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“I refuse to allow it,” he bit out, pacing around the couch, aware of the other members of the Council watching him carefully. “She is not part of this Pack, Wolfe, and therefore not under your command. She is mine…”
“And you are under my command. ” Wolfe glanced at him, his gaze reflective. Aiden narrowed his eyes, watching the other man intently. He had never known Wolfe to issue an order he didn’t agree with. Never known the other man to ask of others what he would not do himself. But this, Aiden would not consider.
“She is my mate,” he snarled, his body hardening, tightening at the thought of her unclaimed status. “It is not for you to order me there, Wolfe. ”
Wolfe sighed. “Unfortunately you are right, Aiden. But it is not for you to choose for her. Charity will be given the choice. ”
“No…”
“Aiden. Our very survival depends on our ability to breed. Hope and Faith are in constant arousal now, their bodies no longer their own, their sexuality no longer theirs to control. If there is a way to stop this, then it is not something we can overlook,” Wolfe snapped in frustration. Aiden well understood his leader’s anger and concern. He glanced at his sister in frustration, seeing her compassion, her understanding as she watched him. But he also saw well the signs of her growing arousal once again. Both women were unable to be away from their mates for very long. The situation was breeding nothing but anger and more frustration.
“The blood work I’ve run up to this point supports Charity’s claims,” Dr. Armani said softly in the silence of the room. “The tests I would require would be done gently, Aiden, with all care given to your mate’s body and her mind. I don’t wish to harm her. But we must see the results of the drugs they used on her. It could help me, perhaps, to determine how to recreate the process in a gentler manner. ”
“It seems to me it would be smarter to find those damnedWinged bastards,” Aiden snarled. “They have the answers. ”
“Doesn’t matter. Charity’s body holds the key. We could do nothing without examining her to see the results of whatever information Keegan holds,” the doctor snapped out. “Stop being so damned possessive, Aiden. I’m not going to hurt her. ”
His head swung around as he fought a furious growl. The doctor was watching him as she would a recalcitrant child. The look didn’t set well with him.
“You are right. You will not hurt her, because there will be no tests,” he bit out.
“Aren’t you the same man who claimed this woman was not his mate? Nothing to him?” the doctor asked as she crossed her arms under her breasts, watching him mockingly. “What do you care what is done with her body? She is not a Breed, Aiden, and nothing to you. ”
“Do not play word games with me, Armani,” he snapped, infuriated that she would throw his own angry words back at him. “She has yet to heal from whatever hell they put her through. This has nothing to do with a mating and everything to do with a healing. I will not allow it. ”
“A healing will not occur, Aiden, until possibly, conception,” the doctor snapped back, her black eyes glittering with her own ire. “Do not presume to believe that, whatever those experiments were, the effects will merely wash away now that she is safe. You know better than this. ”
Aiden felt his stomach tighten with a sensation akin to fear. Conception? He clenched his fists as he fought to hold back the blistering curses raging through his mind. Dammit, Charity wasn’t strong enough to hold herself up right now, let alone to survive the unknown trials of a Breed birth. Only God knew what would result.
“Aiden. ”Wolfe came to his feet, his expression stoic,his gaze compassionate. “This is not any easier on our women, Hope and Faith, as well as those who will suffer through this when they mate. If Charity holds the answers, then we must find out what they are. ”
“Personally, I think you’re talking to the wrong person about this,” Hope spoke up then, her gaze leveled on Aiden. “Charity has conducted her own experiments, and she knows this won’t merely go away. I say we ask her. ”
“I say she’s too weak,” Aiden shook his head roughly. “Not now. Not until she has strengthened. ”
“Aiden, I just saw your woman not more than an hour ago,” Hope argued. “She is in such need her body trembles from it. I’ve never seen Faith, nor known myself, to suffer so excessively from the heat. It’s her pain, therefore it’s her choice. ”
“It will be a child as well, Hope, should she conceive,” he growled. “Have you forgotten so easily how familiar she was with your mother? How easily she betrayed me?”
“You mean how easily she saved your worthless hide. ” Faith stepped into the fray then. “I remember how nobly you were willing to give up your life on a whim, brother, and how she saved it. I do not see that as a betrayal. ”
“Aiden. ”Wolfe forestalled anything he would have said to his sister in the heat of anger. “Remember,
Charity is not the only one who will feel the effects of this arousal. Return to your mate, discuss this if you will, or take care of the needs tormenting you both first, whichever you deem more important. But unless Keegan is found in the next few days, then this discussion will be resolved. To all our satisfaction. ”
Aiden drew in a hard, controlling breath. Wolfe watched him without a hint of leniency in his expression. He would not change his mind if no other answer were found.
“Would you so willingly give over your woman, Wolfe?” he snarled viciously. Wolfe sighed wearily as he glanced at the woman in question. “To ease her torment, Aiden, I would do whatever is necessary,” he finally sighed softly. “If it meant my own life, I would give it to ease Hope’s way. ” He turned back to him slowly. “But that is my love for her. My understanding of her pain. From where,Aiden, does your reluctance stem?”
Aiden raised his head slowly, proudly. “From ownership, Wolfe. The bitch is mine. Not yours, not the Pack’s. Mine. Remember that before you come to my cabin claiming her in the name of your love for your mate. ”
He turned and stalked from the lead cabin, his boots thumping loudly, the door slamming with a satisfying thump behind him. The cool night air wrapped around him, embracing him with a sense of freedom, of wonder. And yet his soul felt as helplessly bound as it had been for six long, torturous years.
* * * * *
“What do you think?” Wolfe turned to Jacob, who had stayed silent, watchful as the confrontation arose with Aiden.
Wolfe felt torn, placed between his friend and the needs of Hope and Faith, as well as Charity. The scent of her need was nearly overpowering the last time he had been in Aiden’s cabin. Even unconscious her body had sought relief, in whatever form it could find. He watched Jacob frown consideringly before his lips twisted in a wry grin. “He’s a goner. ” He shrugged. “Give him long enough to sate himself the first time with her, and he’ll think more clearly then. ”
