*** Aiden ***
My head is still ringing but hearing Amber and Preston argue brought clarity to my befuddled mind. How could I have ever doubted her? I close my eyes and all I can see is her beautiful face and her eyes full of hurt.
I keep hurting her when I promised to treat her like a goddess. I saw a flash of Amber in myself and as much as I love my sister, I didn’t like it. I will not allow my mother’s or father’s mistakes to become my own.
I hurt my mate and I am going to own that. I don’t have all the answers, but I had enough faith in her, my sweet Eva, to know she would never ever betray me. I will beg her for forgiveness. She will forgive me, right?
I wouldn’t, you douchebag. How could you doubt our Shortie, our mate? Roman is not impressed, in fact he is raging at me. She is sad and alone and she will hate you, human, for looking at her like that. You disappointed me, Alpha Aiden. Our mate deserves better.
I could hardly disagree with him. I need her to forgive me. I need her to understand that I was confused and acted rashly. I want to help her through this.
A new realisation penetrates my thoughts out of nowhere: she isn’t human! She is the daughter of an Alpha Werewolf. I recall the flash of silver eyes, the welts around her wrists after Ellis used silver handcuffs on her to lock her up, and Roman’s incessant chanting of ‘mate’ when they spent some time together.
Roman, did you sense Eva’s wolf? Does she have a wolf? He is quiet for a long time, and I’ve just about given up on him when he finally replies.
Of course I sensed her wolf, that was why I was so excited! I could sense her, but she is buried deep, she’s been kept inside for a long time, but she is there, ready to emerge. She is mine, Aiden, MINE. I want my mate, so you had best get on your hands and knees and beg Eva for forgiveness.
I promise Roman that I am on my way to win her back, and he reluctantly forgives me and agrees to help me.
As I try to drive my car out of the garage, I realise I can’t drive. My head is thudding, and I can’t concentrate. I thank my lucky stars when Preston and Amber come out hand-in-hand to help me.
“I don’t want any arguments, I am going to Eva to apologise and win her back, I need one of you to drive me and I don’t need a lecture.” Preston smiles at me and holds his hand out for the keys.
“Thank the goddess you are not as stubborn as your sister!” he says to me jovially before running away from Amber who tries to thump him for his remark.
“I’m coming too. Are you sure, Aidy?” Amber asks with genuine concern in her eyes.
“She is mine, Amber; she belongs to me, and I need to get her back.” She smiles and nods.
We arrive outside Eva’s house, and I have a mix of my own nerves and Eva’s anguish swirling around my body. As we get closer the pain becomes more intense, and there is also anger and humiliation blended in too.
I start to feel really confused again about the intense emotions my mate is feeling at this moment; however, once I walk down her path and hear her shouting, presumably at her mother, it makes more sense that she isn’t just upset about how I acted but also about her secret father.
I hadn’t anticipated any other trouble; what else could have happened? Surely, she had enough to deal with already, but what transpired shocked the living daylights out of me.
I ring her doorbell and when she answers, she sinks to her knees and lets out an involuntary cry. Thanks to the mate bond, tears well in my eyes from the pain I feel in her. What have I done?
She tries to close the door on me, but her legs are in the way. “Please Aiden, don’t. I know you hate me now, but please; I can’t take anymore.”
She thinks I hate her? I hate myself. I hate that my actions made her feel this way.
“Eva, baby, I’m so sorry. I got confused and muddled. Please forgive me. I could never hate you.”
She starts to cry, and I signal to Preston and Amber that I am going inside and I swoop down and lift Eva up off the floor. She has her phone clutched in her hand but holds on to me with the other.
“I didn’t know Aiden, I never knew,” she says as she cries. Large, hot tears splash on my shoulder.
“Have you called your mother?” She nods and then cries even harder. It breaks my heart that she is so upset about this, and that I have added to her upset instead of supporting her when she needed it most.
“You don’t know the half of it, Aiden. I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know who I can trust anymore. I have knives in my back from the people who are supposed to love me and look out for me, and I don’t know where the next blow is coming from.”
Her phone drops from her hand and she picks it up and shows me a video that has been sent to her by her ex-husband, Ryan. The video is of Ryan being sucked off by a blonde woman: on the screen, the woman jumps back and shouts his name, and Eva starts to cry again.
“Why did he send this?” I ask her in confusion. Is she missing him? She can hardly be upset about it when we have been doing stuff like that too.
“When I called to confront my mother, she misunderstood why I was so upset. The bottom line is she thought I was calling her to confront her over Ryan and so I played along with her and discovered that she has been carrying on with Ryan, that’s them in the video. This was taken a couple of days before our wedding. Ryan has been blackmailing her with the videos ever since.”
Her voice is raw with anguish and I can understand why. This is a betrayal on a very deep level, as Eva points out now.
“I just cannot digest this, I cannot understand why my own mother would do such a thing to me, her daughter. And then on top of that, she said she was relieved I knew about it, because she can move on now. I could accept this from Ryan: he is a lying, manipulative piece of shit and he always has been. But her? That’s my mum. How could she do this?”
Her tears of sorrow are starting to change to anger, I can feel the shift inside myself, and Roman growls. He wants a throat for this; how dare someone hurt our mate?
“I’m sorry, Eva. I should have been here. I acted like an idiot. Please forgive me.” She hiccoughs as I try to apologise.
“I didn’t know, Aiden, I promise I didn’t know. I said his name to her, and she started ranting at me. She eventually told me he is my father. Your enemy is my father, Aiden.” She starts to cry again.
“I don’t care. I don’t care who your mother is or who your father is. All I care about is you; all I care about is looking after you, loving you and you loving me back. I will never, ever let you down again.”
She looks into my eyes while I hold my breath; can she take the leap of faith? Or has her trust and love been pushed too far this time?
I don’t want to live without her. She is mine and I am hers, now and always. I just need one more chance to prove I am worthy.