The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53

ARIA

Cassandra will be coming for dinner tonight, and I’m thinking of making something special.

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Since I was a pre-teen, I’ve loved to cook. Most evenings, I’m the one who prepares our meals, and I’m pretty good at it. I can make an array of dishes-casseroles, risottos, baked goods, pastries, and so much more.

Uncle Barty told me that Cassandra will be bringing dinner, so I want to make dessert. I’m excited for her arrival because she promised me she’d bring the book filled with information on Nocturns to me, and I’ll figure out more about myself.

Though I no longer have those terrible symptoms that I did before my twenty-first birthday, I do feel the change in me, and I want to know what it is. How to deal with it.

I want to know exactly who I am, down to the last detail.

So, I decide to grab a few things to make a cheesecake. I could head into town, but there’s a shop in the neighborhood-the one that belongs to Luca and his family-so I might as well just show my support.

Most shop owners are Gamma-born, as they’re the ones who can afford to run their own businesses. Unfortunately, our pack’s hierarchy is what determines who makes it and who doest, which is why I’m one of the few Omegas at Ironclaw U, and it’s all thanks to the scholarship I got because of my uncle’s position as coach.

It’s extremely unfair, so I’ll always find a way to support Omegas if I can.

It takes me twenty minutes of walking to get there, and when I push the glass door open, I see Luca standing behind the

counter.

I haven’t seen him since the whole thing with Ryder took place, but it feels like much longer.

“Aria,” he says in a friendly way. “It’s been a while.”

“Yeah,” I say, offering him a smile.

A few beats of silence pass. I question my decision to come here and ask myself if I should just walk around then leave. Is it strange that I only just remembered what happened to him? These last few days were hellish and my mind hasn’t been in the right place.

Maybe he resents me for what happened.

Luca breaks the long and awkward silence to ask, “Need anything?”

“Yeah. I’m just looking for a few things to make a cheesecake.”

“Sounds good,” he comments before smiling. “If you need anything, all you have to do is ask. The baskets are over there.”

I start looking around for the ingredients I’ll need and Luca goes back to whatever it was he was doing before I walked in here. I fill the basket with everything I need, and then I head to the counter to pay.

“All done?”

I nod, and he starts scanning the items. A few seconds pass before something happens that draws my attention: Fancy, sleek black cars drive right past the shop. I count four of them in total Luca also noticed them.

“I wonder what that’s about,” he comments. “I’ve never seen carske that around here.”

We both make a non-verbal decisions to check it out, leaving my scanned items on the counter. I push the door open, and,

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to my surprise, notice that the cars have parked in the middle of the road not too far away from us.

Luca folds his arms and looks down at me. “What do you think is going on?”

“No idea.”

They’re joined by other cars coming in the opposite direction and I have this sudden urge to tell Luca that maybe we should head inside. It sure looks like something shady is about to happen.

Still, I don’t move. My eyes are straight ahead and I’m watching every move.

It’s not long before people start to get out of the cars. I see men in suits and black sunglasses step out of the four cars first, and they’re followed by a man with stylish gray hair and a younger woman who looks to be a little younger than me. Her hair is long and black while her skin is as white as a sheet of paper. I can see her red lips from where I’m standing.

“Have you ever seen these people at the university?”

“Nope.” I would’ve recognized her.

The doors of the other cars also start to open at the same time, and I see a group of men I don’t recognize along with our Alpha and…

Ryder.

The sight of his face, even from a distance, shocks everything okay?”

Instinctively, I step behind Luca who gives me a surprised look. “Is

“Yeah, I just…” I trail off when I see the two groups of people move toward the space between the parked cars. The Alpha shakes hands with the gray-haired man, who then gestures at the young woman with a proud look on his face.

By now, Luca has recognized Ryder and he’s uncomfortable. He suggests, “Maybe we should head inside.”

I’m barely listening to him because Ryder’s eyes haven’t left the young woman’s face and my insides start to twist and turn. I feel sick to my stomach, and I already know, without being told, hat the two of them are supposed to have something.

Marriage. An agreement of some kind. I don’t know.

The young woman doesn’t look like a nobody-she might even be the daughter of an Alpha.

I’ve always been good at looking at the bigger picture and jumping to conclusions.

The two men talk for a bit, and then the young woman steps forward and wraps her arms around Ryder, who hugs her back. My mouth practically falls open and I look at the scene before me with rage. I feel a lot hotter. My skin starts to get so clammy that the wind cools me,

I can’t believe how angry I am. I have the urge to march toward them and pull her out of his embrace before slamming my fist into his cheekbone for being a damn liar! Is this the guy who told me he wanted me to be his? That confessed to me that he didn’t care about societal norms?

The one who told me he didn’t want to reject me?

He’s a lying bastard and I should’ve known how this would end. then he starts looking around like he’s searching for something,

yder steps back, his father and the other men chuckle, and an he sense my presence here like I sometimes sense his?

I turn on my heel and storm into the shop, not wanting to be seen by him. Luca follows me and says, “Well. What a spectacular waste of time that was, right?”

I want to bark at him. Tell him to shut up. But I’m too distracted by the sickness that’s taken over my mind and body. Fuck Ryder Drexel. How dare he look into my eyes and lie to me? Is it because I’m an Omega nobody and his lies won’t have any

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serious consequences?

I’m so pissed off.

“Aria…are you okay?”

STEA

I shake my head and ask him, “Do you have a toilet in here?”

“Yeah, in the-”

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I start running in the direction he’s pointing and don’t wait for him to finish. I find myself in a storage room with many boxes around, and find the small door that leads to a toilet. I sink to my knees in front of it and heave, pouring all the venom out into the water.

Unfortunately, I don’t feel better afterward.

I just have this aching need to cry.

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