Sienna shot up, her chair practically flying back against the wall.
“I will not sit at the same table as that woman. If you let her sit down, you’re validating everything she’s done to undermine your position in this pack. And everything she’s done to undermine ~me~.”
“Sienna…” I lifted my hands. “We haven’t had the chance to discuss—”
“It doesn’t sound like anything she said is ~up~ for discussion, Aiden. I’m not going to issue an apology, and I certainly have no intention of going through with the fertility ritual at the next full moon.”
Sienna rounded on my mother, who calmly locked eyes with her. “Who do you think you are?”
“Someone who’s looking out for the well-being of this pack, my dear.”
“If that’s what you truly cared about, you wouldn’t be trying to sabotage my relationship with your son. In case you forgot, I will always be mated to Aiden. So you can either accept that, or get the hell out of this pack house and get the hell out of our lives.”
“I’m only here because of the poor choices ~you~ continue to make. Perhaps ~I’m~ not the one who has trouble accepting the facts. Without this pack, you are nothing.”
The eyes of each councilmember flicked to me, imploring me to intervene before these two went for each other’s throats.
“Mother, why don’t you head back to the house. We can talk this over tonight as a family.”
“The paper is expecting Sienna to make a statement this afternoon, Addy.”
“Sienna and I will take care of it.”
“No need, dear, I already have something drafted.” She pulled a crisply folded piece of paper from the pocket of her short coat. “All she has to do is read it.”
“Thank you, you’ve done enough for one day, Mother. The council has other business we need to discuss.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, visibly displeased. “Well, I’ll just leave this here for you to look over. I think you’ll find it doesn’t require any alterations.”
She placed the paper on the table and turned to leave. Just a few more steps and she’d be out of my hair for a few hours while I did damage control with Sienna.
“On second thought,” she said, pausing at the door. “You may need to make some adjustments to account for Sienna’s rustic way of speaking. ~Ciao~, darling.”
The door closed with a graceful click of the latch, but the venom of her words clung to every surface in the chamber.
One look at my mate and I could tell things were going to get ugly.
“I need a moment alone with Sienna.”
“Of course,” Josh said, jumping to his feet. “I need to drive Michelle home anyway.”
“Yes, we’ll be in our offices,” added Nelson. “C’mon, Rhys.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Jocelyn asked, always the healer. But this wasn’t the time to bring a third party into our conflict.
“Yes, I’m sure. We’ll reconvene after lunch.”
Everyone filed out of the room in quick order—except for Sienna, who remained standing in front of her chair.
The flame in her eyes had abated, but the rest of her body was full of tension.
“Well?” She glanced down at the paper, then back to me, waiting to see if I would pick it up, waiting to see whose side I would take.
Both had ramifications. Both required sacrifices.
I weighed up my options, let out a long breath, and made my move.
I watched as Aiden reached for the paper that Charlotte had left on the table. The idea that he was even curious to read it made my blood boil.
Was he really choosing his mother over me? He did realize that we were mated for life, right? That Charlotte, with any luck, had only a few more years before she kicked the bucket?
When he picked it up, I took a step toward him and parted my lips, but before a single word could escape, he held up a finger and walked over to the wastebasket, letting the folded sheet drop in.
“This doesn’t mean that I’ve taken your side.”
I was stunned but mostly relieved. Maybe he wasn’t as inflexible as I thought. Still, the fact that I had doubts about which one of us he would side with made me furious. I needed to know where he really stood.
“What does it mean then?” I asked.
“Sienna, I understand where you’re coming from, but these articles haven’t done you any favors.”
“And neither have your parents,” I shot back.
“You let me handle them,” he said, coming into my space.
~Yeah, okay, Aiden. It’s not like they’ve been walking all over you or anything.~
It was so typical of him to think he could intimidate me this way. It was how he handled anyone else who questioned him—other than his parents, of course—but it didn’t work on me. I knew him for who he really was.
I had seen the compassion, the sweetness, underneath the tough alpha exterior. Which was why all this drama between us was killing me.
Maybe if I got him to see what I saw, he’d understand why I had been so hostile toward his mother.
“Aiden, they’re controlling you. Take a step back and think about all the things they’ve said and done since they got here.”
“Didn’t I just throw away my mother’s statement?” He threw up his hands in protest. “You think I liked it when my mother treated me like I was incompetent in front of my entire council?”
~Seriously?~ “That’s what you think was out of line? Not the whole promising-I-would-submit-to-you-at-the-next-full-moon thing?” Maybe I was wrong about there being hope he could see things from my perspective.
“I’m still waiting for you to propose a solution to that problem. Agreeing to reschedule it would save me a lot of headaches.”
“Getting your parents out of our hair would save ~us both~ a lot of headaches,” I said dryly. “I don’t understand why you’re letting them get away with all this.”
“At the end of the day, they’re still my parents, Sienna. I thought you of all people would understand that.”
Was he really calling me out for being a hypocrite?
It would be one thing if his parents were lovely people and I was being some crazy-jealous mate, but his relationship with Charlotte and Daniel was toxic. I was genuinely baffled that he couldn’t see that.
And Aiden was sorely mistaken if he thought his mother deserved a pass simply because she was family.
“Excuse me, I understand what it means to have a healthy relationship with your parents. One based on respect and empathy, not legacies and politics. This isn’t how healthy families treat each other, Aiden.”
Aiden folded his arms and stared down at his shoes, and I could tell my words had made him uncomfortable. Maybe I’d pushed him too far?
He hadn’t grown up in a loving home like I had, and despite the fact that I didn’t share a drop of blood with the rest of my family, I knew that they loved me in a way Aiden couldn’t fathom.
When we first mated, we were both overwhelmed with lust and passion, but as the weeks turned into months, it became more and more clear there was an emotional void in Aiden’s heart.
I’d done my best to fill it, showing him what it meant to have someone love him unconditionally, that he was valued and wanted for something other than being the alpha.
Maybe I hadn’t done a good enough job patching him up. Or maybe I had to face the fact that I could never replace the love that he sought from his parents.
The silence was starting to make ~me~ uncomfortable.
“Sienna…” Aiden looked up and sighed. “Ever since I started hanging around your parents and your sister, I’ve seen how a family is supposed to function. In a way, it feels like your parents adopted me too.
“They remind me of the family I used to have, the one before Aaron died. And now that my parents are here again, I want to make it work so badly. I want to have them back in my life.”
I could see the pain in his eyes as he struggled to open up. I knew this wasn’t easy for him.
Talking about breakups and crushes with the girls was one thing, but this was serious emotional trauma. I felt completely out of my depth.
“Aiden, they abandoned you,” I replied, deciding to be straightforward. “What makes you think you can get them to change now?”
“That first night, when you went to bed early, they told me they wanted to stay here for our children. I didn’t know what to say, and they assumed—correctly—that you weren’t as gung-ho on the idea as they thought you should be.
“They’ve been pressuring me to pressure you ever since.”
I shook my head. “Love isn’t conditional, Aiden. You shouldn’t need to promise your parents grandkids to earn their affection.”
“Why can’t you—” Aiden stopped short, gripping his chest. His breathing became heavy, and he wrenched his head to the side. “Damn it! It’s happening!”
My face went pale as terror overtook me.
What did he mean?
Was he having a heart attack?
“Aiden, ~what’s~ happening? Tell me!” I pleaded.
But before he could reply, I had my answer.