I felt so weak that I just laid over him and let the excess cum spurt in his ass. It paid to our advantage that my parents were out of town for the annual ceremony of the Circle. Father would be hosting the event while Mother would serve as the inspirational speaker. I couldn’t be bothered going along. Maybe because I sensed Aiden was coming…

Tilting my head toward the sky, sunset was at its peak. I didn’t know we’d fallen asleep. I stretched my back and pulled my arms up. Aiden moaned slightly. Only then did I realize I was still inside him. As I pulled out, he arched his ass back toward me. I grabbed his waist and gently pulled out of him.

“Does it still hurt?”

He laid on his back and faced me. “Yeah. It feels like my anus has been stretched.”

I laughed. “It has!” I snapped, grinning at him. The way his eyelashes flickered and his eyes shimmered with innocence made me want to hug him and make him feel secured and protected. I could only imagine the agony he was going through right now. His family should be a protective fortress, but they served as his biggest stumbling block.

He grinned and buried his face on my chest. He sniffed my armpits. It tickled me, and I liked it. He made me feel so special that I desired to do the same. But with his situation right now, even my parents would find it very difficult to help him out. His father was a tough shell to crack.

“I shouldn’t have come here…”

All of a sudden, my smile turned into a grimace. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer. “As long as you’re with me, no one can harm you. I’m going to do everything I can to protect you. I’m prepared to risk my life.”

“No!” He pushed me back and placed his hands on my jaws. “That’s one thing I’ll never let you do.” He swallowed, and then pulled my face closer to his. “Promise me, you’ll stay alive no matter what happens.”

I couldn’t. I couldn’t promise something I knew was impossible to keep. So I kept quiet and fixed my eyes on the ground.

He shook my head. “Promise me!” he cried out, tears streaming down his eyes. “Promise me that you’ll protect yourself for me.”

Sorry, Aiden, but I couldn’t promise such thing. But for now…just now…for the sake of your conscience, I would lie and pretend I could keep such thing. I nodded and lowered my head down with a heavy sigh.

Again, he shook me to the point that my brain would come out of my skull. Man, he was strong! “Say it!”

“Alright, alright…” I said. “I promise.”

He sighed and rested his head on my chest as he caressed my arms. “I would never forgive myself if something happened to you, Tom.”

I laid my chin on his head and secured him with my arms wrapped around his waist. “Nothing will happen to me as long as you’re around. Swear to me that you’ll never leave my side no matter what happens.”

“I will for as long as I can.”

* * *

I took Aiden to the shower to unwind and have that quality time together. Scrubbing his back with a loofa, I nibbled on his ears and ran my other hand on his legs. The lavender scent of the soap extracted out of a real lavender plant cleared my blocked nose, eased my mind and helped my breathing.

Slumped from behind, my legs were crossed over to his. He scrubbed them with his hands. Every stroke turned me on. My manhood was hard against his back. He didn’t need to speak a word for me to know what he was thinking… Deep inside, I knew he was troubled by whatever he’d done. A part of me wanted to ask why he was here when he was supposed to be in their pack.

Something didn’t feel right. I could sense it from the way he moved. His silence and set back behavior screamed of his agony.

Aiden changed position so that he could face me. “You must be wondering why I’m here,” he said, eyes sad and hollowed with emotion.

I shook my head, not wanting him to worry about what I thought. “No, not at all. I’m actually happy that you’re here…with me.”

He sighed.

Before he could speak any further, I cut him off for the sake of his peace of mind. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I completely understand.”

“I ran away, Tom,” he said, tears trickled down his cheeks. “I ran away from my Alpha.”

His words struck me out of my daze. “Your what?”

“Darren Bython has agreed to purchase me.”

“Who the fuck is he!” My nerves rattled in frustration. I’d never heard such name, and whoever he was, he could never buy Aiden at any price. Fuck him!

“He’s the leader of the Thonton pack. He is well acquainted with my father. I left while they were discussing the price…” he sighed, closed his eyes, and lowered his head.

I wanted to scream and yell at the top of my voice, but I suppressed my anger, knowing it wouldn’t help to alleviate the severity of the situation. What kind of a father would sell their child to some rich stranger? It was beyond one’s comprehension. But I guessed, that was what money did to a person. It corrupted them.

I cupped him by the jaw and looked into his eyes. “Stay here, no one’s going to find you here. There’s a hidden chamber where the treasures are kept, where you used to work. I’ll let Drake know to clean it up. It’s a decent place to spend your time.”

“You want me to go into hiding?”

“That’s not my point, Aiden,” I said, not really knowing how to explain it. “You have to stay low until the situation cools down.”

“That’s true,” he sighed and clenched his eyes shut. “I shouldn’t have run away in the first place.”

I raised his head slightly and kissed him. “You did what is right. You’ve got nothing to feel sorry about. They don’t own you, so your father can’t just sell you off like a piece of shit as if his blood doesn’t run in your veins. No parent should do that to their offspring.” Those words I spoke just slipped out of my mouth without too much thought. I was too carried away with my emotion.

His lips parted when the door swung open.

“Aiden.” Drake stood by the door, an expression of surprised had registered across his face seeing us in the bath tub. Then, Steven came seconds after Drake. In the same expression of surprise, Steven’s jaw dropped open. Drake pushed him aside and pulled the door shut. “Get dressed. We’ve got to talk,” Drake said in a perplexed manner.

From the outside, I could hear them murmuring among themselves. Aiden looked at me, his eyes uttered his distress. I brushed the hair from his face and tucked it behind his ears.

“Relax, everything is fine.” I kissed him on the forehead and shoved him to stand up and get dressed. He grabbed a robe and chucked one to me. All dressed, I pulled the door open and saw Steven and Drake discussing something so serious they were almost yelling at each other in a suppressed tone to keep their conversation private.

Clearing my throat, they turned their heads in my direction.

“Tom,” Steven began.

“Let me do it,” Drake cut in. With a stern look on his face, he took a deep breath and breathed out. “Aiden must leave this instant.”

“He’s got nowhere to go to!” Steven snapped, eyes bulging out in exasperation.

So Aiden was the reason of their dispute.

Drake stepped closer toward me. “I know a place where he can stay and keep a low profile.”

Steven kept shaking his head and rolling his eyes at Drake. “That’s too dangerous. They’ll find him there in no time.”

“We’ve got no other choices, Steven.”

“He could stay here.”

“Lord Blair knows that he’s here…and that’s even more dangerous than what I’m suggesting.”

Before Steven could even say a word, I raised my hands in an attempt to stop the commotion. “Where is it?”

“It’s on the edge of the forest in the East.”

My eyebrows furrowed. I remembered where that was. “On the borders?”

“Yes,” Drake sighed.

“It’s where the outcasts live,” Steven added in a sad tone.

Through the glossy surface of the wall facing the bathroom’s door, I saw Aiden’s reflection, his eyes glazed with tears. It killed me that he had to go through this. In spite of my best attempt to vanquish the anger stirring inside me for his father, seeing him like this heaped my frustration to destroy Lord Blair. But no matter how evil he’d been toward his son, he was still Aiden’s father.

“Let me discuss this matter with Aiden before we come to a decision. Everything has to be thought out first.”

In unison, they both nodded.

“You’re right. We’ll keep you informed should we find a better option. Besides, we all want the best for Aiden.”

“Thanks, Drake!”

At the last word, they walked away. I slammed the door shut and turned to Aiden. He was smiling, but he could never hide the misery in his eyes. Without saying a word, I pulled him into me, wrapped my arms around him and caressed the back of his head. Heart racing out of his chest, he sobbed as his tears fell on my shoulder.

* * *

While Drake and Steven were out seeking a place for Aiden, I stood by the window, arms across my chest, debating the wisdom of letting him live on the edge of the forest in the East or allowing him to stay here… I was torn. My head felt as though it was going to explode.

“Tom.”

My train of thoughts shattered the moment I heard Aiden speak. I turned in his direction and locked my gaze with his. “Yeah?”

He got on his feet from seating on the bed. “I’ve been having this nagging feeling for a while now…” He paused and fixed his eyes on the floor, uncertain whether he should continue or not.

“What is it?”

He looked up to me. “I don’t think I’m a Blair.”

I swallowed. Did I him right? I mean, my brain wasn’t at its finest state right now so I must have heard him incorrectly. “Come again?”

“I’m not a Blair, Tom. I can feel it.”

Now, I heard him crystal clear. I walked toward him and held him by the arms. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know… I can’t explain it, but something inside me doesn’t feel right. I lack the characteristics of a Blair, and given that I wasn’t conceived by an Alpha, that doesn’t explain why I can’t transform into a rabbit like my brother…” he said, perplexed and lost in his own head.

I caressed him in an effort to calm him down, but he turned his back on me. “You’re just overthinking, Aiden. Just relax. Calm down and take a deep breath.”

“Darren noticed it too.”

Now, that grabbed my attention. “He noticed what?”

“He recognized that I don’t possess any characteristics of a Blair. Look at me, I don’t have a mole on my lip and since birth I’ve been unable to transform. But even more suspicious, Father wants to sell me off. He doesn’t care about me at all. Not even an ounce. He never cared, Tom, he never did.”

“Aiden.” I tucked my lips to avoid tears from trickling down, but seeing him all teared up made me want to break down. Hands quivering, I wiped the tears from his face and imparted a kiss on his lips. “We’ll have a DNA test to find out.”