CH 16 - Aiden

AIDEN POV I woke up to roses. Not the soft, pretty kind people kept in glass vases and pretended meant love. Hers were sharper than that. Roses after rain. Wildflowers crushed beneath bare feet. Lightning trapped under skin. For one stupid second, before memory sank its claws into me, I just breathed her in like I always did whenever she got too close. Deep. Slow. Like an addict getting one more hit of the thing that was eventually going to ruin him. Pluto stirred beneath my ribs with a low satisfied sound, lazy and possessive and way too f*****g pleased with himself. Mine. She was mine. Persefone was mine. The thought hit so hard it almost hurt. I wanted to scream it at the top of my lungs. Wanted to sink my teeth into her throat and bind her to me once and for all. Would she let me? Probably f*****g not. My eyes opened. And reality slammed back in. The hospital. The pack house. The drug in her blood. The hybrid with red eyes. The fact Persefone Savage was asleep in her bed while the three of us sat around her like half-feral guard dogs with no right to be there and no f*****g intention of leaving. My body went rigid instantly. Pluto surged awake completely after that, violent and restless now, every trace of softness gone in less than a heartbeat as my eyes snapped across the room automatically searching for danger before my brain fully caught up. But Persefone was still asleep. Curled on one side beneath dark blankets, one hand tucked beneath her cheek while pale morning light slipped softly through the curtains across her face. Gorgeous. Alive. Safe. Still here. The relief that hit me felt ugly. Possessive. Too f*****g big. Mine. And that— that feeling right there— was exactly why I was already losing my goddamn mind over her. Pluto shoved harder beneath my ribs instantly, the word echoing through me with enough force to make my jaw tighten. I ignored him aggressively. Or tried to. Didn’t work worth s**t. Because every instinct inside me kept tracking her automatically anyway. The slow rise and fall of her breathing. The tiny crease between her brows like even asleep she still couldn’t fully relax. The way she’d unconsciously curled toward the side where Thane rested against the mattress, chasing warmth without even realizing it. And the worst f*****g part? She still looked exhausted. Pale. Too pale. Like somebody had hollowed something vital out of her and left the rest behind. Rage crawled slowly back up my spine. Drugged. Inside her own territory. Inside a pack fortress crawling with guards, warriors, cameras and f*****g Alphas that were supposed to protect their own. Pluto snarled low beneath my skin. Because that was the problem with packs. Everybody talked about safety like it was guaranteed the second you belonged somewhere. Like titles and borders magically made monsters disappear. But what happened when the danger came from inside the walls? What happened when the people meant to protect you were careless? Or corrupted? Or hiding s**t in the shadows while pretending everything was under control? Rogues were always treated like the threat. Keep them away. Protect the pack. Protect your own. Meanwhile Persefone Savage had been drugged right under her Alpha family’s nose and hunted ten f*****g minutes later. Yeah. Some protection. I couldn’t let it go. Couldn’t stop the rage crawling back up my throat every time I thought about how close that thing had gotten to her. Too f*****g close. One minute later. One wrong turn through those woods. One second slower. My jaw tightened hard enough to ache. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about what would’ve happened if we hadn’t shown up. If the bond hadn’t snapped exactly when it did. If Pluto hadn’t dragged us straight toward her. The hybrid would’ve taken her. And deep down? Every instinct inside me knew she wouldn’t have come back whole after that. Maybe not even alive. The soft scrape of movement pulled my attention sideways. Keres was awake too now, blinking sleep out of his eyes while dragging one rough hand over his buzz cut. The second his gaze landed on Persefone his entire expression changed. One blink. That was all it took. Sleep disappeared completely while his eyes dragged slowly over her curled body beneath the blankets before he licked his lips unconsciously like he could already taste her scent in the air. And I knew exactly where his head went immediately. Because mine had gone there too. That hunger. That obsession. That violent f*****g need to claim her so deeply nobody else would ever dare touch her again. It didn’t even make sense. Nothing had happened between us. No kisses. No touches beyond instinct and chaos and adrenaline. And yet the need to own her already felt so huge it was becoming hard to separate it from myself. Foreign. That was the worst part. The intensity of it. Like the bond had ripped something open inside all three of us and now Pluto wanted more. More scent. More touch. More of her. Samael surfaced so hard silver flashed briefly beneath the skin of Keres’ throat before disappearing again. Yeah. I knew exactly how he felt. Thane still hadn’t moved near the foot of the bed. At first I thought he was asleep too. Then his voice cut quietly through the room. “We leave after the test results come back.” Bullshit. I felt Pluto surge violently forward before I even answered. “No.” Keres looked up immediately too. Thane finally lifted his head from where it rested against the mattress, blue eyes shadowed and exhausted in the dim light. “We can’t stay here.” “There’s a f*****g hybrid running around hunting her,” I snapped quietly. “I’m not leaving.” Thane’s jaw flexed hard. “You think I don’t know that?” “Then stop acting like she’s safer without us.” Keres quipped with Samael too in his voice. Deep and grumbling like he always was. “She doesn’t belong in our life,” he said roughly. Pluto lost his f*****g mind. A growl almost ripped out of my throat before I swallowed it down hard enough to hurt. I didn’t want to wake her up yet. She needed time to rest and I was goddamn going to leave her time to heal. “Our life?” I repeated quietly. “You mean surviving?” “I mean this.” Thane gestured vaguely toward all of us before looking at Persefone again. “You really think this ends well for someone like her?” Someone like her. The words hit strangely inside my chest. Because I knew exactly what he meant. Persefone Savage was too smart. Too bright. Too alive. Even now there were books scattered across her desk beside half-open coding notebooks and plant samples under grow lights near the window. She looked like somebody who belonged in universities and laboratories and huge f*****g futures. Not in the middle of whatever nightmare our lives had become years ago. Keres leaned his head back against the mattress slowly. “She’s stronger than you think.” “She got drugged.” Thane whisper-yelled throwing his arms up in the air. Frustrated and… scared maybe “She trusted people,” I continued harshly. “That’s the problem.” Persefone shifted slightly in her sleep at the sound of our voices, brows pulling together tighter before settling again. My chest twisted painfully. Fuck. “She always trusts people,” I muttered quieter this time. “Even when she shouldn’t.” Keres frowned slightly. “What does that mean?” I looked toward the ceiling briefly before answering. “Rachel.” Understanding flashed across Keres’ face instantly. Of course it did. We all knew how f****d up that girl was, and yet, I was the one that almost got punched in the face because of her. “My mate sees the best in people,” Keres muttered. “No,” I corrected flatly. “Our mate wants people to deserve saving.” Silence settled heavily after that. Because we all knew girls like that didn’t survive the kind of world we came from. Kind girls died first. Trusting girls disappeared. And now hybrids were suddenly back. Thane dragged both hands down his face roughly before speaking again. “That’s exactly why we need to leave.”