Don't Let Go

Chapter 4

ARIA’S POINT OF VIEW

Flora grabs my arm, “Are you kidding me… LIAM GREY?” She gushes. I’m trying to catch my bearings, but I feel sort of off-balance.

“Let’s go sit and talk,” I say, and motion her off the dance floor. On the way back to our table, I notice Matt is there and he's watching me. I turn to Flora and mouth, “Let's go outside.” We grab our coats and head straight outside. I tell her all about Matt, and how Liam stepped in at the perfect time. I tell her about everything, and how he made me feel.

“Maybe he’s your mate?” Flora questions excitedly.

“No way! He's about to be the Alpha of one of the biggest and strongest packs around. I’m a Beta’s daughter from a small pack, in the middle of nowhere. There's no way! I mean, look at that man! He’s gorgeous! I’m not sure why he wanted to dance with me, but I assure you, that man deserves a woman like… like that,” I say pointing to a gorgeous leggy blonde that just walked outside with a few girlfriends. She’s gorgeous and she looked older, more sophisticated, and much more suited to the Greek-god looking Liam.

“Aria, you are the sweetest person I know, and you’re beautiful. Liam Grey would be lucky to have you,” Flora smiles, and I can’t even hold my laughter back as I roll my eyes.

“Hey, what about Matt? He was acting rather possessive. Maybe Matt’s your mate? He did NOT look happy about you dancing with Liam,” and she bursts out laughing at the predicament I’m in. After I’m able to get it together a little, we head back in.

When we make it back to our table, we find my brother smiling from ear to ear talking to my parents. On his arm, a tall black-haired blue-eyed beauty. “What’s going on?” I press.

“Aria, I would like to introduce you to my mate, Aurora,” he smiles, with such excitement and so much pride. I can tell she is feeling just as he does too. My heart is so happy for them.

“What? Really? I’m so happy for you both,” I hug them both, and then I look to Aurora, “You’ve got a good one here, I’m so happy he’s finally found you. Welcome to the family!” I beam.

She smiles so wide, and leans her head on his shoulder, “Thank you. I know! I feel so lucky to have found him. I finally feel complete,” she says so genuinely.

“We are going to break the news to her family now, wish me luck!” he smirks, and whisks her away before we can even wish him luck.

“Good luck!” We all holler as they walk away.

I look at Flora, and she gives me the most forced smile. It dawns on me that she probably isn't too thrilled about this new revelation.

“Are you okay?” I ask, and I find myself wincing in anticipation for it to not be good.

“It kinda sucks, but I’ve been coming to terms with it for the last 4 months. At least Hadley’s getting the boot,” she adds with a chuckle.

 “I’m glad he’s happy,” she adds with a genuine smile.

“You’re just the best person, you know that, right?” I ask, and I small smirk.

“Thanks.”

It’s like Moon Goddess knew she needed a boost, because, 'Single Ladies' by Beyonce starts playing. When we were 13 or 14 we learned the whole dance together. I grab her hand and pull her back to the dance floor. I periodically throw in some of the iconic moves to make her laugh. It works, I can tell she's starting to enjoy herself and she’s even throwing some of them in too, and that makes me feel so much better.

While we're dancing, I see in the corner of my eye that someone is watching us. I quickly turn and see a face that makes my stomach churn. I feel the colour drain my face, and my heart is beating out of my chest. It’s him. It's Ren! When he notices that I’ve seen him, he starts walking over.

“My little Mora,” he says while grabbing my face. I feel rage coursing through my veins. I slap his hand away as hard as I can, “Don't f*****g touch me!” I raise my voice and it just happened to be as the song ended, and there's a lull in the music. So everyone hears me slap him and telling him not to touch me.

Suddenly you can hear a pin drop, and all eyes are on us. Ren lifts his hands as if to show everyone he isn't touching me and feigns innocence.

I see my Mom, Dad, Alpha Xavier, Eli, and even Matt stands up. I turn around to look at Flora, “I have to go, I’ll meet you at the hotel,” I whisper. I see Liam walking quickly towards me now too, from behind Flora. I look at Ren, and I say very quietly,

“One day, you’ll pay for what you did to her,” I promise with disgust all over my face. I start walking away and I hear his smug voice, now from behind me, “We’ll see little Mora, we’ll see,” he mocks, as he starts to laugh.

I stop, mid-walk. I want to turn around and let the wolf in me come out and rip his f*****g head off. I’m shaking I’m so mad. I take a second, trying to regain my self-control. and then I notice my father and Eli are coming towards me quickly, the men from my pack are all standing up and starting to slowly move towards us. I know this isn't the time or the place for a scene.

I put my hands up, signalling that they stop. I walk up to Eli and my Dad, putting a hand on each of their chests. “I’m okay. It's fine. I just need a minute. It's not the time or place for this,” I remind them.

They nod, and I start walking towards the main entrance to leave. As I walk past Alpha Xavier, Mom, Kit, and much of the men in my pack. I give them all a reassuring smile and a nod and I walk out the door. The rage is coursing through my veins. I want to kill him.

I need to skip the midnight run and head back to the hotel now. I run to the tree line, and unzip my dress. I fold it up, and shift. I grab it in my mouth and I run. The earth crushing beneath my paws is very soothing. Even though it's not midnight yet, I can still feel the powerful effects of the blue moon.

I'm faster than I ever have been, and I feel even stronger too. It feels amazing. I feel the anger subsiding a little, so I continue to run. I run for a while before I headed back to the hotel. I shifted outside and put the dress back on, before heading up to my room. I was surprised to see my Mom, Kit, and Flora waiting for me.

“Where have you been?” My Mom scolds. I can tell by their tone, that they’ve been worried.

“I needed a run, I needed to blow off some steam. I didn't mean to make you worry.” I say apologetically. We chat for a little, and then Mom and Kit take off to their room. Flora and I get in bed and talk a little before we go to sleep.

“So, no luck in the mate department?” I ask. “No luck, unfortunately,” she huffs.

“You’ve made quite the impression on Liam Grey,” Flora smirks.

“What? What are you talking about?” I ask wide-eyed.

“Liam chased after you, but you must have been gone already. He came right back in and came to talk to me. He asked me about you and what that was all about,” She explains with a guilty smile.

“Well, what did you say?” I press.

 “Just that you’re a bad b***h and not to mess with you.”

I raise my eyebrows at her and she concedes… “Okay okay, I just said there's some major drama between you two and he was being a creep, and put his hands on your face. He really did not like that. He was asking a lot of questions, and he’s intimidating. I tried not to give too much away because it's your business, but he was relentless. He was asking who Mora was, and why Ren called you Mora. He also wanted to know who the men were that you went to calm down? So I told him...” She winces and pauses, no doubt anticipating me getting angry. But how could I? It was his family's party and we made a scene. I actually feel really bad about that.

Plus he is actually really intimidating with all that handsome..ness. “No, I get it. You were in a tough position. It's okay,” I assure her. 

She takes a sigh of relief, “Okay, now the part you’re going to love.” She pauses and my eyes are wide waiting for what she could possibly say right now.

“WHAT?” I snap when she doesn't spill right away.

“He went up to Ren and told him to leave, and that he was no longer welcome, and no longer invited to breakfast tomorrow.”

“What? Are you sure?” I ask, feeling very confused. He wouldn't do that.

“He walked straight to him when I finished talking to him. Then he came back to me and asked me to tell you that Ren wouldn't be here for breakfast. I think he likes you… and I can't blame him. You were on fire in that dress tonight,” she giggles.

“Thanks, Flora… right back at ya,” I chuckle.

Could he really like me? Or maybe he just doesn't want a murderer around his family and guests. That has to be it. I know I wouldn't if I were in his shoes. Still, I can't help but remember his words,

“You look stunning, Aria... I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.”

My heart flutters just thinking about it. All the stress I had about not being ready for a mate, and here I am with some guy stuck in my head before I even turned 18. So strange. “Happy Birthday, by the way…” Flora sleepily gets out before we both nod off.