Heart of the Unknown Alpha (4 page)

“Are you seeing him again? Can I meet him? Do you think he is into men? If not how about a threesome between me, you and him?  Do you think he could handle the two of us at the same time? OH that would be so much fun! You and a lovely piece of man meat all at one shot! Girl you have got to get me into his bed!”

Aryana started laughing so hard she about fell off the couch. Nothing had ever happened between her and Tony and they both knew nothing ever would. However that didn’t stop Tony from joking about it. Tony’s playing field was way more open then hers since he didn’t discriminate. In fact whenever she and Tony did discuss dating he always included her with him as part of a relationship. “Tony, I highly doubt I will ever see him again in this lifetime. I just drove him home and then drove back. As for men, I don’t think he is as equal an opportunist as you.”

“That’s a shame. You need to get out more and spread those thighs butterfly. SO tell me about this new client of yours? Is he good looking? How about single? Think he would be interested in walking on the dark side of his sexuality?”

They discussed her newest client and Tony’s latest trip abroad photographing some of the most gorgeous people around the world. Naturally he complained like always about the girls being to skinny and the men either not being built enough or having all ego with little substance behind it. They discussed the projects she was working on for her business and eventually got around to discussing Scott.

“So has he contacted you yet asking you to come back?”

“No, no he hasn’t. Even if he did I wouldn’t want him back. I NEEDED him there when my dad was sick and he wasn’t. I finally took down all the photos of us that were up. It was past time.” Aryana looked out the window trying not to tear up at the thought of the loneliness and pain her ex had caused.

Tony watched carefully, concern filling his brown eyes. “Are you doing OK with the pictures being gone? I know that was huge for you.”

Even after everything that bastard had done, Tony had been unable to get her to take down all the pictures she had of her and that asshole Scott. Her dream wedding dress was hanging in the back of a closet at his house because she couldn’t bear to part with it, yet hadn’t been able to look at it without breaking down. It had been a compromise that Tony had had to wrangle out of her a week after the funeral. 

Tony had always cared for her even as a child. He had been the one visiting her in the hospital and bringing her changes of clothing. When Scott has shown up and made an ass of himself, it had been Tony who had gone into Scotts house and packed up all of Aryana’s things, and a few of Scotts for good measure. Tony wondered if the jack ass was still looking for his precious gold Rolex or if he had given up yet. Tony had also taken the engagement ring back too. Hey a gift was a gift in his book, besides if Scott had wanted to keep it so bad he shouldn’t have let it sit out in the open and Tony alone in his house to do the packing. When Rayna was ready he would give them to her, along with a few other things he had got his hands on. After everything she had gone through because of him it was only fair, besides Scott could replace those things easily enough but he could never undo the pain he had cause Tony’s dearest friend.

After making sure Aryana was OK and paying their tab Tony walked Aryana to her car and gave her a big hug, kissing the top of her head. His heart felt full and heavy at the same time. He truly wanted the best for her and knew she had to have time to grieve. Maybe in time things would change and his Rayna would come back. He hoped so, by God he hoped so.

Chapter 5 Meeting the Ex

              Aryana turned down her street and couldn’t help but notice the large black SUV parked in front of her house. She kept an eye on it as she pulled into her drive and climbed out. The darkened windows made it impossible to see who was inside and she got an odd sensation of being watched as she hurried up the walk to her front door.  She had just turned the key and started to push her front door open when she heard the door to the SUV behind her open, her heart leapt into her throat as she turned wide frightened eyes to the vehicle behind her preparing to bolt into her house and throw the deadbolt.

Darian grabbed the flowers from the passenger seat and shut the driver’s door. He suddenly went alert, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he caught it. The stench of fear drifted to him over the perfume coming from the flowers in his hand. Where was it coming from? Closing his eyes he pinpointed it as coming from the house in front of him. His wolf started to growl and pace in his ear, alert for any signs of danger.  Coming around the hood of the car his eyes darted left and right as his nose pinpointed the fear coming from the woman in front of him, her back pressed against the door behind her, her eyes huge, his eyes narrowed wondering what had scared her. What was it? What had frightened her? He stopped a few feet away from her. Raising his sunglasses and perching them on his head he watched her carefully. “Aryana? Are you OK?” He gentled his voice trying not to spook her.

              Aryana blinked, standing mute as she willed her heart rate to return to normal. She could not believe what she was seeing. There was Darian, in dress shirt and snug jeans, a man she thought she would never see again, standing in her yard with the biggest bouquet of flowers she had ever seen any man hold. Finally her shoulders sagged and she was able to move again. Nodding she lifted her mouth into a small smile and swallowed.  “Yeah, I am fine just was a little spooked is all. I’m not used to finding strange vehicles parked in front of my house.”

Darian chuckled and even looked sheepish as he instantly relaxed. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just realized I never thanked you properly for helping me.” He took a few steps closer but not close enough to crowd her. He held out the massive bouquet to her. “These are for you. I hope you like them.”

              Aryana reached out and cradled the mass of flowers in her arms. There was enough there for at least six or seven regular bouquets. She moved aside the tissue and cellophane and her eyes filled with tears. Inside mixed with babies breathe and fern were cream, pale pink and yellow roses, lilacs, and lavender.  It was the most beautiful bunch of flowers she had ever seen. Nobody had ever given her flowers except for the few that had arrived for her father’s funeral. She had to swallow hard several times to get past the huge lump in her throat. How had he known her favorite flowers? She doubted even Tony knew.  She raised very wet eyes to his and softly got out “Thank you.”

Darian watched as tears welled up in Aryana’s eyes as she looked at the flowers. His heart thumped in his chest, he silently sent up a prayer that she liked them. He had no clue what flowers she liked or even if she liked them at all. As he saw the tears forming he started to feel like an ass. He had upset her. This was not going well and of course this was when his wolf started to whine in his ear, upset at Aryana’s obvious distress. His heart dropped to his feet. He gave her a smile and turned to walk away, he had caused enough turmoil in her life, she didn’t need him, or ANYONE like him, causing her any more pain.  He had only made it about three steps when he heard his name. He turned around and just watched her. Her watery smile helped his heart to make it back to his knees.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to seem unappreciative. I love them. I…. It’s just hard to explain.” She reached behind her and opened the front door, “would you like to come in? I know it was a drive and the least I can do is offer you a drink.” She walked into the house leaving the door open behind her.

Darian cautiously walked into the living area and looked around. Aryana was in the kitchen searching through the cupboard and pulling out what looked like festive ceramic water pitchers. Darian watched as she placed each flower into one of four improvised vases fascinated. She arranged each bundle carefully. Every so often gently rubbing a finger softly over a rose bud or putting it up to her nose to smell its soft fragrance, a secret smile on her face, a dreamy, wondrous look in her eyes. Lord she was beautiful. Where was her husband? And what had been the deal with the pictures in the hall? Darian still didn’t really know anything about her. He wanted that to change. For some reason he just couldn’t walk away from this woman and go back to his life like she never existed. He hoped she felt the same. If she didn’t his wolf was going to drive him crazy, as is the dang thing was becoming more difficult to deal with then he ever had before.

Aryana placed each flower in its container trying to arrange them the best she could as she worked. She loved the delicate blooms and couldn’t help but touch their velvet soft petals every so often. She was in her own little world as she gently handled each stem. Soon each of the four containers was full to capacity and she still had more flowers to go. Digging through the back of her cupboard she came up with 2 more pitchers and hoped they would be enough. Filling the first four with water she turned with on in her hands and jumped, clutching her hands tight around the pitcher to keep from dropping it. She had totally forgotten about Darian.

              “Oh I am so sorry. I got so distracted by the flowers I forgot you where here.” Her cheeks pinked at her admission and she hurriedly set the pitcher down in the center of her kitchen table.  “Umm, there is beer or wine if you want or I can make you some coffee or tea? I think I still have some sweet tea in the fridge.”

              Darian grinned a light dancing in his eyes. “Iced tea would be fine.”

              He thought it was cute that she had been so entranced by his flowers that she had forgotten his presence. While she was busy filling a glass from a pitcher from the fridge he grabbed two more of the flower filled pitchers and turned to look at her. “Where did you want these?”

She looked up having finished filling the glass. “Oh uh, well one can go on the living room table and the other can go on the side table under the mirror I guess. I hadn’t really thought about it to be honest. There are so many flowers I am not sure where I am going to put them all.”

Darian nodded and walked past her, gently brushing her shoulder as he walked over to the two places she had indicated and set down the pitchers. By the time he turned around she had put the tea back in the fridge and his glass on the kitchen table and was once again working on filling the last two pitchers with the remaining flowers.

When she was done he reached around her, momentarily enjoying the feel of having his arms around her, well sort of around her, and grabbed a heavy pitcher in each hand. “Where did you want me to put these?”

She turned around quickly, bumping her shoulder into his chest. “Oops, sorry. You can just leave them. I can put them in place myself.”
              “You could, but why should you do it yourself when I am here to help? Now where to?” He saw indecision and confusion cloud her clear blue eyes for a minute. She nibbled on the corner of her lip as she seemed to be thinking it over.

              Well, I guess one could go in my office at the end of the hall, and maybe the other one in the downstairs bedroom, you know the room you woke up in?”

He nodded then jutted his chin in the direction of the last one. “What about that one?”

              “Oh, umm, I will take that one up to my bedroom.” She turned and grabbed the last pitcher, her hands shook a little. 

Darian nodded and took off to deposit his pitchers in the designated places. He was just entering the office when he heard her footfalls on the stairs leading to the second floor. Curious he set the flowers down on the desk and looked around at the space. There were shelves with binders and some albums above the dark cherry desk. On the desk itself were three computer screens, a mouse and a cordless stylus cradled in its holder. A small note pad and a square open top box with pens in it sat nearby along with a cordless phone. Beside the phone sat a small framed picture of Aryana with a much older man. He had the same bright blue eyes and his hair was darker then hers, and he was taller but the resemblance was clear, her father. On the wall to the right was a large window looking out to a back yard that wasn’t much bigger the living room. On the opposite wall were places where the paint had oxidized and left the marks from frames that had hung there for some time.
More missing pictures? What is going on here?
His list of questions about Aryana just grew the more time he spent around her. He was just about to leave the room when he noticed the boxes on the floor behind the desk. There were frames of all shapes and sizes crammed into the boxes. He felt his wolf buddy’s ears perk up and twitch at the boxes. Crouching down he pulled a few frames from the first box. Looking at the pictures he felt his heart lurch.

              Aryana and a light brown haired man stood arms wrapped around each other, a ring on her hand with the stone the size of Gibraltar. The next frame was of the two of them at a picnic, love shining through from her eyes as she looked at the guy. Grabbing another frame from the box he couldn’t help but look at it. This time his heart completely froze solid. It was a close up of Aryana and the same guy. A tiny bundle with a head of downy hair peeking out was tucked securely in her arms, the man leaning over Aryana’s arm smiling, his finger wrapped by a tiny fist, both were looking lovingly at the baby.
HOLY SHIT!!! Aryana has a husband AND a child? Where the hell are they? Why is she here alone?
Unable to look at anymore he horridly shoved the pictures back into the box and rushed to his feet, his breathing coming ragged. Who was this woman? Why was she alone? Where were her husband and child? Was she in some sort of trouble? And WHY in the hell would his wolf not leave him alone about her? It kept pawing at him and pacing and whimpering and whining and was truthfully becoming down right annoying.  That settled it. If for nothing else then his wolf to give him some peace once again he was getting some answers.