I felt my heart beat increase and my breathing halt in my chest as a soft, crimson shadow was cast onto the trees. What was that?

A soft growl came again and my breathing resumed, and my heart beat slowly returned to normal. Then, a beautiful, golden wolf came into my line of sight – I could visibly see its muscles working like a metallic beast under its sleek fur. Then, I saw its eyes.

Emerald and steel and onyx combined to create a beautiful harmony of conflict and hurt – golden flecks glimmered in the fading light as though its pupil was glazed with a thin shimmer of water – almost like tears. I felt my traitor body relax as its eyes met mine and my breathing stopped. Aiden.

There was no mistakening them despite his form having changed – I opened my mouth as though to protest as it, no he, approached.

"A-Aiden?" I stuttered quietly.

The wolf raised its great head and its eyes spoke wonders; a soft whine sounded and it approached me slowly, hesitantly, warily.

The wolf approached me and I stopped shaking, lifting my head to look it square in the eye. I don't feel scared; I must be mad, because I don't feel any fear. But I always feel fear – my whole life, I've lived in fear of something... except for now.

I dropped my head as I realized he wouldn't approach; he would keep his distance and buried it into my raised knees that I drew up to my chest. A soft, warm head nuzzled my arm and I paused before looking up. Aiden, in his magnificent wolf form, was touching my arm – he looked up, his eyes glittering like gems in the light. In the spur of the moment, I threw my arms around him and buried my head into his fur, tears freely streaming down my eyes.

The wolf rubbed its head comfortingly against my arm and I dug my fingers into it, feeling the safest I had in a long time. I don't know how long I cried with Aiden by my side, but it seemed like an eternity – a blissful eternity. Suddenly, the warmth was gone.

I felt cold and puffy-eyed as I dared myself to look up after several, elongated moments. He was gone. The clearing was empty, save from me, the mid-summer night darkness and the trees surrounding me – he had disappeared as quickly and silently as a thief. Unfortunately, he still had my heart captive.

My body was still motionless, my eyes not even stinging any more – my tears had run out and a blank expression vacated my features. A soft, barely audible shadow appeared at the corner of the clearing, barely visible to human eyes – a human shadow.

"April."

I looked away and quickly slapped my hand across my face, wiping at my red eyes and moistened face – why can't I cry like Taylor Swift? A single tear instead of full-blown water works, red eyes and dry lips?

I glanced up shyly, taking in his frame; his open shirt looked as though it had been flung on quickly – his sleeves weren't even buttoned properly.

"April, I need to talk to you." I felt my stomach tighten at his tone.

"Aiden, how do you expect me to talk? What do you want me to say? You barely say anything."

He bent down until his arms brushed against my knees. "April, please just hear me out. Can you do that?" I don't know, I thought to myself, can I?

"Can I hear you out?" I hissed, "Can I hear you out? I don't know Aiden, can I? I mean, you're more than willing to talk now, after everything just happened in public and you decide that you want to explain things to me now?" I exploded, watching as his expression went through many masks before it settled on one – darkened.

"Look, I couldn't talk to you before. I barely had time to think through things myself – what, did you think I knew what Rick was going to ask? What people would interpret it as?"

I stood up, shaking my head. "Just tell me this and be done with it: do you... do you love Barbara?" May as well just ask it now and get my heart broken.

"April." Aiden's voice had turned icy cold. "I don't love Barbara. At all." He added onto the end, his voice deadly serious. My head shot up and I immediately examined his face – there was no sign of twitching, no lies in his eyes.

"What?" I managed to splutter. "You... you don't love Barbara?" I needed confirmation for the umpteenth time.

"No! We were friends – good friends. But the last time I saw her, was when I was 12 years old – that was before my mom died." His jaw clenched naturally here. "When you told me she was in love with me, I confronted her and she... well, she admitted she did." He shrugged his shoulders here and a typical, clueless expression shadowed his features – idiot. "I told her I wasn't into her and that I had a mate, but apparently, no isn't in Barbara's dictionary. Don't get me wrong, I love her as a friend, but not in that way; I told her to back off but Rick," he spoke through clenched teeth. "Put her on the spot."

"B-but, why did she say and I quote: 'who loves me back?'"

"Because..." he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and he smiled sheepishly – if I wasn't so confused, I would have thought it adorable. "Well, someone likes her and... It's causing her a dilemma. Me or him. But as we all know, I'm not hers for the taking, so..."

"But she made out that you two were in love."

"Well, we're not. I've never loved her before in that way and I couldn't tell you because I wasn't sure what she was thinking and I was confused myself. I needed to get my head straight before I explained things to you. When I asked her about the 'issue,' she didn't seem like her mind was going to change about me, so naturally, I was worried." His tone was light, but the muscle in his cheek was twitching. "I didn't want you to get hurt so I kept quiet – I didn't want her messing us up."

"Aiden, it's not that simple!" I said in exasperation, the knot slowly loosening in my stomach. "You can't just un-love someone, you know? Who knows how long Barbara has been in love with you – telling her to stop because you don't love her will certainly hurt her but it doesn't change the way she feels about you. Only time can heal that!"

"Well," he said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. "How was I supposed to know? I didn't even know she fucking liked me until you told me! I haven't seen her since I was 12 until now and suddenly she's in love with me? Come on, surely she must know me better than to think that I love her," he made a face. "I'm Aiden Knight; surely she must know I have a reputation of not-loving-people."

"So let me get this straight – when Barbara answered Rick's question, you were shocked because you thought she would have stopped loving you after you told her you didn't love her?"

He nodded.

"And you spoke to her before and she said she loved you, but you didn't tell anyone?" By anyone, I mean me, you idiot.

"No. I didn't want her to come between us."

There was an us.

"I wanted to sort things out myself – I didn't want you to worry, as you obviously would have done –" he added on. "And so I didn't say anything to you because I was certain she would understand me the first time and drop it. Obviously not." He muttered to himself afterwards.

"Okay... But you will sort things out with Barbara?" I wanted assurance – Barbara didn't deserve this any more than me or Aiden did and it wasn't fair she was hurting this way whilst Aiden, the damn fool, remained as puzzled and ignorant than ever. He wouldn't recognize the signs even if it hit him at 90 miles per hour in the face.

"Do I have to?" He whined. I gave him a look and his cocky expression fell away almost immediately, revealing a rather sheepish expression underneath. "Okay, okay. She's my friend – a good friend – I care about her. I don't want to hurt her either. She deserves to be treated right, so I'll make sure things are made right with her. It's only fair – I was being a dick."

I made a little aw noise at his sensitive side coming out, before remembering something that made me bristle up all over again. "Before... was that you? As, you know... a werewolf." I hissed – he burst out into loud laughter and shot me an adorable grin that made me swoon.

He looked so natural, so perfect, so damn innate standing there; it was like the woods were his true home. The only other time I'd seen him looking so relaxed was when he was drinking. "Well, yeah. I had to leave to get my clothes again – I needed to find you first."

I nodded, secretly pleased. "You know, you didn't have to explain all of that to me."

He looked up at me in incredulity. "I did, April. You're important to me, what happens to you and what you think... It affects me." My heart tugged at his words, but my eyes widened involuntarily in disbelief.

"Why?"

"Because – because," I hadn't realized we were both now standing and glaring at each other from across the clearing. Suddenly, he took large steps towards me until we were barely an arm's length away from one another.

"Because I love you." He leaned down and bought his lips to mine. I felt my entire body come alive. My arms reached up to sling around his neck and I tiptoed high, winding my hands through his hair, pulling him closer.

What started off as a gentle, passionate kiss quickly escalated – he groaned softly against my mouth and in one quick movement, I felt the rough, pine-scented bark pressed up behind me, but my mind barely accepted the fact that I was no trapped. But I certainly didn't feel it. His sharp canines gently dug into my lower lip and his lips pressed harder and hungrily against my own. Unfamiliarly, I responded just as eagerly; my lips moved in sync with his, despite my awkward inexperience, and our bodies moulded together perfectly. Slowly, almost teasingly one of his hands moved to rest on the small of my back whilst the other cupped the side of my face sweetly. His hand then slowly moved down my bare leg and alarm bells rung loudly in my head, but I was too intoxicated with the way Aiden tasted so sweet and yet so bitter that I barely had time to comprehend.

His hand hooked around my leg and lifted it and almost instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his hips, not feeling the awkwardness that was ready to consume me as soon as Aiden pulled away. His soft breath felt like star dust across my lips and I shut my eyes, savouring this moment – my mind reminding me how long I'd wanted this moment. We finally pulled away, our breathing heavy. I glanced up, locking eyes with Aiden.

"April," he almost groaned hopelessly. I breathed heavily and glanced down, shocked and yet strangely happy at how close we were – I was backed up against the tree and my legs were wrapped around Aiden's hips. I let out a little shriek and unwrapped them quickly, landing with a little oof onto the floor.

"April," he groaned again, but it was less rough as it had been last time. Both of his hands came up to gently cup my face and I felt my skin feel as though a dozen roses had bloomed. "Stop making me feel so weak."

I frowned. "What?"

"Every time I'm with you, I feel like you make me a better version of myself; compared to the Aiden that I was 7 years ago. You make me feel powerless when I'm with you – you and your damn weirdness take away all that shit that threatens to consume me all the other time. You didn't mean to change me – no way, you wanted to do the opposite, but I'm sorry April Evans, you've finally found the better version of me, so thank you." He shrugged hopelessly, his lips curving up into an adorable smile and his voice rung so much truth in it I felt my heart falter at the intensity of it.

I paused, letting my heartbeat decrease and to catch my voice again. I playfully shoved him. "You've gone soft, Knight." I commented, trying to lighten the intensity of the situation. I'd wanted this for so long and suddenly I felt like the speech I was certain I would recite had vanished from my mind.

"You've gone soft? Is that it? Really?" He frowned and a lost smile appeared on his face, instantly making me feel guilty.

"Look, I appreciate this, I really do," I said, one hand slowly pushing him away from me so I could sit down again and mull over what had just happened. Things got serious – and fast. "You're cute Aiden Knight. Really, you are."

"So... are we cool?" Aiden grinned, his arm reaching out to poke me playfully.

I shoved him back lightly. "Sure. We're cool."

"Do you still go to the clearing with the stars?" I asked, the glistening globe of white in the sky reminding me of that time where I had sat under the stars with Aiden and found myself being drawn towards him.

"Sometimes, I guess – when I feel like it." He mumbled under his breath. I was taken aback by his sudden change in attitude and leaned forward so I could rest my elbows on my knees and twist my head sideways to examine him.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No."

"Aiden, I think we've established that we're not enemies anymore. Stop going back into that dark place you call home – when you finally feel at ease, you always go back to that dark place. Why?"

"It's not that easy!" He snapped back.

"Then let me make it easy! I'm here to listen, to talk, to do whatever I need to do to help you! A problem shared is a problem halved." I said wisely, attempting to crack a wise joke in order to lighten the mood; it's not the time April.

"April –"

"No. Don't give me that crap about not understanding or being able to help. I don't care. No-one truly understands anyone else's problems, even if they've been through the same situation, everyone's circumstances are different. I'm not going to pretend to understand - but talking helps, especially when you know there's someone on the receiving end." My voice had turned into a trembling plead – I just wanted Aiden to stop shifting his mood so frequently. Whatever demons he had in his head needed to be destroyed; the shell that surrounded his heart needed to be broken – and sure, maybe I didn't have to be the one to do that, but I was sure as hell going to try and help. Don't quit on him like you have done in everything else in your life, April.

He sighed angrily. "It's my mother's death anniversary soon. In about a week. The clearing with the stars just reminds me of her, that's all."

Oh. I swallowed, not knowing what the 'right' thing any other normal person would say. "Right." I finally settled on saying after a while, gulping hard afterwards. Smooth – that's all you're going to say. "Is it going to be 8 years?"

He nodded and leaned back against the stump so the muscles in his arms naturally flexed. "How old were Cole and Kaden?"

"Cole was 15. Kaden was 17."

"And who was –"

He cut me off abruptly. "You don't need to keep trying April." He said bluntly, his tone instantly making my hope sap. He groaned and looked up at the sky, shutting his eyes – it was only then that I saw the true tension clouded behind his face. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? It's just... I don't like talking about my mother. And I sure as hell don't like that pity look you're sending my way right now."

"I'm not giving you any look!" I protested.

"Just drop it though, okay?"

"Look, I know you don't like talking about your mother - that's evident in the way you come across whenever she comes across in conversation." I kept my tone monotone in attempt to gauge Aiden's attention – maybe playing Devil's Advocate was the only way around this.

"She died – she was murdered, okay? Is that what you wanted me to say, April?" He exploded, his eyes widening. "And I was the one who caused that! I murdered my own mother!"

My eyes widened involuntarily and I winced but stood my ground, certain Aiden wasn't capable of such a thing. "Aiden... That can't be the truth, surely that can't be the truth."

He pinched the place between his eyes. "April."

I remained silent, encouraging him on.

"Her name was Maria – she was murdered by a pack of rouges. Do you know what rouges are?"

I nodded uncertainly. "A pack of wolves that don't belong to any specific pack?"

He nodded. "I was 12 years old and we were going out to the clearing because there was a comet that night – werewolf eyes can see stars and constellations more clearly than the human eye and we don't need telescopes in most cases. But that night, May 14, we decided to bring out all the equipment. My mother was teaching me the new constellations. It was cold and it had recently rained, but we were both adamant about going and so we left. Kaden or Cole hated that kind of stuff, so they stayed home with my father instead." I felt my heart constrict. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure if I had overstepped my place.

"So we left and we were walking through the woods like any other night; it was just the two of us as usual but I loved it. Every moment. I still remember the way her eyes lit up when she saw the stars; it stays with you. It haunts you. During the walk, we were approaching the clearing when a pack of rouges ambushed us from behind." He paused and his voice cracked – I didn't dare let out the breath I was holding and tears pricked my eyes; I knew what came next.

He powered on, his voice now dull as though all life had been sucked out of it. "They killed my mother for no reason – they wanted to prove a point I later learned. They didn't want to be seen as the rouges that didn't belong and intruded on territory; they wanted to climb the social ranks. They knew my mother was the Luna of the Silvermoon Pack and so they murdered her in cold blood to prove a point – the point that the rouges were united and powerful. And I had to watch every moment – and I couldn't help – I watched her die – I watched her eyes go milky when she took her final breath. And I just sat there by her side. The fucking idiots kept me alive so I could pass the message on to other packs who would hopefully view them as a formal pack and not delinquents. As soon as my father found out, his anger came first instead of his grief. He sent out hundreds of wolves, and from different packs too – their fury was just as much as his. Rouges didn't pull stunts like that; they stayed in one place and moved on after a while. That was convention. Those bastards broke that rule and murdered a Luna of a pack in order to change werewolf society. And it wasn't accepted. The wolves eventually hunted the rouges down and killed them slowly, one by one. And I just waited at home, too young to go and join the bastards that murdered my mother."

My breath caught in my throat and I froze, unable to look at Aiden. Silence passed between us, the only sound being the late birds singing sweetly in the trees. "Aiden..."

He kept his head low. "Whatever. It was 7 years ago."

"Still Aiden! It's easy to see why this affected you so much; you were 12 years old. You were confused and panicked – any other child wouldn't have known what to do either!"