AFRAID OF THE DARK

CHAPTER 12

I watch from my tree when I hear the aggressive growl coming from below. I can see the fur on Aidan's wolf bristle when he senses the other werewolves. He relaxes somewhat when he recognizes Adam, but his wolf searches the area almost frantically as if he's looking for somebody. His wolfy nose lifts into the air as he takes sniffs. He sniffs around the area until he is standing directly in front of Logan.

Aidan shifts and wraps a hand around Logan's neck. "You smell like my mate."

"Alpha, it's okay. They didn't do anything." Adam tries to calm him down. "Alyssa, tried to get them to mate, but they didn't."

"Alyssa?" Aidan drops his hand from Logan's neck and his growl makes the rest of us cower in fear.

"He's not my brother is he?" Logan asks Adam between his coughs from being choked.

Aidan looks at him confused. "Brother? What's going on?"

"We don't have time. They are going to catch up soon." Adam sighs.

"Yeah. We need to find my sister or we'll lose the game." Logan chuckles like a two year old and tries to climb a tree. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Aidan looks at Adam with a raised brow. "I thought he was an only child."

"Cami is his sister." Adam winks.

I look at Logan. I've always wanted a brother. I should go down to say hello, but the man that had hurt me is down there. I look at Aidan in all of his naked glory. I'll never get to see that ever again. Some other girl will get to touch his chiseled muscles and have the pleasure of washing his body. Something I never had the chance to do.

"Where's Cami?" Aidan looks around desperately, but stops when Logan falls at his feet from a tree.

"She thinks she's a Hindu Goddess. She's leaping in the air with her many arms." Adam points to the trees.

Aidan looks up and his eyes scan the different trees. He stops at one where a broken branch is still hanging. I whimper and turn away when he finally spots me. I can feel his relief, but it turns to sadness and worry.

"Cami, can you come down so we can talk?" He moves towards my tree.

I look down at him once and whimper when my chest begins to ache. I turn away again. My legs squeeze in further and I plant them flatly on the tree limb to show I'm not leaving. He growls when Logan comes near to say he found me. Logan then asks if they can play a new game.

"How about you go play the silent game?" Aidan growls at him.

Logan nods and does a show of zipping his lips and locking them with a key. He walks back towards Adam. My eyes find Aidan's again and we stare at one another. He's pleading with me to climb down the tree. I watch as a single tear falls from his eyes and I whimper again. I don't like to see my mate hurt.

"Please, baby. Give me a chance to explain." Another tear falls and I can feel his pain.

I look towards Adam and Logan again. Logan nudges Adam to let him know Aidan has lost the game. Adam rolls his eyes and looks back towards the woods. They can now hear wolves fighting. Two fighters from Aidan's pack run out from behind trees to say we need to go. We're about to be outnumbered. Aidan pleads again for me to come down from the tree. I become scared when I notice another bloody fighter. I remember we are in the dark woods. I hate the dark. I leap down and Aidan catches me easily.

"Let's go!" Aidan yells back and everybody evacuates.

We hear the howls of the rogue wolves when they come up to pack territory. The rogues are giving up. Aidan stops to make sure everybody in their pack has made it over safely. Several members are injured, but not badly. Logan is bouncing around in his human form like a happy pup shaking his butt at the losers. Teasing them without saying a word. Adam is trotting out from the trees behind him in human form. He lets everybody know we can't shift with the amount of wolfsbane in our system and both Logan and I are hopped up on whatever drugs Alyssa was giving us.

I try to get out of the hold Aidan has on me, but he refuses to let me go. He holds me tightly and buries his nose in the crook of my neck to gather my scent. I look at him curiously when I feel emotions similar to that of love, but he loves his first mate. Right?

"Don't leave me. Please." I feel his tears fall on my shoulder. "Maisy is like a sister to me. That's all. We rejected each other. She was my brother's girlfriend. He left for us to be together, but I couldn't do it. Please, tell me you won't leave me. When I said I love her, I meant it as a sister. It was always as a sister. I'm telling you, I love you. I mean it as more. I love you as a man loves a woman. As a boy loves a girl. As a mate loves his mate and one day it will be as a husband loves his wife."

I can feel the eyes of everybody around us staring. Some are shocked over what they have just heard. They had thought Maisy was his one true love and they had been a couple. They thought she was somebody that couldn't be replaced by another. They almost look as skeptical as I do, but we can see the truth in his eyes. He loves me. He never had that kind of love with Maisy. I want to tell him I love him that way too, but I can't.

"Say something, baby." He wipes the tears from my eyes before he wipes his own.

"Alpha." Adam rolls his eyes and he almost wants to laugh. Everybody can tell he wants to call his Alpha an idiot with the way he's shaking his head. "She's playing the quiet game. If she talks she will lose."

Aidan looks back at me and mutters to himself. He walks towards Logan and punches him on the shoulder. Logan exclaims an ouch out loud for all to hear. "You lost."

I look at the other men standing around. They are all still naked, but the seriousness of the situation had them forgetting until their Alpha growled at the fact that his mate is looking at them. I could care less about seeing another man naked. Not when I am being carried bridal style by my mate. Plus, I'm waiting to win another game. What can I say? I've always been stubborn and competitive.

"I lost." The men repeat one after the other and cover their man parts with their hands.

"You win, Luna." The last man smiles.

"I love you, too." I yell in Aidan's ear and tighten my arms around him in excitement.

He laughs and I can feel how happy he is about my words. "My beautiful mate. I love you so much. I don't ever want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either." I place my head on his shoulder.

"You won't. Let's go home, my Luna." I let him carry me back to the house.

"Are we going to play another game?" Logan asks and frowns when several of the men yell out an astounding no.

"You guys are no fun." I pout.

Aidan and the others stop behind a large tree stump. He pulls on a loose bark and a door opens. I'm in awe at the magic tree. Aidan places me down and passes the other men clothes. He has a smirk on his face as I watch him dress. I blush and look away. I see Logan climbing into the trunk opening and curling up inside. He has a goofy grin on his face and I become excited.

"Hide and seek!" I jump up ready to run and hide, but Aidan grabs me in his arms with laughter.

"Not this time, baby. We need to have a doctor get the drugs out of your system. Come on."

"Come on, Logan. We are with party poopers." I complain.

Adam pulls on Logan's hand to get him out of the magical tree stump. He follows the other men with dropped shoulders. Aidan lifts me again and carries me towards the pack house. I lay my head on his shoulder, but lift it up when I see others waiting outside. A few women run to their mates. The injured men are telling heroic stories of fighting with a hundred rogues.

It sounds exciting.

"Wow, they are brave. I can't imagine outrunning rogues. They're vicious." I say with true astonishment.

We all turn when Adam laughs suddenly and keeps going until tears are running down his face and his laughs turn into snorts, guffaws, and wheezing. "Luna, I have a story to tell you."