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She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“He has no business talking to you again.”
“Aiden,” she said, hand lifting to take his, forcing him to unclench the fist at his side. “He’s my friend.”
The soothing way she ran her thumb over the top of his hand grounded him and allowed him to temper the aggression he felt. He couldn’t understand why she wanted to be Noah’s friend after everything, and he told her as much.
“Because things didn’t happen like you think.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain, but first let’s sit down.”
He let her lead him to her bed. When he sat down and scooted back against the wall, she sat perpendicular to him against her headboard, putting her phone on the nightstand beside her. Before she could cross her legs, he lifted them and draped them across his thighs. He massaged her bare feet, giving himself something to do to give himself a fighting chance at keeping his emotions settled.
“I meant to tell you we talked to Noah. You were already asleep when I got home from dinner with the girls, so I couldn’t tell you then. And then yesterday morning… well, with what I woke up to, I didn’t get the chance.”
Her face flushed pink, and he smirked in satisfaction, more of his tension deteriorating at the memory.
He loved knowing she enjoyed herself. Loved knowing what he did to her. He’d never felt a desire for the kinds of things they did, but with her… Charlotte unlocked a side of him he didn’t know existed. It freed him of all his worries to be like that with her. It felt like in those moments, he could let go, and she allowed him to control every aspect of the situation with complete and utter trust. He needed it more than he realized.
“I didn’t want to mention Noah when we went out with everyone, and then at dinner last night, because I wanted to talk to you first, but when I got back to the room after stopping by Riley’s room, I was so tired I didn’t get around to it.” She flicked her thumbnails against one another. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just really didn’t get the chance. I planned to tell you, though.” She looked up at him.
“I believe you.” He squeezed her foot. “I just don’t understand why you talked to him.”
She proceeded to detail how Noah reached out to her and told her about the man named James who directed them to get close to Charlotte to see how close she was to Blaire. How the other rogue who bit Charlotte was, in fact, her stalker. A man who lost his Korrena and went off the deep end upon seeing a redhead like his wife. She explained Noah’s erratic behavior was an attempt to get her to run, but he was suffering from sanguis manie, so he appeared unhinged instead.
By the time she finished, Aiden didn’t know what to think.
In most situations, he would have doubts, but with how Charlotte explained the way Riley tore into Noah, and the questions she had, he wasn’t sure he had much of an argument. Still, he would refrain from complete trust.
“So the headmistress is going to help him?”
“I talked to her yesterday before we went out with everyone. She told me that Noah is right. It’s treason if she keeps it quiet. But with my willingness to forgive him, and in exchange for information that would help them against the rogues, the clan might make a concession.”
He put his other hand on her thigh. He didn’t think Headmistress Velastra would risk herself like that for someone she didn’t know. She already put herself in a dangerous position by hiding the murder Aiden had committed.
“She said she would speak to Dom and contact the clan to see what’ll happen.” She stared at her nails. “I hope it’ll be sooner rather than later because from the way Noah talks, he’s in danger. If they’ll punish him by denying what he needs to live…”
Her eyes met Aiden’s, and he hated the sadness he saw there.
“Maybe it’s wrong of me to want him to be okay after what he did, but I’m not the type of person to let someone in trouble stay in that situation if I can help it. Even if they’ve wronged me, I can’t knowingly allow someone to suffer.”
“And that makes you a good person. I love that about you.”
She looked down at her knees.
“So what’s he said?” Aiden motioned to her phone on the nightstand.
She grabbed her phone and opened it. “He’s asking if the headmistress said anything and said that he’s not talked to James. He hasn’t contacted Noah.”
“It’s only been a couple days.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how often they talked on the phone. He’s never actually met the guy in person.”
His hand rested on her ankle as he studied her twisting a curl in her fingers while looking at her phone screen in concentration.
Guilt gnawed at him for his assumption of the worst. The lack of patience and knee-jerk anger wasn’t his default setting. He wasn’t that type of person. With the nightmare still fresh in his mind, the lack of sleep the night before, and the bond’s influence heightening his jealousy, his emotions were unstable.
