Chapter 25

Darren

“Now watch this… see how the cream gets thicker when you mix it?”

“Wooow… That’s so cool!”

“It’s science!”

I wasn’t used to the apartment being so… full. Full of noise, full of people, full of laughter. It was a strange thing, to step inside and hear the sound of voices in the kitchen. To smell food being cooked by someone other than myself.

Aria was in the kitchen with Lucas, teaching him how to make pancakes. She had him standing on a little footstool, wearing an apron that was far too big for his small frame. There was pancake batter all over the counter, whipped cream coating practically every surface.

I hated messes. But I couldn’t find a reason to hate this one.

Werewolf parents become accustomed to their children’s emotional phases in their pup forms—a wagging tail, ears laid flat, little teeth bared. They become so used to reading those cues that when a pup shifts for the first time, it’s a little jarring.

Lucas wasn’t my biological son. But it was still just as jarring to see the pup I’d raised now standing on two legs instead of four, holding a whisk in his hand, flour dusted across his button nose.

But my eyes weren’t only on him; he wasn’t the only shocking thing in that kitchen.

Aria was a pretty girl for a human, there was no doubt about that. But she was gorgeous for a werewolf.

What little werewolf ancestry ran in her veins gave her the height of a werewolf woman. She was considered tall for humans, maybe even so much so that it was undesirable to some men who had low self esteem, but to me, she was the perfect height.

And her eyes… They looked so familiar, the brightest green I’d ever seen in a human’s features. I wished I could place where I’d seen them before; maybe they just reminded me of Sarah’s eyes when we were kids.

But Aria didn’t look like a kid, that was for sure. Standing there now, with her heels kicked off by the door, her slender legs wrapped in thick black tights, a pencil skirt straining across the swell of her hips, her white button-down partially undone to reveal a peek of cleavage…

Unbidden, an image came to mind as I watched her.

Clothes strewn across the floor. Her brown hair splayed out like a halo on the countertop around her. Whipped cream on the tip of her tongue as she…

“Lustful prick,” I thought bitterly to my wolf, turning away with a red face.

My wolf just howled in amusement. The dirty little images he’d slipped into my mind while I was distracted certainly weren’t the first since we’d realized she was my mate, but I wished they would be the last.

“You could, you know,” my wolf growled. “She wants you. I can feel it.”

I grit my teeth and walked into the bedroom, where I sat on the edge of the bed and tugged my shoes off. “She’s a human. We’re not going to consummate.”

“You’re just afraid that the bond will solidify and you won’t be able to reject her.”

“Precisely,” I replied. If two mates slept together, then their bond would only grow stronger. And she couldn’t remain my mate. I needed a werewolf Luna by my side if I was going to become the next Alpha King, not a human.

“She is a werewolf.”

“Part werewolf,” I thought to him. “And not nearly enough to count.”

My wolf didn’t have a retort for that. Any drop of human blood in one’s veins was enough to make people wary, let alone view someone as their leader. Even if Aria somehow had the capability to shift, she would still be seen as an outsider.

No, it was much better this way. And besides, our worlds were too different. She had friends here in the human world—it wasn’t as if she could tell them about our existence, but she also couldn’t go around forever trying to keep it hidden.

So it was better if we just cut things off.

Maybe even find a way to wipe her memory of us altogether. Although if there was a way to do that, I wasn’t sure what it would be or where to find it.

“Alpha?”

I looked up at the sound of Liam’s voice. He was standing in the doorway, his face solemn. I knew what he did—the sacrifice that Aria made for his sake. She’d been lying when she said that what had happened at the park was her fault. I could smell the lie on both of their scents.

“What?” I asked, making no effort to hide the distaste in my voice.

“I’m sorry.” Liam took a step forward. “I should have told her no when she asked if Lucas could eat that sugar. Or should have warned her, at the very least.”

“Yes, you should have.” I rose and planted my hands on my hips. “Why didn’t you?”

My Beta looked away, the tips of his ears red with shame. “I…” His throat bobbed. “I can’t come to terms with the fact that she’s human. I’m trying, but… it’s not easy. Deep down, I guess I wanted to see her mess up.”

“So you put my son in danger for the sake of pettiness?” I growled.

Liam quickly shook his head, his eyes meeting mine. “No, I swear I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he said. “I didn’t know it would get that bad—didn’t know it would go so far. I just thought that he might get a bit hyper, tell you about his day, and then she’d get a scolding.”

I grit my teeth, biting back the urge to call Liam a stupid bastard. I understood his distrust toward humans, truly. And if Sarah was telling the truth about Aria’s bullying, no matter how unlike Aria it seemed, then maybe Liam had a reason to distrust her.

But it didn’t negate what he did.

“Your duty, first and foremost, is to keep Lucas safe,” I bit out. “What happened today could have resulted in Lucas getting hit by a car, or discovered by humans—and then who knows what would have happened after that. I don’t care what hangups you have with Aria, but if you ever do anything to put my son in danger again… You’ll regret it.”

My Beta’s face paled, but he nodded. “I understand. It won’t happen again.”

My shoulders slumped slightly with relief, but I wasn’t finished. “Furthermore, Aria is your Luna for the time being, technically. Treat her with disrespect, and you treat the pack with disrespect. Understood?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

I sighed, softening my voice a bit. “You’ll be working unpaid overtime for the week as punishment.”

“Of course. I would expect nothing less,” Liam said.

I opened my mouth to say something else, but suddenly, Aria’s voice cut through the air. “Darren! Liam! It’s time for dinner!”

With a nod from me, Liam walked away to join Aria and Lucas at the dining table. When I stepped into the room a moment later, I was met with the sweet scent of pancakes, whipped cream, and fruit. Four plates were piled high with the stuff, and it made my mouth water immediately.

“We made some for you, too, Daddy!” Lucas exclaimed, grinning as he took his seat.

I frowned. “You know I don’t—”

My voice caught when I saw those puppy dog eyes. Not Lucas’s—I was used to those, had grown immune to them even in his wolf form—but Aria’s.

Those big, oddly familiar green eyes set something on fire inside of me. The way those long lashes swept over her cheekbones, the way her lower lip quivered ever so slightly…

“Damn you,” I thought to my wolf as I felt my muscles relent and propel me toward the table. “Damn you to Hell.”