Her Chosen Mate

Part 43

(POV - Aria)

For a moment that seemed to stretch out into eternity, no one moved.

Jaden sat deathly still in the driver's seat, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, and the only sign of life in him was the violent ticking in his jaw. Aria's fingers clawed into the seat, her shoulders hunched painfully against the impact that never came, but the tension in the car made it difficult for her to relax.

Marcus stood outside, his storm grey eyes as bright as lightning and piercing as they stared at her. Her heart thrashed wildly against her ribcage, and she was sure both Jaden and Marcus could hear it.

But she couldn't help it; her emotions were all over the place, scattered by the rollercoaster of highs and lows of the last few hours alone. The shock of having Jaden slam on brakes as Marcus' hulking figure dashed out of the woods towards them, the fear of returning home to an uncertain reaction from Aiden, and the sadness of having to leave Marcus' side on such a bad note, was all too much and she found herself glued to her chair, frozen stiff on pure instinct.

After a tense breath, a growl bubbled up into Jaden's throat, startling Aria out of her fright.

Jaden muttered under his breath finally, unlocking and shoving the driver's door open and huffing as he got out. Aria watched him stalk over to Marcus, his shoulders squared and the vein in his neck visible even in the dark and from her seat inside the car.

"What, respectfully, the fuck is wrong with you?" Jaden growled, getting far too close to Marcus' snarling snout for Aria's liking. "Your indecision is going to get someone killed, Marc, and I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be me. And I don't feel like dying for this."

Marcus' silhouette shimmered as he shifted back, his eyes still fixed on Aria through the window.

"Marc, come on, man. Talk to me!" Jaden seethed. "What the fuck are you thinking? You can't jump out into the fucking road like that! There could have been another car around or a fucking hitch-hiker could have seen you! Are you really going to force me to clean up the way those filthy parasites do when one of theirs is sighted by a human?"

But Marcus only huffed, obviously annoyed by Jaden's scolding. Aria would have cowered in the face of Jaden's wrath, but she supposed that being an Alpha had its perks.

One of them being that he didn't really have to fear anyone who couldn't challenge him.

Aria was grateful that it was late enough for the roads to be completely deserted, despite Jaden's fear that the opposite would have been true, but she still worried that a lone car might drive past and catch them out in the open, with Marcus standing in the middle of the road completely naked, his eyes still glowing like lightning.

Jaden gave up on getting an answer from his Alpha and stalked back to the car, almost ripping the door off its hinges and grumbling as he sat down. "Go talk to him, please, before I murder him for being an idiot."

"What?" she croaked, not fully understanding what he'd said to her despite having his voice in her ear.

"He's not here for me," Jaden deadpanned, still glaring at Marcus who stood motionless in front of the car, that preternatural stillness holding his body. "And he reeks of possessiveness, I can't take it."

Aria turned to steal a glance at Marcus, who had seemed to calm down in the few minutes since Jaden had gotten back into the car. But she could smell it on him, that dark, musky hint of possessiveness that turned his scent almost rich with it.

It was a scent she loved, for obvious reasons.

Feeling a lot more nervous than she should have, Aria took a steadying breath, her hands unsteady as they opened her door. She tried her hardest not to look at Marcus for too long, and focused on getting one foot in front of the other without her knees turning to rubber and sending her to the tar.