The Awakening Aidan - By Abby Niles Page 0,26

a human instead of bonding with me’ spiel and I’m not supposed to react when you tell my friend it’s possible for him to be happy with his unbonded mate. I’m not supposed to question it? I’m not a fucking saint, Jaylin. You’re my mate. We’re supposed to be together.”

She was shaking her head before he’d even finished speaking. “We are not meant for each other.”

He scoffed. “You called me a fool earlier, but I only see one fool standing in this room, and it’s not me.” He closed the distance between them. “You want to hear the reality of the situation, Jaylin? The real horror? If I die, you can still marry someone else, have his babies. I can’t take that from you. But you know what you’ve taken from me?”

“N-nothing,” she said, stepping back. “I-I’ve taken nothing.”

“Yes, you have. I’m ruined for anyone else. How the hell is that fair?”

She choked on a sob, tears filling her eyes. “I tried my best to stop it! I didn’t want this!”

“Do you think I do? But I don’t have a choice.” Fury made him spit out the words.

She backed up a step, tears spilling onto her cheeks. She brushed them away, her body stiffening with that determination he was beginning to hate. “You have a choice, Aidan. You just don’t see it. I do. You can think of me as selfish, I’ll accept that, but one day you’ll see that all I’m thinking about is you.” She rushed to the door. “Tell Liam to call my office and speak with Pam. I’ll refer him to a more objective therapist.”

Aidan clenched his fists at his side as she closed the door behind her. If she wanted to believe she was the martyr in all this, sacrificing everything to save him, she was in for a rude awakening. He wouldn’t allow her to rule him or his future. If or when he bonded to her would be his decision.

The way he dealt with Jaylin was about to change.

He’d no longer pursue her, begging for scraps, a chance, like some lovesick puppy. No, it was his turn to have control in this power play.

And he knew exactly how to do it.

But, first he needed to check on Liam. He walked down the hall and knocked on the door. When he didn’t hear a response, Aidan tried the knob. Thankful that it turned, he poked his head inside. “Liam?”

His friend didn’t turn at his name. Just continued to stare out the window. Was he having another episode?

Aidan stepped inside the room. “Liam—”

“She’s right, you know. The bonding isn’t the magnificent place our families told us about. I used to watch my parents as a kid. The way they almost moved in sync with each other, listened to the story of how they’d met, saw the worship in my father’s eyes as he looked at my mother, and I was fool enough to want it.” He turned from the window. “I took it when it was offered to me, just like I know you want to take it. But look at me, Aidan, do I look happy?”

A rhetorical question best left unanswered.

Liam stepped toward him. “She’s your mate.”

Aidan nodded.

“Then run. She’s made it perfectly clear she’ll never accept you. Don’t end up like me. I’m begging you.”

“I can’t. She’s my mate. I can no more give up on her than I can myself. Make no mistake, I intend to fight and win.”

If that meant bringing back Aidan O’Connell, feared tycoon, then she’d be his next corporate takeover.

…

Liam tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he stared at the modest house with white siding, searching for any sign that she was home.

Her presence in your life kept you anchored.

Those simple words, followed by the dark ugly warning of living life empty upon Ava’s death, had taken root in his mind and refused to leave.

Everyone died. And one day Ava would.

He cringed at the thought, an ache forming in his chest. He’d given up too easily, should’ve pushed harder. Not that he hadn’t tried to win her back. She’d just refused to have anything to do with him after he’d confided to her about what he was, which he’d royally screwed up in explaining. Pretty much told the woman he loved that he owned her and those marks meant she was his.

In hindsight, he couldn’t blame her complete freak-out afterward. But as he’d laid his heart open, wanting to ask her to share her life with