As the week passed, I made a lot of progress with Aiden. We spoke more often than we had before and lately I began noticing he was in a much better mood.

I had wondered if it had anything to do with the approaching full moon, but I was too nervous to ask him if the rumors were true.

Part of me rationalized that they were most likely nothing but silly rumors, but the other part of me wondered.

It would almost make sense. Wolves are stronger on the full moon, all of our senses more enhanced than on other nights, vision included.

Tonight was a full moon, and I watched him as I made my bed that morning. He seemed normal as he sat at his desk picking at his breakfast.

Yesterday he had been in a great mood, so I decided to try my luck at getting him out of this room.

"Hey, Aiden?" I asked as I fluffed up my pillow that had been flattened by my sleeping on it all night.

"Yeah?" He asked, as he pushed the eggs in his plate around in circles.

"You want to go get something different for breakfast? There are always these great muffins in the kitchen." I said with a smile, hoping he would take the bait.

"No, no, this is fine." He sighed.

"Oh come on. Lucy's been bringing you that same thing for breakfast for a week now, you must be sick of it. Trust me, the muffins are amazing!" I spoke with enthusiasm.

"I don't mind it." He said, practically having to force himself to take another bite.

"Please?" I asked him, "There are so many different flavors! Blueberry, banana, chocolate chip-"

"Chocolate chip?" He repeated, looking more interested.

"Yeah, the best chocolate chip muffins you'll ever have." I grinned.

He sighed and sat quietly for a moment before pushing his plate away and standing. "Fine, lets go."

A huge smile was plastered on my face as I followed him to the door.

With his hand on the doorknob, he suddenly stopped, looking towards the ground.

"Everyone's going to staring at me. Probably thinking about what a failure I am, and how I've failed this pack. I don't think anyone will ever respect me again." He said quietly.

I grabbed his hand, holding it tightly in mine. "If they stare, I'll stare back, and if they think you're a failure then I pity them for not knowing how wrong they are about you. If you want them to respect you, then you have to keep your head up, and not let anyone think they know you." I said, giving his hand a squeeze.

Still facing the floor I saw a small smirk appear on his face before he opened the door, standing tall.

His hand remained in mine as he pulled me out the door.

"For the chocolate chip muffins." He stated, making me laugh as we walked down the empty hall.

As we walked through the more crowded parts of the pack house, all heads turned our way. I tried to speed up our pace a little, feeling awkward at all the people staring. We got a lot of looks, shock being the most common.

The second most common being a mix of curiosity and confusion. At first I didn't understand why I was seeing that look so much, until it finally hit me.

They hadn't seen their alpha in years, and suddenly they're seeing him out of his room, holding the hand of a girl who isn't even a member here.

It hit me that the only other people who knew we were mates were Lucy and Jason.

I suddenly felt extremely self-conscious, and Aiden must have sensed it, because he quickly leaned over, and whispered, "Whats wrong?" in my ear.

"They don't know." I whispered back.

He looked confused for a moment before it clicked and his eyes widened and he mouthed "Oh".

We finally made it to the kitchen, and I led Aiden to the island where he felt for a chair and before pulling one out and sitting.

I grabbed a couple plates and searched through the larger plate containing all the muffins before finally finding a couple chocolate chip and a blueberry.

I placed the two chocolate chip on Aiden's plate and the blueberry on my own before pealing off the paper and taking a big bite.

Aiden started to take a bite, but quickly stopped as I said, "No, no, no!" with a mouth full of blueberry muffin.

I finished my bite, and laughed as I took the muffin out of a very confused Aiden's hands.

"You have to take the paper off first." I laughed.

He looked a little embarrassed, but smiled as I handed him back the muffin. "I forgot.."

"Its ok." I smiled back, as I thought about how much I loved seeing him smile.

We ate our muffins in comfortable silence before Jessi came running into the room. Her eyes grew wide and mouth formed an 'O' as her eyes spotted Aiden.

"I thought it was just a rumor! You're here!" She said as she came running up to us, pulling out a chair beside Aiden and quickly sitting herself in it.

"You finally left your room! Oh Alpha its so great to see you again! You met Alice? She's great! She's here looking for her mate. Did you two already know each other? I heard you were holding hands but I didn't believe it, it was Jessica who told me and she's a total liar-" Jessi rudely mumbled on and on, asking Aiden a thousand questions and talking so fast we could barely keep up.

"We were actually just leaving.." Aiden mumbled as he stood up, grabbing my hand again and pulling me towards the door.

"We? Wait why is Alice going with you? Alice why are-"

Her voice faded away as we made our escape back to Aiden's room.

Shutting the door behind us he took a deep breath. "I could never stand that girl." He said, shutting his eyes and leaning his back against the door.

"She's probably the main reason I never left this room." He joked with a quiet laugh.

"She's quite the gossip." I stated.

"Yeah, you should meet her mom. Gossip definitely runs in their family." He said shaking his head. "I'm actually really tired. I'm going to try and get a little more sleep."

"Ok." I nodded, understanding that today had been a big day for him emotionally. "I told Lucy I'd go shopping with her today, so I'll probably be back later tonight."

"See you then." He said quietly, rolling over, trying to get comfortable.

- - -

"So..." Alice began casually as she pushed through hangers of baby clothes. "The pack has been going crazy talking about something they saw this morning."

I laughed as I picked up an adorable little dress with lace lining the bottom, "Yeah." I smiled. "Today was a big day."

"Alice, thats huge!" She exclaimed, "He hasn't left that room in 4 years."

A small smile appeared on my face as I folded the tiny dress, placing it in my shopping cart.

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So sorry I took so long to update. I've been insanely busy lately. I run a jewelry shop, and I'm about to get my website going. SO EXCITING. I sell mostly 'boho' style jewelry, and wire wrapped rings. My shop is called Timber Dust Jewels and I'll let you all know when it opens, and give you all the fabulous coupon codes I'm setting up. EEEEKKKK. I'M SO EXCITED! You can check out my Facebook Page 'Timber Dust Jewels' to get a sneak peak at what will be in the shop this week. BECAUSE IM OPENING THIS WEEK. I HOPE.

ALSO!!!

THE SCARED AND THE SCARRED IS AT 20.2K READS AND I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS REAL LIFE. I feel so blessed and honored to have so many amazing readers who have been so loyal to my books. I started writing it for fun, and never imagined it'd get this much love so THANK YOU ALL SOO MUCH. I LOVE YOU ALL. Your comments just make my day, and I read every one of them!