Alpha Aiden's Protection Program

Chapter 22: A Holy Prayer

"Never hid from me, Tate," Aiden surprised me by saying as he lifted a hand and brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Don't you dare hid your pain from me, ever." 

"I just-"

"I know," He cut me off with a nod, "and I appreciate it. Now let me take care of you."

I shook my head, "Tourmaline-"

"Is fine," He pressed as he nudged me to sit on the bed. "She's with Kai and Matt...I haven't told her about the news yet." 

"She's brave," I laughed without humour. "I can already see her putting on her brave face and leading her mermaids into action."

"Too brave, just like her parents," Aiden said with a small smile as we sat. "I thought soup would be easy on your stomach."

I nodded but held up my hands, "Well, it's too bad I can't hold a spoon."

Aiden rolled his eyes at me, "Then it's a good thing you have a mate."

Without preamble, he lifted a spoon of soup to my lips with intent focus. The gesture was intimate and sent my heart into a warm frenzy. 

A good frenzy. 

"Aiden," I shook my head, "you don't have to."

"I want to," He said earnestly. "Please, let me take care of you." 

"You take care of everyone enough."

"Ahh, but you're not everyone. I haven't been taking care of you enough..." He trailed off in thought. 

Knowing that he wasn't going to move the spoon away and being useless without the function of my hands, I opened my mouth and accepted his offering.

Maybe it was his close proximity or maybe it was the warmth of the soup, but the chill that was in my bones before, drifted away. 

Although, I suspected it was the heat of his burning blue eyes that sparked the fire in my blood. An odd sensation that sparked the air between us. The mate bond shaking off its deep slumber and letting us know that it's there. 

Waiting ever so patiently for us to connect the dots the between us.

"I don't know how to tell them," Aiden whispered with a strained breath.

"Aiden..." I struggled with my words as I was caught off guard by his petrified expression.

It was very unlike Aiden. A sudden flaw in what I was considering a still piece of art come to life.

His eyes were unfocused as he stared at the ground. A crease between his eyebrows that weighed heavily with worry.

An otherwise poker faced or assured Aiden was now plagued in a distress that I didn't know how to solve.

"I've failed them," He shook his head. "For the past five years I gave them empty promises of finding the solution that this whole mess was false. That somehow, I'd find the words that would state it was all a myth."

"You couldn't have known. None of us did," I reminded him.

"I...I..." His words drifted into a silent breath.

A brief pause followed, which was only disturbed by my erratic heartbeat.

Dazzling blue eyes, plagued with the stress of keeping a pack alive, snapped towards me with a silent plea.

"What do I do?" He asked as my answer would be biblical.

A holy prayer that would save us.

"First," I cleared my throat, "we tell them. Emphasis on we."