The Aurelia⎪✓

{25}

Charientism

(n.) an artfully veiled insult

♡

The grass under my feet felt amazing, the wind danced along my skin, giving my cheeks a tint of red. This was freedom, in this moment right here, walking around in the woods and enjoying everything nature had to offer. It was a perfect place to consider everything and anything, thoughts swarmed my mind as I was walking here, but the fresh air saved me from suffocating in them.

It was crazy that Arrax had lived through some of the most horrific things a werewolf could, he lost everyone and literally had no one left, but he still managed to take his position as an Alpha and his pack was now one of the most powerful. His territory stretched so far and the diversity in werewolves here would be worth writing books of, he was impressive and everything he'd done was out of this world. 

A little seed of pride blossomed in my chest, just by considering how much he'd achieved in his short life time. He had his priorities straight and knew how to trust the right people, all except from me of course. The problem with me though, his soul was screaming for him to trust me and accept everything I had to offer. He wouldn't be able to rationalize. But the fact that I was hiding my smell made it easier for him, which I actually was quite content with. He deserved the chance to doubt me, or else I would be ruling over him and that wasn't fair to any of us. 

When I'd gotten some fresh air, I decided to find Arrax in his office. Opening the door to his working building, I hoped that I remembered where his office was placed. The elevator met my eyes, and it was like turning on a light switch in my mind. Taking the elevator to the top floor, my hands started getting clammy. The only thing I could hear was the pounding in my heart, last time I was here I met my mate for the first time. It felt like an entire lifetime had gone by since then. 

The elevator doors opened and I stepped out in the huge room with panorama windows, it was just as beautiful as I remembered it to be. Taking a step towards his office, I could hear voices inside, they were yelling at each other. Arrax couldn't know I was here, since I masked my smell. Focusing on their words, I was shocked by hearing Balto and Arrax yelling at each other. 

"You have to believe me, Alpha. It's what Lilly said in her sleep." Balto tried to reason with Arrax.

A growl came from Arrax, making my heart skip a beat, he was mad. "I won't hear any of it, are you challenging me, Beta?"

"No! But I can see what she means, have you seen Aspen's wolf? I surely haven't." My heart pounded out of my chest, the ringing in my ears forcing me to gasp for breaths. They couldn't know, Lilly would never tell on me. But was she a sleep talker? I had no idea. 

"Lilly was sleeping, it was a dream. Stop trying to pin my parents' deaths on my mate, that's insanity!" He roared, the rage in his voice even scared me. 

"No, she said she wasn't a werewolf, of course she isn't Aurelia! I was wondering if she was human." His hushed tone made it known that he truly believed I was human, hopefully they wouldn't suspect anything. 

A scoff left my mate's lips, "I am not mated to a human, they're too weak."

"It's not unheard of, Alpha." 

"I do not care, Balto! I trust my mate, and if you want to argue any further I suggest you escort yourself to the cells!" He still hadn't used his Alpha voice, and once again my pride was through the roof. Unluckily for me though, his words were enough to slice a huge dent in my heart, he argued with his Beta over how much he truly could trust me. He couldn't trust me at all, I was the Aurelia they were searching for, without all the killings. 

Their heavy breathing revealed how pissed they were at each other, it tugged at my heart. Balto was only fulfilling his duty as a Beta, but suspecting the Alpha's mate of doing something horrific is never a good move. This was honestly never my intention. 

Instead of standing around, I quickly ran into the elevator again. I didn't stop running until I reached the pack house, where I found Lilly eating breakfast by herself. "Hey Asp, what's wrong?" She quickly asked, when she saw my shocked eyes. 

"Are we alone?" She nodded to my question, searching my eyes as I sat down in front of her, "Do you talk in your sleep?"

"Sometimes, especially when I drink, yes. But what happened?" 

A huge sigh left my lips, "Balto just told Arrax that I'm not a werewolf, apparently that's what you said in your sleep. Now they suspect that I'm human, and are pissed at each other. I don't know what to do, they're getting closer to the truth." The panic was clear on my tongue, and Lilly's widened eyes didn't help at all. 

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry Aspen!" She quickly apologized, "If I would've known I never would have slept with him, please trust th-"

The front door opened and I gave her a panicked glance, she shut her mouth and kept eating like she'd done seconds before. Balto and Arrax came in, both wearing heavy scowls on their faces. I didn't know how to hide my emotions, thoughts were fleeting through my mind, enough to make me dizzy. It seemed unreal to me that they'd find out, I enjoyed my time here so much that I forgot that aspect of lying. As days went by I slowly, but surely, forgot that I even had a secret to keep. 

Balto sat down next to Lilly, while Arrax threw his body in the chair next to mine. Their negativity was heavy in the room, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. 

"Hey Aspen," Balto broke the silence, "Want to go for a run with our wolves today?"

Lilly seemed mad that he tried to trick me, and I actually did as well. This was his way of conning me into saying no and having yet another argument with Arrax, it was childish and pathetic. My glare couldn't be stopped, as my dark eyes met his. The snarl was just about to leave my lips, but luckily Arrax cut in before I made a big deal out of it.

"Balto, stop." He ordered him this time with his Alpha voice, and for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to care that he'd demanded that of him. It was a low blow from Balto, especially since I'd done everything in my power to protect him from Arrax's rage, on multiple occasions. This felt like betrayal..