Chapter forty four

“Aliyah, can I talk to you?” Scarlet asked from the bedroom door and Aliyah sighed and stood up from the bed, went over to the door and unlocked it. “How are you?” Scalet asked as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

“I’m fine,” Aliyah responded and went back to sitting on the bed.

Sitting beside her, Scarlet sighed, “Edward is still sitting in the conference room, he has not stood up since you walked out that morning and it’s been ten hours since then. Won’t you go to him?”

“I don’t want to talk to him Mom, and to be honest, I would be happy if you don’t force me to.”

Scarlet smiled softly, “when we thought he was dead, you never recovered from the pain and now he is here and you are saying you don’t want to talk to him?” Seeing the look she was giving her, Scarlet chuckled, “Monica told me everything.”

Sighing, Aliyah shrugged, “I was mourning him, mom, and I know that I am happy that he is back but mom…look at him, he is not the same.”

“Everybody has been saying that, including Sean. But you shouldn’t join them.”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“He is your mate.”

“Which means that I know him better than anyone.”

“Exactly. And not just that, it means that you are the only one that can pull him back from the abyss. I may not be a witch Aliyah but I feel it deep in my bones that he came back for you and no one, absolutely no one knows the battle he had to fight to achieve that and if he happened to have lost himself on the way, you are the one that can help him remember, only you can show him the man he used to be. Sweetheart, look around, no one approaches him but you, he listens to no one but you. Rather than fight him and make him lose himself some more, you should help him, bring him close Aliyah, show him warmth. Melt his ice, it’s the least you can do as his mate. Let him know that he has you and that no matter what, you would always love him, make him understand that we are not his enemies.”

“Mom, you don’t understand…”

“You are the one that don’t understand. You have always been strongheaded, I have always known that, but no matter how strongheaded a woman can be, when it comes to her loved ones, she has to be soft. Look at him, Aliyah, he is like the strongest being alive, he is already strong, he already has the strength, he doesn’t need a strong mate. What he needs is a woman, a woman with her feminine glory to show him that there is more to this world than being strong. A woman that her soft caresses will melt down the struggles he faces in the battlefront. Be the calm to his storm, Aliyah, not another boulder of ice that he needs to conquer.”

“Mom…”

“Don’t make him think that he has to conquer you, Aliyah, because that was how it seemed this morning. Let him know that he already has you and don’t have to fight for you. Forget anything he said, if he doesn’t love you he wouldn’t care who you are with. He wasn’t with you for some time and you don’t have to blame him if he finds it hard to trust any young boy with you. Don’t be a prize he has to win, be his mate. He is going through a trial time now and he would need your support and not you shouting and daring him to do things. Mm mm, that is not how it’s done. I used to be strongheaded, in fact I still am, but I don’t channel that energy to my family, I channel it outside to protect my family, notice the different.”

Aliyah sighed, not knowing what else to say but also knowing that her mom won’t let her say otherwise.

Caressing her face, Scarlet smiled, “go to him sweetheart, he is waiting for you. You can even stay with him tonight, I will look after Asher.” They both glanced at the crib where he was sleeping and Scarlet nodded, “go on, we will be in my room.” At that, she stood up and went to the crib where she picked Asher up. With one last glance at her daughter, she walked out of the room.

Aliyah sat on her bed alone both in the room and in her thought. She let her mind ponder over everything her mother said and it took her sometime to realize that she was right. She won’t bring Edward back by challenging him, she needs to play into his game and then slowly make him remember what it is like to have friends and people that you can trust. Blowing out air from her mouth, she stood up and left the room.

Aliyah pushed open the big doors that leads into the conference room and just like her mother had said, Edward was sitting on the alpha’s chair. She didn’t need to wonder if he had seen her for his eyes were on her immediately the door opened. He could even had felt her coming over or something like that. She walked into the room and approached the high table, all the while, Edward’s gaze was on her like a hawk. “Why are you still here?” she whispered.

“The last time I check, you got hurt when I wasn’t around,” he replied. His voice was a bit hoarse, evident of not speaking for hours.

“Is it still the same?”

“What?”

“Do you still feel the pains I feel or know what I am thinking or the emotions that I am feeling?”

“It’s stronger now,” he replied, “but this time, I feel it here,” he touched her mating mark on his neck. “I know he bit you last night, I felt it. And after staying up all night and thought about it, I think biting you was what healed him. I have not figured out how but one thing I know is that you are going to stay away from those rogues, the deranged.”

Aliyah opened her mouth to speak and he interrupted, “and I don’t mind tying you up or locking you in a room to make sure that is achieved if you think you can disobey me.”

Smiling, Aliyah shook her head, “I wasn’t planning on disobeying you or even fighting over it. I just wanted to say okay.”

This time, she saw the first real expression on his face. He was shocked, like he wasn’t expecting to hear that. “You weren’t going to drag it?”

“Of course not, as long as it makes you happy.”

“What is wrong?”

“What makes you think something is wrong?”

“You have never been this accepting since I know you.”

Chuckling, Aliyah went around the table and climbed up the stairs to meet him. She stood behind him and placed her head on his shoulder, “why should I fight when I know that you will always be here to protect me and whatever you do is for my own good.”

“And you are just figuring that out now?”

“Better late than never, right?” she kissed his neck, right on her mark and she noticed him stiffen. “I don’t want to fight you anymore, Edward. It was so lonely without you and now that I have you back, I would rather spend our days holding each other than fighting you. I love you, Edward.”

I love you, Edward, the words played in his mind and like a distant memory, he remembered the words that he knew had kept him going in a time he can’t remember, a life he knew he had lived but just can’t place when or where. I love you. The snow-white wolf flashed in his mind and his closed his eyes, the words ringing in his ears, I love you, and he heard something crack within him.