#Chapter 82: Awake

ELENA Aiden was awake. I should have felt nothing but joy, and I did. I did. His eyelashes fluttered like bird wings before they opened, and his little fingers twitched around mine like he was afraid I might disappear. But with the joy came something else—an ache. Because some of the first words out of his mouth were, “Did Derek save us?” He remembered the rogue. The blood. The fear. But more than anything, he remembered Derek. That’s why, after I’d sat with him through breakfast and tucked him back in to rest, I found myself pacing in the kitchen, staring at my phone. Derek deserved to know. More than that—Aiden deserved to see him. It didn’t matter what history existed between Derek and me, or how messy our dynamic had gotten. Aiden had bonded with him before he even knew what that bond meant. I pressed call before I could overthink it. The phone rang twice. “Hello?” Cassandra’s voice was an unexpected slap. Light, chipper, like she belonged. “Cassandra?” I