Chapter 08

NARRATIVE POV (4yrs ago)

Alpha Tom didn’t speak after that, but it was weighing heavily on his thoughts. What if Frankie and Oliver were true mates? It would make sense. Tom doubted that there was anyone in the pack who wouldn’t see how good a Luna someone like Frankie would be. She was patient, kind and thoughtful, but she was also fierce and protective of those around her. Reflecting on it further, he realized that Oliver had made it a point not to pursue any of the she-wolves displaying interest in him. He was too focused on training and learning the administrative and political challenges of being an Alpha. He was solely focused on learning all he could, which was significantly more than he could say about their other son, Aiden.

Aiden was a wild pup. Always rebelling and pushing the limits to see how far he could go before he went too far. It was infuriating, but Tom was hopeful that Aiden would eventually mature and focus on his commitments and responsibilities, like Oliver and Aria had.

Aria.

His princess. Alpha Tom’s eyes drifted from Frankie sleeping on her hospital bed, over to his daughter sleeping on the stiff hospital chair next to Frankie's bed. These two girls were always together, and to prove their devotion to one another even further, Aria hadn’t left Frankie's side since she was admitted. They brought her a change of clothing every morning and food three times a day. She even settled for a hobo's bath, by simply wiping down from the small sink in the attached bathroom. He was happy that Frankie and Aria had one another. They kept each other focused and encouraged, and he couldn’t have asked for a better, more devoted best friend for his princess than Frankie.

If Frankie were somehow Oliver's mate, everything would fall into place. There was a closeness that he’d always noticed. But he never thought too hard about it. Perhaps Luna Margie was more intuned with the romantic side of observation than he was, but now that she had said it out loud, it would make sense, considering how close and protective they all seemed towards one another.

“Don’t think too hard on it, my Alpha.” Luna Margie sighed with a smile. “If they are mates, it’ll come out eventually. I was mentioning it to mention it, not to act on it. Every path crosses for a reason; we’ll see what their reason is when it is time to be revealed.”

“How philosophical of my Luna to say.” Alpha Tom chuckled and kissed the crown of her head as he watched his two girls within the room sleep peacefully.

Meanwhile, watching from the end of the corridor, Aiden clenched his fists tightly at the words of his parents. Frankie was not Oliver's. He would never allow Oliver to claim Frankie. His eldest bastard brother had already taken too much from him, his family, his title, his birthright. He would never allow him to take Frankie away from him as well. She would belong to him, and it would be his mark on her neck once she shifted, not Oliver's.

Aiden turned and rushed out of the hospital. He couldn’t afford to have his parents see him, especially when he was struggling to control his temper in response to their words. They honestly seemed to want to hand everything to that bastard. When would Oliver and his parents understand that he didn’t belong here? Oliver should be run out and long forgotten, but no, they constantly praised Oliver in front of him. They used Oliver as an example of how Aiden should be and the level of focus he should strive for. All it turned out to be was insulting, not inspiring. His parents failed to see that he would never be like his arse-kissing bastard brother. He was the true heir of the Blue Ridge pack; he would lead as his path guided him, and he shouldn’t have to be compared to someone who, in Aidan's opinion, was less than him.

His own mother took her life to escape raising Oliver; if that wasn’t a sign of how undeserving Oliver was, then Aiden didn’t know what else could show that.

But now his mother was betraying him and trying to hand Frankie over to Oliver. He knew what she was doing. If Oliver claimed a Luna before Aiden did, Oliver would be granted the position of Alpha and not Aiden.

Aiden clenched his fists again and swung them wildly into the side of the brick wall of the exterior of the hospital. Dust materialized in the air on impact. His own mother was handing over his female, trying to undermine him as though he didn’t even matter. Did they ask him what he wanted?

No, they never did. All they ever saw was how good Oliver was and how faulty Aiden was.

Aiden sighed and ran his bruised hand through his blonde hair. He needed to figure out what to do next. He couldn’t allow Oliver to stake a claim on Frankie. If he did, Aiden didn’t stand a chance of becoming Alpha.

He wouldn’t let anyone take away what had been promised to him, not even his family.

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