Her Chosen Mate

Part 42

(POV-Aria)

Aria had lost herself in her thoughts, staring out the window at the trees that zoomed past and blurred into a green smudge outside the warmth of the car.

It was dark already, the entire day turning into a blur that she wished she could remember only for the good in it. Her run with Marcus had started off great, it helped her get her mind off of whatever was going on back home and allowed her to breathe easy, if only for a few moments. His playful nips at her hind legs, the way he'd tackled her to the ground with a smug little tilt of his head, his eyes glinting in mischief, it had all been so wonderful. She'd never had that much fun on a run before.

But, of course, she had to go and ruin it.

Her curiosity got the better of her and she just had to investigate that weird scent that lingered beyond the trees in the clearing. She had to be stubborn about it, refusing to take his warning.

And Marcus had punished her for it.

As hard as she tried to only think of the positives, all her mind would fixate on was the deep, threatening growl followed by Marcus pinning her to the ground without a thought. In that moment, he could have killed her and she wouldn't have been able to defend herself, and Aria hated that she would have let it happen just because he caught her off guard.

Her father had taught her better than that. Never turn your back on another wolf, even if they're family.

Those words had been scored into her mind by years of repetition, her father drilling it into her because, unfortunately, wolves could turn on each far too easily. And Aria had proven to be a little naive and far too trusting at an early age.

It seemed she'd be in for another lecture from her father when she got back home, one she knew she deserved but was not looking forward to anyway.

She let her thoughts stray to her parents, remembering the phone call she'd had earlier that same day. She wondered how they were doing, really, with Aiden being so unpredictable. If he had people watching April, surely he also had people trailing her parents?

Her father wouldn't be happy about that at all, and maybe that was why they hadn't mentioned anything to her. There's no news where there's no news, and if her father had his way, there would be no one keeping tabs on her parents. She hoped that was the case, for all their sakes, because she was worried enough about April, and she'd already heard about Aiden's thankfully failed attempts to kill her parents to get to Aria during her heat.

The forest beyond the car window began to thin out, the thicket of trees turning sparse and bare.

They were leaving Marcus' territory, and even from inside the car, she could smell the shift in scent as they approached the border. It was still a long way out, give or take an hour, but her heart squeezed anxiously.

She hadn't wanted to leave this way. And a part of her was scared to go home and face Aiden after being away for a week.

Not only would she be returning after allowing Marcus to take her away from Aiden that night at the banquet, but his scent had mixed with hers enough to create somewhat of a hybrid scent, something that usually only happened to mated wolves. Aiden would be furious, and in his unpredictability, she had no idea how he would react.

He might kill her. Or he might go after Marcus and kill him.

He might even go entirely batshit crazy and wipe out his own pack.

Each possibility was worse than the last, and they chased one another around Aria's exhausted mind until she shut her eyes with a subdued whine.

Jaden must have heard her, or at least noticed the change in her scent, because he sighed and reached over to turn the volume on the radio down.