Astrid and Aiden were in the room. I looked over and saw a baby on Haley’s chest. He frowned at me then looked at Aiden. He growled, “Momma up!” That was the cutest growl of all time. Aiden sighed, “Momma is exhausted because she rushed headfirst into doing something. Again.”
The baby looked at him and scrunched up his face. He yelled, “MOMMA UP!” I laughed, “Is that Alexander?” Aiden answered, “Yes.” A glow surrounding him and Haley. Aiden rubbed his temples, “Naturally. Lexi, I’m going to give you some choices here.” I raised an eyebrow, “Ok…”
Aiden said, “Work things out with your wolf or I’m going to kill him or the other Alpha. Probably her. Which do you want to have happen?” I gasped, “Don’t kill him!” My hand flew to my stomach and then my anger hit.
I yelled, “How DARE YOU say that!” I started towards him. He popped behind me. He stated, “I don’t have the qualms about killing him that the Hackura do, Lexi Scott. They love you, but I do not. I love Haley, and she’s being reckless. She’s in pain because you are, and that goes away if you solve your problems with Chase, or if he or the other she wolf dies. I don’t really care how it happens. I just want her out of pain. Arion would’ve already killed the she wolf.”
I asked, “What do you mean she’s in pain?” Aiden explained, “She took the pain from Emmaline to keep the secret of you and Chase being mates. She thought since she had no intention of bringing you and Chase together it would not cause her pain; however, she is not the Soul Searcher. When you found out your wolf was married your pain was intensified for her. She couldn’t breathe.”
I asked, “Is that what was going on with her eyes lately? That magic?” Aiden nodded, “Yes, the magic was fighting her desperate to lash out, and boy did it ever. She popped to your office because she wasn’t thinking clearly. She could’ve just popped to you, but as I said she wasn’t thinking. She almost killed Alpha Sophia. I would’ve let her to be honest. It would’ve eased her pain slightly to kill the cause of your pain. Others disagreed, but if Arion were here, that she wolf would be long since dead. God, I miss him.”
He paused and looked over in the corner. Ok? Aiden waved, “Now to help you, she performed a charm without me that caused her to lose consciousness for a day. Her wolf is beside himself. Do you have ANY idea how obnoxiously annoying that man is about her?”
I smiled, “I do. I’m going to talk to Chase. Everything works out Aiden. I saw what Haley showed me.” Aiden sarcastically replied, “Joy.” I asked, “Hey, are you going to tell Haley you are upset with her?” Aiden frowned. I snorted, “I thought not. Stop punishing yourself ,Aiden.”
Astrid and Aiden looked at me in surprise. Aiden asked, “Excuse me?” I explained, “This would be twice now that you haven’t told her you’re upset, that I know of. I think you would’ve done the charm to send her to her to children in Russia eventually. I actually think you would have argued about it with her long enough that Harper would’ve gotten the location for us. You don’t argue with her though because you are scared to push her away.”
Astrid stared at Aiden. Aiden looked at Haley and Alexander. Aiden admitted, “I am lucky she even wants to speak to me. You don’t understand.” I disagreed, “I do.” Aiden glared at me shouting, “YOU DON’T! You didn’t see what I have seen! You didn’t see what happened because I didn’t care enough to figure out what was happening to her!”
He cringed, “I was embarrassed my mother couldn’t have just had sex with a fairy. I was embarrassed my mother had a partial fairy daughter. I love Haley, I always did, but I wished she was a full-blooded Fae. I’d always pick her up when she’d been hurt. I had NO idea until I was older the kind of beatings she was taking; however, I did nothing more than pick her up and take her to be healed when I found out. If I had pushed, I would’ve found she was being raped too. I wouldn’t have let that stand. Not that.”
He wiped a few tears away, “I let it go because Fabian was a father to me when mine died. He manipulated me, and I let him. My beautiful sister suffered because I was a stupid boy. A coward. I have seen things I can never unsee. She was shocked by a car battery for months if she fell asleep in her bed. She tried to stay awake. She fought sleep so hard knowing what was coming, but her little eyes would close.”
He shouted, “She was forced to drink lemonade. She was bathed in it. IN HER OWN ROOM! I never pushed. I never dug into what was happening to her. I can’t rock the boat with her now. She could shut me out, and I’d deserve it.”
I put a hand on his shoulder, “You have to forgive yourself because Haley has. The rest of us will probably make snide comments about you and bring it up for the rest of our lives, but Aiden you can’t tiptoe around her forever. She’s not infallible, no one is.” He frowned at me.
I continued, “You know more about fairies and the powers they can have than she does. She learned what she knows in secret and by reading books. You trained on your powers. You are the King, and apparently you are very powerful. You can get mad and argue with her. You are her brother, and she loves you. Even if you guys fight you won’t lose her. I actually think she’d be excited if you argued with her.”
Aiden scoffed, “What kind of weird logic is that?” I explained, “Haley’s. She believes in calling people out for their mistakes. She thinks it shows you truly love and care about the person. Or you are defending someone you love by calling someone else out. It’s why she doesn’t call Cassandra out. She loves her for giving her Eric, but she doesn’t really care about Cassandra anymore. She’d never let anything happen to her because of Eric, but she lets her comments slide because she doesn’t care about Cassandra.”
Aiden muttered, “Thank the goddess for that. I’ve never liked that woman.” Interesting. I told him, “If you said the things you thought about her doing; this charm for example, she’d smile if you yelled at her for it. She has to know it was a bad idea.” Aiden snorted.
Astrid chimed in, “She did. She said it was a bad idea. She apologized to Eric, but said she had to help you. She couldn’t stand thinking you were in such pain.” Aiden grumbled, “She was in more pain than Lexi was, but of course that doesn’t matter to her. She’s able to wall off her bonds so they can’t feel it. Which his maddening.” Astrid asked, “Huh?”
Before he could answer Alexander cooed. Haley opened her eyes, “Hey little man, I think I told you not to use your healing ability for this.” Her eyes were their normal color again. Aiden incredulously asked, “So you told your infant SON you were going to do this but not me? Nooo, don’t tell me. We can’t do that.”
Haley looked up surprised, “Aiden? How did you get here? How did you know I’d used the charm?” Aiden stared at her then looked at me. I nodded to him. He crossed his arms sternly replying, “How did I get here? I popped to my sister. I am powerful enough to get into ANY realm now if I want. Especially if you're there.”
Haley’s jaw dropped, “Really?” Aiden answered, “YES really. How did I know you used the charm? It’s powerful magic meant for us to do together. The magic called out for me. The question is, why didn’t you call me? I would’ve helped you.”
Haley admitted, “I... I didn’t know we needed to do it together. I just wanted to ease Lexi’s pain.” Aiden yelled, “A phone call, Haley! A simple phone call! You don’t know everything I do.” Haley’s lips started to twitch into a smile.
Aiden continued, “I know you feel alone sometimes, but I am here now. DO NOT do reckless fairy charms without speaking to me. I have never stopped you before, have I? I have never stopped you from using your powers, not once. In fact I LOVE that you are embracing your fairy side. Yet you still can’t make a quick phone call!”
Haley agreed, “You’re right. I’m sorry, Aiden.” Aiden demanded, “Promise me.” Haley glanced up startled, “Promise you what?” Aiden explained, “If you don’t know the side effects of a fairy charm, you’ll call me. I’d say promise me you won’t use it, but we both know you won’t do that.”
Haley frowned pushing, “What if I need to do it?” Aiden practically ordered, “Promise me, little sister!” Haley argued, “I can’t do that! What if it’s an emergency?” Aiden countered, “A quick phone call. Or call on my protection! I can pop to where you are Haley. That’s all I’m asking and it’s not much. You may think it doesn't affect people when you do these things, but it does!”
Haley asked, “What do you mean?” Aiden snorted, “Your wolf has LOST his damn mind. He has called me REPEATEDLY! He threatens to kill me with every other breath out of his mouth.” Haley shrugged, “You find that entertaining.” Aiden disagreed, “Boring. I find it boring at this point. You know I hate being bored.” Haley smiled, “I do.”
Aiden pointed to Alexander, “Your son here always wants you to wake up when you do these things. He comes to aid your healing every time. He feels you stronger than your other children. Do you know why?” Haley frowned, “He does?” Aiden softened his tone, “Yes, because he’s a stronger healer like you. I suspect he has an empathic connection to you that the others do not, because of that.”
Haley’s eyes widened as she asked, “You think he’s an empath?” Aiden said, “No, I think he has an empathetic connection TO YOU. Just you.” Haley asked, “Why?” Aiden explained, “Because the prophecy says one of your children will and I believe it is Alexander. That’s why he always comes to you if you are hurt. He’s drawn to you, and you will be to him if he’s hurt. It’s both your healer sides protecting each other.” Haley bit her lip thinking.
Aiden continued, “In his case, it’s protecting the stronger healer. In your case it’s the second strongest healer. You don’t know this because I have been on other floors in our library you weren’t allowed on. I was in class when you couldn’t go. You had private tutors, and they didn’t teach you as they should have. Just promise me you’ll call. I’m not asking you not to do the magic you know. I want you to call me and for us to have an actual conversation. That is not you telling me you’re going to do things you don’t know everything about.”
Haley sat there staring at Aiden. She sighed, “You’re obnoxious.” I laughed interfering, “Why is he obnoxious?” Haley admitted, “Because he’s right. I do that. I don’t do it without a good cause though.” Aiden assured her, “I won’t take your causes away from you, but I WILL look out for you. You’ve done things you don’t understand because you don’t know everything there is to know about charms and ancient Fae magic.” She looked guilty and forlorn about that.