Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret

Chapter 283

AARON

The Council has offered me a seat at the table.

The same Council that tried to kill me now wants me to rule among them.

I immediately accept, knowing it’ll give me more control over the future of both my pack and family.

Axel lingers, and I can tell he’s not sure what to do with. himself, so I walk over and clap him on the

shoulder.

“Thanks for your help today,” I tell him.

He shrugs. “Didn’t do much, partner. Most of the action had already gone down by the time your mate

released me from

the cells.”

“Still, I appreciate your willingness to fight with us. Which is why there’s a place in my pack for you, if

you want it.”

Axel looks surprised. “Even knowing all the rumors about me

and my past?”

“It doesn’t matter what people gossip about, I got to know you down in those cells, and I can see the

real man you are beneath all that. Besides, what’s the point of making mistakes and leaving them in the

past if we don’t get the chance to learn from them?”

“I’m not promising to stay forever,” Axel cautions. “Eventually I’m going to have to go back and face all

those past mistakes. But in the meantime, I’ll gladly take a place at your side.”

“Then it’s settled,” I tell him with a grin.

“Besides,” Axel adds as we start walking toward the SUV where James and Leah are waiting. “I owe

your mate for freeing me.”

“And I’m sure Leah will tell you she was just doing what was right, and you don’t owe her anything,” I Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

respond.

Axel looks at Leah then, and while there’s a hint of appreciation in his gaze, it’s not to the point where I

feel threatened or think he means anything by it other than

respect.

“That’s one hell of a Luna you’ve got there, Aaron,” Axel says in

a low voice.

“I’m not proud to admit it took me a while to realize that, but I definitely know it now, and I’m trying to

prove every day that I

deserve her.”

Axel nods and doesn’t say anything else as we arrive at the SUV.

Leah immediately steps into my arms, and I hug her tight, enjoying the simple feel of her lithe form

against mine.

“We were so close, Aaron,” she says, her voice m ffled against my chest. “I can’t believe we got so

close, only for Ryker to steal it. What the hell is he even going to do with it?”

“I shudder to think,” I tell her in return, which is the absolute truth.

Rogue wolves are unpredictable at best.

I don’t want to even think about what a rogue wolf in possession of a weapon that can kill entire cities

worth of people is planning to do with it.

“And now the Council has officially tasked you with finding him,” Leah says worry clear in her voice and

in her expression as she leans back to look up at me.

But even if the Council hadn’t officially tasked me with

tracking down and stopping Ryker, I still would have done it.

Someone needs to secure that Al tech, and honestly, I feel for

Ryker.

Imagine being forced into a situation where you felt like you had to kill your mate for the greater good of

all wolves at large.

If I’d had to do something like that, I’m not sure I would have simply gone rogue. More like I would have

burned the entire world down around me, and then taken myself out as well.

Unfortunately, I’m now intimately familiar with the feeling of losing a mate.

But to know it happened by your own hand?

I can barely conceive of such an agonizing tragedy.

“Come on,” I tell Leah. “Let’s get home to Rathborn mansion. I can’t wait to see Ethan.”

Leah nods, but then something seems to occur to her and she gets this expression on her face that I

don’t know how to read.

“Leah, what’s wrong?” I ask in alarm, terrified something happened to Ethan while I was locked up.

“Aaron,” she says in a rush. “I completely forgot with everything happening… James and I, we found

Emily.”

“Who?” I ask in confusion, even as my heart starts pounding

too loud and too hard in my chest.

Because Leah can’t actually mean-

“Your sister, Aaron. We found Emily. She’s alive.”

B