The Awakening Aidan - By Abby Niles Page 0,6

here would be a much better place than slipping in front of him. She breathed deep.

“Aidan,” she said to the quiet confines of her car’s interior.

His name flowed from her tongue. Even whispered, the word dominated the silence as if she’d screamed it at the top of her lungs. Saying his name held so much power. How would it feel to have him looking at her when she spoke it aloud? Would his beast show itself in his eyes? What bestial color would dominate those green irises as the beast rose? And, God, why did she want to see it directed at her?

She hung her head. What had she done?

…

Aidan waited until Jaylin’s taillights faded into the trees before turning away from the window, wishing he could express his feelings for the doctor to his friend. Six months ago he would’ve without hesitation, but now he wasn’t sure how Liam would react.

He watched his friend suck the grease from the tips of his fingers. He’d devoured two of the pork chops while Aidan had been outside, and finished the third while he’d stood at the window. “Hungry much?”

“Starving.”

The one-word answer made Aidan run his hand over his head. It never used to be this hard to talk to Liam. Out of his two close buddies, Britton was the one he went to when he wanted to drown his sorrows, and Liam was the one he went to when he wanted to talk about his sorrows. Man, times had changed.

Aidan walked around the couch and sat down. “Liam.”

He hated the guarded expression that closed over his friend’s face.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to talk?”

“No.”

Sighing, Aidan leaned forward and clasped his hands between his knees. “I think Dr. Avgar will be good for you.”

“You’re hot for the doc.”

He blinked at the switch in conversation. Not sure how to respond to his comment, Aidan said, “She’s a very attractive woman.”

Liam snorted and shook his head. “It’s more than attraction. I saw the look on your face. You had the need, didn’t you?”

A pang hit Aidan in the chest. For just this moment it felt as if he had Liam back. His friend. “Yeah.”

The need had started the moment he’d opened the door to find her standing there. Knock to the gut was putting it lightly—it was more like the earth had shifted under his feet. His beast had sniffed the air, then howled, and it had taken everything in him not to kiss her right there and then.

“Do yourself a favor. Don’t give in to it.” Liam slapped his hands on his thighs and stood. “If you do, you’ll be fucked up for the rest of your life. Look at me.”

The bittersweet moment shattered as the stranger who was now Liam left the room. He’d never been negative before, had always been the glass-half-full sort of person. Then Ava had shown up and ruined him.

He knew Liam wished he’d never given in to the need and kissed Ava, which was the gateway to the Fewshon. Finally, Aidan understood why his friend hadn’t been able to resist the instinct. It was so powerful and consuming that he’d been able to completely overlook the fact that Jaylin represented everything he’d left behind.

With her dark hair twisted up into an immaculate French twist, the gray suit wrinkle-free and expensive, she’d been the epitome of business-world class. Despite her aloof, detached air, he’d never found another woman so alluring, so tempting.

He’d wanted to peel the suit off her, strip her of all her armor, and leave her vulnerable, freeing the real her—just as he’d freed the real him.

And she’d let him, even if she refused to admit it.

As she pretended to be unaffected by him, her body had betrayed her. After he’d intentionally slid his hand across hers at the door, the honeyed scent of her lust had teased his nose. He’d gotten another mouthwatering whiff when he’d said her name.

She might not like it, but Dr. Jaylin Avgar wanted him.

Liam walked back into the room, breaking into Aidan’s thoughts. He stalked the cabin: living room, kitchen, living room, hallway, living room, kitchen. Agitation made his movements jerky. Tension pulsed in his clenched jaw.

“Would you sit down? You’re making me tired just watching you.” He forced a laugh, hoping Liam found the humor in his words and calmed down.

“Go to your fucking room then.”

Aidan bit down hard, keeping his retort to himself. It would only put Liam in a fouler mood, and given what had just transpired this afternoon,