Chapter 37 Food For Nana
Aria's POV
I woke up the next morning feeling a bit stiff from the small bed, but the room was warm and I could hear the steady sound of Nana’s breathing from the other side of the curtains. I stayed under the covers for a few minutes while I listened to the sounds of the clubhouse waking up, because there were heavy boots thumping in the hallway and the distant roar of engines starting up in the courtyard.
I eventually got dressed in the same jeans I had worn yesterday, although they were still a bit stained with grease from the garage, and I stepped out into the hallway to find a way to get some breakfast for Nana.
I followed the smell of bacon and burnt toast until I reached a large kitchen area that looked more like a cafeteria, where several women were standing around a long wooden table. They all stopped talking and looked at me when I walked in, and I noticed they were all wearing leather jackets or denim vests with the Nightfang logo on them. These weren't the younger girls I had seen at the bar last night, because these women looked older and tougher, with gray hair and lines around their eyes that showed they had seen a lot of things.
"You must be the one Grayson brought in during the rainstorm," one of the women said, and she pointed toward a large pot of coffee on the counter while she wiped her hands on a stained apron. "I'm Martha, and I've been running this kitchen since Grayson was just a pup, so you don't need to look so nervous."
"I'm Aria, and I was just looking for something to take back to my grandmother," I told her, walking over to grab a tray because my stomach was starting to growl.
"The old lady can eat in here with us if she’s up for it, but if not, you can pile up a plate with some eggs and those biscuits over there," another woman added, who was sitting at the table and smoking a cigarette even though there was a no-smoking sign on the wall. "I'm Brenda, and I'm the one you talk to if you need extra blankets or if the guys are being too loud at night."
I started fixing a plate for Nana, but Brenda patted the seat next to her and looked at me with a curious expression that made me feel like I should stay and talk for a bit.
"Sit down for a minute, Aria, and tell us how a girl like you ended up in the middle of a pack war, because Grayson doesn't usually bring humans inside these walls unless it’s a life-or-death situation."
"I used to work for his brother-in-law, Jess, and things got complicated after he fired me," I explained, sitting down and taking a sip of the coffee which was so strong it made my eyes water. "Grayson says I'm in danger because of the Iron Fangs, so he brought us here to keep us safe until things get settled."
"He’s always been the protective type, ever since what happened with his first mate," Martha said, leaning against the counter while she flipped some pancakes.
"He had a mate?" I asked, and I felt a strange prickle of interest because he had never mentioned anyone else to me.
"Her name was Elena, and she was a sweet girl from a local pack, but things didn't end well for them," Brenda said, blowing a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling while she shook her head.
"They were supposed to have their bonding ceremony three years ago, but she died just two weeks before the wedding, and Grayson hasn't been the same since it happened."
"How did she die?" I asked, I leaned in a little closer because the room had suddenly gotten very quiet and the women looked uncomfortable.
"Nobody really knows for sure, and that’s the problem, because one morning she was fine and the next day they found her in her bed with her heart just stopped," Martha whispered, looking toward the door to make sure no men were listening.
"The doctors said it was a natural fluke, but everyone in the pack knows there was nothing natural about it, and some people think it was a curse or a message from an enemy who wanted to weaken the Hart family."
"He must have been devastated," I said, thinking about the cold way Grayson had treated me in his office and how he seemed so scared of getting close to anyone.
"He went dark for a long time, and he stopped shifting for almost a year because he blamed his own wolf for not being able to protect her," Brenda added, tapping her cigarette into an old glass ashtray. "That’s why he spends so much time in that building now, because he’s trying to pretend he’s just a businessman instead of a man who lost half of his soul."
"But if it was a curse, wouldn't he want to find out who did it?" I asked, because it seemed like Grayson wasn't the type of man to just let something go without a fight.
"He tried, but the trail went cold and the elders told him to leave it alone because digging into that kind of dark magic only brings more death," Martha said, setting a plate of pancakes in front of me.
"Now he just keeps everyone at arm's length, and he treats every woman like they’re made of glass, which is probably why he’s being so weird with you."
"He told me I was too innocent and that he didn't want to deal with the drama of me being a virgin," I told them, and Brenda let out a loud, bark-like laugh that made me jump.
"He’s a liar, honey, because he’s just terrified that if he touches you, the same thing will happen to you that happened to Elena," she said, leaning over to pat my arm. "He thinks he’s bad luck, and he’d rather break your heart himself than watch someone else take your life."
I sat there and ate my breakfast in silence, thinking about everything they had told me while the women went back to gossiping about the other pack members. I realized that Grayson wasn't just being a jerk for no reason, and every time he pushed me away, he was actually trying to save me from a past he couldn't outrun. I felt a sudden urge to find him and tell him that I wasn't afraid of his luck, but I knew that would only make him pull back even further.
"You'd better get that tray to your Nana before the eggs get cold," Martha reminded me, and I stood up and thanked them for the food and the talk.
As I walked back to my room, I felt like the clubhouse didn't look quite as scary as it did last night, because now I understood that all these tough people were just trying to hold onto each other in a world that was constantly trying to pull them apart.