the first time. And partly because she no longer startles like she’s seen a ghost running into me in the kitchen at night. I’ve faced enough Casper the ghost jokes.
Glancing up from the cup of tea she’s making, she smiles goodnaturedly as I walk in. “You never sleep, do you?”
Tilting my head towards her in acknowledgment, I grab a tangerine from the fruit basket. “It seems that way, doesn’t it?” Peeling it over the recycling bin, I turn my head towards her. “But you’re up at this hour too. Is everything alright?”
She blows on her cup gently, looking at me over the rim. “Everything’s great. You guys have been amazing.”
“But?”
“But nothing.”
“I’m a lawyer, Ariana. If there’s something more, I’m going to be able to tell.”
Opening the cupboards with a sense of familiarity, she pulls out a jar of honey. Stirring a generous dollop of honey into the tea, the clanging of her spoon against the cup is the only noise for a moment.
Now knowing her well enough to understand her silence is a sign of her thinking, not ignoring me, I grab a handful of tangerines. “Would you like to sit with me?”
Nodding, she picks up her cup and follows me to the living room. I take a seat on the couch, pulling the coffee table closer. Ariana settles sideways against the edge, leaning her back against the arm rest and crossing her legs. She’s close enough that her folded knees brush my leg.
Leaning to the far end of the couch, I grab a throw blanket and unfold it onto her lap.
She tucks it under her elbows. Her newly shortened hair is brushed behind one of her ears, tickling the bare skin of her shoulder where her cat print sweater has fallen away from.
The flesh of her cheeks has begun to plumpen, making the lines of her cheekbones soften healthily.
With her new haircut and lack of eye bags, the omega looks like a different person from the wounded bird that arrived here all those nights ago. Ariana stares into her cup searchingly, like the liquid inside will find a way to put her thoughts into words for her.
“Is it weird,” she pauses and tucks her hands into her sleeves. “Is it weird that I still miss them sometimes?”
“I don’t think so.” My response makes her look up at me.
We haven’t turned the overhead lights on, sitting instead in the light of a single lamp.
Its orange light bathes her in a soft glow.
“You spent your entire adult life with them, didn’t you?
It would be stranger for you not to miss them.
” It’s the reasonable conclusion, but it fills my mouth with a bitter taste I ignore.
She lifts the cup to her lips with both hands. Save for the rare sound of cars passing, the night is quiet. I can hear her swallow. Her brown eyes drift to the floor, staring at the hardwood as the cup settles back into her lap.
“Ten years, almost. They expected me to be perfect for them. I tried, Jason. I really did.”
“I know you did.” I saw it first hand, and the way it ate away at her.
Ariana shakes her head softly. “And what did it get me?” One of her fingers draws circles on the blanket as she thinks. “I thought a scent match made us soulmates. I never considered I would be rejected by my mates.”
“You’re not the only one.” Her eyes flicker to my face, widening.
Her voice comes out hushed. “You?”
Smiling at her softly, I nod. “Seven years ago.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
The omega gets comfortable. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” The statement makes my smile widen.
If it’s her, I can share. “We had only recently become a pack, as in the four of us. Me, Sebastian, Evan, Nico.”
Pressing my nail into the top of one of my tangerines, I begin peeling. Once done, I split it in half and pass the bigger chunk to Ariana. She takes it between her fingers, big brown eyes still focused on me.
I pivot. “My family has practiced law for generations. Being an attorney is a dangerous job. Not in the way it’s portrayed in movies, most practices are quite safe.”
She doesn’t interrupt despite the change in direction, sipping on her tea. The omega listens intently.
“With so many of my familial pack practicing, one of us was bound to go into family law eventually. That’s where things tend to get volatile.”
“And you were the one?”
I smile softly at the guess. Setting my uneaten tangerine into her hand, I shake my head. Ariana holds her cup out towards me in response. Looking from it to her, I quirk an eyebrow.
“Want a sip?” She explains adorably. “You gave me one of your mandarins. You can have my tea, too.”
My fingers brush against hers as I take the cup from her hands. The chamomile tea warms me from the inside out. Returning it to her, I pick up the next tangerine from the coffee table.
“Not me, no. One of my fathers.”
Ariana takes a swig of tea, then stretches it out to me again. We pass the cup back and forth wordlessly for a moment. The sound of rain begins to lightly tap against the windows.
“It’s never a simple affair, dealing with packs,” I say finally. As she’s well aware, I think to myself. “Our pack didn’t have it complicated, though. When we met the woman that was our scent match, everything came naturally.”
Ariana leans her head against the couch, echoing my question from the kitchen earlier. “But?”
“But her family’s pack was,” my hands still on the half peeled fruit, “troubled. Unbeknownst to us, so was she. Through no fault of her own.”
“It wasn’t a problem for us. She was our scent match, after all.
You understand the pull that has.” I begin stripping the tangerine again, setting the scraps on the coffee table.
“We were slowly getting to know each other. I had just joined, and Evan was still young. By all accounts, though, it seemed like things were proceeding well.”
I pass the entire fruit to Ariana this time, resting my empty hands on my thighs. The smell of citrus clings onto them. “And then she stabbed me.”
The cup freezes halfway to the omega’s lips. “She stabbed you?”
“I didn’t register what had happened at first. I just stood and watched. There were no warning signs. She snapped suddenly.”
Eyes widened in horror, Ariana’s mouth falls open in shock. “Why?”
I’m not on the stand and the woman in front of me is not cross examining me. We are simply an alpha and an omega sharing the story of our rejections. My voice doesn’t waver as I recount the memory.
“Remember how I mentioned her troubled family?” The brunette nods.
“It was my father that had separated her parent’s pack after her mother came to him battered, begging for help.
Her fathers didn’t receive light sentences, as they had past offenses.
With good behavior though, after a number of years they were allowed to call her. ”
“And they instilled this idea that it was my father’s fault their family was broken. She was young and had five fathers manipulating her into believing it was so.”
Grasping at the fabric, I pull my shirt up. Ariana leans forward, gasping. Her hand hovers over the scarred skin. “Here?”
Holding her hand lightly, I move it lower along my stomach. “This was the first.” I move it back to the second, larger scar. “This was the second. Sebastian restrained her after that.”
“Twice?” Ariana whispers, stricken.
“None of us realized what was happening. And she was our scent match, I wasn’t going to raise a hand against her.”
Letting go of her hand, Ariana rests it against my stomach. Close to, but not touching my scars. Her warmth seeps into the skin under.
“We didn’t discover what happened until after.
It happened in public, so it couldn’t avoid going to trial.
When she realized who I was, she couldn’t stand being matched with the son of the man who tore her family apart, in her eyes.
And one of her fathers had been released.
He saw a chance for revenge, and years of manipulation made her take it. ”
“How long was his sentence?”
Surprised at Ariana’s question, I have to think hard. “Fifteen years?”
“This happened seven years ago. So you were six when he went to jail and she stabbed you for it? You were a baby.” Her gaze falls back to the scars. “Do they hurt?” She whispers.
I put my hand over hers and move it over them. “Not anymore,” I murmur, looking at her face.
“What happened to her and her dad?” She brushes her fingers against my skin, the touch as light as a feather.
“He went back to jail. She was deemed mentally unwell and went for treatment. She’s not allowed to come within a certain distance of me.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. It sounds painful.” I can hear the sadness in her voice.
Cupping her face, I look into her big eyes. “I’m sorry your matches hurt you too. You didn’t deserve that.” It may not be visible, but I think the emotional scar left on her may be worse than the physical one on my abdomen.
Ariana sets her cup on the coffee table, turning on the couch cushion.
Her legs rest half over mine, half on the couch, tucked to one side.
Leaning her head against my shoulder, she nestles into my side.
One arm wraps around me, gently tracing circles on the scars.
I put my arm around her, bringing her closer.
“Do you ever miss her?” She breaks the silence.
“Seven years ago, I did. But I’ve had the scars she gave me longer than I knew her. I barely remember what she smelled or looked like, now.”
“What would you do if she came back and apologized?”
“That ship sailed years ago.” I look down at her. “Why?”
“Just wondering,” she stares down at my stomach, still fixated on the scars. “You wouldn’t have any regrets?”
“I used to,” I answer honestly. “I felt guilty for being the reason our pack couldn’t be with their match. If it weren’t for me, they might have worked out. But then we met you and my doubts disappeared.”