Chapter 32

**AUSTIN**

I have sent a request for the Council to all its members in order to kill two birds with one stone. First, to explain my situation with Aria and to evaluate the possibility of sending help to Adam. If someone had told me a few months ago that I was considering helping him, I would have laughed in their face. David has barely spoken to me since the day before yesterday, he puts on a brave face in front of the others but when we both get together we only talk about pack business. There is no way I would make the first move towards him, after the way he spoke to me. Even if I am his best friend, I am still his alpha. My wolf is a bit calmer since he met Aria personally and especially since we slept together. When I got the call from Adam yesterday, I couldn’t imagine what he was going to tell me. In all honesty, I thought he was going to give me a hard time for sleeping with her, but what do you know, the absentee is always wrong.
Whether I liked it or not, his problem became my problem because of Aria’s feelings for him.
David’s father is a member of the Council and is very close to his son so I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew about our love triangle. Oh my goddess, just saying love triangle grosses me out. We need to think of a way to present this. The more I think about how I’m going to explain all this and especially about the words I’m going to use to convince them, the more I tell myself that we still have a lot of things to talk about but the fact that Adam is stuck in his palace doesn’t help, so I’m going to have to figure it out by myself.

I am brought out of my thoughts when Nick, the pack’s accounting manager, enters my office for his weekly report. Once we’ve gone through everything we needed to see together, he takes a long time putting his stuff away.

“Did you want to talk to me about something?” I ask him.

“Actually yes. I wanted to know, you know Riley came with a friend of hers, a pretty brunette and I wanted to know...”

“She’s off limits.” I cut him off curtly.

“Yeah that’s what Garrett told me but I didn’t know....”

“That’s all you need to know right now. No one is going near her. Understand?”

“Yes Alpha.”

He gets up and leaves my office without looking back. I know they must all be wondering what we’re doing together, they know I didn’t tmark her so they must surely believe she’s not my mate. And obviously they think they have a chance. When you’re working in the pack, you don’t really have a chance to meet new people so as soon as a new person comes along, they’re bound to get attention and Aria is a very pretty young lady.

Only a few minutes later there is a knock on the door and I don’t have to open it to know who it is. I get up and open the door for her. I must have gone faster than she expected because she looks surprised.

“Too fast?” I ask her with a smile.

“More than I expected.” She confirms as she walks into my office. “So this is where you spend your days?” She asks me as she walks around the office.

“Yes, it is.” I take the time to observe her, moving around my space, the way her summer dress moves on her thighs, the way she pushes her long black hair over one shoulder, revealing the place where I dream of inserting my teeth.I don’t even think she has any idea how sexy she is, even the way she touches my stuff, with her fingertips is sexy.

“I saw Rosalie earlier and she taught me something that should interest you.” She looks at me, biting her lower lip before continuing. “She found some diaries in her family things but they don’t belong to them. They were written by a young woman who had two mates, a werewolf and a vampire.”

I look at her warily, a multitude of questions coming to mind but I don’t know where to start.

“We have the same reaction.” She tells me with a soft laugh. “It calls into question everything we thought we knew, I haven’t read them all yet but Rosalie has. Well not all of them. They had children, hybrids.”

“So they are more than what we thought. Did she tell you where they are?”

She shakes her head.

“Don’t tell anyone yet. It’s best to keep it between us.” I telle her before sitting on my chair.

I would prefer that we know more before releasing this information, because I don’t know what some people might do with it. I have to admit that I’m a little confused by this information myself. But I’m also excited about this news, maybe they can tell us more about how it went for them and reassure us, or not.

“That’s what I thought too. I got Adam on the phone and told him. He was as surprised as we were, he’s going to try to find out more about Dimitri, the vampire. Maybe you can try to get some information on James, as soon as I know what pack he was from.”

I nod.

“Have they got anything on Adam’s side? About the attack.” I ask him.

“No. They’re trying to find clues but so far they have nothing. Do you think we could go see him?”

“I can’t go away. I’m only coming back from time off.”

“Well then I can...”

“No!” I cut her off as I stand up. “They don’t even know what happened there. I refuse to let you put yourself in danger.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Have you talked to Adam about it? Was he the one who asked you to join him?”

“No! He didn’t tell me anything! I’m an adult and can make my own decisions. I told you out of respect, that’s all!”

She leaves my office, slamming the door behind her. She and her damn temper are going to be my undoing.