Chapter 138

Aria’s POV

Seeing Paul, Frank, and Harry walk through the office door, entering just behind Lucian made my stomach drop. I’d expected them to track me down, and knew there would be trouble when they did. But I had no idea it would be while Lucian was actually already in the room with us!

What could I do to spare myself from my secret coming out? I didn’t know, especially because the trio had already called my name. It was clear they were talking to me!

The only thing I could think to do in that moment was usher them outside.

“Cathy…” I said.

“I’ll watch the kids,” she promised, reading my mind.

“Please wait for me here, Lucian,” I told him as I passed him. “Gentleman, come into the hallway with me please.”

“Whatever you say, Aria,” Paul said brightly and I winced.

Once we were out in the hallway, with the door closed behind us, I turned on them. “What are you three doing here?”

“We know you are from Nightfall pack,” Harry said. “When you left – without saying goodbye – we worried we would never see you again.”

“I worried,” Frank said, ever the grumpy one. “These other two were just copying me.”

Paul rolled his eyes. “We were all worried. You left in such a rush. So we talked and decided that we couldn’t stand being without you…”

“I bought my plane ticket first,” Frank said. “These two stole my idea.”

“We all wanted to come,” Harry chimed in, glaring at Frank.

“Primarily, we wanted to make sure you were okay,” Paul said. “If you are being coerced in any way to be here, we want to put a stop to that.”

Frank cracked his knuckles. “We don’t mind busting a few heads.”

“We can help you escape,” Harry added.

“I’m not being coerced,” I assured them. “I’m here because my friend needed me. That’s all.”

“Oh,” Frank said, and almost seemed a bit disappointed, as if he had been looking forward to getting into a fight.

“You said you hated it here,” Harry said. “You said you were never coming back.”

I could see why they would worry. I had said those things, and when I’d said them, I had meant them. I’d made it very clear that Nightfall was in my past, and it was a past I wanted to move on from.

In a way, I supposed their presence here to rescue me was flattering, but it didn’t change anything between me and them. I hoped they knew that.

“You guys have to go back,” I told them.

“Can we at least call on you, Aria?” Harry asked, his eyes wide with hope.

Even as a friend, that didn’t seem possible. “I will be spending most of my time working on a cure for my friend.”

Immediately, they all started to smile, even Frank.

“That’s our Aria,” Paul said. “Always doing her best for her friends and her community.”

“I’m sure you’ll have a cure in no time!” Harry said.

“We believe in you,” Frank said, and reaching out, lightly placed his hand on my shoulder.

Lucian’s POV

I didn’t mean to stare, but curiosity got the better of me. I kept looking back at Dr. A and the trio of men, watching them through the glass panes of the door.

When I had thought Dr. A and Aria different people, the strange sort of jealousy I felt around Dr. A was easy to manage. Now that I was uncertain, that jealousy was running rampant.

I still didn’t understand how it was possible for Aria to change her scent and her hair color. But there had to be some kind of way. I couldn’t keep turning my back on the similarities. The coincidences were too much for me to continue to ignore.

Those men – who were they? I knew most of the members of my pack. They knew Dr. A well enough, so perhaps they were from Moonglow?

I remembered, years back, Ben had discovered information that Dr. A was tied to the name Aria. At the time, I had brushed it off as a coincidence. It could still be so now. Aria wasn’t an unpopular name. It could be that the love of my life and Dr. A just happened to share the same name.

But with everything else…

With the kids, with Cathy, the fact that I’d never seen the pair in the same room at the same time, even though they hinted that they were all friends…

One of the men placed his hand on Dr. A’s arm, and I saw red. Without thinking, I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. It screeched on its hinges with the force of my pull.

Dr. A and the men all turned to look at me.

“Remove your hand from her,” I growled, glaring at the offending man.

For a moment, he glared right back at me, as if in challenge. I could sense the anger in this man, the bubbling fury. He wanted to fight me.

To warn him of what he was dealing with, I straightened to my full height and started to call my wolf to the surface – not enough to outwardly shift, but enough to allow my Alpha scent to more prominently permeate in the air.

I wasn’t just some wolf. I was the Alpha King of this pack. My commands were to be obeyed. If he wanted to continue to challenge me, it would be at his own peril.

The man scented the air, and his eyes went wide. He hesitated for a moment, but then he removed his hand from Dr. A as I had demanded. Defeated, he lowered his head and took a step backwards, moving to stand behind his friends.

“Dr. A,” I said, still with a growl in my voice. “We should speak privately.”

Dr. A looked at me like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with me. Maybe I had messed up here. Perhaps the flirtations of these men had been welcomed. But when I thought that Dr. A might be my Aria, and when I saw these men try to touch her…

“If you don’t mind,” I added with clenched teeth. As Alpha King, it wasn’t in me to suggest rather than command, but if Dr. A was Aria, I had to be careful. If I didn’t move forward delicately, I could risk losing her.

“Very well,” Dr. A said. “If you gentlemen will excuse me.”

Dr. A lead me back into her office and then through it to her more private office. It was still cleaned out from her departure, with only a desk and a phone. There wasn’t even a desk chair now. Someone somewhere else in the building must have needed it.

“Lucian,” she said, when we were alone again. “You must have questions, but I swear I can explain.”

“I only have one question,” I said. The time for suggestions and assumptions was done. I was tired to beating around the bush. It was time to get answers once and for all.

“Ask,” Dr. A said.

“Once and for all, I’d like the truth,” I said. “Dr. A, are you Aria?”