Before leaving, I took a promise from Aiden that he would take care of Grandma. He assured me that he would. In addition, he promised that while I was away, the bodyguards would remain at my house. He said that Grandma mattered a lot to him too.

That put my mind at ease, and I was able to leave for the airport without feeling guilty. I am currently at the Red Deer Regional Airport, waiting in line for my turn to check in.

I impatiently tap my foot, ready to get on that plane as soon as possible. The person ahead of me is taking his sweet time, trying to flirt with the agent at the check-in desk.

She is all giggles and smiles at the man. I internally scoff at them. It is precious time that they are wasting. I am anxious.

For some reason, I don't feel right. in my gut says that I will be facing an obstacle. After a few more minutes of awful flirting with cheesy lines being said, the man takes his boarding pass and goes away.

I take a deep breath of relief before stepping ahead and giving my documents to the agent. This time her smile is fake.

I'm sure she uses that smile for the customers. She quickly scans my ticket before her smile broadens and she looks up at me with twinkling eyes.

Huh. What made her so happy?

I raise a brow at her, and only then does she say, "Ma'am, you have been transferred to another flight."'

I look at her with my brows furrowed in confusion. I thought something would be an obstacle.

My gut feeling was right. However, I am not really pleased with this situation. Suddenly, I am reminded of Aiden's smirk when I informed him of this trip. Did he do this?

Ok. I am being ridiculous right now. I am thinking too much into things. Shaking my head to get rid of these thoughts, I look at the agent in front of me.

"What? But how? I need to leave on this flight; otherwise, I will miss my meeting. How can you do that?"

She now has an apologetic expression on her face and says, "Oh, you don't need to worry, ma'am; the flight you are transferred to leaves at the same time."

She then picks up the landline receiver in front of her and begins speaking into it. I keep staring at her. Why did she speak to someone?

Oh No. Has my plan backfired on me? Have they traced my flight schedule somehow? Are they trying to kidnap me again?

Suddenly I feel hot and sweat begins to form on my forehead. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

The agent in front of me looks at me in alarm before giving me an assuring smile. "You will be escorted to your flight directly, ma'am. The escort has arrived."

She waves her hand behind me and points at something. I turn around and see a familiar person. It's none other than Ethan. The person who was there along with Aiden and Adrian when I had called them upon finding the corpse.

He gives me a stiff nod and grabs my bags from underneath my fingers.

"King is waiting for your arrival, ma'am."

Ma'am. Did he just address me by ma'am? He was not so warm or respectful back then. If I remember right, he was glaring at me.

But then what he said registers in my mind. Aiden's waiting. That means he knew. Damn it. I gulp, not knowing what to do. I think of running but what good will it do? As if I can outrun Aiden in the presence of so many people.

Internally groaning, I follow Ethan. Soon, I'm on a plane. A private jet, to be precise, judging by the logo on it. When I had entered the hanger, I was surprised to see wolfe painted on it. But it makes sense. Aiden is rich.

As soon as I step into the cabin, I see Aiden standing there, smiling smugly at me. He comes to me and hugs me tight. My hands remain hanging on my sides, not reciprocating his gesture.

My brow furrows as he uses the term of endearment. I scrutinize him and look into his eyes. I realize that his smile doesn't reach his eyes. There's fire in them.

Well, I thoroughly reciprocate his feelings. As the feeling of shock drains out of my body, it is replaced with annoyance and anger. My jaw clenches as I narrow my eyes at him.

He reads me for a moment before a smirk forms on his lips while his eyes are still full of cold wrath.

"Come on, let's take a seat, Bella. We'll talk later."

He laces his fingers with mine and leads me to a seat, pushing me gently, making me sit. He then leans in and buckles my seat belt.

"There you go, nice and tight, babe."

Then he leans some more and whispers, his lips touching the shell of my ear, his palms holding my shoulders in place. "Nowhere to run."

His proximity breaks through my annoyance and I am anxious again. This does not sound good.

My eyes clench shut at his words. I don't know how, but I think he knows. Damn it. He's angry. cold fury burns in his eyes and I'm afraid it'll burn me down.

But then I feel his fingers caress my cheek gently and my eyes fly open. He's now smiling at me. I grow more confused by the minute. He chuckles at my confused face and leans back, straightening and taking the seat next to me.

Soon, the captain announces our departure along with the destination. It's Chicago. Well, I think Aiden has tapped my network too. Nothing seems to be impossible for him.

This gives me a moment to ponder over things as I replay yesterday and this morning's events on my mind. I did not notice but he was being extremely careful and attentive. One could say he was being protective too. More so than usual.

His behavior is strange. His moods are extreme. Earlier today he was angry, then he was annoyed and now he's smiling. His mood swings make it difficult for me to understand.

The sign that we can unbuckle our seatbelts flashes and we unbuckle. I glance at Aiden and I find him staring at me. I turn back, looking at the back of the seat in front of me.

An air hostess brings us drinks. I am surprised to see orange juice as she serves me. I look at her to see her nodding at Aiden but then she leaves after serving the drinks.

The jet is empty now, the air hostess is gone to her quarters. I can sense Aiden shifting. I turn to look at him to find him already looking at me. His face now hosts a serious expression.

"So what's with all this? the presentation? The research data? And don't you dare and try to act or lie. truth right now, Aurelia." he growls out his eyes, flashing with his beast.

My beast lets out a whine in my mind and shivers at his tone. I think about it. I can lie but on the off chance that I die, he should have some clue that leads to my research.

I let out a sigh and my shoulders drop in defeat.

"I am truly sorry, Aiden. I did not mean to hide it from you but it is better if it is hidden until the right time. The unknown frightens us."

" Huh" he lets out a confused sound and stares at me in suspicion. "Unknown frightens us?"

I nod at him and try to explain as much as possible without giving away too much of my secret.

"Yes. Will you be open-minded, listen to me patiently and answer my questions?"

" I suppose I can give you the benefit of doubt," he says now scrutinizing me, guaging my words.

"Ok so my first question is... Why do we hide ourselves from humans?" I ask, choosing my words carefully.

"Because they might think we are dangerous and attack us. We are not dangerous, of course, but then..." he trails off, not completing the sentence. He does not need to.

He is now completely confused. He must be thinking where I am leading with this. I try to give him an assuring smile but end up grimacing.

He still looks at me in confusion.

"Exactly for them, we are unknown, and the unknown frightens them. What if we were in the same shoes? What if something more powerful, physically or mentally, is placed in front of us? Won't there be a struggle for power?"

"Yes but it's all about maintaining the balance." He says, now more confused than ever.

I nod at him and say the next words cautiously.

"We need to know how we were created. Are we just mutated human beings? If yes, what was the source of the mutation? I was a curious child. I had all these questions in my head. so I started researching on it."

"And this is what they are after? The Blood Mafia?"

"Truth be told, I am not sure, Aiden. When I was kidnapped, the vampire kept asking about my research. When we were ambushed on the road, I did not think it was a possibility because who thinks of these things? yes it's important but it is just to satisfy my questions about evolution. What is so special in it that they are targeting me? I do not know. So I hosted a fake site with fake research to find out who I was after this and why. If it is the blood mafia, what benefit will they get from it? They only want to smuggle human blood, don't they? Why do they want my research that no one knows of? Not even my grandma knows about it completely."

I say all of this in a single breath, looking down on my lap, not meeting Aiden's eyes. I stay like that for a while, not wanting to meet his eyes.

Suddenly, I feel fingers grabbing my chin gently and forcing me to look at Aiden. He keeps staring at me. No, looks deeply into my eyes. I don't know what he finds in them as he releases me and then nods to himself.

"That isn't the whole truth, is it?" he asks me, his tone gentle.

His tone is gentle yet his words make me flinch as I scrunch my nose. I smile sheepishly at him.

"Well, it is the most I can say without putting you in complete danger. You are too important. the kingdom needs you. Oh and one more word. Belle."

"Huh. Belle?" he asks, now confused again.

"Yes, like the princess in beauty and the beast. My favorite fairy tale during my childhood."

Understanding dawns on his face and I can see the suspicion turning into comfort.

"Oh, is that why Nana calls you Bella?"

"Yes," I say, a smile gracing my face at the mention of grandma.

However, suddenly we hear sounds of clapping. I break eye contact with Aiden and look towards the source of sound. A man stands in front of us. It's none other than Ethan. I look at him confused.

I thought he didn't board the plane. He must have been in the security section of the jet.

Why is he clapping?

"Good job. Nice thinking. But we don't just need your research, Aurelia. We need your life too." Ethan speaks in an eerily creepy tone.

"We?" I ask. Aiden too looks at Ethan in confusion.

"What is this? I told you not to enter this area. I said I wanted privacy." Aiden, let's out a rumble.

However, Ethan does not submit to Aiden. In fact, he seems unaffected by Aiden's anger.

"I don't take orders from you. And Aurelia, yes, we, as in the Blood Mafia."

Uhh No. I see my plan worked a bit too perfectly. I am being targeted but Aiden is caught in the crosshairs. But now my focus should be on getting information from Ethan and hopefully Aiden will aid me in this.

I try to mindlink in him but fail to do so. I try hard and I don't realize that my face scrunches in concentration.

"Don't waste your time. Your drinks were spiked with wolfsbane. You won't be able to link anyone. Just like yesterday. You were not able to link anybody. Were you?" Ethan directs the last sentence to me.

Just then the sounds of steps reach my ears and I see many men stepping out of the cabin behind us and surrounding us. Ethan smirks. The plane is hijacked. All are traitors.

Adrenaline courses through my veins. Initially, I feel fear for Aiden. I took the step of creating the fake website knowing the recurpessions. I had accepted the possibility that I might die.

But I did not want Aiden to be entangled in this. Stakes are higher with him here. Now, anger overpowers my fear and I am regretful that I will not be much of a help for Aiden with the supression shot still in effect.

"Traitors," Aiden says, his jaw clenched, nostrils flaring in anger as he glares at them.

"Yes, you are surrounded by us. Even the pilot is one of us." Ethan chuckles darkly as he says those words.

I glance towards the other men and they all sport hard expressions. How is the Blood Mafia powerful enough to infiltrate the Royal Pack? This is more deep than I ever thought it could be.

"How do you think your captive vampire died?" Ethan taunts as Aiden growls at his words.

He looks at me once and slightly squeezes my hand. I think he wants to know if I trust him. I nod at him and he smirks.

"I think I must remind you why I'm the were king."

He unleashes his power, full throttle. Waves of anger wash over the entire area. He growls. This time he really growls; the entire plane shakes. I look at him in shock. It's almost like a tsunami and earthquake combined.

I almost feel suffocated. I see the other weres fall to their knees, clutching at their throats, trying to breathe. Whoah. He's that powerful. But how is it not affecting me?

The men are still on their knees, struggling to get up. All of their eyes are flashing with their beasts and I see their beasts struggling and fighting their human sides to submit to the Alpha King.

However, I don't have time to muse over this as he pulls me along with him, running. But where I don't know. The words emergency exit come into sight and I see a single parachute beside it. He breaks open the case with a powerful left hook and drags the bag out of the case.

He wears the parachute on his shoulders hastily. Suddenly, I hear growls. The other weres are now rising to their feet. The sudden release of his power caused them to fall on their knees and bow to him but now I think they are getting used to it as I see them rising one by one.

Their human sides must be winning over their beasts.

"Hold on to me," Aiden says as he twists open the emergency exit. I nod at him. 

He takes out some kind of remote from his jackets pocket and the plane swerves. Emergency sounds echo in the jet. I feel like the plane is going into a descent for crash landing. He pulls the handle in front of us and pulls the door back for a moment.

In a split second, he pulls me into his arm and the instant pressure gradient pulls both of us into the sky.

I feel the pull as if I am being dragged out into the sky and clutch Aiden more tightly. I also feel his hands squeezing me so that we are not pilled apart.

 I don't know whether we'll be alive after this fall. Falling from such a great height is a mortal injury to any supernatural. And to top it, we only have one parachute.

May the lunar goddess save us.

Word Count: 2685

How was the chapter? We covered alot of background whys and Hows in this.

It's a major high point in the story. Believe me, when I say that all the chapters till now set the tone and give you a peek into the story.

So, I discovered that I have a few silent readers. Since I don't know who they are, only their countries from the demographics, I am thinking of adding a bit of trivia at the end of every part.

So my first token of appreciation to my silent readers from Japan.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park: It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only building left to be standing after an atomic bomb dropped.

As a civil engineer, I appreciate it more because of the high impact it withstood.

And that is the end of my blabbering.

Toodles!!

And don't forget to vote and comment if you wish to!