Part 43

(POV - Aria)

For a moment that seemed to stretch out into eternity, no one moved.

Jaden sat deathly still in the driver's seat, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, and the only sign of life in him was the violent ticking in his jaw. Aria's fingers clawed into the seat, her shoulders hunched painfully against the impact that never came, but the tension in the car made it difficult for her to relax.

Marcus stood outside, his storm grey eyes as bright as lightning and piercing as they stared at her. Her heart thrashed wildly against her ribcage, and she was sure both Jaden and Marcus could hear it.

But she couldn't help it; her emotions were all over the place, scattered by the rollercoaster of highs and lows of the last few hours alone. The shock of having Jaden slam on brakes as Marcus' hulking figure dashed out of the woods towards them, the fear of returning home to an uncertain reaction from Aiden, and the sadness of having to leave Marcus' side on such a bad note, was all too much and she found herself glued to her chair, frozen stiff on pure instinct.

After a tense breath, a growl bubbled up into Jaden's throat, startling Aria out of her fright.

Jaden muttered under his breath finally, unlocking and shoving the driver's door open and huffing as he got out. Aria watched him stalk over to Marcus, his shoulders squared and the vein in his neck visible even in the dark and from her seat inside the car.

"What, respectfully, the fuck is wrong with you?" Jaden growled, getting far too close to Marcus' snarling snout for Aria's liking. "Your indecision is going to get someone killed, Marc, and I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be me. And I don't feel like dying for this."

Marcus' silhouette shimmered as he shifted back, his eyes still fixed on Aria through the window.

"Marc, come on, man. Talk to me!" Jaden seethed. "What the fuck are you thinking? You can't jump out into the fucking road like that! There could have been another car around or a fucking hitch-hiker could have seen you! Are you really going to force me to clean up the way those filthy parasites do when one of theirs is sighted by a human?"

But Marcus only huffed, obviously annoyed by Jaden's scolding. Aria would have cowered in the face of Jaden's wrath, but she supposed that being an Alpha had its perks.

One of them being that he didn't really have to fear anyone who couldn't challenge him.

Aria was grateful that it was late enough for the roads to be completely deserted, despite Jaden's fear that the opposite would have been true, but she still worried that a lone car might drive past and catch them out in the open, with Marcus standing in the middle of the road completely naked, his eyes still glowing like lightning.

Jaden gave up on getting an answer from his Alpha and stalked back to the car, almost ripping the door off its hinges and grumbling as he sat down. "Go talk to him, please, before I murder him for being an idiot."

"What?" she croaked, not fully understanding what he'd said to her despite having his voice in her ear.

"He's not here for me," Jaden deadpanned, still glaring at Marcus who stood motionless in front of the car, that preternatural stillness holding his body. "And he reeks of possessiveness, I can't take it."

Aria turned to steal a glance at Marcus, who had seemed to calm down in the few minutes since Jaden had gotten back into the car. But she could smell it on him, that dark, musky hint of possessiveness that turned his scent almost rich with it.

It was a scent she loved, for obvious reasons.

Feeling a lot more nervous than she should have, Aria took a steadying breath, her hands unsteady as they opened her door. She tried her hardest not to look at Marcus for too long, and focused on getting one foot in front of the other without her knees turning to rubber and sending her to the tar.

Her throat was dry by the time she reached him, and she kept her eyes fixed on his mud-caked feet.

"Did you forget something?" she asked timidly, her fingers anxiously fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie. He was quiet for so long that she was forced to look up at him, finding his wolf's eyes peering back at her.

He looked troubled, his face pinched in a way she hadn't seen on him yet. His lips were cracked and downturned, the frown between his dark brows deep with displeasure.

"Did you forget something, Marcus?" she asked again, her voice a little stronger this time. He swallowed harshly and nodded slowly, his lips parting to reply.

"I think I did," he murmured, his chin tilted down to look at her. He reached up so carefully, placed his hands on either side of her face and brought her mouth to his. And she hated the burst of tingles that erupted from the top of her head, hated how they tumbled down her spine and raised gooseflesh along her arms.

For a moment that was both too quick and spanned a lifetime, she melted into his kiss, his lips soft but urgent against hers, slotting together as though that was exactly what they'd been designed to do. A thousand memories of tender moments between nights heated by passion flashed against the inside of her eyelids, and she let them wash over her, yearning to feel the sense of right that she'd felt when she simply existed in the circle of his arms.

He coaxed her lips apart, his tongue teasing her cupid's bow, honey dripping from his kisses. She hummed into him, gladly losing her grip on reality and letting her fears and worries slip away. His hands only held her face and yet her body burned as if his hands were everywhere all at once. His touch was electric, his thumbs brushing over the flushed apples of her cheeks with so much care it made her chest constrict. Aria could have faded away into nothingness, her body dissolving under his touch until nothing felt real except him.

Echoes of the sweet words he'd murmured into her skin when the world had fallen away and only the two of them remained, his secret smiles he'd saved just for her. She wanted to stay that way forever, her soul and her wolf finally at ease, but she knew they couldn't go on this way without one of them getting hurt. She knew that she would probably be the one who ended up getting hurt, and after Aiden, she wasn't sure she could take another hit to her soul.

It was so hard to push him away, to fight the kiss that she wanted, but she did. She placed her palms flat against the warm, solid expanse of his broad chest and pushed as hard as she could, and he let her go, tempering the possessive growl that had crawled up his throat.

"We can't," she said, her voice shaky with emotion. "Marcus, we can't keep doing this. It's not going to work."

He didn't say anything, somehow sensing that she had more to say and waiting for her to find the words she needed to get it off her chest.

"We started off wrong," she insisted, fighting against the tears that had already begun to sting her eyes. "You made it very clear that we were strictly no strings attached, that we couldn't let emotions or feelings develop and get in the way. But I..."

She stopped, not sure if she should continue, because there would be no going back if she admitted the depth of the feelings that she hid in her heart.

Marcus only waited, his face expressionless but open. He was waiting for her, showing her how patient he really could be in the one moment that it mattered most. And she made her decision.

"I don't think we should let anything develop between us," she said. "It'll only get in the way of the agreement."

She glanced up at him, and he took her silence as an indication that he could speak. He blinked slowly, his wolf receding back into his mind, his eyes dimming.

"I disagree," he said simply, sounding so sure of his decision. "And I think it's time we throw the agreement out on its ass, don't you think?"

She stared up at him, wide-eyed and a little disbelieving.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked warily. "The agreement was your idea."

He nodded, running his palms down her arms and taking her hands in his.

"It was," he agreed. "And at the time, it was what I thought needed to happen to make sure neither of us got hurt. But now, I'm not interested in a no strings attached arrangement."

She swallowed around the dry lump in her throat, her fingers slipping into the spaces between his so easily, their hands slotting like puzzle pieces.

"I won't be able to stop myself from falling for you, Marcus" she said wearily, her shoulders sagging in defeat. There, it was out. She'd said the words that had lived inside her heart for the last few weeks.

She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable rejection, for the same agonizing pain to claw into her chest and render her immobile.

Maybe this time, it would finally kill her.