Chapter 13: Love in Return.
*Aaron*
“Sorry I just I couldn’t stand it anymore. Just give me five
minutes.”
She glared at me. “Stand what?” Jane asked sharply. I was really
surprised that her arms were tightly crossed and her shirt
wasn’t torn. She glared at me as if she were going to strangle me.
“What you’re going to do about it? Drag me into a closet and fix
my life?” she said, but I could see the hesitation in her eyes. I
guess it was difficult to hate someone when your bodies were
pressed tightly against each other.
I looked down at her. It would be so easy to just lean down and
kiss her. Make her yours, I heard my wolf say. Damn it. I couldn‘
t do that. She wasn’t mine to take after all.
In a bid to deescalate the situation, I smirked down at her. “Well,
that’s not such a bad idea.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, if you think about it, this is a multi–functional room.
We could take advantage of this space to solve some personal
Chapter 13: Love in Return.
crises.”
She rolled her eyes. “Wow Aaron, very original. If this is your
grand plan, you’ve lost it.”
“Yes, Jane I’ve lost it.” I could feel every bit of humor
disappearing from me. My claws were threatening to
materialize again. “How do you think I felt watching that horrid
scene with Xander and his other woman? I’ll tell you. I just
think you deserve better from Xander. I don’t like the way he
treats you.”
“And you think you’re the answer? You? The guy who jokes
about everything?”
“Humor always works. It worked last night, didn’t it? You called me and said you had a nightmare.” I shrugged.
She glared at me angrily, but I noticed that her lips twitched, as
if she was struggling to hold back her smile. “You are
ridiculous.”
“But you’re still here, trapped with me in the storeroom,” I said, taking another step closer. “What does this mean to you?”
“I’ve completely fallen to the bottom,” she whispered, crossing her arms even tighter. “Aaron, I don’t need you to solve any
problems for me. I just want to put an end to all this.”
Chapter 13 Love in Return.
“What on earth is this? Your marriage? Your life? Because in my
opinion, you are still striving for something.” I reached out my
hand and brushed my fingers across her arm. This time she
neither backed down nor pulled back.
“Stop,” she whispered, her eyes closed for a while. But there was
not a trace of firmness in the tone; only exhaustion.
“I can’t stop,” I said, moving closer and lowering my voice. “I can’t
stop because you deserve something better than this, Julie. I will
keep telling you until you believe it.”
“Xander is my husband, he is my mate” She said it like a
question, as if she needed me to convince her of the fact.
I decided to do the exact opposite. “Oh, is he? Then tell me… where is he right now? If he’s really yours, why the hell isn’t he
with you right now? Why is he off flirting with Mia in God.
knows where instead?”
She looked at me as if I’d struck her. “You’re doing an awful lot
of hurting for someone who wants me to be happy.”
“I’m trying to get you to see the truth.” I paused for a second
before adding, “I think you should get a divorce.”
“Are you crazy?” She yelled. That was the fifth time she’d
questioned my sanity today. “I can’t just divorce him.”
Chapter 13: Love in Retum.
“Why not?” I shot back.
“It’s not that simple.” She bit her lip in hesitation. “It’s not just
about me. Divorcing him would destabilize the Pack. Besides, I
have nothing to go back to… I gave everything up for Xander.”
You have me, my wolf said. But I couldn’t repeat the words to
her. She would turn tail and run. “What if… what if we stick to
our original plan? It could still work. We could pretend to be in a
romantic relationship.”
“Aaron…”
“No. Listen. We could get Xander to think you’ve moved on
from him, drive him a little crazy. Then you can regain some
control in your relationship.”
She shook her head. “Your involvement with Xander has
complicated everything. Let’s just leave it alone.”
I considered it for a second. “What if that’s exactly what we
need?”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” I began, but my voice trailed off as my gaze
dropped to her lips. They were tantalizingly close. All I had to do
was lean down and… I cleared my throat. My wolf was
Chapter 13 Love in Return..
straining, pushing me to claim her, but I couldn’t.
Damn it. Pull it together, Aaron.
“Xander really wants this partnership,” I continued. “And if you‘
re seen as my ‘lover‘, it gives you power. He’ll have no choice
but to listen to you, do whatever you say if he wants this
collaboration to survive.”
Jane gazed up at me innocently, completely unaware of what I’d
almost done. “But how can we pull that off? Xander isn’t easily
manipulated.”
She had a point. Xander might be unaware of Jane and I, but
that didn’t mean he wasn’t still the famous calculative Alpha of
Blackwood Pack.
“It’s still a way to save the marriage on your terms,” I insisted. “I
know you want your marriage back, but it’s better to have the
upper hand.”
Jane suddenly went quiet. She lowered her gaze for a moment,
and when she looked up at me, I saw something that made my
heart break. “I don’t just want to fix the marriage. I want
Xander back. I want to be loved.”
I sighed. When I looked into her eyes at that moment, I saw a
woman who just wanted to be loved. Really loved. I held her
Chapter 13: Love in Return
gaze for a second, two… I wasn’t sure why, or what I was trying
to convey to her. But the longer we stared at each other, the
more feelings began to arise.
Before I could think twice, I lifted a hand to her chin. “You
deserve to be truly loved.”
She let out the softest gasp, her lips parting slightly. I let my
thumb stray, moving to trace her bottom lip. Fuck. I was going
to do it, I was going to give into my primal urges.
I began leaning down slowly, searching her eyes for a reason to
stop. I didn’t see one.
“This is crazy. We shouldn’t be doing this”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop.”
And then…
The door swung open.
