Adrian looked at her and really wondered if this would be the last time she would ever look at him in the eyes. Would this be the last time she’d ever speak to him before she scorned his existence?
His heart felt like it was cracking.
This was not what he wanted.
“What did you hear?”
“A conversation at midnight.” She seemed to understand that he needed a starting point. “My dad was talking to yours. He kept saying something about staying away from you and ‘what’ you are.”
Great.
“You’re not some psycho killer are you?” She seemed already on the edge.
“No, no I’m not.” He sighed, this was way more difficult than he expected. “Just give me a moment.”
He didn’t wait for her to respond. The overwhelming amount of stress had broken through his original threshold. He couldn’t handle all of it anymore.
Adrian was cursing himself as he could feel the tears roll down his cheeks and wiped them away furiously; but that didn’t help much, because for who knows how long, he sat in the car with Aria as he tried to get his mind on track.
It was just so hard.
Adrian wanted a lot of things, but right now he’d settle for feeling less stressed out. He didn’t want to think about what was happening to Mira right now. The guilt of knowing the victim and being unable to do anything about it ate him alive.
Adrian also didn’t want to confront Nick or Leila about it because they were probably in the same mind space. His dad was too deep into his own set of problems that were arguably worse than his. Adrian’s mom was busy trying to keep everyone in the pack from completely losing it; and here he was, the only weak one, who was breaking down in a car with his soul mate as she pressed for answers.
What kind of leader was he?
Better question: Why couldn’t he have been normal?
After a while, he wondered if she was still there, or if she left after his episode. With his little outburst of emotion, Adrian wanted to check if she was still around but was too afraid to do so. Would he be able to acknowledge that she’ll think he’s a total nutjob? Could he?
Adrian mentally scoffed. If he couldn’t believe in himself then what makes him think that Aria will stay? It wasn’t until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder that he was willing to look up.
Her eyes were a little wet and he could tell that she was as stressed out as he was. The situation was bad, really f*cking bad, but the reassurance was nice.
It took him a few moments before he could begin to string the words together, and clear his throat.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how stressed out you must’ve been.”
He nodded. He wasn’t denying any of that.
“I just . . . I’m pretty frustrated too, y’know?” Aria began to lay out her problems. “I just . . . my mom is dead. She’d been dead for a long time and five years later, I heard my dad talk about her to yours.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t kill her.”
“Yeah, but still.”
“I know . . . thanks.”
Adrian nodded in acknowledgement.
“It’s just hard, y’know? To remember what she looked like when she died—”
The file did say a car accident.
“And to suddenly find out that she was pregnant and that it might’ve not been a total accident?” Aria kept talking. “If hearing that doesn’t stress anyone out then I don’t know. Now Mira’s hurt and Carmen won’t tell me anything; and I’m just sitting here waiting for answers, and I can’t even go and look for them because I don’t even know where to dig.”
“That must’ve been pretty sh*tty.”
She scoffed, “Which part? The part where I found out she had my younger sibling in her gut, or the fact that I can’t even find out if Mira’s alive at this point?”
“Both.”
“Yeah, well, I hope you don’t join the club. It’s pretty sh*tty like you said.”
He could only agree. He was already with a lot of cruddy clubs that he didn’t sign up for, no need to add another.
“What sucks is that my dad didn’t even tell me. I had to find out through your dad inadvertently. What’s going on with those two?”
“It’s complicated. I’m not just saying that to say it, but it’s really complicated. Like, I don’t even know where to start.”
“From the beginning?”
He grimaced. It might be the only option at this rate.
“So,” he paused. “Do you believe in like, werewolves, vampires, and stuff like that?”
Aria made a face and it wasn’t the most promising look but he could tell that she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea.
“Are you trying to tell me all that supernatural stuff is real?”
“Not all of it. Just certain parts.”
Why was it so hard to explain this to her?
“Which part?”
“Um, the wolf part.”
“The werewolf part?”
“Yeah, that part.”
“Are you trying to say that werewolves are real?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She paused, as if to digest that information. “Continue.”
He complied. “It’s going to sound crazy, but I need you to stay with me here.”
Aria agreed.
“So . . . a long, long time ago, my people—” He saw her brows shot up, but he mustered the courage to continue. “Made a pact with the Goddess of the moon to fight off our enemies. We gained things like . . .”
“Superhuman strength and speed?”
“No, no, not naturally at least.”
“Oh, okay.”
