Alpha Aiden's Protection Program

Chapter 16: Alpha Idiot & The Silly Girl

"Aiden, I..." I trailed of quietly as I was at a lost for words.

What was I suppose to say?

Sorry didn't quite seem good enough. It would not justify why I didn't tell him. The capacity of sorry was too meager to hold the guilt that festered within me.

And maybe it was selfish of me to keep him it from him. But from the anguish in his eyes, maybe I did do the right thing but for the wrong reason.

"What is it?" His voice was strained as he stood still with the folder in his hand.

I took a tentative step closer as I realized that he hadn't read the contents of the file yet.

"It's my medical file," I said quietly and I saw a flame behind the blue of his eyes and my gaze dropped to the floor.

"I could see that, but why do you have one?"

"Because I-I...I'm..."

"Tate," He pleaded as his grip on the folder tightened.

I nodded at him as I felt the prickly pain in my chest awaken. It mockingly reminded me that it was the star of the situation as if I'd forgotten.

"Is it your chest?" He asked between clenched teeth before I could begin.

My eyes flashed up to meet his perceptive stare as I was startled with surprise. Had Dylan betrayed my trust and told him?

"You know?" I asked meekly.

He shook his head but his jaw stiffened, "No, but I'm guessing my assumption is correct? The way you always clutch your chest, it has to do with this?" He waved the file.

He'd noticed.

It was the wrong moment to feel it, but the knowledge that he'd been paying enough attention warmed me. Somehow, it made it much easier to tell him. Much more bearable to accept his reaction.

"Should we sit?" I gestured to the sofa with a nod of my head.

"No, I'd prefer to stand."

"Okay," I took a shaky breath as I looked away from him. "A few months ago there was an attack with rogues. They struck us when we least expected it and it turned pretty bloody pretty quickly. I was there along with three other wolves when nine of them jumped out of nowhere. My ego got the best of me and I went for the two big guys," I smirked at memory. I really thought I would have taken them out but they over-powered me. "I had two ribs and...and a punctured artery."

I heard his sharp intake of breath but I refused to look his way. If he dared to show me pity, I don't think I'd be able to survive it.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I prepared to reveal a pack secret to him. One that hadn't left our pack's territory since it came to be. But if I was going to tell him about this, I wasn't going to lie or withhold the truth.

"I was dying. I was as good as dead as I slipped into the arms of death. There was no turning back, no saving me. At least there shouldn't have been-"

A loud crushing sound stopped me mid sentence as I looked to where Aiden had thrown his desk lamp across the room. The yellow light was extinguished as pieces of glass was scattered along the marble floor. The shards refracted the light from the ceiling and casted a hundred sharp sparkles of light across the room in a beautifully ominous glow.

The haunted expression that shadowed Aiden's features was exactly what I worried about. If he took this as weakness. But the now broken lamp and glimmer of something else in his eyes had me perplexed.