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Warning: description of child abuse. If you don't want to read it, skip through Zara's POV

This chapter takes place in the time before 76 of Seeking

Chapter 4
Aidan's POV
He had joined the Watson pack nearly ten months prior. There was a great many difference between the Watson pack and the Corbin den. The den he had been born to was matriarchal as is normal for serpents, with his great-grandmother an eastern coral snake being head of the den, while here it seemed that the elder could be either gender, it was merely a fact of chance that it ended up being a male. Elder Corbin rules her den with an iron fist, yet Elder Watson seems to be a very easy going sort. Another difference is the rolls within the den. Within his birth den roll was hereditary, you preformed the same ones as your ancestors, which meant those at the bottom of the den would remain at the bottom of the den, those at the top remained at the top. Since they are matriarchal, females were always given priority over males. Only a female could improve her rank within the den. Here though, you did not have to do the same things for the den as your parents or ancestors, your own abilities were what determined your place within the den. While some may share their rank with their family because of similar gifts, it is not because they are forced into the roll. It was most unusual and very appreciated. Particularly since he did not wish to be a Tracker nor a grunt his entire life and those were his two options because his sire was a Tracker, and his dame could not seem to hold any sort of meaningful occupation down and never advanced within the ranks in anyways.

He wouldn't have been allowed any of the other occupations in their family because he was a cobra, not a coral snake. That had been part of his reasoning for moving from his birth home and den in Florida to London and the den his sire. While he knew that wolves operated on a different set of methods than a coral snake or cobra, he had not expected them to be quite as different as it is.

Still, he was quite happy with his place here, he was considered an adult, or at least treated like one by the vast majority of the shifters in the pack. The others of his age group had been polite and welcoming with very little fight between them for dominance or rank. While he did not hang out with them often, he was welcome to join them as he desired and they tended to invite him to outings and gatherings even though he rarely came to them. He had been surprised by the fact that four of them had all graduated from high school or more exactly their equivalence of it before they were eighteen and ahead of the others in their original class. Hell, Abigail was sixteen and already enrolled in university working on her second year. Despite their welcoming he never invited them over here even though most of them invited him to their house on occasion. The only one of the wolves his age he spent any time with was Konrad and a part of that came from the fact that he had gotten to know the mostly silent wolf during his first months here because that wolf spends several hours a week training with Eric.

Tonight was the first time he would see his sister since moving here shortly before his seventeenth birthday. While Zara had always accepted him as is, or at least tried, she had still had her moments where the fear their birth den had for all cobras showed though. However, of his birth den, she was the only one to even bother trying to keep in touch with him, emailing him once every couple of days with updates on how life was going. A lot of what she had to tell him about was her work for the den since she did not have much of a life. As a rememberancer she was expected to be a record keeper for the den, that alone would not have bothered her but she had run into problems with the fact that she had sworn a bloodseal oath, nothing she recorded could be false and that had angered many within the pack because that meant that she put the actual events into the records without bias or puffed up exaggerations. It also meant she gave credit to males and females equally which angered some of them, including the den elder.

Shortly after eight pm he got a text from her stating that her flight was running late and she would not be getting in until midnight.

Glancing around his apartment he tried to determine what he could do for four hours. He was a bit of a neat freak so there was not any housework that needed done. He had already made up the second rooms bed with clean bedding for her, and stocked the fridge with foods that she would eat. All the dishes had been washed twice. The house completely aired so that the only scent in it was his, and even that he made sure was light so not to bother her. Perhaps he should get some flowers for her room? Then she wouldn't have to scent him when she was trying to sleep.

Closing his eyes he thinks about the various meanings of flowers sorting through all of them within moments, including appearance and scent. What message is he trying to give his sister? Appreciation and thanks that she has come to visit, encouragement in her goal to meet with Eric, well wishes for prosperity and success, and a small sign of affection between them. Eventually he settles on his selection and then calls around to several places before finding one that carries all the flowers he needs. With a smile to himself, he heads out, taking the car Eric had given him as a seventeenth birthday present and a welcome to London gift, it's a short trip there it seems and when he first walks in he is only mildly surprised it is a mouse who runs the shop.

"Good evening sir! I was just getting ready to close up for the night," a short, dark-haired woman greets him with a merry smile.

He bows politely, male to female, seeker to authority, and smells the shock rolling off of her. "Greetings Mistress. A moment of your time please," he knows his accent gives him away as American but is unbothered by this and hopes that she will have patience with him.

She quickly scurries past and he turns slightly to keeper her in his sight, he might not be as paranoid as Eric but he still rarely willing allows strangers behind him. She closes up the shop door, changing her sign to closed and locking it.

"What can I do for you sir? It's rare to get customers who use Old Ways." She asks as she turns to face him, bowing herself with her hands flat on her thighs, her lesser rank to his higher rank.

He smiles, trying for charming and polite, replying, "My sister is coming to visit, I wish to purchase her flowers and yours was the only shop that carried the selection I desire," he pauses, "Of course I understand now it's because you understand that there is more meaning than just a pretty look to them." Again he partial bows, acknowledgement of rank.

She nods, thinking about it for a moment, eyes far away looking, "What flowers were you thinking?" she eventually queries as she heads towards the back of the shop where there are several cool rooms set up with glass front windows to display her varieties without being overly cramped.

"Campanula for thank, galax for encouragement, alstroemeria and yellow poppies for prosperity and success, and at least one yellow rose for affection between siblings." He replies, following but not to close as to make her nervous. One thing Eric had stressed to him when he arrived was that there were a lot of omnivores in the area and pure predators like their selves make them highly nervous.

He is certain that there has been a great many customers through her, however between it being well ventilated and the flowers he can barely taste them, making speaking aloud not nearly as annoying as it otherwise could be.

She nods as she thinks about it for a bit before suggesting, "Have you considered a white carnation for luck?"

He tilts his head sides a bit, considering the option, before slowly nodding, "That would be lovely," he replies.

Again she nods, only this time she sets to collecting the flowers, choosing ones that will have long shelf lives after they have been placed. "Do you know what type of vase they will be placed in?"

He shakes his head once, "No ma'am, I recently moved here and do not have any at this point. Any suggestions would be appreciated."

She nods, changing paths for a moment from the flowers to a glass case on the left wall. "Your sister, you said?"

He nods once.

"Are you close?"

His smile turns sad for a moment as he replies, "Besides my sire, she is the only one in the family I speak with, though I do not think we are close."

"Hmmmm," she murmurs as she looks over the vases, "purple, green, white, and yellow. What month was she born?"

"February," he replies lightly as he continues to watch her, this intrigues him because he had not realized the vase had meaning too.

"Well neither of those flowers matches the meaning you have described." She cocks her head to the side as she looks at the vases. He has to focus not to listen to her thoughts, as she is not shielding her mind while she processes the information and determines what would be best to do. Her mind is whirling on different meaning based on color, birth month, and type. Eventually she asks, "What year was she born and what day? Perhaps that will assist in the determination."

"February second nineteen-ninety-three," he replies, leaning against the counter as he continues to watch her and not listen.

"Birthstones: amethyst, hyacinth, pearl, moonstone, zodiac stone: garnet, element: air," she continues to murmur as she keeps thinking. Finally she smiles, eyes widening as she makes a decision, "Perfect," she grabs a slender based vase with flared out top, it appears to be of a translucent white base with a multihued moonstone or mother of pearl look to it. Once she has that decided on the vase she goes to making the arrangement using a large golden yellow rose for the center, with a ring of blended purple, yellow, and white alstroemeria surrounding it. A second ring of purple and green campanula and white and green galax surround the first. While the outer most ring is made of white carnations and chrysanthemums.

The overall impression is perfect for his goal, and he thanks the mouse repeatedly, making sure to pay her asking price for the flowers plus a generous tip before silently letting himself out. Since he still has two hours before he has to collect her, he heads to the market, one that he had found run by crow family in order to purchase some fresh fruits before heading to the apartment to prepare a small selection of snacks and carefully lay it out surrounding the flowers on the table next to her bed.

Damn it, he thinks, I wasn't even this nervous when I approached Eric about staying with him for a time and that should have been more nerve wracking. Of course, seeing how Zara is the only member of the family besides Eric to even speak with me that might be why. Doesn't help I never actually told her what I planned, I just left without a word to her. I am sure that I will hear about it.

Shaking his head, he checks the clock, determining that even though he will be early to the air port, it will be better than late. Besides, it has to be better than the fretting he is currently doing in the flat. After doing one more quick check to make sure everything is ready for the fourth time, he heads to the car. Since it is later at night he has little traffic to deal with on his way there, and is able to run the laptop he has seated on the passenger seat, checking to make sure nothing eventful has happened using the cameras. Sure enough, things are calm. Even the elder-second seems to be having a calm day since he has not left the apartment yet according to the system inside of it.

At the airport he makes the security team nervous by how still he holds himself and has to remind himself to move occasionally. Every time he stops moving in the method that only snakes can pull off all of their thoughts start to worry in some way or another. Most wonder if he is on some new drug that allows him to freeze, others wonder if he is there with nefarious plots, and the rest are not sure what to think. Sighing to himself he considers vanishing until she gets there but decides that probably would not be good either.

Thankfully, his wait time is relatively short, just a little over an hour between when he arrived and when the plane set down. A short while later she has made it through customs and collected her bag from the cargo area before he feels her eyes sweep the room.

Trying for a light smile, he clears his mind of all conflict before gliding towards her. When he is a few feet away he bows politely, sibling to sibling, younger to elder, as a greeting.

She shakes her head once, chuckling softly, ~You never change.~

~Of course not,~ he replies politely, not using telepathy since she had not. ~The car is this way, if you would follow me, I have the apartment aired and your room ready.~

Aidan, I really hope you did not go out of your way, she murmurs into his mind, a familiar brush he had not felt for months.

~I did not.~ He replies still using the sign language since he had not been invited to use telepathy with her. Hoping he had not fretted enough to leave an impression at the apartment, oh well.

Silently the two of them make their way out of the airport and to the car. Carefully he shoves his laptop in the backseat and shuts it before getting in to drive. Unlike the other females in their family, Zara always preferred to travel lightly, taking only what she needed and the bare minimum at that. The trip from the airport to the apartment is just as silent, he rarely speaks aloud when surrounded by foreign scents, the taste of other people's emotions and scent gets far too annoying to desire.

When they get there, he parks in the small attached garage which costs more to rent than the apartment but is well worth it before politely grabbing her door for her and then showing her up. Upon entry, he automatically flickers his tongue to make sure that the scent is not changed since he left, though his computer or phone would have alerted him had someone other than Eric entered his apartment. Good unchanged.

~Welcome to my home,~ he tells her as he flicks on the lights to the living room.

She glances around, her eyes taking in everything about it before she turns to look at him curiously. "Do you actually live here?"

He nods once, ~I do.~ he does not want to taste her emotions, its bad enough that he gets the impression that she is not pleased with the place from her tone. He must have failed at something when he was cleaning, what did he miss?

"Aidan, this is your home, you should feel comfortable enough to speak within it." she murmurs softly, pausing she looks around for a bit, "Though this does not feel like a home, it doesn't even feel like a crash pad. It's scentless, lacks the look of being lived in, it seems more for show."

~Would you care for something to drink? I have laid out snack foods in your room for you,~ he ignores her comment, this is going to be a good visit, no reason to pick a fight with her.

"No thank you," she replies politely, watching him with a different type of look.

It takes a great deal of effort to stay out of her head, and a small part of him considers listening in just to know what she wants, but determines that would be rude. However he really does not want to taste her emotions, not when he can feel the turmoil in the air. ~This is your room,~ he tells her motioning to the first door, before moving on to the second, ~this is the bathroom.~

"Aidan," there is sorrow and something else in her voice.

~You must be tired from the long trip, I will bid you good night.~ he tells her, he needs to retreat now before the emotions in the air get strong enough that he can easily scent them through his nose as much as his tongue. That would be a bad thing.

As he tries to withdraw she grabs his arm, but flinches at the same time and he is reminded again that while she might be the family member who tolerates him, he is more certain its because family is supposed to than because she actually wants to.

"Why are you so quiet? This is your home. It's supposed to be your place of refuge. The place where you can speak as you desire, feel safe, happy. What's wrong?" she just about demands as she holds his arm.

~Let go,~ he signs with his other hand, nope, not losing his temper. This is going to be a good visit.

"No! Not until I know what's wrong!" she snaps in response.

Apparently his sleep-deprived brain has decided that now is a good time to answer, because its the only reason he can come up with later for his reaction. "Its not your problem, Miss Zara, nor is it something you will understand," he snarls as he turns on her, his frayed nerves combining with the fact he had not slept in two days in an outward explosion, this was not how this was supposed to go. "I taste every emotion that passes through you when I open my mouth, including the fear that you cannot help feel whenever you're in my presence alone. The sadness and disgust, and anything else that you might feel. Besides, you're the one who selected sign language, I was just honoring your wishes. Please sleep well, I made sure that there is no foreign scents in the room for you so it should not cause you difficulties. Goodnight." With that he jerks his arm away and bolts to his room before he has a chance to dig himself into a deeper hole. When would he learn? Zara might be the nicest member of the family, but she doesn't really want to be around him anymore than the rest of them.

Sighing, he closes the door behind him, carefully pushing the blanket he had prepared for this purpose in front of it before stripping and climbing under the blankets. Shifting into his cobra form, he curls upon himself, the only comfort he is likely to receive and considers going to stay with Eric for the night but decides against it.

He just knows he is going to ruin this visit. He has been ruining things his entire life after all.

oOo

Zara's POV
She stared after him, eyes wide as she considered his words. Images pass through her as she wonders what happened. None of this was going as planned. She had come to visit because he was her favorite family member. Biting her lip, she turns off the lights before retreating to the room that he had specified was for her.

However, when she steps in, she stops dead in her tracks staring at the layout of everything. He had carefully made the bed with fresh bedding. There is a small light on, on the end table. Beside the lamp is a beautiful arrangement of flowers with a single, large yellow rose in the center of it. Affection between siblings, her mind provides her, even as she determines the meaning between the rest of the flowers and the arrangement they are in. One thing is for sure, he put a lot of forethought into the meaning and it was definitely him because not only was it designed for meaning it was designed for scent in the way only a serpent would. Surrounding the vase and lamp, carefully laid out and wrapped to keep from spoiling is a variety of fruit pieces, some sitting directly on plates, some sitting on pieces of wax paper and plastic wrap with ice beneath them to keep them cool. All of it is snacks that she has preferred in the past.

"Aidan," she murmurs sadly, needing to understand but knowing he would not say a word to her. Chances were he was going to play dumb when they get up in the morning.

Well there is one way to get around that.

Grabbing her journal and pen out of the bag, she settles onto her bed, unsurprised by how comfortable it is. Carefully, she lifts her right wrist to her mouth, piercing the thin skin with her fangs before touching her left finger tips to the blooded area.

"Mistress of Shadows, Lord of the Sun, Mistress of Sea, accept my humble offerings that my words may speak only truth, that might sight may show understanding." She murmurs softly, invoking the bloodseal that had caused her so many problems before picking the pen up and beginning to write without actually looking at the paper. She knows she will See exactly what she is writing when it is time for now it is best that she record what she needs to.

Several hours pass as she continues to write, filing page after page with words and truths, occasionally reaching over to absently grab a piece of fruit here and there as she continues. Even though she is physically tired, the seal will allow her to record everything before she finally passes out. Right now it is something that she is very thankful for. The sun is just beginning to rise when she finally stops writing and begins to read it instead, falling into the words and actually watching as the events unfold as if she was standing there. In this case however, she actually was recalling it through his eyes, living it with him, one of the curses of using bloodseal truth in conjunction with rememberancy.

-He was maybe four years old, tiny with shaggy black hair and large golden eyes. His favorite past time was following his sister around, the one who was nice to him, not the other one. But that day he somehow ended up with the mean one. Still, he was being quiet, maybe she wouldn't get mad at him for being there. He tasted her anger before he ever saw the hand that smacked him. Shuri was just a little bit short of two years older than him. However she had a mean right hook and smacked him hard into the wall.

"Go away! I hate you!" she yells as she hits him again and again.

He merely curls upon himself. He doesn't know where Mother is and he is not allowed to be by himself so he has to stay with her. Maybe if he doesn't react she'll stop sooner than normal.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" she keeps chanting and he wonders why one of the adults does not stop her.

Eventually, his Aunt Kendra comes over to collect her, putting a stop to the beating but not before his sister stomps on his hand, breaking two of his fingers.

"Go sit over there and be quiet," his aunt orders him, not bothering to check if he is alright but he does as told because he knows otherwise that things will be worse for him.

From his spot by the wall he watches as she plays with the other children and gets attention from the adults and wonders why he is not allowed to be with them. Silently he cries from the pain of his hand, his fingers really hurt and he cradles his hand close to him, watching to see if the nice lady, the really old one who doesn't smell like the rest of them will be there. Maybe she would be willing to tell him why he hurts so much, possibly even make it feel just a little better.-

-At six he had started kindergarten, he was always the smartest kid in the class but he refused to speak. Humans tasted bad, his fingers had not healed right so sign language was not always the easiest. Many thought that he must also be deaf because of his refusal to speak. No never mind there was plenty of evidence that said otherwise, like the fact that he understood everything that was said. It was only speaking he would not do.

Still, with nearly a perfect memory he learned everything the other kindergartners knew in short order and picked up sign language just as fast. Within the first few weeks of class he was bored. Why did he have to pay attention when they were discussing things like colors, shapes, and numbers when he already knew them? Just because he did not say anything aloud did not mean he did not comprehend. Why couldn't he join his nice sister in her class? They were doing more interesting things and he often sneaked a look at her work when she was done with it.

Reading it and carefully working on his own to see if he got the same answers or not and keeping track of what answers he did get. He was often better at figuring it out then her.

However, his kindergartner teacher thought that he might have a learning disability because he didn't pay attention to her. As such, she called a meeting with his Mother, outlining the fact that he never seemed to pay attention in class, and while yes he was getting his work done, he did not participate with the other children and perhaps he needed some special help or tutoring. Maybe a councilor?

That night she had been so pissed at him that she had stomped on the same hand his sister had stomped on years before, rebreaking the bones, plus several other ones. Then she had yelled at him, telling him how it was all his fault for being a worthless cobra before she had summoned the healer, that nice old woman who carefully repaired the bone and muscle damage though his hand was still bruised for several days.

After that he tried to mimic the other students, even going so far as to stop trying to get every question right. It even worked for a time.-

-Just before the end of his kindergarten year his mean sister had decided that he was an inconvenienced and demanded that he leave the house right now because nobody wanted him. Sadly, he could taste her honesty, and knew that it would do him no good to beg, but he also knew that if he did so he would get in even worse trouble so instead he had started hiding in his small room whenever he was not required to be with the rest of the family. Not that any of them noticed.-

-He loved it on the rare occasions when the black-eyed man who smelled like home would visit. He was always so nice to him, spending time holding him and allowing him to just be there without expecting anything else. When he visited he did not have to worry about sharing his attention. For some reason neither of his sisters liked to go near him, only him.

He even asked him to take him away once, that would be the last time he would see him for five years. Apparently his mother had heard him and decided that Eric was a bad influence on him. for the week after that visit he had been left locked in a closet except for during school.-

-The first time he shifted was when he was nine. His snake form didn't seem all that big, though he was longer than either of his sisters. It had been a celebration when they shifted so maybe now that he could shift too they would be more welcoming of him. Excited, he had rushed to find his Mother, forgetting the rule about never coming near her unless she called for him.

Her reaction upon his shifting was to hit him, hard and repeatedly until he shifted back into his human form. Curling upon himself he had huddled as small as possible as she continued the strikes while yelling about how everything wrong in her life was his fault.

He really wished the black-eyed man would come for him, he was certain that he would not be hit so much with him.-

-When he was fourteen he had started going through puberty, including the awkward stage where he had a hard time keeping his two forms separate. Every time his scales would shine when he was in human form he would be hit.

By this point in his life, he had broken every bone in his right hand twice, and most of them in his left at least once. He never counted how many broken ribs he had, nor any other breaks. The old healer that had once been so kind to him had died and her replacement was not nearly as gentle.

Then his gifts had started to develop but he did not dare go to his Mother with the news. Instead he learned to control his telepathy through lots of trial and errors, particularly in the early days when he had a hard time telling the difference between someone speaking and someone thinking. Add to it, he had a gift for recognizing emotions, though while not full blown empathy it was enough that he really hated any situation where people would have strong feelings. His third gift was probably the worse, it was the mnemonic gift coupled with a small Sight ability that allowed him to see the memories of those who he was directly related too.

Of course the mnemonic gift did him one favor, he almost automatically knew all of the old customs and mannerisms, so he adopted all of them. Everything from the being silent at all times, to the customs on how to treat people, to the meanings of colors, plants, and stones. And he used all of them. It did him another favor too, it taught him how to control his other gifts so they stopped flaring up out of his control and earning him punishments.

After that he started to excel in school, intentionally completing as much of it as he possibly could, using his cobra's stare to convince the humans to let him test early. He suddenly went from being several grades behind his mean sister to being a head of her, and within two years he was preparing to graduate.

During that time frame he had gotten a hold of Eric, speaking to him using hidden messages on his email, taking up computer hacking because he could recall codes with ease. Create them just as easily and hide them as if they had never been. Finally he was able to get to know the cobra who had fathered him. He was also able to find out why he never came for him, the fact that his Mother had banned Eric after he was ten because she thought that he was encouraging bad habits.-

-The day his eyes went from coral snake gold to cobra silver he had rejoiced. He was going to be an elite. Elites were the top of the food chain, all he had to do was make it to sixteen years and eight months and he could leave.

That of course was exactly what he did. As soon as he could he got a ticket and came here, for the first few months he stayed with Eric. He had been surprised by the ease in which he had been accepted into the Watson wolf pack. Yet he had never felt as at home as he had since then. Here he was a welcome member of a multi-species pack. His skills with the computer useful but not his most important feature. During those early months of living with the other cobra he had gotten the attention that he had lacked throughout his childhood, but he carried himself like an adult, rarely saying or allowing himself to think about how grateful he was.

This den has too many telepaths for that to be safe. However when he discovered that Eric was having health problems because of his staying at the house, he had immediately gotten an apartment. He made sure it was near the university that he desired to attend, that way the trip would not be too long. He was completely surprised when Eric presented him with the keys to a small car on his seventeenth birthday.

He only had one regret about leaving his birth den the way he had, the only person who had ever showed him any sort of care beside the old healer was his nice sister Zara, she might wonder what happened to him. Though probably not enough to look for him, maybe someday she would desire to see him again.

When he got the email from her, he was completely shocked, he had not expected it. Just like he had been surprised when she asked to come visit and had cleaned the apartment repeatedly to make sure that the smell of cobra was as little as possible. He wanted her to be comfortable and she had never been comfortable around him, on the rare occasions she was forced near Eric she was downright terrified and the only thing he could think was it was their scent. So he carefully prepared everything for her arrival and just hoped he wouldn't mess this up the same way he had most of his childhood.-

When she was finally done reading and living through what she had wrote, tears were pouring down her face. She had forgotten exactly how badly the den had treated him. Forgotten all of the times the healer had been summoned to the house because he couldn't go to school with noticeable broken bones or injuries. When they were little he had loved to cuddle, loved being around people but then he had suddenly stopped, started hiding all of the time and she had thought it was something she had done wrong, never considered the fact that the others often treated him horribly. Originally she had planned to ask him to come home, only now she realized she could never ask him to come back to the den of their birth, he knew he wasn't welcome and had adjusted accordingly by leaving on his own. Here he was welcome and he was building a life for himself though he did not seem to realize that he was not to blame for everything that had happened to him when he was a child.

By old traditions, telepathy was only used between friends and family who were close unless a public link was used. When she had used sign language to greet him she had told him she considered him neither, but she had not realized it. How was she ever going to make it up to him?

How much of her view was based on the bias of the den? While the bloodseal was still active she reflected on everything that she knew about him and in turn about Eric.

oOo

Aidan's POV
Morning came far sooner than he really wanted but he was not really ready to face her. Despite that, he got up when he heard her moving about and got cleaned up before heading into the kitchen to cook breakfast. He would apologize for his behavior the previous night and hope that she would be willing to forgive him.

So he was completely startled when she had come out of the room, the first thing she had done was walk over to where he was and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close. Shocked, he had just stood there is arms hanging uselessly at his sides as he stared at the top of her head. She barely came up to the middle of his chest. Of course, he had inherited Eric's height, while she had definitely had not.

"I'm sorry," she weeps against him as she continues to hold on, "so, so sorry for not understanding. I should have understood. My gift is Seeing, Remembering to be exact. I could have known and choose not to. Please forgive me," she is just about begging as she holds on to him.

Not sure what else to do, he slowly wraps his arms around her and just murmurs comfortingly as he can.

This was a particularly hard chapter to write, because while I knew that Aidan had not been accepted by his mother's side of the family, I really had not realized how much until I started writing.