Chapter 33

Chapter 33
AIDEN
This was not how tonight was supposed to go.
I heaved a sigh as I stepped into the house and shut the front door, leaning against it for a moment. After dropping Yara off, I’d gone to the hospital where Jason’s death ended up triggering an emergency council meeting. Rhys had managed to get the name of the friend Jason had gone to the vampire club—where he’d gotten the drugs from—with before Jason snuck out of the hospital, and we’d practically kicked the friend’s door down to get his stash.
Unfortunately, we found out they’d shared the drug with their friends—most of whom weren’t in the pack right now. The majority of the council members had been against me sending enforcers to find them tonight, so first thing in the morning, we were going to start a crackdown. I hoped those in possession of the drug would turn it in without problems, seeing as Jason had died from using it, but I knew better than to wish for things to happen so easily.
I also had to report Jason’s death to the Werewolf Committee. Fuck.
Pushing myself away from the door, I moved further into the house. All the lights were off and I wondered if Yara was asleep. I wanted—
“You’re back,” a voice announced, startling me, and I jerked away from the direction it had come from.
“Fucking hell,” I blurted out before my gaze landed on Vernon and his lips curved into a small frown. He was sitting on a couch in the living room, positioning himself in a way that made sure he saw anyone who walked in.
I still hadn’t gotten used to him being here—alive and back.
“Sorry,” he said, and I gave him a dismissive wave, taking a couple of steps into the living room.
“Why are you sitting in the dark?” Moonlight filtered in through the windows, illuminating his face, but it was still fairly dark in the room.
“Do you have anything regarding what I asked you for?” he asked, ignoring my question. This morning—after Yara left the both of us in my room—he told me he wanted to find the witch that trapped him. That had been the last thing I expected him to say, and when I asked why, he said he just wanted to.
“No. I was a bit busy,” I said and his frown deepened.
He’d given me a description of the witch, and I planned to pass it along to Damien because—just like the situation with the witches after Yara—the council and most of the pack members will be against me using pack resources to find a witch. But Damien hadn’t come to the hotel until tonight to let me know Jason was dead, so…
“I’ll get on it tomorrow. I’m sorry,” I added.
Vernon let out a harsh breath and got to his feet, his gaze sliding to the bags containing Yara’s clothes in my hand as he headed towards me. She’d forgotten them in the car.
“Do you still want to move out?”
He’d told me he didn’t want to stay in this house when I brought him here the night he was found in the woods, and he’d only come in after I told him we’d work on that as soon as possible. My mother had been cold to him when we were younger so him not wanting to stay here was no surprise, but I’d sent him a list of unoccupied apartments and houses in the pack he could pick from two days later, and he hadn’t gotten back to me yet.
I was only asking now because well… Yara was here. There’d be no problem if he no longer wanted to leave, but I just need to be sure.
He shrugged and walked past me, heading for the front door. “I’ll be back in the morning,” he said and I furrowed my brows.
“Where are you heading to?”
“Out.”
I set my mouth in a hard line. He was definitely heading to the place he’d been found in the forest which was the same place he’d met the witch who trapped him, and I felt like I should say something about it because—according to the sentinels—he’d been going there every night. But I didn’t know what to. I hadn’t known what to say to him ever since he came back, and that made me feel like the worst brother.
“See you in the morning,” I muttered while he shut the door. I stared at the door for a couple of seconds more before sighing and heading towards Yara’s room.
When I got to the door, I straightened my collar and ran my fingers through my hair before knocking. Seconds passed without a response, and I tilted my head to the side. Was she asleep?
“Coming!” she called out the next moment, and a smile immediately broke out on my face while I heard her moving around in the room. Right after I cleared my throat, she opened the door—still in the dress she’d worn for dinner—and her eyes lit up. “Aiden!”
I dropped the bags in my hand and immediately closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around her as I kissed her like a starving man—desperately and urgently. She didn’t hesitate to melt into me, completely surrendering to the kiss, and I groaned when she parted her lips to let me slide my tongue over hers.
Good God, I badly wanted to possess every inch of her right now.
She pulled back for a breath and I rested my forehead against hers, grinning again when she bit her bottom lip.
“I’m sorry… For ending the date early.”
“It’s okay,” she muttered just before the scent of blood caught my attention, and my brows snapped together. I immediately tracked the source which was a pretty big cut on her palm, and I scowled.
“Ah—I cut myself in the kitchen.”
“How?”
“I was just clumsy,” she said while I gently touched the edge of the wound. “It only hurts a bit.”
Thankfully, I’d gotten a first aid kit the day she moved in with me—she couldn’t heal as fast after all, and I didn’t want a pesky wound causing her discomfort—and Georgia had told me what the items in it were for. The cut on her palm would heal in a couple of minutes, but still…
“Let me go grab the first aid kit.”
I quickly headed to my room, grabbed it, and headed back to Yara. She had carried the bags I brought into the room and was now sitting on the bed. She smiled at me as I approached, sending warmth rushing through me.
“Please be more careful,” I said, lowering myself to my knees in front of her, and she trailed her fingers down the side of my face before cupping it.
“I will.”
I leaned into her touch for a moment and kissed the inside of her palm before getting to work on the injured one.
“What happened? What did Damien say in the restaurant?” she asked a couple of seconds later.
I set my mouth in a hard line. “A pack member—the one who… attacked you last week—died,” I replied, and her brows shot up. “Overdose.”
“On the same drug that made him attack me?”
“Yeah,” I answered and she frowned. ”I might be gone before you wake in the morning. I need to get the drugs from his friends and whoever else has it.”
She nodded before I remembered she’d been about to tell me something in the restaurant.
“You wanted to tell me something. Before Damien showed up.”
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, staring at me like she was contemplating something. Then she heaved a sigh, reached under one of the pillows on the bed, and pulled out a small white card which she handed to me the next moment.
Found you, Yara was all the note said, and my brows snapped together.
“There was a room service trolley in the living room when I woke up,” she said. “The note was in it.”
I didn’t need to think hard about what the note meant since there was only one group of people after her, and guilt—hot and heavy—washed over me. I’d promised to protect her and yet, someone who wanted to harm her got that close to her. In my hotel too.
What the fuck? What if they’d done something to her?
I crumpled the note and slid it into my pocket. “Yara, I’m so sorry.”
She tipped her head to the side. “It’s not your fault.”
“I should have—”
“It’s not your fault,” she repeated, pressing a finger to my lips, and I ground my jaw.
I was going to find who left the note. The men I’d told to watch her would know who brought the trolley to the suite, so I’d talk to them first thing in the morning and ask Damien to check surveillance footage. Whatever her parents did to offend the witches that were after her so badly was none of her business, and I was going to put an end to it.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and bringing a small smile to my face.
I tied the bandage I’d wrapped around her hand before raising it, intertwining my fingers with hers. “Till you fall asleep?”
“How about till morning?”
My smile widened. “Let me go change.”