chapter 52: Moving Progress
Aiden’s POV
“Aiden, I love you.” Hayley said, her hypnotizing eyes staring into mine, her legs wrapped around my waist.
“I love you too.” I said back and interlocked my lips with hers, every fiber of my being came alive from just touching her, feeling her chest heave as she tried to catch her breath in between kisses.
My hand moved to her back pulled her closer, I could feel each chain of restraint I had shatter as her perfumed scent filled my nostrils making me wish I could drown in it.
“I miss you.” She whispered and i froze
Miss me? What did she mean by that? I ignored the compliment and let my hands continue to roam over her body.
“Come back home, please.”
That comment pulled the brakes on the make out session, then it all slowly came back to me. That’s right, I had left home, not willing but I had left nevertheless.
I faced Hayley who was seated on my legs and she had a sad expression on her face. Like the pull of gravity, I felt myself get swept back into reality.
My eyes sprung open and I was met with the boring white ceiling, bathed in sunlight. I was in Australia, very very far from home.
I closed my eyes, hoping to find my way back to the dream I had been so cruelly deprived off. It was so hard to think straight these days, the urge to be with Hayley grew stronger by the day and I could guess why. The full moon was fast approaching, and my wolf wanted to be reunited with his mate, sadly that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
I turned over and my eyes locked with a painting the hotel staff had out of for decoration. I wasn’t really an art guy but I could tell it was supposed to be some really important replica, the painting was of a man and a woman reaching out for each other but their hands were just close enough to almost touch.
I rolled my eyes, till now I never gave any thought to it but right now it seemed like the universe was making a joke out of my plight.
I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathtub, another day but the same old routine, it was official. I hate Australia, not the place exactly I just wanted to get back home, the loneliness was starting to slowly set in.
I put the toothbrush in my mouth and scrubbed, my mind replayed the last memory I had of home. Coming home to meet my dad with the news of my already planned departure, the conversation that got me here in the first place.
“I’m not going anywhere Dad.” I tried to stand my ground even though I could see the seriousness in his eyes.
“It’s not up for debate, Aiden.”
I remember my fist curling as he said those words. I was not a freaking child, so he shouldn’t boss me around.
“Exactly, it’s not up for debate because I’m not going. ” I walked past him and was heading for the stairs when he called me back.
“Aiden, stop.”
And I did just that, I stopped in my tracks and turned around. My dad was a lot of things and even though at the moment he was being unreasonable, he was the alpha and no one for whatever reason went against the alpha, as his son I had to respect that.
“Are you even thinking this through?” His expression softened as he approached me, I was surprised he wasn’t trying to use force but that probably wouldn’t have worked either.
“There’s nothing to think about. Hayley told me what you said this morning, you’d take care of the both of us. Is this really your solution? To get rid of your own son just so you can be with some woman?” I could tell the last part got to him.
“Don’t talk to me like that.”
I bowed my head slightlyNôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
“I’m not getting rid of you, and not as much as I want to end the abomination of a relationship you have with your sister, it’s not the reason you’re going to Australia.”
He got my attention with that.
“Then why are you sending me away?”
“Again with the sending you away, you’re talking like I’m tossing you to the side. I would never do that.”
“Then why?” I asked, still unsure whether he was telling the truth or not.
“I got a report from some omegas in Australia about the rogues that have been a concern to us.” He laid the bomb
“The ones threatening our pack’s borders?”
We had talked about the rouges a couple times but it was always vague things because we didn’t have much info on them. That’s what made them so much of a pain in the ass. If he finally found out where they were then that was a good thing.
“If that’s true then why are you sending me, why don’t you handle it like you always do?”
He sighed,
“I would, but I have a lot of things to handle here as well.” He explained.
I looked at him skeptical, this ’emergency’ just happened to have such impeccable timing, the exact time she wanted to split me and Hayley apart.
“It’s an opportunity for you to show the pack that you have what it takes to be an Alpha. That you can be a good leader when it’s needed, don’t you understand how important that is?”
“I do.” I said under my breath
“And yes it will also get Rachel some peace of mind from the migraines the two of you give her.”
Of course, now that sounded like the truth.
“You can’t split me and Hayley, we’re mates”
“Your sister’s mate is Holland, but no we’re not having this discussion right now. We will deal with it when you get back, hopefully being apart would have knocked some sense into you both.”
I thought about what he said and a huge part of me still wanted to stay.
“If you don’t go you’re just going to make Rachel keep going to desperate measures to stop this and you saw what happened the last time.”
And just like that, I agreed and a month later I was really questioning my decision, should I have just stayed and risked getting punished by my father.
Well it was too late to find out now.
He wasn’t lying about the rouges though, I had figured out that much. There had been a series of werewolf killings around town, luckily we had connections with the local police or else it would have been a real shit show.
I had made some progress but I was still very far from getting a clearer image of the organization that these rouges seemed to have formed.
I stepped out of the shower and put on my clothes, the faster I put a wrap on this, the faster I could get back home, that was the motivation that got me out of bed everyday.
I dug out my phone, there was a missed call from Alessa. We had been talking a lot recently. After all, she was the only one I had contacted since I got to Australia.
I rang her back and she answered the call almost instantly.
“Hey, I missed your call.” I moved to the snack bar and pulled out a chocolate bar.
“That was hours ago.”
“Yeah, I was asleep.”
“Sometimes I forget there’s a time difference. Anyway it’s fine, I had a question about Jada but I already got my answer.”
“What do you mean? Did something happen? Is she back?”
“Hold your horses. I was just curious about something.”
“Care to share?”
“Don’t you have enough on your plate already? You handle Australia and I’ll handle Jada.”
After a few conversations, I decided there was no harm in telling her about my mission in Australia and she was actually a bit supportive.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” I asked and took a bit out of the chocolate bar
“If I do, I know how to reach you so it’s no biggie.”
“Sure, how’s Hayley?” The question still felt hard to ask, I wondered how uncomfortable it must have been for Alessa.
“Um…”
“What with the um?” She usually just answered with she’s fine or told me something boring she knew Hayley and her friends did, why did it feel like she was hiding something?
“Nothing.”
“Alessa? You’re hiding something, what is it?”
“Now you’re calling me a liar, real smooth Aiden. Hayley’s good, she seems a bit more social lately, she’s great.”
A part of me still didn’t believe her but then again I didn’t have much of a choice.
“Okay.”
“I’ve got to go, talk to you later.” She said before ending the call.
I crumbled the chocolate wrapper and shook off the thought.
I took one last glance at myself in the mirror, I looked good in a tux, something I didn’t know before. I walked out of the hotel room and met up with Frank downstairs and we got into the limo
I was given to pose as a leader of a discreet pack of rouges looking to join forces with the organization, hence the tuxedo and limo. If I was going to get anyone to open up to me, they needed to feel like I could contribute to their cause which in this case was financially.
We arrived at the restaurant that the last guy we interrogated had named, I stepped out of the car and straightened my sleeves. The restaurant had tinted windows so there was no way to see inside.
“Do you want me to escort you inside?” Frank stood at my side and asked.
“No, I can handle it. Just have the limo ready in case I need to make a quick exit.” I braced myself for whatever lies behind those doors and stepped in.
What I saw wasn’t quite what I was expecting, a dull red light lit up the room and from inside you could hardly tell that it was morning outside, there were only three tables positioned far from each other.
Two of the seats were occupied by a couple of random looking people who didn’t even turn to look when I stepped in, the place had an eerie vibe to it.
I went over to the counter at the side and the man there did look very happy to see a strange face.
“How may I help you?” He asked coldly.
Something odd caught my attention, a scent, it smelled like fur, like a werewolf.
“I’d like a meal, a friend of mine recommended this place.” I felt like I was playing with hot coals right now.
He looked at me with a suspicious look and I decided to try something risky. I turned into my werewolf form, or at least just my head. I didn’t want to ruin the tux.
His cold looked melted away and was replaced by a smile, I guess he only served werewolves.
“Are you new in town?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you from?”
“Nowhere in particular, I’m just moving around.”
“Sounds like you’re looking for something, anything in mind?”
For a guy who looked like the Grinch a couple minutes ago he was awfully chatty.
“Allies.”
This was it, the bait, all I needed was him to take it.
His brows creased.
“Allies? Where’s your pack?”
I didn’t really know the world outside my pack and how rouges referred to themselves among each other so I decided to stay quiet and let him come to his own conclusion. To other wolves, the word was like a bad omen so I doubt it was still what they called themselves.
“It’s okay, this is a safe haven”
“That’s good to hear.”
“You can take a seat, you can take a seat with her over there. She’s in charge over here.” He pointed behind me and I followed his finger.
Seated in a table I hadn’t noticed before was a lady covered by shadows, our eyes met and I smiled.
“Finally, some actual progress.” I thought as I walked towards the woman in the shadows