Have I opened a can of worms?
“How has he been acting?” Aidan asks as he takes a seat in the armchair. He crosses his legs and folds his hands gracefully in his lap. It’s as if he knows I’ve seen Jamie act out of character, but he’s waiting for me to say it.
My hand absentmindedly finds the bruise on my neck again. The physical reminder takes me back to how I felt the day it happened.
“He’s been really angry lately,” I admit. “Not at me, but…he seems to get enraged by anything that threatens me.” Aidan nods but waits for me to continue. “And he’s been, well…there’s this pull I keep feeling between us, but maybe it’s just me.”
“A pull?” Aidan clarifies.
“That’s what it feels like. There’s something drawing me to him more than usual. Ever since he first confronted Patrick and told him to never come near me again, I’ve had this deep need to be near him. I think he feels it too.” Aidan nods thoughtfully. “But this morning, he left so quickly, like he couldn’t get away fast enough.”
Aidan lifts his brows and waits for me to put together the pieces myself, but apparently I’m too dumb to do that. “Raegan,” he starts with a slightly annoyed tone, “do you know what tonight is?”
I don’t hesitate. “The full moon.” I blow out a noisy breath. “B-but I would know,” I sputter. “It happens every month. How could I miss something like that?”
We’re dancing around the subject, but I know we’re talking about the same thing.
“Have you ever spent this much consecutive time together before?”
I don’t answer.
Aidan doesn’t meet my eyes. He lowers his chin and lets out a long, low sigh of defeat. Whatever he’s been holding back, he’s choosing to let it go.
“I'm only telling you this because he should have told you himself, a long time ago,” he says. “I already know you’ve figured out what he is, but you need to know this too. I think you're his mate. I’m pretty sure he knows, but hasn't accepted it yet. And I think you know, too."
I shake my head honestly, but inwardly I’m still in denial. “Why now?” I demand, as if Aidan holds all the answers. “After all these years, why am I only seeing the signs now?”
“You said it started when Patrick threatened you,” he reiterates. “To me, it sounds like a fear for your safety is what triggered the bond to awaken within you both.”
I’m dumbfounded. I try my hardest to think back to every full moon we’ve spent together, but after going back just a few months in my head, I realize we haven’t. Either by happenstance or on purpose, Jamie and I have never been in the same room together during a full moon. Does that mean he’s been going to the woods to shift on his own?
“Do the others know about him?”
I feel like I’m prying into something I shouldn’t be, yet I feel like Aidan is the one to give me the answers I want when no one else can.
“They do,” he confirms.
“How long?”
“For as long as he’s lived in Shadow Hills, I believe.”
My stomach is in knots. This is huge. After all this time, I thought Jamie and I were closer than this—close enough that we could tell each other everything—but he kept this from me, the biggest secret of all.
I don’t have any more questions for Aidan. I decide I’ve heard enough.
I get up to leave but Aidan stops me.
“Wait.” He grabs my arm carefully, and I feel the cool touch of his fingers bringing goose bumps to my skin. It’s nowhere near the same feeling as when Jamie touches me. The shiver I feel from him is all desire, while Aidan’s cold touch makes me want to yank my arm away.
He pulls back and apologizes. “Are you going where I think you are?”
“If he needs to shift, I assume he’ll be with the others. So, yes. That’s exactly where I’m going.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to show up at a werewolf camp unannounced with a full moon approaching in less than twelve hours, Raegan.”
Aidan’s warning rushes out harshly, but I barely take it in.
“If you’re right about me being his mate, they can’t hurt me. Isn’t that how it works?”
