Authors note:

So I'm going to be wrapping up this portion of season 3 very soon here, more than likely in the next 2 - 3 chapters, including this one. I probably won't have Eva involved in the battle with the Darach, mostly because this isn't her battle to fight and I feel like the way I have this plot going will benefit more from the next portion of season 3. Not as much action in this chapter, but it is much better than the last. Obviously I owe you guys after that crap chapter that was chapter 25 and my absence.

As always, please let me know what you all think. Reviews are not needed, but they're always welcome and appreciated.

Enjoy!

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Eva didn't care if the others were worried about where she was, she had proven on many occasions that she was able to handle things for herself. The constant text messages she had received since fleeing the Hospital were an annoyance to her. Some asking if she was ok, others demanding she tell them where she was, the only person she bothered replying to was Isaac.

Tell everyone that I'm ok. I just need to be alone.

That wasn't entirely the truth, she didn't want to be alone, matter of fact, she was headed to meet with someone right at that moment. She had hoped against hope that Aiden would stick to what their usual plan was and return to their usual meeting place.

She was running behind, taking her time in arriving, as she slipped into the woods, she could see his figure retreating, instead of calling out to him, she sprung into action, running through the woods with ease and pouncing on him. She knocked him easily to the ground, the two of them rolling through the grass and fallen leaves that littered the ground.

She a low and deep growling escaped from within her as Aiden glanced up at her, a single eyebrow raising.

"That's for attacking me earlier, you ass." Eva answered his unvoiced question as Aiden laughed and easily stood from the ground, taking her with him, literally sweeping her off from her feet and into his arms.

"It's not funny." Eva added as she lifted a hand to smack him up side of his head. Aiden stopped smiling as he narrowed his eyes up at the girl.

"I had to make it look convincing, obviously not for Ethan, he knows, I can't keep a single secret from him, but did you really want Scott and Peter to get suspicious that we just neglected to attack you while we were laying the smack down on them?" Aiden asked, matter of factly as Eva rolled her eyes.

"Ugh." Eva groaned as she wiggled out of his grasp and was dropped to return to her own two feet. "Why do you always have to be right?" She questioned with the narrowing of her eyes.

Aiden laughed once again.

"What can I say? I'm too good-looking to ever be wrong." A slow smile began to appear upon her lips after hearing that and she followed it up with an eye roll.

"I came here, not only to beat the hell out of you for all the bruises you and your brother gave me earlier, but to ask you a favor too." Eva began, her voice trailing off as she finished, letting her sentence linger between the two of them.

"A favor?" Aiden asked as his hands reached out to rest upon the hips of the petite female that stood before him.

"Yes. At least until this whole thing with the Darach is done, I need to stay with you. I can't face Scott and Isaac anymore, not knowing that I'm basically betraying them by doing this with you." Eva explains and when she is finished speaking her plump bottom lip takes residency in between her teeth as she bites it gently.

"Are you sure you don't just want to be able to spend more time with me?" Aiden asks, a smirk appearing upon his lips as he lifts an eyebrow teasingly at the female he's currently looking down at.

"Ugh, you just have to make things difficult too, don't you?" She questions, but a faint smile appears upon her lips. She's been to their apartment before, the one that Ethan and Aiden share. Contrary to what was believed by the rest of the pack, Ethan and Aiden didn't live with Deucalion. Kali took residency with Deucalion, serving as somewhat of a seeing eye dog as Eva perceived her.

"Difficult is my middle name, gorgeous." Aiden replied with a wink causing a shaking of Eva's head and a soft laugh to escape her lips.

"I'm taking that an OK." Eva replied before turning on her heel and out of his reach. "Now hurry up and help me break into the McCall's so I can get some of my things without having to answer any questions."

"Sir yes Sir." Aiden replied as he hurried to catch up to the girl who was currently casting him a narrow eyed glare over her shoulder.

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"I'm shocked that you didn't end up packing an entire suit case." Aiden teased the girl in a whisper as he helped her out of the window. After setting her on the ground he eased the window closed and then turned to lead the way back through the woods and to where he had left his bike.

"Maybe I should have packed more?" She suggested a slender eyebrow lifting as her raven tresses blew gently in the wind.

"No. I like my girls simple." Aiden insisted and with that Eva released a laugh.

"I'm pretty sure you're involved with the wrong girl then." Eva retorted.

"Not a chance." His words caused a smile to appear on Eva's lips. She had to admit, yes she did miss Isaac, a lot, but it was different with Aiden, he made her forget. Not only about Isaac, but about the battle going on between her own pack, his pack, and that annoying ass Darach. He was like the answer to all of her troubles and she couldn't help but want to be around him more.

"I don't know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment." Eva retorted causing the two of them to both laugh.

"Well, coming from me, I'd say both." He said with a shrug and again she laughed, this was nice, this side of him, it wasn't all about doing Deucalion's bidding, fighting someone, it was easy, simple, and she loved it.

"Has anyone told you lately that you're an ass?" Eva asked an eyebrow raising upon her forehead.

"Only you, babe. Only you." He admitted as they reached his motorcycle and he tossed her the helmet.

"Safety first." He said as she caught the helmet in her hands, her backpack of clothes secured on her back as she pulled the helmet on and strapped it below her chin. She then climbed onto the bike behind Aiden, her arms wrapping around him, holding onto him tightly as he started up the bike and made his way towards the apartment that he shared with his brother. Keeping Eva there secretly might be a bit of a challenge, though, since Deucalion was just across the hall, and Allison did reside in the same building, but that was a challenge that Aiden was more than willing to accept.

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The moment that Eva and Aiden had arrived at the apartment and realized that Ethan wasn't there, they took that to their advantage, hurrying into the bedroom where she dropped her bag and jumped onto the very guy she had wanted to get alone since she set eyes on him earlier that day in the Hospital. It had been hard, very hard, maintaining the idea that he was her rival, that she despised him just as much as the rest of her pack members did, because she didn't, not anymore at least.

The two of them worked to shed the clothes off from one another easily, Aiden pushing the leather coat she wore off from her arms, letting it fall to the floor, she followed suit, unzipping his coat and then pushing it down and off from his muscle-bound arms. The kissing intensified as Aiden lifted the girl off from the ground with ease bringing her to the bed, he eased her onto it his large muscular body hovering over hers.

More clothes were shed, his shirt, her shirt, his pants, her jeans, they were entirely lost in each other, the kisses roaming over each other, hands exploring, gripping at one another.

"Ouch." Eva let out a hiss of pain, causing Aiden's hands to retreat from her body instantly, a concerned look coming over his face as he removed himself from over top of her, not entirely, but enough so that he could lock his eyes with hers.

Her own dainty hand lifted to her hip, where his hand had previously gripped her, she had a large bruise there, healing slower than usual, she knew it had come from the miniature battle she had with Ethan and Aiden earlier in the day when Scott and Peter had joined her as a distraction.

"We did that to you?" Aiden asked, referring to the mega wolf that he formed along with his brother, a look of utter confusion came over him as she nodded her head.

"Why haven't you healed yet?" He asked, and then his eyes drifted up to her neck, which had earlier been covered with a scarf, in their passionate moment, he hadn't noticed, not until then, that the bruises that she acquired during the stay at the Hotel were still there. Faint, but still noticeable.

"And that," He began a hand lifting to touch the bruises on her neck gently. "Should have healed a while ago." He added and Eva's eyes dropped to avoid his.

"I don't know, it started after I…you know." She replied as she spoke of the time she had tried to kill herself when she had been under the influence of the Wolfsbane.

Aiden's face was over come with concern as he continued to gaze at the girl, before he pushed himself up into a sitting position, Eva followed his example, sitting up, yet pulling the sheet of his bed up with her to cover her nearly naked body with it.

"You never did tell me all about what happened there." Aiden probed, hoping that maybe this time she would share with him.

"I found out it was my fault there." She admitted and just those simple words caused tears to appear in her eyes. Without hesitation, Aiden reached out for her, taking her into his arms she relaxed into his chest, her eyes gazing at the wall that she faced as her head rested against his chest. "I found out that I could have saved her, I could have saved my mom, but I chose to save Isaac instead." She admitted, letting that off from her chest, finally after having held it back for so long.

Tears slowly began to slip down her porcelain cheeks, wetting his chest. Aiden didn't mind though, he had to admit, he had created a bit of a soft spot for the girl, it had taken a very short amount of time, but he couldn't help but want to make her feel better.

"I don't know if this is going to help any, but you couldn't have saved her. If you would have tried, Deucalion would have killed you too, the threat that Lillian posed to him was too much, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill anyone in his way." Aiden attempted at a reassurance, and even if it wasn't much, it pierced the little bubble that held that doubt in herself that Eva had. It began to poke holes in how she blamed herself, making it impossible for her to doubt herself any longer. It remained silent in the room, Aiden just holding Eva, and Eva pondering over what he said, until she no longer felt the dull pain in her hip.

Slowly she pulled her head off from the boys chest, her brilliant, swirling blue and green orbs lifting to glance at him as his eyes moved from her swirling orbs, to her neck and then back again, a faint smile on his lips.

"They're gone." He said as he lifted a hand to touch the side of her neck where a part of the ring of bruises that formed a gruesome necklace had once been. Eva couldn't help but let a faint smile appear upon her lips as well.

"Thank god, I was beginning to get sick of wearing a scarf all the time." She joked, hating when things got so serious between them. Aiden was her escape, the guy she went to to make her laugh, the person she teased and he teased her back, the one who made her forget. Isaac had been the one she had been serious with, who she had always cried to, who she told her deepest concerns, and who she risked her life for. Aiden wouldn't ever need her rescuing, in her eyes he was invincible.

He was only supposed to be her rebound, someone to help her get over Isaac for the time being, to forget that he was beginning to get so close to her supposed friend, but Aiden was quickly becoming more to her.