Chapter 32

**AIDEN**

Yara referring to herself as *my* Luna turned my smirk into a grin before I heaved a sigh. “You’re right… Remember that drug I told you about?” I asked and it took her a moment, but she nodded.

“The hallucinogen going around in the werewolf community.”

“It’s called cosmic. And that guy that attacked you in the hallway,” I said and she nodded again, “was found dead in the woods today. He overdosed on it.”

Her eyes widened slightly with surprise. “Oh… Oh—” Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she let out a harsh breath and gently squeezed my hand which was still holding hers. “I’m sorry, Aiden. I don’t know what to say.”

“That sucks?” I offered, the corner of my mouth twitching, and she pressed her lips together. “It actually does. He and his friend shared the drug with some people in the pack before he died but those *people* are claiming they don’t have them, so I have to figure out a way to get them to surrender it in the morning without being called a tyrant.”

“In the morning?”

“Yes.” The council members and I had agreed that we need to get this *situation* under control before the people in possession of the drug decided to share it with their friends too and I chose tomorrow morning for the intervention because everyone with the drug will be in the pack then. “And I also have to let the Werewolf Committee know about this.”

That was infuriating because I didn’t want to be on their radar. The last time I had to deal with them directly was when Moon Valley went on trial for invading my pack and committing mass murder, and that had been an horrible experience. Now I had to deal with them again because of *this*.

“Fuck,” I muttered before Yara abruptly moved closer to me and wrapped her arms around me, making me take pause for a moment.

“I’m here, Aiden,” she said. “If there’s anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

Warmth spread through me and I hugged her back as hard as I could without hurting her. I was so glad that I’d found her.

She pulled away a little while later and I tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before remembering that something had been troubling her in the restaurant. Something she’d been about to tell me before Julian showed up.

“Hey. What did you want to tell me earlier? In the restaurant, before Julian showed up.”

“Oh…” She let out a harsh breath and gave me a dismissive wave. “It’s— It’s nothing important,” she muttered and I frowned. " I’ll tell you later.”

“Everything about you is important.”

She pursed her lips and I could practically hear the gears turning in her head before she turned and headed into the bedroom. I followed her. She walked over to her nightstand and opened the drawer to pull out a small white card which she handed to me, and I drew my brows together when I read what was written on it.

*Found you, Yara.* That was all it said.

“There was a room service trolley in the living room when I woke up,” she explained as I returned my gaze to hers. “In the hotel, that is. The note was in it.”

My heart slammed against my chest.

She didn’t need to say who she thought it was from because there was only one group of people after her, and the fact that they had been in my hotel and gotten *that* close to her made my blood boil while disappointment washed over me.

I promised to protect her… I promised to protect her but this still happened under my watch and in my own fucking hotel. Sure. they might have just paid someone to leave the note in the trolley and not have been in the hotel, but the fact that I’d failed her still stood. They could have hurt her for fuck’s sake.

“Yara, I’m so sorry,” I said while tightening my hands into fists, squeezing the note in the process. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Hey, no, it’s not your fault,” she replied in a rush, placing her hands on the side of my face as my heart threatened to beat out of my chest at the thought of her getting hurt. “And I’m okay. It might have been worse if you didn’t have those pack members protecting me and I’m really grateful for that, Aiden. Thank you.” Then her mouth collided with mine and she traced her tongue along the seam of my lips before plunging in and kissing me hard.

I groaned, holding her tight.

“You should go to bed,” she muttered against my lips when we finally ended it. “You have quite the morning tomorrow.” She was staring at me like she still wanted to kiss me and the corner of my mouth turned up while I wondered how far she’d let me take *it* if I began to kiss her again. That thought immediately left my mind the moment she stifled a yawn.

She was tired. She probably stayed up this late because she was waiting for me so I should leave her to rest, but I didn’t want to. Despite knowing I’d see her again tomorrow, I didn’t want to.

“Do you want me to stay till you fall asleep?”

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

The response was more than enough to elicit my own smile and I nodded. “Let me go change.”

It took me less than ten minutes to take a shower and put on something comfortable and when I got back to her room, she was in the bathroom. The crumpled note was still in the spot where I’d dropped it when she kissed me and I picked it up, rereading the words on it.

*Found you, Yara.* Anger thrummed through my veins and this time when I squeezed the note, it was intentional.

I was never going to let them get her.