When the door to the garage opened, Aiden came in wearing an expression much different than the warm, playful one he’d sported this morning.
It was an hour before we had to be at the restaurant, but I’d come home earlier and was waiting for him in the kitchen, hoping for a chance to reconnect before being inundated with all things baby.
He looked me over and raised his eyebrows. “Did you paint anything you liked?”
“How did you—” I glanced down and saw the small patches of dried paint on my pants, then shook my head.
“Look, Aiden, I know we said we’d talk later. But it’s been a rough day for both of us. Can we just focus on getting through this evening first?”
He frowned. “I don’t think I’m the one that will be an issue for. I actually think the idea of having a baby is a beautiful thing.”
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “I never said it wasn’t. Or that I didn’t want a family. Clearly you haven’t been listening to anything I’ve been saying.”
“Being my mate means that our family isn’t just you and me; it’s the whole pack.”
“That’s funny…,” I snapped, completely over taking second place to the pack and its traditions.
“Especially coming from a man who doesn’t keep in touch with his own parents. How long has it been since they sailed off into the sunset? Ten years? They didn’t even come to our mating ceremony.”
“That’s complicated, Sienna.”
“And this isn’t?”
“I’m not planning to make the same mistakes they did.” He paused and rubbed his face. “If this is how you’re going to be, I don’t think I should go tonight. You can tell them I got busy with work.”
I noticed that my hands were clenched and my nails were digging into my palms. I took a deep breath and relaxed them.
“I’m not going to do that,” I said, “because despite what you seem to think, I care about being there for family. And you’re going to be my future niece’s moon father, so you need to be there too.”
It suddenly occurred to me that Aiden’s poor relationship with his family might be the reason he was so eager to start his own. And why he was focused on following tradition for the good of the pack.
After all, they were the closest thing to a family he’d had until I came along.
I met his eyes. “The pack might be my family now, but it goes both ways. Selene is your family now too.”
Maybe tonight would be good for him. He could see how a healthy family functioned together.
I just hoped that Selene and my mother weren’t so baby crazy that they took Aiden’s side when the topic came up, which I knew it would.
He nodded curtly, then the two of us went to the bedroom and changed in silence. A stark contrast from our lighthearted romp this morning.
So much for reconnecting.
I couldn’t help but sneak a look, though, as he pulled his slacks up over his ripped thighs and tight, muscular ass. I may have been mad at him, but he was still my mate, and this sudden distance was killing me.
Every part of me ached for his touch, fantasized about the taste of his lips.
I didn’t know what I was going to do when the haze hit and turned us both into shameless, sex-crazed animals. Literally. Last year my sex would practically explode whenever Aiden so much as glanced at me.
And he hadn’t even been my mate yet.
“Are you going to stare at me all night, or are you going to finish getting ready?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, startled out of my daydream—and still a little pissed off. “I was making sure your outfit looked nice.”
“So now I’m a bad son ~and~ I don’t dress well?”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop being mean. You know that’s not what I meant.”
He began fixing his tie. “Hey, Sienna?”
“What?” I shot back, waiting for his next snarky remark.
“You look gorgeous.”
As much as I tried, I couldn’t stop myself from blushing. God, he could be such a bastard, but I loved him for it.
“Hurry up, we’re going to be late,” I said, grabbing my coat. “I’ll see you in the car.”
***
The shower was at a fun Thai place in the city that Selene and Jeremy allegedly went to the night they conceived my soon-to-be niece.
A fact that my sister made sure to tell me when making plans for tonight.
She was always giving me too much information, probably because she knew how uncomfortable it made me hearing about her love life. Selene was a typical older sibling, blood-related or not.
Aiden had an older sibling as well. A brother, Aaron. But he’d died eleven years ago after his mate was killed in a work accident.
That was the power—and the downside—of the mating bond. If one of the pair died, the other slowly followed. One heart could not beat without its partner.
Not long after that, Aiden had stopped talking to his parents.
From what he’d told me, they took Aaron’s death hard and went down a rabbit hole of travel and extravagance to distract themselves.
To be honest, I didn’t mind not having them around. Because if they were the reason Aiden felt compelled to follow every single pack tradition, who knew what else they could manipulate him into doing?
Outside the car, streetlamps flashed by and the lights of the city cut through the night like clusters of fireflies frozen in geometric prisons.
I turned to look at Aiden.
His freshly shaven face flickered in and out of the shadows as we tore down the street, and I was overcome with the urge to touch him, to bridge the distance between us.
I slid my hand over his as it rested on the gear shift.
He didn’t respond, and I immediately felt foolish and started to pull it away.
“Leave it,” he said softly, relaxing his hand and letting my fingers fall between his.
***
I heard my mother before I saw her; her laugh was instantly recognizable and carried for at least a quarter mile.
She and Selene were certainly more extroverted than I was, but I suppose that made sense, given that Selene was her biological daughter.
It was small things like that that made me hesitant to have my own children.
What might I be passing on to my pups? I needed to be sure.
“Sienna! Oh, you look so gorgeous!” my mother shouted as we entered the banquet room. She hurried over, wineglass in hand. “Aiden, you cleaned up nice, per usual.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “I do it all for you, Melissa.”
“Easy there,” my father said, coming over and giving Aiden a hug. “I may be human, but I can still sense when someone’s moving in on my mate.”
“How are you, Robert? Looking forward to being a grandfather?”
“Yes, but not as much as Melissa is looking forward to being a grandmother. She’s already turned Selene’s old room into a nursery, and now she’s babyproofing the whole house.”
“Oh, stop,” my mom replied, smacking my dad on the arm. “You make me sound like a crazy person. I like to plan ahead, that’s all. Speaking of which, what’s the latest on the baby front with—”
“Melissa.” My dad grabbed her by the arm. “Why don’t you come help me with the gifts? Let her say hello to Selene.”
“Oh all right. We’ll continue this later,” she said, taking another sip of wine.
My dad gave me a knowing look, and I smiled gratefully then mouthed “thank you.” He always had a weird way of knowing how I felt, even when I hadn’t said anything.
“Sister!” Selene approached, her big belly leading the way. She was positively glowing. “I’m so glad you’re here. Sorry about Mom. I wasn’t keeping track of how many glasses she’s had.”
“It’s okay,” I said, laughing. “Let her enjoy the evening.”
“Well, she can do it all again when you have yours. Whenever that may be.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the clarification.”
The table conversation was obviously all about babies. Fortunately, the few times it started to stray toward me, Selene was astute enough to butt in.
But at least all the baby talk spared me from being asked about the newspaper article.
Though if Aiden hadn’t been sitting next to me, someone probably would have brought it up anyway.
Wolves gossiped just as much as humans, but it was essentially a death wish to gab about the alpha’s mate right in front of him.
And despite everything going on between us, Aiden was his usual charming self. I appreciated the effort he always took to make sure these events were about my family, never overpowered by his celebrity.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Jeremy announced, getting to his feet. “To my lovely wife, Selene, the soon-to-be mother of our beautiful baby girl. I love you, darling, and I can’t wait to raise this special little pup with you.”
“Hear, hear!” called an unfamiliar voice, and I turned to see a middle-aged man and woman standing in the doorway.
She had wavy black hair that came to her shoulders and wore red, pleated culottes and a loose navy top. He was strikingly large and sported a plaid blazer with an obnoxious lavender ascot.
There was something about his face that looked familiar, but the reason why escaped me.
“What are ~they~ doing here?” I heard Aiden say.
I turned to my mate. “You know them?”
“Yes,” he replied, balling up his napkin.
“They’re my parents.”