Her Chosen Mate

Part 29

"No, shit, Aria! An Alpha outside a rut would beg for that kind of treatment and you offered it to him first? I'm surprised he didn't mate you on the spot."

"Don't be ridiculous," Aria laughed. She
felt a little too raw thinking about the way
Marcus had fixated on her throat, and
how close she'd gotten to begging him to
mark her and claim her as his. "We both
agreed that it was a strictly no strings
attached, that's why I left."

April rolled her eyes. "Right, that's why you left before he woke up? So you didn't have to say goodbye like normal, 'no strings attached' people do?"

Aria flushed in embarrassment, unable to admit that she'd wanted more, and that she'd hoped Marcus would have wanted more.

She didn't want to admit that she still thought about him when the nights were too long and too lonely.

"It would have been so awkward, April,"
she explained. "And you know I suck at
handling awkward situations. I would
have made a fool of myself and I really
just wanted his last memory of me to be a
good one."

"Oh, I'm sure all the memories he has of you are better than good, Aria," April teased. "I bet he likes to play them back in his mind when he's got a hand down his pants."

"You're insufferable," Aria chuckled. "I'm not that special, God. I just helped him through his rut. It's not like I blew his mind. We didn't even get to any of that. He was so wild that he refused to let go long enough for me to pee.”

"Exactly why he'd shove his hand down his pants any time he thinks of you, duh."

Aria rolled her eyes, smiling shyly. "He was the one who helped me get through my heat this time," she admitted.

April was about to respond when Aria froze, every muscle in her body locking up when a familiar scent caught her attention.

"Are you okay?" April asked, looking around, presumably, for Aiden.

"He's here," Aria whispered, eyes wide and disbelieving.

"Who, Aria?” April asked urgently.

"Marcus."