The Awakening: Aidan by Abby Niles Read Free Book Online

took a step back, his gaze darting around the room as panic shook his large frame. “I can’t fucking do this! I never should’ve come here.”
    He spun around, reaching for the doorknob when he froze, hand locked in midair. Aidan blinked at the sudden immobility of his friend. “Liam?”
    Stunned at how quickly his friend had gone from an animated being to a statue, he moved closer, then he noted the vacant eyes, the face devoid of all emotions. Aidan grabbed Liam’s shoulder. “Liam!”
    What had Jaylin said to do? He was drawing a blank, then he remembered…snapping. He snapped his fingers in front of his face. Liam didn’t even blink.
    Shit! He cracked open the door. “I could use some help in here!”
    Seconds later, Jaylin slid through the space, glanced at Liam, and cursed. “I was afraid of this.”
    She locked her hand on Liam’s shoulder, snapped her fingers in front of his face and yelled his name. Again there was no response. She repeated the process a few more times with the same results.
    “Damn it. How can he already be in this deep?” The tension pinching her features increased Aidan’s worry. She hurried behind her desk, then slammed a briefcase on top of the surface, popping it open. After she grabbed a small black case and a stethoscope, she strode back to Liam and sent Aidan a don’t-argue-with-me look. “You need to leave.”
    “But—”
    “Now.”
    The seriousness of her tone had him moving toward the door. Once he was in the hallway, she yelled, “Close it behind you.”
    A few seconds after the door snapped shut, a red flash brightened the space between the bottom of the door and the carpet. His beast hissed, and Aidan stumbled back into the far wall, concerned by its sudden fury.
    “Mr. O’Connell, if you would just come back to the waiting area with me,” the receptionist called to him from the end of the hallway.
    The red light flashed again, and his beast growled low in its throat, rising to all fours with its hackles raised. Why was it so angry?
    “Mr. O’Connell. I must insist that you move away from the door.” A feminine but firm hand grabbed his elbow. As Jaylin’s assistant tugged him backward into the waiting area, he couldn’t tear his eyes off the thin strip underneath the door, feeling nothing but the rising rage of his beast with each flare.
    Then it flung open and a pissed Liam came storming out past Aidan, and his beast immediately calmed.
    “Fuck this shit!” Liam yelled. “That bitch can’t help me!”
    Jaylin stomped after him, fire sparking from her eyes. “You can’t ignore this anymore. The fact you went into Bahrraj so quickly after the last one is bad. You need to learn to control it.”
    Liam swung a hand out and sent a pencil holder on the assistant’s desk flying against the wall. “Stop telling me what I have to do.” Rage contorted his features as he stepped forward, pointing a finger at Jaylin. Stiffening, Aidan positioned himself between them. “You don’t have a goddamn clue what I’m going through. All your fucking books and degrees don’t tell you shit. You’re a woman. You’ll never have to worry about this. You never have to learn to control anything. So fuck you and your psychobabble.”
    Aidan’s beast snarled. He didn’t need the added anger of his beast, he had enough just from the way Liam was talking to Jaylin. “You need to choose your words more carefully, my friend .”
    Liam offered no apology. No moment of contriteness. No sign he planned to back down. Before Aidan could demand he apologize, Jaylin walked around him and planted herself in front of Liam, arms crossed over her chest, that defiant chin in the air. “You can cuss and yell and throw whatever temper tantrum you want, it won’t change the fact that your mate rejected you.”
    “Shut up.” Liam’s body started to shake.
    Aidan moved to stand between them again, but Jaylin held up her hand and sent him a “don’t interfere” look. Fisting his