Chapter 85: EIGHTY-FIVE

ISABEL’S POV

I was getting good at pretending.

Pretending not to care when Drake brought another woman into his bed. Pretending I didn’t hear the sounds echoing through the hall. Pretending I wasn’t breaking slowly, day after day.

I had signed a contract. I knew the rules. Four years of lies, silence, and obedience.

But I didn’t know it would feel like this.

Like I was disappearing.

I sat down on the bed that was supposed to be ours, the same bed that he has desecrated with several women on it. I touched the smooth silky sheets, and closed my eyes for a second to enjoy the sweet comforting sound of silence that surrounded me.

I opened my eyes immediately I heard a soft knock on the door. I knew he wasn’t the one, so I opened the door to see who it was and…I saw Aiden standing outside, his face was swollen. There was a cut from his lip and there was blood coming from somewhere in his body. His shirt was soaked with blood and sweat.

‘Aiden!’ I called out, my voice sharp with panic. ‘What happened? Why are you bleeding?’ I asked at once.

He raised his head slowly, I could see the pain in his eyes ‘Isabel I…I’’

‘What happened?’ I asked again ‘Tell me who did this to you’ I demanded furiously.

‘Can we go to my room? I will tell you everything there’

I blinked and reached out to his face ‘Your face is…’

Aiden flinched slightly at my touch but didn’t pull away. ‘It’s nothing. Let’s just go I will tell everything when we get to my room’

I nodded quietly, and followed him to his room. My heart pounded and my ears rang. I couldn’t stop asking myself what happened to him. When we got to his room, he opened it and we entered.

He sat down and gestured that I do the same, but I refused. ‘Tell me what happened Aiden’ I demanded immediately.

He sniffed, and reached out for a first aid kit ‘It’s nothing serious Isabel, it’s just a big misunderstanding’ he said as he brought out some bandages, cotton wool and methylated spirit.

I took the items from him, and started cleaning his wounds ignoring his protests ‘This doesn’t look like a misunderstanding,’ I snapped, reaching up to gently wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. ‘This looks like someone nearly broke your jaw and it was intentional’

He smiled faintly. ‘Then he missed.’ He said trying to make a joke.

I stared at him, wide-eyed. ‘This isn’t funny Aiden, don’t try to make a joke right now. Who did this to you?’ I queried him angrily.

Then the thought came to me, there was only one monster in this pack right now ‘Drake did this to you didn’t he?’

A long pause.

That pause was all the answer I needed.

‘Why?’ My voice trembled now. ‘Why would he attack his own brother?’ It didn’t make sense to me, Drake shouldn’t be that heartless as to attack his one and only sibling.

He yelled ‘Because I told him to stop treating you like garbage!!’

I froze.

‘I saw you crying or rather Shirley saw you crying and she told me everything,’ he added, softer now. ‘I couldn’t bear it any longer, that bastard has no right to make you cry’

I scoffed, and rolled my eyes ‘So, you marched to his office to do what, fight for me?’

He looked at me surprised ‘Yes, I had to fight for you since no one else will’

‘I didn’t tell you to do that, and look you almost got yourself killed!!’ I exclaimed.

He looked down painfully ‘I don’t mind I only did what I thought was the right thing to do’

I sighed and held my head ‘You shouldn’t have gotten involved. I don’t like people fighting my battles for me’ I said slowly.

He held my hands ‘You don’t have to act strong all the time Isabel, there are people that actually care about your well-being here. I understand that you like fighting your battles, but sometimes it’s good to let someone else fight for you’

I pulled away from his grip ‘What if you were wrong? What if he wasn’t the one that made me cry?’

He scoffed ‘We both know he is responsible. He must have said or done something that triggered you to cry that bad’

‘Shirley is such a talkative’ I said.

‘I told you she likes you, you only have to give her time’

I shrugged and picked up the cotton wool to resume cleaning his wounds ‘Okay I admit Drake said something to me that hurt me, but couples fight always and they still make up’

He moved away from me, looking at me with such anger ‘Are you kidding me right now?’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘You are defending him?’ he pointed out angrily.

I shook my head ‘No I’m not’

‘You are and it is so disappointing to watch. How on earth are you defending a man that treats like you don’t matter? Why do you make excuses for a man that doesn’t even see you?’

‘You don’t know that’ I snapped. I had to defend him so that I don’t give everything away and tell him it’s a contract.

He was pissed even more ‘Is there something you are not telling me Isabel?’

I blinked ‘What do you mean?’

He swallowed ‘Did he force you into this mate of a thing because you have not actually told me how it happened.’

‘He didn’t force me Aiden, please stop thinking like that’

‘Then how do you want me to think? He doesn’t treat you well like he should and you want to assure me this whole mate stuff is real?’

I shrugged trying so hard to sound convincing ‘It is real Aiden, everything is real. He’s just having a hard time adjusting to new changes to me.’

He held my hands ‘Listen Isabel, I understand what you are saying. My brother is still grieving because he strongly believes no woman can love him like Maria did. You are a person too with feelings, so he shouldn’t treat you like you don’t fucking matter. He might not care about you, but I do care about you and I don’t want to see you hurt’

‘You care about me?,’ I asked quietly.

He didn’t deny it.

‘Am I not supposed to? You are my friend’ He finally said.

‘Is that why you went to fight him.’

His eyes burned into mine. ‘For you? I would do it again.’

My breath hitched. I didn’t know what to say. I had spent so long being invisible to everyone especially to Drake.  I was the Luna nobody respected. The wolfless Luna everyone whispered about behind closed doors.

But Aiden… he looked at me like I mattered. Like I was more than the contract. More than the cage.

‘Thank you, Aiden. Thank you for seeing me when no one else does’ I said, my voice breaking.

He gave my fingers a gentle squeeze and smiled, even though the bruise on his cheek made it hurt.