A/N: I wanted to write a chapter to focus on Aidan's past which I hope will help give you more insight into his character. 

Aidan whipped his head in the direction of the howling far in the distance. A part of him hated the idea of housing at the edge of town, but he didn't want to risk the wolves picking up on him before he hunted on them. It managed to work so far, but it worried him how the distance enabled the loners to do as they pleased.

The whole town reeked of Thesians and a few Aristans alike running amuck on the little town. They walked and dwelled among the humans in that town—but not in harmony as one would think. He did a little research on Augusta and found that there were four times as many reports of violence in the last three years and even as he walked along the marketplaces, he frowned at seeing so many people on missing flyers in town. No wonder people cleared the streets like they did. It seemed that the haven didn't just stop at Riko's bar. This town was a Haviscasi.

Aidan almost laughed at his displaced humor even as he thought of it. This place has totally gone to the dogs.

Of course, Kieran, being the sick freak he was, would pick this place as his hideout. Where madness seemed to run free. And the council had the gall to think him dangerous? That was a laugh. Kieran had just as much a sordid, violent past as Aidan did. At least he grew out of his rage. Kieran was always the resentful child of an Alpha family that tried to love him. His life was so much easier than Aidan's, yet he insisted on whining at the injustice of him being second. The irony of it was that Aidan hated the attention Ninon doted on him, and at one point begged her to forget about him. It only continued to brew bad blood between him and Kieran, who insisted he came to destroy the pack with his "lunacy". Ninon, of course would have none of that. Thinking of that moment, he closed his eyes to his mother's voice.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? You will come back here and be a son to me, or so help me by Arista's hands, I will have Tiberius ring your throat!"

Granted, he had been a stubborn, willful youth, and sometimes regretted being so cold and harsh to Ninon when she and Tiberius took him in. She never held any of his animosity against him, as if she could see into his heart and knew the pain he faced as a lost youth who woke up to find himself naked, cold and alone in the woods many years ago in Romania. Aidan looked out the window and found the memories of his youth tormenting him.

He winced as his body remembered the hunger pangs and aches that tormented him while going weeks without food. That dark time when he started to become the woods, swift, cold and primal. He stole from transients who traveled through his territory, sneaking away food until he was caught one day. Naked and bleeding from exposure, the female gypsy pitied him as he only looked like a little boy. She fed and clothed him, and gave him a name, much to her own chagrin. In truth she was afraid of him, like all the other gypsies who traveled with her. Closing his eyes tight, he remembered Valenka's face screaming in horror as Aidan changed before her very eyes in face of the full moon. He knew nothing of willing the change, his body did it whenever it felt compelled to. And it cost him Valenka's trust. Aidan's heart ached as he remembered her crying, pleading for her life when he only wanted to lay at her feet. He trusted and loved her, only wanting to be with her. Now she looked at him with fear and disgust. As he completely changed, he saw her beautiful, but frightened face turn scornful.

"They were right! You are an evil, cursed child, and sent here to lure me into damnation. How could you use me? You are nothing but an animal in the wild! A beast! Get out of my sight!"

Her father and the others drove him out with torches and arrows, cursing his existence as he ran far off into the shadowed woods. He had no place in the human world given for what he was. No one would want him if they knew the beast within him. Fearing another heartbreaking incident, he only stole when things were scarce, but taught himself to hunt instead. A great idea, but it wasn't as easy as he thought. Though his body was growing, he still didn't know how to change when he needed it as he found himself stronger and more suitable to hunt when he was in wolf skin. Things often came clearer then, his feelings more focused instead of maudlin emotions speaking gibberish in his head.

It was then that fate saw it fit to teach him even more harsh lessons of the world and his kind. A night he could never forget.

In the cold, unyielding woods of Romania, a pack stumbled across him in the wintered woods. Only half-changed, Aidan stood there motionless as two wolves stretched their bodies into beautiful human beings before him. Both the man and woman looked ethereal and warrior-like as they smiled at him. The man stepped forward and scowled at his half-morphed appearance.

"Having a little trouble now, are you boy?"

Aidan backed away ashamed, "Who are you?"

His frown deepened. "I'll ask the questions, you little Ar—"

The woman next to him placed her hand against his arm, silencing him before he could finish. Tall with long auburn hair, she had a soft face that remained stoic as she cut her eyes to the man-wolf beside her. Aidan watched quietly as it seemed the man and woman was communicating to each other without uttering a single sound. It gave him an eerie feeling, until her violent eyes looked down at him and smiled the most beautiful smile he ever seen. It was comforting and welcoming.

"You must forgive us." She said maintaining that gracious smile. "My mate and I have not ran into many good surprises in these harsh woods. It seems we are rather still on our guard. My name is Elistat and this my mate, Callor."

"Where's your family, boy?" Callor asked. His face softened but a slight, still appearing on guard. "You're here alone?"

Aidan was afraid to speak. Would they chide him for being alone? Mustering up bravery, he stepped forward and straightened himself. "I am Aidan. I've been hunting alone since I could remember."

Elistat gasped ever so slightly. "No family? It's not safe for Shadow Shifters to pack alone, especially as young as you."

Aidan shook his head. He wanted them to know he was strong, that he was worthy to be among them. "I can manage." He scowled at the term she used. "Shadow Shifters? Is that what I am?"

Both Elistat and Callor looked at each other. Callor folded his arms. "Of course that's what you are. Have you no idea the powerful creature you are, boy?"

Aidan shook his head, ashamed of his ignorance. "No. I had no one to tell me what I am. Even the humans I stayed with hated me."

Elistat stepped back as if his confession appalled her. "Humans? You stayed with humans?" She sighed. "Humans will always hate you. That's their job. To hate and to fear—and to spread that fear all over like a disease. You are lucky they did not poison or burn you, which they are known to do to us when we're exposed."

Aidan's heart sank as he remembered Valenka and the others throwing torches at him and chasing him off. Running as fast as he could from the flames that threatened him. He never would have imagined Valenka, who had such a capacity to love, to hate him so much. Elistat was right. Valenka, though noble and taught him much, in the end feared and hated him.

Elistat squatted down and touched his face. The first kind touch he experienced since Valenka. "Not to worry. Come with us, Aidan and we will show you what you are and how to channel your strength. As a ShadowShifter you have much to learn." She held out her hand. "Come with us."

Aidan looked at the rest of the pack, still in wolf form quiet yet staring at him. He was nervous but couldn't deny the happiness that began to swell as he found someone who could tell him what he was. People who wouldn't hate him for being the creature he honestly had no control over. He was one of them and surely they will love him here.

"Will you show me what I am?" He took her hand and saw a smile creep onto her face.

Elistat shared a knowing smile with Callor. "Of course, Aidan. We will definitely show you what's it like to truly be what you are. Definitely."

Aidan didn't know he would once again be betrayed until it was too late. He was beaten and tortured for days. His body healed, only to be beaten again by anyone in the pack who was interested in showing the Aristan just how unlucky he was running into the Thesians. None of them had the decency to just kill him. They found it so funny to have an Aristan just march himself up to the lion's den. Right into those smiling faces and open arms. And when they bound him naked in the biting snow, his blood staining where he lay, Elistat spat on him and gave him that same cunning smile she lured him with in the woods.

Up until that point, he wanted to die and was grateful the beatings were over so the cold would finally take him. When he saw her eyes, he knew that she imagined him in that position when she first laid eyes on him. Wanted him dead. They all did. And for some reason, perhaps for spite, he didn't want to give them that satisfaction. Given his experiences he thought himself stupid—but he was not weak.

He gathered up his courage that night and tore himself free. His anger so aching and fierce he finally changed. But something else changed in him that night. He was truly a beast now, inside and out. Swearing he'd kill whomever and whatever came into his territory, in the years before Ninon and Tiberius found him, he did just that. No one was safe from his wrath. Mercy was only a dream to him—and so should it be to everything else.

He looked at the dressing on his arm and sighed. He had to have been the biggest fool on the planet lately. Wandering into places, putting humans at risk. He had to get back his control. Sticking his nose into Riko's to save Maddie probably wasn't the smartest move, but one he couldn't bear to regret. Thinking of her name, he envisioned her sweet face and sighed. For a reason he couldn't define, her kindness amazed him. She stood up for him at Riko's. Though part of him believed that Riko may not have pulled the trigger in front of her, the fact that a human defended him, bewildered him. She didn't even hand him over to the Sheriff tonight.

She had no choice, Aidan. Don't go jumping to conclusions. Trusting her is unwise. 

He should know better. Life's taught him many things...

But her compassion felt so genuine and warm, he couldn't shake it. It was a warmth he associated with acceptance, as he felt when taken in by the Bloodlockes. And that is what worried him. The Goddess giveth, and they take away. Never could he enjoy anything for long before it was ripped away from him. Now Kieran runs about wreaking havoc, playing spoilt boy and consorting with the enemy. He had everything, yet pissed it away on jealousy. 

The thought of it plowed through him as he kicked a chair away from him. "Don't understand why peace and I are never bedfellows." Aidan stretched his neck in exhaustion and noticed Ninon's necklace was missing. Hissing a curse, he looked around the room and pulled away the cushions. But no sign of the pendant nor the necklace was in the room. It was all he had of Ninon. Thinking about the events of the night before, he swore again. What if he left it at Riko's or in the street?  His scent would be all over it and would be a tell-tale sign he was there. He couldn't let Kieran get wind of him, all he had was the element of surprise. 

Pacing, he suddenly thought of Maddie and her pet clinic. The likelihood of finding the pendant there made sense and decided that perhaps he owed the little veterinarian a quick visit in the morning. 

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