Health issues
1091 Words
I look away from Beta Mason and notice a woman gripping a statue at the bottom of the stairs. It’s clearly made to look like her. Blonde hair falls in soft waves around her face, and her green eyes lock onto Aria as she sways her hips toward Alpha Ronan.
I had noticed Aria’s reaction yesterday when I asked where Ronan’s mate was. Her entire body had gone stiff with fear. She was terrified of this woman, and I wanted to know why.
“Take her, Alpha Kael,” the blonde woman screeches. “She’ll be just as useful to you as a slave as she was to us.”
Her voice grates on my nerves. “Look at her, she’s about to faint.” The woman laughs.
“You don’t get to speak about her like that anymore,” I snap, glaring at her. “She is not your toy. She is not your slave. And Alpha Ronan, I suggest you keep your wife under control. I won’t tolerate much disrespect.”
“DISRESPECT?!” she shrieks, just as Aria collapses to the floor.
“If anyone is disrespectful, it’s that rat in the corner!” the woman snaps.
Who the hell is she calling a rat? Aero growls.
“You should read our agreement carefully,” I say coldly. “It seems your mate hasn’t told you everything.”
I wave Eric forward. He pulls out a thick stack of papers, the contract.
“All that… just for your help?” the woman gasps.
“I don’t sign foolish contracts,” I say, shoving the papers against Ronan’s chest. “Let’s move this to the office.”
Ronan leads the way, his mate clinging to him, Beta Mason close behind. My men follow them. I stay back with Aria.
“You’re welcome to join us,” I tell her. “After all, this deal involves you. Or you can wait in my car outside.”
“Are those my only choices?” she whispers, eyes still down.
“For now. Personally, I think joining us will annoy your brother’s mate and that alone makes it worth it.”
She keeps clutching her small bag. Up close, she looks even worse thin, pale, fragile. Even her heartbeat feels slow, like her body is struggling.
“So?” I ask gently. “What will it be?”
She glances between the door and the office. “The… office.”
“Good choice.”
I hold out my hand. She doesn’t take it, but she pushes herself up carefully. She stumbles slightly before steadying herself. As she walks ahead, I notice the hateful looks Ronan, Beta Mason, and the woman give her.
“Sit,” I murmur as I pass her, my hand brushing lightly against her lower back.
She freezes.
“SIT,” I repeat, louder.
“She doesn’t have that right here,” the blonde woman sneers.
“Sitting is not a privilege,” I growl. What else have they been doing to her?
Aero paces angrily in my mind.
The woman recoils, shocked that I spoke back to her.
“And I suggest,” I say, staring at Ronan, “that you tell your mate to keep quiet. Or I’ll do it for her.”
“You’re in my…” Ronan starts.
“And you want my help,” I cut in.
They’re furious, but silent. I point to an empty chair between Eric and Jenson. Aria finally sits.
“Let’s get this over with,” Ronan snaps. “The sooner she’s gone, the better.”
“You should really read the contract,” I say mildly.
“I agreed to let you take her as part of the deal,” Ronan mutters.
Eric swears under his breath.
They sign without reading and shove the contract back at me.
“Done,” Ronan says.
“Good. Get her out of my house!” his mate screeches.
Perfect. Now they can never touch her again.
I stand and hold out a hand. “Come on. Let’s leave before I lose my patience.”
Aria slips her warm fingers into mine. She clutches her bag tightly with her other hand as we walk out. She doesn’t look back not once.
At the open door, she stops. Her eyes widen at the sight of the car.
“Come,” I say.
Kael’s pov
She looks like a frightened deer as I take her measurements. She’s smaller than I expected far too thin. I can feel every sharp bone beneath my hands.
She flinches not from fear, but pain.
“I know you want to say something,” I tell her. “You don’t need permission anymore. Are you hurt?”
“No,” she answers quickly. Too quickly.
She shakes her head, a strand of dark hair slipping loose.
She’s been starved. Taught to protect herself.
“You have to talk to me,” I say firmly. “When I mark you, I’ll know what you feel.”
“Mark me?” Her eyes widen even more.
“Yes. I will mark you.”
She looks completely stunned.
I thought she already knew. That was the whole reason I chose her. My wolf, Aero, had been drawn to her instantly.
“You brought me here just to mark me?” she whispers, backing into the counter and wincing.
“If Ronan had bothered to read the contract, he’d know you’re my bride, not my slave. He’d also know that if anyone harms you again, this pack becomes yours. I didn’t buy you, Aria. You were always meant to be mine.”
“I’m a murderer,” she whispers. “Why would someone like you want me?”
Aero growls suddenly.
I notice blood soaking into her dress. “What is that? Are you injured?”
She covers it quickly. “It’s nothing. Just a cut.”
Nothing again.
“Show me.”
“It’s fine…..”
“It’s not a choice.”
Her heart races. “Can we go somewhere private?”
Aero’s voice murmurs: Office.
“This way,” I say.
In the office, the blinds fall shut. Aria slowly opens the buttons around the stain. The wound is long, deep, and infected.
“You need a doctor.”
“It heals… eventually.”
“Who did this?” I ask, an
ger burning. “Ronan?”
She looks down.
“Cassandra?” Still no answer.
“Beta Mason?”
“All three of them?”
Silence.
That tells me everything.
- Writer
