Part 55

(POV - Aria)

For a long while, Aria couldn't find the words to respond.

There was just too much for her to think about, too many emotions waiting for their turn to be felt. Aiden had become a different person in the last few minutes and she had no idea how she was supposed to move on and act like everything was okay.

She just couldn't do it.

"Maybe that would have mattered three days ago," she ground out, anger hot in her cheeks. "Maybe I would have been ecstatic to hear that before you ruined my life. But none of that fucking matters now, Aiden."

"Aria," he pleaded, his eyes shining. "Please, just listen-"

"No," she snarled. "You made your choice when you picked Meredith. If you cared about me at all, you would have at least done me the courtesy of telling me that you were in love with someone else! But you didn't, you just walked right past me like I wasn't even there! And then-"

She broke off, her voice cracking with all the sorrow she'd carried with her for the last few months. She needed to get it out, she needed to say the words or else they'd live inside her forever, festering and poisoning everything else in her life.

"And then you kissed her in front of everyone else,” she whispered, the pain of saying it out loud carving deep. "And I was forced to watch my true mate flaunt his chosen mate for months while I tried to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do with my life. And like that wasn't bad enough, you used me, Aiden."

"I know," he said, his voice and words heavy with regret, and Aria didn't want to hear it.

"No, I don't think you have the faintest idea of what that did to me," she deadpanned. "You came to find me in the middle of the night, fucked me out in the open where anyone could have found us, and then you basically told me that I was nothing but a cocksleeve."

He growled then, his frustration becoming obvious. "I never said that."

"I used fewer words," she spat coldly. "You had an itch that needed scratching and even though I was the only one your wolf wanted, you made me feel worthless, like a quick fuck was all I was good for, and even then you'd never be back."

"I didn't mean it that way."

"Who the fuck cares how you meant it, Aiden?" she said through a colorless laugh. "That wasn't even the worst thing you did! No, you marked Meredith and yet almost sparked a war the same night because you couldn't stand the sight of me being happy. And the funny thing is that still wasn't the worst thing. Or did you forget the last few days when you all but chained me to your bed and marked me against my will?"

He was stunned into silence, and Aria took the brief moment of silence to revel in the catharsis of finally being able to speak the hurt aloud, of being able to finally tell him how much he had hurt her.

It didn't take away the pain. In fact, she would argue that bringing those emotions to the surface had reopened wounds that she had worked hard to close up. Perhaps this time she might be able to heal properly.

"So I'll ask you again, Aiden," she said, emotionally and mentally drained by everything that had transpired in the last week. "What is it that you want from me? And why are you here when Meredith is the one you chose over me?"

Aiden chewed on the inside of his cheek, and obviously had something to say. So Aria waited until he spoke, and she would have waited all day, much to her own displeasure, because an unfamiliar sense of longing stretched out between them, using the bond as a pathway.

"I ended things with Meredith," he admitted quietly. "The night you left with him."

Shock jolted through her sore body at his admission. "Why?"

Why indeed. He had marked Meredith on the night of his banquet, and if what he was saying was true, then he'd also broken things off with her just a few hours later. Aria knew what Meredith must have felt, from the pain of a severed bond to the shame and embarrassment of being rejected and sent away. Distantly, she wondered where Meredith was and what she was doing, how she must have felt while Aiden spent his rut with Aria instead of her.

"I realized, as I watched Marcus' Beta take you away, that I had made a huge mistake. I thought I'd never be able to love anyone the way I loved Meredith. But I was laughably wrong."

Aria's brow creased, her instincts telling her not to accept anything he said because he could so easily change his mind again and go running back to Meredith. He probably sensed her hesitation because he sighed.

"I know I never gave you a reason," he murmured, glancing down yet again at the mark on Aria's neck. "But please trust me."

"You said it yourself," Aria said, her exhaustion becoming more and more evident the longer they spoke. Tears still clung to her lashes and her voice was thick with emotion, but she could feel that very familiar precipice of numbness getting closer and closer. Soon, her mind would simply stop letting her feel, and for the first time, she yearned for that brief sense of freedom. "You never gave me a reason to trust you. And you still haven't."

He nodded absently, his eyes turning hard.

"From the moment I came back and saw you standing outside the arena," he said. "The moment I realized exactly who you were, I've been fighting my own instincts. Meredith and I had been together for years before I'd even met you, and we'd always just assumed that we would turn out to be true mates as well. But that obviously didn't happen."

Aria swallowed around the lump in her throat, trying to push down the pleas threatening to claw their way out.

"When I realized that you were my true mate, I was scared. For five years, all I'd had to think about was getting strong enough to defeat my father for his title, something I never wanted in the first place. There were no other variables that I'd had to worry about. Meredith was supposed to be a sure thing. And when I saw you... when my wolf recognized you and demanded I claim you immediately, I ran. I didn't know how to deal with it, not when I was so laser-focused on the fight. And when it ended, Meredith was the first one I saw, and I remembered all the promises we'd made, all the plans we had, and I chose her."

He reached over and took the hand that wasn't clutching her phone to her chest in his, leaning forward slightly.

"But I chose wrong, Aria," he said, and it was probably the most sincere thing he'd ever said to her. "And I need you to take me back, to give me another chance as your mate so we can start over and do this right. Please."

Aria stared and stared, at war within herself over the instinctual yearning she felt for Aiden through the bond and his genuine sincerity, and the part of her that was ready to fight tooth and nail to seek solace in Marcus once more.

"I don't know, Aiden," she whispered, overwhelmed and suddenly scared of the two options that lay before her, terrified that she might choose wrong. "I need time to-"

Her phone vibrated in her hand, making her jump as she fumbled to answer it once she read the caller ID.

"Marcus?" she breathed, his name tasting like sweet relief and summer rain on her tongue. Every part of her body went loose at the sound of his voice.

"Darling," he growled, sending shivers cartwheeling down her spine and settling her wolf with a single word. God, she wanted nothing more than to bury her face in his chest and drown in his scent. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to call me at all."

And suddenly the reality of the last three days had fresh tears springing to her eyes, her words cut in half by hiccups.

"I'm s- I'm so sorry, Marc," she sobbed, holding onto her phone with both hands like it was her lifeline. In a way, it was. She kept her eyes on Aiden, so terrified of what he might do. He'd gone eerily still, his pupils tiny dots in his dark eyes, rage souring his scent.

"What did he do?" Marcus asked, his voice suddenly deadly quiet, no doubt trying to stay as calm as possible while he figured out what had happened. It had always fascinated her, his innate ability to keep things in perspective, even when he was falling to pieces on the inside. He spoke again, his voice patient, worried, furious. "Aria, what's going on, did he hurt you?"

She whimpered, not knowing how she was supposed to explain what Aiden had done to her over the last three days, and so scared that Marcus would tell her he didn't want her anymore.

But she didn't get the chance to explain. Aiden tore the phone from her hands, looking murderous. "Aiden, no, wait!"

"If you know what's good for you," Aiden snarled, ignoring Aria's desperate protests. "You'll back off of my mate."