Page 251 of Alpha Mates

Standing tall beside me, he surveys the room. All the healers and elders are here, and every one of them wears the same strained look of unease as they eye us, or rather, me.

Aiden begins to speak, and one by one, I watch all their faces shift. Unease is snuffed out by horror, shock by sadness, confusion by dread. Because their answer to him is the same one I’d already given.

Nothing could be done.

They don’t know how to help me. and there was nothing they could do if my connection to Alex was already beginning to fade.

“Aiden,” I say softly when he finishes, still leering at them for an answer they don’t have.

He glances at me, confused at first, until his eyes meet mine.

“No,” he dismisses before I can even speak. He looks back at the others, glaring now. “There’ssomethingwe can do. There’s always something to be done. So, what do we do?”

No one speaks.

I touch his hand, but he ignores me.

“What do we do?” he repeats, louder this time, and it only makes the sadnessin the room mount.

“We can slow it,” one healer ventures hesitantly. “There are … remedies that can buy some time, perhaps.”

“Good,” Aiden praises with a firm nod. “We’ll do that, but how do we stop him from losing his wolf?”

The silence returns heavier than before, hanging between us like a taunting knife waiting to fall.

My heart pounds as I watch his desperate hope claw for breath. And I see it then. He knows there’s no solution, no magical answer, but he’s not willing to give up. Not just for me, but because he can’t.

Watching it steals my breath in the worst way.

I’d always hoped for a mate, for someone to love me so that I’d never have to be alone again. But somewhere along the line, Aiden and I had come to need each other as more than just mates.

Aiden was the light in my life, and I was clearly the light of his. Life was easier when we were together, and for how fucking shit life had been to us, neither of us could possibly imagine continuing without the other.

It wasn’t even an option—not for me, and definitely not for Aiden.

Which is why he refuses to give up. If he did, that meant going back to what he’d had before, which was …

I think of the people outside—the ones we called parents—the ones who’d sink their claws into him the first chance they got. My chest tightens painfully.

No. I wouldn’t let them. I wouldn’t leave him alone.

Pushing to my feet, I step into the space beside him and slide my hand over his as I address the room, “Start looking. Wherever you can, just start looking and keep this matter to yourselves.”

They take the dismissal for what it is, quickly bypassing Aiden as his head hangs low.

I hold him close, watching them all go. I accept their forlorn expressions with a tight smile until only two remain.

“Can you watch the door?” I ask, pretending not to see the tears in Beckett’s eyes. “We’ll be out in a minute.”

Emitt leads him out, blinking away the moisture in his own eyes as he shuts the doors, locking Aiden and me inside again.

“I’m not giving up,” Aiden declares, even as his voice trembles.

“I know,” I reply, smoothing a hand over his shoulder. “I … I have an idea.”

Looking up, Aiden meets my gaze with bright red eyes. They glow, not from anger or frustration, but pure fear.

The tightness in my chest returns, locking like a vice.