Scarlet Rogue (Book One)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Muddles

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Ayden

A knock tears my gaze away from my mate to the door hoping it's not Finn with bad news. He only just bought the ventilator and a spare bed for me in, what does he want now? When the mysterious person doesn't enter, I know it's not Finn.

"Come in," I say.

Peeking through the door, I see the curly blonde hair making me sigh as I realise who it is. Should have known, Avery would be the first one to visit. She tip-toes herself to Kaelynn's side picking up her hand gently stroking it, before looking to me with tearful eyes at my mates' state. Now thanking myself for cleaning her up, I would hate to see Avery's reaction to when we first bought Kaelynn in.

It doesn't take long before Dad finally gets here, waiting by the half-open door fidgeting his fingers. He opens and shuts his mouth several times eventually deciding on silence.

"Just get to it," I say irritated by his indecision.

"You might want to come out here, son."

Taking a final glance at Kaelynn then Avery, I get up confident that my mate is in safe hands. As we exit the room, I shut the door lightly before turning around to Dad, my jaw dropping open at who I see.

"Mom?" I say reaching out to cup her face checking for an illusion.

Her warm skin the assurance I need. Her arms swing around me capturing me in an embrace, the same kind she used to give me, only now I'm bulkier and she has shrunk if that's even possible. The warm comfort switching off my thoughts for a few minutes before I pull away from her, unsure of which of the thousand questions that need answering I should ask her first.

Sensing my apprehension, she begins herself, "I've been in the torture cells for the last seven years. If it wasn't for Kaelynn, or even Kurt, I don't know if I would have ever got out."

My mind races with trying to comprehend this new information of how Mom has been so close for years suffering and we weren't able to help her. Kurt helping to save her, on the other hand, just means I'll go lighter on his punishment if I ever see him.

"Let's talk tomorrow when everything is calmer, you can ask me anything you want," Mom reassures me as Dad puts an arm around her tightly squeezing her as if he too believes she's still an illusion.

"Kurt is finishing up at the guesthouses and he'll meet you back here in a few hours," Dad says earning a snarl from me.

"Kurt is not welcome in this pack anymore," I say with my fists clenching.

"That's enough, Ayden Hale," Mom's aggressive tone catches me off guard. "These silly ideas of them cheating need to leave your head. They risked their lives heading into the Queen's territory for you so you will treat them both with the respect they deserve."

Mom's words burn in my head as I refuse to believe her. They went behind my back; the only explanation is because they wanted to be together. No more is said on the matter as they both leave, taking Avery with them and allowing me to be alone with Kaelynn.

Pushing the spare bed closer to Kaelynn, I crash down on it extending my hand out to grip Kaelynn's, my eyes wide open afraid she would disappear if I closed them. Staring at her soft features, I can't help not being mad at her in this condition. When she has recovered, she will be punished but I can't let her go, my wolf won't allow it.

Hearing an inconsiderate banging sound on the door gets me up from my position rushing to the door assuming bad news. Opening the door, Kurt walks through making my blood boil. Within seconds, I have him against the wall, my hands grasping at his neck and my wolf fully in control at this point. He took her away from me and it will never happen again.

From the corner of my eye, I see a dozen people rushing in prying me off him but it's no use. My prey is well within my reach and it will take a lot more than a dozen doctors to stop me. It's only when Erik and Kiba joined by a few warriors take their turn to save Kurt, that they manage to get me back in control. Reluctantly I stand back, growling at my enemy.

"You took her away from me," I snarl at him.

Kurt takes a moment to get his breath back before saying, "I had no choice, she was going to break the prisoner out herself and go. I couldn't let her go alone."

Laughing at his comment, I say, "That's your pathetic excuse for the two of you hooking up behind my back."

"What the actual fuck, Ayden?" He says, his brow creasing. "Are you telling me that while we were rotting in a torture chamber, instead of worrying about our safety, you were plotting revenge against us, all because of your fucking paranoia?"

Is he right? Was this all just in my head?

Kurt has been my longest friend and he came back here, he's smart enough to not come back here if he had betrayed me. He starts pacing up and down, the crowd from earlier now disappearing back to their jobs. Realisation now hitting me that I've been stupid, that my mate was out there suffering along with my beta and I did nothing.

No more words are said as Kurt finishes his pacing to give me a final look of disgust before walking out, banging the door shut so violently that I'm surprised it withheld the impact. Running my hands through my hair, I tug at the hair wanting to pull the hairs all out as I let out a silent scream.

My head begging me to explode, to break something, to kill someone, anything but my heart making its way to Kaelynn. Picking up her hand slightly, I bend down to place a soft kiss on her palm, calming down the rage building in my head. My only hope that she will find it in her heart to forgive me and give me another chance when she wakes up.