Why did he keep implying that Adrian’s dad wasn’t like them? What happened between the two of them to cause this much tension?
Her dad, for as long as she understood, was never the hostile type towards anyone. Not only that, but what was going on with Adrian? Why did they need to stay away from her?
Plus, what was this thing about being hunted?
Aria willed herself to get up and prepare for the day. She needed answers, and she needed them now. Clearly, this situation did involve her to some extent, and if she was going to get hunted, Aria wanted to at least know by ‘who’ or at this rate, ‘what’ it was.
Her dad already left for work that morning, and texting him an onslaught of questions probably wouldn’t get her anywhere. Although he was her primary source of information, at the moment, Aria had to diverge to someone else.
Adrian.
He knew something.
Aria wasn’t sure what exactly that ‘something’ was, but she had a strong feeling that he knew a lot more than he let on. The connections with dead-ends started popping up in her brain.
Why did he even visit the ER? He wasn’t hurt, and his dad didn’t seem like he was injured. Plus, how did he know where she was? Aria didn’t tell him about the accident, and she didn’t think he was close enough to Mira for just a quick visit.
Then there was the fact that Adrian’s dad was pretty friendly with Uncle Joel and Carmen. She had never seen them together in one place, and Carmen’s never spoken about Adrian. Why wouldn’t she have mentioned him beforehand? It’s not like they didn’t speak about their personal lives with each other.
Why . . . why did everything feel so clouded with mystery? It was getting to the point where she was questioning if Mira was really in the ICU.
God, if she wasn’t . . .
Aria wouldn’t know what to do with herself.
What wasn’t she being told?
She wanted to cry, to scream out of frustration. It was like being the blind protagonist of a story, where everyone else knew what was happening except her, but now she wasn’t going to have a meltdown.
Now it was time to find answers.
Chapter 19
Adrian
The week dredged on slowly since the ER visit. It was slowly hitting him in full force that Mira was still missing with absolutely no leads. Not even the North American High Council had any wisdom to bestow upon them.
It also didn’t help that the tensions within their packs were rising every day. People were still going missing and only a fraction of those victims were found alive. No one, and he meant no one, was doing well.
Not even his dad seemed to have it together.
Adrian couldn’t imagine what he must’ve been feeling. He didn’t know all the details between the two, but it clearly was still hurting his dad a lot. It even made him a little angry at Aria’s dad because seeing his own in distress was just not okay.
As he walked through the hallway to get to his morning class, he saw Aria, but not the usual friendly or slightly checked-out version. It looked like she was on a warpath and he was the target.
“Hey—”
“We need to talk.”
Never a good conversation starter.
“Okay, sure, but class it about to start—”
“It’s a free period for you.” She was a lot sterner than he was accustomed to. “We really need to talk.”
He didn’t have a good feeling about the impending conversation. What would she ask him? How would he answer her?
Aria led them back towards the parking lot, and gestured for him to unlock his car. If she was demanding privacy for the conversation, then this conversation was going in the least preferred direction.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” He settled into his own car and waited for her response.
Aria looked like she was collecting herself before she replied, “I need your one hundred percent honesty right now.”
“Okay.”
Did he sound as uneasy as he felt?
“Okay, good.” She took a deep breath. “Why were you at the ER?”
F*ck.
“My dad and I heard about the car accident.”
“How did you hear about it?”
“Carmen told me.” He felt like he f*cked up somehow with this response.
“So you guys are close?”
“Sort of.”
“And whenever we talk, you’ve never ever mentioned her, or her family before. Isn’t that strange?”
Adrian felt her eyes were dissecting him.
“It just never came up. We’re family friends but that’s about it.”
Aria seemed to be satisfied with that answer. “What do you know about our dads?”
“It’s not—”
“Adrian, will you or won’t you answer it?”
He was being pushed into the corner and he hated it. Should he tell her everything that’s been slowly eating at him, or should he avoid it all together while he risked their current relationship?
Sh*t.
He’s risking it all either way. If he told her the truth, she might run away from him; if he told her a lie, she’ll skin him alive; and if he avoided all her questions, then Aria would probably shun him for the rest of their natural lives.
It all depended on how much he wanted to lose her at this point.
“I know some stuff.”
“Okay.”
“But it doesn’t really involve us.”
“Are you sure about that?” Aria asked that as if she already knew the answer and he was caught red-handed at a lie.
He sighed. “There’s a lot.”
She didn’t reply and he knew that she was waiting for him to continue.
“It’s going to take a while.”
“I want answers,” she told him. “I don’t want excuses.”
Now he was getting frustrated.
Could
