Mute from birth, Aiden Monroe, a young hybrid, had learnt from a young age just how cruel the world could be.

Yet, as means to pay off an old debt, Aiden finds himself trapped in wolf territory. With the Alpha of the Blackwater pack still deciding his fate, he places Aiden's wellbeing in the hands of his emotionally distant nephew, Lincoln Briar. 

At first, Aiden finds himself thinking that Link was just a cold hearted beast, a monster that spoke with such venom that even snakes would bow their head in respect. Yet, the more time that they were forced to spend together, the more Aiden began to realize that there was a tenderness to the beast, a gentleness, though subtle, that he had almost overlooked.

But when the outside threat that had been hanging over the Blackwater pack crept closer, Aiden, with his own life potentially in danger, finds himself thinking that perhaps a beast is only a beast after all.

And his silence, for as loud as it could sometimes be, would never be enough to tame such a beast. Right?

Silence and the Beast

/"Clyde,/" Link drawled out, leaning back into the kitchen chair. /"Kindly shut up— I can't hear myself losing the will to live over the sound of your whining./"

What feeble tenderness Lincoln had shown him, what mild shred of humanity Aiden had caught a glimpse towards, was gone. It had dried up vanished upon Clyde's arrival, and he'd hit the default button and gone right back to pretending Aiden didn't exist.

/"For once, can't you just be serious, Link?/" The dimpled, boyish smile Clyde often wore was nowhere in sight. Nor was his usual cheerful and laid back attitude. Instead, a harsh frown blotted his expression, his eyebrows forced together and his lips pressed into a tight slash.

/"I am being serious,/" Link replied. He was sprawled in the island chair, his chin propped up by his cupped hand. /"All I can hear is your voice. It's quite depressing, if I'm being honest./"

Chapter21