Aiden
Aiden cursed his choice of timing.
He hadn’t meant for his words to come out the way they had. Now was not the time he’d intended to reveal to her what he knew of her father’s lies. Things between him and Willow were still too unstable; it was highly unlikely she would believe him to be telling the truth. Instead, she was more likely to turn on him and push him away. But it was too late now. He’d opened the box, and there was no putting it back away judging by the look on her face. The only thing left to do was face the storm head-on.
“What do you mean by that?” Willow’s voice was deceptively kind.
If he was going to have this conversation though, Aiden wasn’t going to play around. Doing so would allow Willow to keep her blinders on, and he needed to get her to finally say what she’d been refusing to admit to herself for a long time now. He just hoped their relationship could recover from it.
“Don’t give me any of that bullshit,” he said in a neutral tone. “You know as well as I do that your father is up to something, and whatever it is, it’s not good.”
“What are you talking about?”
He slashed at the air with a hand. “Enough, Willow. Stop living with blinders on, just because you want to refuse to acknowledge what’s going on. But I know you, you’re not stupid, not even a little. You see what’s going on. You aren’t naïve enough to actually believe that your father has a government contract of some sort, and that’s what all the late-night secrets are all about. Don’t play with me. You see it, you know better, you just don’t want to admit to it. Why?”
She shook her head in denial, but he could see in her eyes that she knew the truth. What was it that was keeping her so willing to support him? What had he done to earn her loyalty?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My father adopted me when he didn’t have to, and he’s raised me on his own. He is a good man.”
“No, he’s not, Willow.” Aiden desperately wanted to step forward, to take her in his arms and hold her, to let her know that he was there for her.
But she wouldn’t understand. So he kept his distance, and tried his best not to weep as he brought the last pillar of her world crashing down around her.
“He’s lying to you.”
Her green eyes went glacially cold. “He’s never told me one way or another what his contract is about. I don’t ask, because it’s his business. He hasn’t lied to me.”
Other than telling you it’s a government contract…
But that’s not what he had to say.
“That’s not what I was referring to, Willow.”
She frowned. “What else could he be lying to me about?”
Aiden swallowed nervously, not wanting to continue. Something about his expression must have clued her in to what he was talking about. Willow’s eyes grew wide and she started to shake her head quickly back and forth. “No. I don’t believe you. It’s you. You’re the lying one.”
“You know that’s not true,” he said gently. “Deep in your heart, you can hear the truth in my words. The truth you’ve never heard from him. He’s lying about your family, Willow. Whatever happened to them, it wasn’t the work of a rogue shifter.”
“How do you know that?” She was near tears.
“Because, Willow. All wild shifters are reported and logged. There’s also a huge bonus for bringing one down, as incentive for ensuring people don’t forget to log it.”
“So?” She crossed her arms defiantly, but the doubt was plain to see in her eyes.
“So? Willow, there is no record of a wild shifter anywhere near here thirty-five years ago. Nothing on three years either way. So unless you were a three-year-old when he adopted you…?”
She shook her head. “No. I was only six months old.”
He looked away, unable to bear the way he was destroying the only world she’d ever known. Why did it have to be him doing this? He didn’t want to see her like this, in this much pain, let alone hurting because of what he’d done!
“He’s lying to you, Willow. I don’t know why, but he is.”
She stood there, coffee forgotten and cooled by now, leaning against the island in the kitchen, staring desolately at the floor off to his right. For five minutes Willow didn’t speak. She just stared at something only she could see.
“Why are you here then?”
The question caught him completely off guard. “What?”
“If my father is such an evil person, and is involved in something bad, then why are you still here? Why not…” Her head came snapping up, eyes ablaze with jade fire. “You weren’t banished from your pack…were you? This is all an elaborate setup to take my father down.” Her face flushed with fury. “Mack always was trying to get rid of him. He doesn’t like my father. So now he’s sent you here as a spy to try and take him down from the inside!”
Aiden’s mouth hung open for a second, and Willow used that time to formulate her next argument. But he recovered in time, speaking harshly to her for the first time.
“Willow, Stephen has tried to have Mack assassinated no less than four times. Because he wants to be the regional Alpha. He doesn’t want to challenge him directly, because he would lose! So he wants him out of the way. Mack dislikes Stephen because he’s a coward and power-hungry. And because he tried to kill him! That’s a perfectly valid reason in my opinion. And before you ask, I helped thwart two of the attempts, so I know for a fact they aren’t lies.”
She looked away.
“Stephen is not the person you think he is, Willow.” Aiden paused for a moment, wringing his hands before rubbing his face. “I’m sorry. This is not the way I wanted to do things, or how I saw this morning going. But I’m telling you the truth. I know you can hear it in my voice. You don’t want to believe it—you want to hate me and tell me to get out, I’m sure. But that can’t stop the fact that you need to stop hiding from this, and take some responsibility yourself.”
“He’s my father,” she whispered.
“No. He’s a liar who adopted you for his own reasons. He’s also a criminal, probably in both the human world and mine. There’s little I can do to stop what’s already started, Willow. I’m sorry…I…” He trailed off, looking up at her, seeing the fire in her eyes fade, replaced by bitter agony and possibly even betrayal. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, not knowing what else to say.
Willow was shaking her head. “Get out.” She pointed at the door. “Now.”
Aiden sighed, looking down at the floor in defeat. “Willow, this isn’t going to fix anything.”
“Get. Out,” she hissed with barely constrained fury. “Now.”
He pushed off his resting post on the far side of the island from her. “This doesn’t change what I said. You can deny it as long as you want to try and continue to live in your fake little world, but you know it’s a lie as much as I do. It’s time to move on, Willow. I know you’re scared, but if you’ll let me, I’ll help you as much as I can.”
She looked up at him. “I believed my father too when he told me similar things. Now you tell me he’s a liar. Why the hell should I believe you? Get the fuck out of my house.”
He grimaced. “Fine.”
“Good. You know what? I’m going to go ask him now, to find out the truth. You’ll see. He does care. He loves me. He wouldn’t lie about my birth family. That’s not who he is.”
Aiden rolled his eyes at the denial in her voice. “You’re going to be disappointed. Even more so when I return with proof that Stephen isn’t the man you think he is.”
He spun on his heel and started to leave.
“How are you going to do that?” she asked.
Aiden didn’t answer. If she admitted to herself what was going on, she would know what he was going to go do.