37: One Small Kiss
TARA
Zora was finally asleep, so Aidan and I could leave her room and go over to his.
“Do I want to know how you’re so good with stuff like that?” Aidan asked, referring to Zora. “It was like you were a
professional doctor with the way you handled her panicking and her wounds.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I replied. “With Nadia. She’s very energetic for someone with skin as soft as hers.”
My smile was automatic, and it reached my eyes. I couldn’t sustain it for more than a few seconds though, as the impending doom drew nearer and nearer.
“Speaking of Nadia, I have to FaceTime her. We last saw this morning before she left for school, and she didn’t know that I wouldn’t be around till later.”
“That’s okay,” Aidan said. “Come on in and have some privacy.”
Aidan led the way to his suite, and on getting inside, my jaw dropped. I could swear that I needed a shovel to scoop myself off the floor.
Damn.
If I thought Aidan was doing well for himself before, I thought. differently now. The place looked and felt like heaven, and I
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could only wonder what Aidan’s life back at Attica Pack looked
like.
A life that was currently being challenged by a power–hungry alpha.
I tried to hide my amazement, but I could only do so much.
“You’re back in one piece,” someone said, making me jump in surprise. We weren’t alone. “I’m guessing that means it went well.”
The person speaking came into my view, and I didn’t recognize him. He looked handsome though, just a bit shorter than Aidan, and more on the muscular side.
Aidan responded. “If you consider the fact that I would be
trading my pack in a fight at midnight as well, then yes, Jace, it went splendidly.”
Jace?
Aidan introduced us before my confusion could multiply.
“Tara, this is my beta, Jace. Jace, Tara,”
Jace flashed me a dimpled smile as he stretched his hand for a handshake.
“Hello, ma’am. I’ve heard a’lot about you.”
He didn’t look like he was younger than me to be calling me. ma’am, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
“You have?”
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Aidan cut Jace off before he could speak. “She needs the room, Jace. Take your yapping somewhere more useful, like getting me intel on how Collin is planning to rig the challenge tonight, okay?”
With a small salute to Aidan and a curt nod to me, Jace exited the room.
“You both relate more like siblings than two people bound by ranks to me, so that means you should have known him for a long time. How come I don’t know him?”
Aidan responded with a smile. “I changed a lot of things when I became Alpha, and that included my father’s minions. Jace was young but loyal. He proved himself to me, and he hasn’t failed me once since then.”
At the mention of Aidan’s father, my spine stiffened. It had been years since I heard or spoke of anyone from Attica pack, and that included the people who tried to get rid of me.
Aidan mentioning his father now, just made me realize how much Aidan and I had not yet talked about.
Turning my back to him sharply, I pulled out my phone.
Dialing Jenna’s number, I watched the phone ring, and Nadia’s face popped up first.
“Hi, Mommy!”
My heart swelled as I took in her face, and I couldn’t believe that it had only been a few hours since we last saw each other.
“Hey, sweetheart, I missed you so much.”
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Nadia snorted. “You saw me this morning, Mom.”
Damn. They really did grow up fast.
“Well, I just wanted to check up on you and apologize for now coming to pick you up myself. I had something important to attend to.”
“Aunt Jenna said you went to help a friend, but I think it’s a date,” Nadia said energetically, giggling to herself.
A part of me wished that it was a date, instead of finding out that her father was about to risk his life to protect others.
Did I make a mistake by not telling Nadia about him earlier?
Goddess.
Have I been making a mistake all these while?
It suddenly became harder to speak or breathe, but I managed to find my voice.
“I love you, baby. I’ll be back soon, okay?” I sounded lost.
“Bye, Mom. I love you too.”
Nadia kissed the screen, causing me to laugh as tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.
Shoving my phone back into my bag, I turned around to find Aidan with two glasses of wine.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, taking one of them.
“You’re welcome.”
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After a bit of silence, I spoke.
“You can still take it back, you know?“.
Aidan shook his head, understanding exactly what I meant.
“Then can you tell me what made you think that accepting the challenge would be a good way to solve any of this?.”
Aidan gulped his drink before he spoke.
“Everything, Tara.”
“What do you mean by everything?” I asked, exasperated.
He responded. “You, Zora, every pack member here who has been mistreated by him, Nadia.” Aidan expelled a sharp breath. “The second time I met her, she was playing behind your diner. Collin showed up, and I’d never seen a child so shaken before. I could taste her fear of him.”
I gasped, taking a small step back.
Aidan closed the gap and took hold of my hand.
“I don’t want to know what it was about. I don’t want to know what happened, but I cannot stand back and let her grow up around somebody like that, talk more of him being the person who she’s meant to run to when she has a problem.”
I wouldn’t say I didn’t understand where Aidan was coming from, but this was too risky.
Aidan went on. “So you see that leaving is not an option. It stopped being an option when I laid eyes on you again. On her.”
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My voice was small. “Aidan. The risks involved in this…”
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“It warms my heart to see that all your worries are because you care about me, Tara,” Aidan said, running his thumb over the back of my hand.
“Aidan,” I breathed.
We both stood still, just savoring each other’s presence.
My eyes locked with his, and I immediately got sucked in.
I don’t know how it happened, but we were only inches apart now, and with the slightest movement, our lips would collide.
It was still there. After all this time, the undeniable tension between me and Aidan was still there.
With Aidan’s ragged breaths, I knew that he could feel it too.
And I kept asking myself.
If I stole one kiss, one small kiss, just to get a taste of his lips, would it change anything?
