Free Web NovelChapter 83: Chapter 83
Aria’s POV
"Thank you for tonight, but it’s getting late," I said quietly, lifting Lana into my arms and shifting my body so I stood directly between her and Nathan.
I could feel his gaze like a physical weight on my back.
I didn’t let myself look at him again.
My spine stayed stiff, unbending, but the arm wrapped around my daughter trembled. I hoped he didn’t notice.
I hadn’t refused his help.
Part of it was panic, I had been drowning, terrified for Lana.
But the other part... the part I hated admitting even to myself... was that he is her father.
Even if he didn’t know.
Even if he could never know.
Even if I intended to guard that truth with my life.
Still, for one fleeting moment, I had selfishly wanted Lana to feel her father’s presence. Just once.
But the second their eyes met, something deep inside me fluttered violently. My wolf’s heartbeat tripped, stumbling into terror and instinct.
Their connection pulsed in the air so strongly causing a cold dread washed over me. I’d let them get too close.
"Aria, come back with me."
His voice struck like a whip.
I froze in my steps, every muscle in my body turning to stone. My wolf snarled in alarm, fur bristling, demanding distance and protection.
"Get out."
The words tore from my throat like ice. It was a command born from fear...
The room thickened instantly. The air grew heavy, suffocating.
Behind me, he didn’t move. My sharp ears caught the faint hesitation in his breath, the shift of his weight, the raw confusion radiating off him like heat.
Then finally, he left and the door clicked shut.
My knees weakened. My breathing turned rough and uneven. I sank into the wall, clutching Lana as though she might vanish if I loosened my grip.
What would I have done...
What could I have done...
if he had pushed? If he had insisted he wanted to stay? If he had asked questions I wasn’t prepared to answer?
A shiver knifed through me, cold and violent.
I carried Lana to the door and slid another lock into place with shaking fingers. My wolf huffed anxiously within me.
Nathan’s POV
I didn’t leave immediately,
I couldn’t.
For a long moment, I just stood there, outside Aria’s door, staring at the thin wooden barrier separating us. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless and unsettled, wanting to be with our mate.
Every second I’d spent near Aria tonight... I’d felt it.
The tension, the way her breath caught, the way every nerve in her body tightened the moment I moved too close.
She was afraid of me.
The realization slid under my ribs like a blade. My wolf recoiled, letting out a low, pained whine only I could hear.
Why?
Why was she terrified of me?
"Alpha Nathan?" Collins’ voice cut through my spiraling thoughts, cautious but insistent. He stepped closer, stealing a glance at the hotel door. "She’s staying here? Alone? With the child?"
My jaw tightened.
The Hemsworth estate had private doctors, the best medical facilities money could buy, a pack’s worth of security... and yet she chose this—a cheap hotel, thin walls, and danger at every corner.
Why?
"Let’s go back."
I forced the words out, my voice low and cold enough to frost glass.
Collins straightened immediately.
Seconds later, the car peeled away from the curb, engine humming through the empty night.
But I kept staring out the window until the hotel vanished behind buildings.
---
On my way back home, while still inside my car, my mind drifted back to her.
Aria.
She had stood by that window like a spectral figure, wrapped in nothing but a thin nightgown, looking like a single gust of wind might carry her away.
She should have been warm, she should have been safe, she should have been home, with me.
But she wasn’t.
Because she wouldn’t even look at me.
Collins cleared his throat. "Alpha Nathan, Alpha Carson’s surgery is complete. They say he’ll be fine, and we can resume the partnership discussion in two days."
Two days.
I’d have to return to that district, to the same streets of the hotel where Aria stayed.
I pressed my lips together.
Every image of her replayed in my mind, the way she clutched her little girl, the way she refused to meet my eyes, the way she trembled with fear every time I stepped closer.
Why was she so afraid of me?
It was she who had made the first mistake.
And what happened at Hemsworth Group the other day... I never meant for it to unfold like that.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, irritation rising.
"Change the address of the meeting," I ordered abruptly.
Collins blinked. "Sir?"
"Find me a hotel nearby. High floor."
There was a beat of stunned silence.
Then Collins replied, his voice sharp, "Understood". freēwebnovel.com
He wasn’t stupid.
He’d understood exactly what "nearby" and "high floor" meant.
I wanted a vantage point, I wanted to keep watch, I wanted to be close enough to protect her.
