Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232
LEAH
For a second I think I’m going to pass out.
I get dizzy and I can’t seem to draw a full breath.
This is too much.
It’s too big, too life altering, too shocking.
All these weeks since I woke up and started grieving my son, my baby-has been alive this whole time, and Aaron has been hiding him.
I think I should have an opinion about that.
I think I’m so angry about that, my fury has become this huge, incomprehensible thing, so that I can’t even deal with it right now.
The one fact my brain latches onto is the last thing Aaron said.
Someone had kidnapped my son
I lift the blanket one more time and draw in the soft, new scent of my baby into my lungs and into my very essence.
My wolf recognizes him on a primal level, and it sends her into a frenzy
We have to find him.
Now.
Without saying a word to Aaron, I drop the blanket aside and then shift.
I wheel around, immediately picking up the newly familiar scent and following it out of the cabin.
James calls out to me in confusion as I streak past him, tracking the fading scent of my son.
I race down the mountain, but when I reach the gate, that’s where the scent trail ends.
Obviously this was where my son was put into some kind of vehicle and driven away.
I’ve got no way of tracking his scent any further, but somehow, I will find him.
I’ve never been more determined to do anything in my entire life.
My driving determination and the fury that’s now starting to coalesce into something palpable sends me back up the mountain to the cabin where I left Aaron.
He’s still there, standing outside near the SUV, talking to James about taking care of the bodies.
He looks relieved when I come bounding back up and shift mid-stride.
“Did
you find anything?” he asks me, a note of hope in his voice.
But I don’t answer, instead I stalk forward and shove him in the chest.
Hard
“How could you? I scream at him, shoving him again.
He looks both resigned and devastated, not even fighting back, and for some reason that makes me even angrier.
“You always think you know better. You walk around making all these decisions for everyone else that affects their entire lives and you never stop to think if you should ask them what they want, or what they think is good for them. And where has that got us, Aaron? Huh? Our son has been taken and it’s all your fault!”
My chest is heaving and tears are streaming down my face.
He’s unflinching in the face of my tirade, when all I want is some kind of reaction out of him.
“I hate you!” I scream even louder. “You selfish as shole! Don’t you even care?”
I slash my claws at him, and finally, his temper snaps as he catches my wrist in a bruising grip.
“Of course I care!” he roars back at me, eyes glowing with his wolf. “Don’t you dare accuse me of not caring, Leah. I never wanted to hide Ethan from you. But you were in a coma, and you have no idea how close we came to losing him that day when there was an attack on the hospital. I did what I had to in order to protect him. And protect you. I had to spend months thinking you were never going to wake up. And then when you did, our enemies were closing in tighter than ever. Don’t you get it? I don’t care about myself or having the power of three Alphas. You and Ethan are all that matter. And if you were both made safer by you believing our son was dead-so our enemies could see you grieving and believe the lie as well-then I’m sorry, but I’m not going to apologize for it.”
I lied.
I don’t hate him.
I love this self-sacrificing idiot.
But I’m so furious with him, I can barely see straight.
Part of me gets it.
I think maybe if I’d been in his shoes, I’d have done the same.
Anything to protect our son, even if it meant inadvertently hurting Aaron.
But I’m not ready or willing to accept that right now
Because right now, I’m terrified about what’s happened to our son, and it’s easier to be angry than aft
I yank myself out of Aaron’s grasp, and then march over to James.
“Give me the keys to the SUV,” I demand in a heated voice.
James hands them over without question
“Where are you going?” Aaron wants to know, anger still brimming in his words.
“I’m going to find my son,” I tell him as I open the driver’s side door. “Feel free to stay here and clean up your mess.”