Part 4
Either I saw Aaron in my room, sitting on the other corner of my bed, or I must have been dreaming. But when my eyes cleared up, I saw that, indeed, he was on my bed, sitting with his back facing me. I pulled myself up to sit down and slowly rubbed my sleepy, swollen eyes before calling his name.
“Aaron?” Did he miss his road or something? Because last I checked, this was the room I’ve been in all this time, right? Or did I miss it?
“I waited for you after that weekend,” he said, speaking as if he knew I was already awake and could comprehend what he was saying. “At first, I thought you needed the time to think and find out what exactly it was you wanted, and I was willing to wait, but days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and I realised perhaps you had forgotten about the weekend, forgotten about us, and forgotten me. Perhaps you weren’t the one, and I also had to move on. It was what I needed to do. My existence depended on it,” he explained, and I had little clarity on what he spoke about. Still, I didn’t interrupt him.
He rose to his feet, sliding his hand into the pocket of his black trousers, before turning around to face me.
“You are right. I spoke about my soul mate on the phone, but I think things happened quite differently from what you remember,” he told me. I realized he was talking about the conversation he had overheard years ago.
“Before coming to your town, I was searching for a true mate. Every werewolf needs one, and it’s an important part of an alpha’s life. Some alphas are much stronger than others, but after I met you, I was certain you were the one. I believed that with the whole of my heart and being. You completed me. Everything made sense to you. You became the one thing I needed to gain clarity on, and when I was on the phone with Damor, I spoke to him about it as well.”
He paused as if expecting an interruption, but I didn’t interrupt. I wanted him to speak; I wanted to listen. “He was to support me in finding a mate, and when I believed it was you, I had to let him know. I can show you the conversation that really took place that morning if you want to know the whole truth.”
I didn’t know if I was ready for that, but I wanted to know. A part of me felt it needed to. His discussion with his brother was the reason I had my heart broken that morning. It was the origin of the path I ended up taking much later, and I wanted to know the truth for myself.
I drew a shaky breath. “Then I want to see it,” I answered, and he rose from the side of the bed where he sat and took a step towards me. My heart picked up its beat, and I tried to control it somehow. His smell was intoxicating and alluring; the closer he got, the weaker I became.
He sat facing me in bed, and his eyes stayed on mine while mine did their best not to give off too much vulnerability. He placed his hands on my head, and my stomach fluttered at the softness of his hands and how his tender touch caused weakness all over me. I tried to fight off the urge to lean into him because that would not be good.
He slid his thumb from my forehead to my temple, and in the next minute, I was back in the penthouse, where I spent the weekend with him. He was on the balcony wearing the same white round-necked polo and blue jeans that morning, and I was there with him as well.
“I asked her to stay.”
“What did she say?” Damor’s voice came sharply over the phone.
It felt strange that I could hear Damor’s voice clearly, but then I figured it was made possible because I was in Aaron’s mind, reminiscing about this.
“She said she’d think about it but told me she liked the idea. I think that’s a positive mark,” he said, and I could feel a little excitement in his voice.
“Well, at least this would make up for you disappearing in the middle of a consultation,” Damor said, sounding a little pissed at Aaron.
He ran a hand over his hair. “I needed to find her, Damor. You, of all people, should understand. I don’t think I’d find a genuine sense of belonging or even survive without her in my life. We belong together.” He said it, but his words didn’t match his voice.
Damor picked it up over the phone as well. “Then why do I still feel the lingering scepticism in your voice?”
He sighed. “She’s human.” The words made my heart tighten.
The line went dead, and I knew Damor was thinking of what Aaron had just told him. After much silence, he spoke. “If she’s the one, then it wouldn’t matter.”
Aaron pulled his hands away from my temple, and I snapped back to reality, gasping for air. I didn’t think what just happened was possible, but a lot of things that had happened in the past few days were impossible, yet they happened.
I knew what I saw and heard, but I couldn’t trust it. I glanced up and found Aaron’s gaze still on me.
“Why should I believe you? For all I know, this is your way of showing me what you want me to see.”
“I have no reason to do that. You just saw my memory, and it hasn’t been tampered with. You might not believe it, but I know deep down you know it’s the truth.”
If this was true, then what I thought I heard wasn’t true. I also had my heart broken for nothing. I should have confronted him then; oh, how much pain and tears I would have saved myself.
“I thought you had someone,” I admitted. “I thought you were cheating on her with me, as Owens did to me using Tatiana. I felt angry, hurt, and used, and I believed you were just the same as him. That was why I never called back. I should have asked for an explanation, but I didn’t think it was in my place to do so. We were just two people who met during the weekend to have fun and nothing more. I wasn’t your girlfriend, so I kept my anger to myself and moved on instead.”
“I never lied to you, Zera, and I never will.”
I nodded. I know that now, and I wish I had known that before; things would have been so much different. “I know that now,” I told him, and when his hand moved down to stroke my face, I leaned into him to get more.
I felt a calm I had not felt in a long while and wanted to get used to it. It was the peace the truth brought, and it felt better than I thought it would.
This felt real. Staying this way and being with him this way felt more real than everything I’ve experienced in the last few years.
My heart was back beating for him like it had five years ago, and there was no stopping it.
His thumb rubbed small circles on my cheeks, and shivers ran through me, awakening my reactions and responses to him. I leaned in to kiss his lips but pulled back when I realised I had Daniel.
I couldn’t do this to him again. It didn’t matter what the truth revealed. I’m with someone else now. Someone who was still out there, probably searching for me, didn’t deserve to be cheated on. Besides, I didn’t know what Aaron’s life had been like in the last five years, and I could not assume he had waited since then.
I bit my lips and pulled back, shaking my head. “Thank you for telling me the truth, Aaron, and I wish things had happened differently.”
“Yeah, me too,” he agreed before pulling his hands away, and I immediately missed the touch. “With Ivan’s discovery, I see no reason to keep you here, so I will let you go home today.”
Just when I started not hating this guy and things were getting better, he kicked me out.
“Oh!” was all I could say. A tiny part of me wanted to stay a little longer, but I have fought for my freedom since I found myself here, and it’s only fitting that I take it with joy.
I nodded. “Will I get to leave with Zion?” I asked, my heart beating in an unsteady rhythm. I wanted to be with Zion, but I couldn’t tell if my wishes would be granted. Last I checked, he belonged to the two of us.
“There is no reason you shouldn’t,” he answered, a smile coming to his face and his dimple appearing.
“Why are you being so nice to me? I’m not the best person, and honestly, I would hate myself too if I were you.”
“I could never hate you even if I tried, Zera Adams.”
“And why is that?”
“Some day, I will tell you why, just not today.” He rose from beside me, and I wanted to hold on to him and tell him to stay a little longer. “I think you should bathe and get ready. I will tell Uwa to get Zion ready as well.”
The door shut behind him, and I groaned in pain at what I could have had. He’d always be the one who got away.