by Rua Hasan
What the heck is with this guy? I don’t understand him at all.
He took a step closer to me then pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Thank you,” he said softly as he brought his face to the crook of my neck and inhaled my scent.
“Can I still have that happy birthday kiss?” he asked, moving his face from my neck and looking at me teasingly. I rolled my eyes. Before I could say a word, his lips met mine. The sparks never failed to surprise me every time we made skin contact. His lips fit mine perfectly as he moved them against mine slowly. This kiss wasn’t aggressive; it was more of a sweet, tender kiss. His arms tightened around me, bringing me closer to his chest. I could feel my heart beating so fast against his chest. I think Aiden liked the effect he had on me because I could feel him smile against my lips.
My hands moved on their own up his chest and right into his hair. I grabbed a chunk of it as my back hit the wall behind us. His teeth bit my lower lip asking for entrance, and I opened before he could put his hand under my shirt like the last time.
His tongue entered my mouth and was moving with my tongue. His fingers were teasing my skin as they made their way up and down my arm. We were fighting for dominance. I finally won this time. I’m not sure if Aiden let me on purpose, but I took advantage of winning.
I moaned against his lips. He growled in satisfaction. A second later, he pulled away from me and moved me to the bed. I looked at him confused.
“We should stop. I don’t think I would be able to control myself any longer,” he told me.
I could see his eyes darken as he said that.
I nodded my head and got under the cover. I closed my eyes as I felt the bed tilt downward when he got in it, and he pulled me to his chest. I laid my head on his chest, and his hand played with my hair. His breath grew steady as sleep crept closer.
I woke up the next morning feeling cold. My hands were trying to find something—or should I say someone—to keep me warm. I opened my eyes and saw sunlight shining into the room. Aiden’s part of the bed was cold. He must have woken up hours ago.
I got up and made my way to the closet, yawning. I looked at the time on my phone to see it was about nine. I then grabbed a t-shirt which had the words “I’m A Rebel” on it and a pair of skinny jeans, then headed to the bathroom. I stripped out of my clothes and got into the shower. After I was done, I wrapped a towel around my wet body and brushed my teeth. I dried my body before wearing my clothes and brushing my hair.
When I got out of the bathroom, I saw Marie sitting on the bed eating a granola bar as usual.
“Good morning, immo,” she said with a full mouth.
I smiled at her, stepped forward, snatched the granola she was eating, and stuffed it in my mouth. It was so good.
“Hey, I was eating that!” Marie whined.
“Yeah, I know that,” I said as I grabbed my phone from the counter.
She pouted at me then got off the bed.
“So what’s the plan for today?” I asked.
Marie sighed at me.
“There is no plan for today, immo. I have lots of training today. Aiden is making the whole pack work their butts off today,” she said.
I nodded.
“Well, can I come? It’s been a while since I worked out,” I said. I could feel myself getting excited about the thought of fighting.
Marie laughed.
“What?” I asked.
“You really think Aiden would let you fight? I think he would be too afraid of you getting hurt,” she said as she wiped an imaginary tear from her cheek.
“Hey, I can fight too you know! I’m two hundred years old. I can take care of myself,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I know you can, immo. That’s why I’m here,” she said smugly as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder.
“Let’s go convince Aiden to let you train with us,” she said as she dragged me out of the bedroom.
Marie and I walked outside for a few minutes. It was so relaxing just to hear the birds chirping as the trees danced with the wind.
Marie led me to a huge building that looked like a gym. I could feel my pulse quickening with the image of kicking butts.
As we walked inside, the smell of sweat hit me.
Marie was right. Aiden was going hard on the pack members today. I looked around to see some people working out while others fought each other as if they were the enemy.
We continued to walk until I saw Aiden fighting with Nate. Both had their shirts off as they tackled one another to the ground. Just by looking at Nate, I could tell he was an Alpha too.
He also had power radiating from him when I met him yesterday. But I could feel more power coming from Aiden. He looked stronger than Nate.
I don’t know why I seem to like that.
I shook my head, ignored the thoughts, and walked closer to the room.
Aiden stopped what he was doing, sniffed the air, and turned his head to look at me. At first, he looked shocked to see me here.
Nate took this opportunity to tackle Aiden to the ground, catching Aiden by surprise.
I walked faster to them and helped Aiden get off the ground while Nate stood next to him, feeling proud of himself.
“Well, that was easy,” Nate said more to himself.
“Don’t get your hopes up. That won’t happen again,” Aiden told Nate.
Nate only shook his head and punched his arm playfully.
Aiden turned to look at me then at Marie.
“Why are you here?” he asked me.
“I want to train as well,” I answered excitedly.
“No,” Aiden said firmly.
I frowned.
Marie was right. This was not going to be easy.
“And why?” I asked, raising one of my eyebrows at him, and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Because you could get hurt. End of story,” he said while shaking his head.
I felt myself getting angrier.
I’m two hundred years old! He’s underestimating me.
“Oh, I’m not here to ask for permission. I’m training whether you like it or not,” I told him then turned around and walked toward the center of the room where there was a mattress to fight on.
“Stella,” Aiden growled warningly. He grabbed my arm and turned me around.
The surrounding wolves stared at us. They stopped what they were doing.
Great, we’re attracting too much attention.
I pulled my arm away from Aiden and walked to the mattress. I started to do some stretches. I was wearing shorts with a baggy t-shirt. I changed before I got here. I couldn’t train while wearing skinny jeans.
After a moment of silence, I looked around to see Aiden looking at me pissed while Marie and Nate looked entertained. Some other wolves were looking at me and waiting for me to fight back their Alpha.
“So who wants to challenge me?” I asked while looking around.
Aiden growled at the crowd threateningly.
Geez, why does he have to be so grumpy all the time? He should just let loose.
“No one is challenging you, Stella. So drop the act,” Aiden said.
I only shook my head at him.
Something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Or should I say someone? That bimbo from the bathroom yesterday.
I smirked to myself.
This was going to be fun.
“I’d like to challenge you,” she said as she flipped her hair from her shoulders. She was wearing extremely tight leggings and a short tight shirt.
Yup, definitely a bimbo.
I grinned at the thought of tackling her to the ground and showing her who she was messing with.
I’m not such a violent person, but when you get on my bad side, then you pay the price.
“Kayla,” Aiden growled at her.
So that’s her name.
Kayla the pack slut. Yup, has a ring to it.
“Aiden, don’t ruin the fun,” I told him and pointed at him to go stand with Marie and Nate.
Nate mouthed me a “good luck.”
I replied with a quick nod.
I turned around to see Kayla getting ready to pounce on me, but I was quick enough to step aside. She fell on her face beside me.
This is going to be too easy.
She got up immediately and tried to throw a punch at my face, but I blocked it with my hand. Once her fist made contact with my hand, I held it tightly and twisted her arm behind her back.
She hissed in pain.
While one hand was held behind her back, the other was trying to find my face. She wanted to scratch me with fake nails.
Who even wears fake nails while fighting?
Bimbos, of course.
This was getting too boring. I let her go so I could have a bit of fun. I needed some excitement.
I pushed her forward.
When she finally straightened herself, she turned around and looked at me dead in the eye. She looked angry.
This is going to be fun.
She jumped at me, and I landed on my back. I moved quickly and turned us around so that I was on top of her. She tried to pierce through my skin with her fingernails, but I grabbed her hands and put it over her head.
“Woah, woah, kitten, wouldn’t want to break a nail, would you?” I asked.
She growled at me.
One thing I learned from Alice is that wolves hate to be called kittens or pups. It’s an insult to them and tends to hurt their pride.
I got off her and put my hand on my hip.
I looked around to see Aiden looking at me with wide, shocked eyes. But the emotion in them was what caught my attention.
I saw pride and awe.
My thoughts were broken when I saw a shadow from behind me move quickly. But not fast enough. I was quicker. I turned around and used my leg to trip Kayla. She fell to the ground, humiliating herself.
“That was a low move, even for you,” I said bitterly.
The surrounding crowd clapped and cheered. Nate and Marie were by my side smiling widely.
“You showed her,” Nate told me. The talk we had yesterday came in my mind. He told me that she was doing this because of jealousy.
I wonder if there was something between her and Aiden.
Were they together once? Or was it a onetime thing?
I tried to ignore those thoughts. My chest hurt for some reason as I thought about the possibilities.
Aiden was by my side for a second. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me to his chest.
“Show is over. Go back to your training,” Aiden told the crowd.
Some sighed before they went back to what they were doing.
“That was amazing,” Aiden told me as he looked down at me.
“Still don’t think I could take care of myself?” I asked looking up at him.
“It’s not that I think you’re weak. I know you can take care of yourself. It’s just my wolf likes to think we’re needed, and that’s by protecting you.”
His words left me speechless. Is that how he felt, wanting to be needed?
Marie pulled me away from Aiden and handed me a water bottle.
“Immo, that was amazing! You totally showed her who’s boss.” She squealed while shaking me. I felt like she was happier than me about my victory. I smiled at her and laughed.
I looked around to see Kayla walking outside of the gym. She looked super pissed.
Hey, she was the one to challenge me. I don’t think she even put up a fight. It was too easy.
An hour later, Aiden, Marie, Liam, Nate and I were sitting at a table in McDonald’s. We were waiting for our food.
After what happened in the gym, the boys became hungry and decided to have lunch early. I went back to my room and changed to what I wore this morning.
Finally ten minutes of Liam and Marie bickering, the food arrived. I swear that’s all that Liam and Marie did—bicker.
Aiden handed me my tray and gave Nate his soda. I took two fries and stuffed them into my mouth, letting the salty taste hit my taste buds.
“So, Nate, how do you know Aiden?” I asked.
“We used to go to high school together,” Aiden answered for him.
I nodded.
“You’re an Alpha right?” I asked Nate.
He nodded proudly.
“For how long?” I asked. I could feel Aiden tense beside me.
It took him a moment to answer, like he was remembering something.
“I became Alpha when my father died when I was seventeen,” he answered.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said but tried not to show any pity, especially not to an Alpha. Becoming Alpha in such a young age is something very difficult to handle, especially after a father’s death.
“It’s okay, it was a long time ago,” Nate said and took a sip from his soda.
I could feel the pain coming from him when he brought up his father, even though he didn’t show it.
Losing someone special to you can leave a dent in your heart. Whether you like it or not, it will remain there until the day you die.
Or in my case, for eternity.
Chapter 19
Aiden
The only sounds that I heard were the clock ticking and my fingers pressing on the keyboard. It had been hours since I’ve been here.
I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost three pm.
I got up sometime around seven and came straight here into my office. I had a pile of work to do. I had been so busy lately with Nate here in my territory ever since my birthday. Nate couldn’t stay here for long. He had a pack to get to.
Even though he was my best friend, Alphas can’t really be relaxed if they’re not in their own territory. Their pack is their own responsibility. If something happens to it while they’re gone, then it will be their fault, even though if the Beta is in charge. Nate told me that he would be leaving that night, so I had to get all these work done by the next few hours.
Another thing that had been keeping me busy was the strange rogue occurrence. For the past few weeks, they were noticed by the borders of our territory. I didn’t know why but I was starting to get suspicious, thinking that this was probably not a coincidence.
I would send my guards to send them far away, but with every rogue gone, more would come back. They wouldn’t step into my territory, but I had to make sure they weren’t any harm.
Better safe than sorry.
Before yesterday, one even walked into my territory and tried to fight my guards. But one untrained wolf against four well-trained guards made it easy to take him down. I’m not sure why he decided to make that stupid move and risk his life, but he had to be killed.
I was not risking anything.
That’s why I had all the grown wolves yesterday train their butts off. They have to be prepared for whatever was to come. Whether it would hit us by surprise or not, we would be able to take it down, whatever or whoever was a threat to us. I hadn’t told anyone about it besides my guards and Liam because I was not sure if I should worry anyone with useless rogue news.
Maybe it was just coincidence, or maybe that rogue was just having a bad day. Whether it was that or not, no one was allowed to step foot into my pack without permission and then challenge my guards.
I was looking through all the papers on my desk and separating the papers I needed from the ones I didn’t. I threw the useless ones into the trash while I stacked the useful ones. My stomach grumbled, so I decided to take a break and go have dinner with Stella. I smiled to myself when she came to my mind. I could feel her starting to warm up to me. I mean, yes, she was her stubborn self, and I couldn’t help but love that about her. I loved the way she talked back to me and bossed me around. I also loved the way she scrunched her nose when she was disgusted. Or how caring she was toward others like Sarah and her deceased best friend.
What was her name? Oh yeah, Alice.
Her past was one thing that surprised me.
She’s a very strong woman who’s been through so much and is still standing to this day. I admire her determination.
I know that I love her, but I don’t know if she knows that. I don’t even know how this will end. But whatever happens, I want her to be by my side.
I can’t tell her that I love her yet. I still have to get her to actually like me and accept me. I bet if her parents weren’t all the way across the world, she would have left me weeks ago.
But I was not going to let that happen. I’ve been looking for her for years, and when I finally found her, I wasn’t going to let her go so easily.
I closed my laptop and was about to get off my chair when somebody knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I yelled.
The door opened, and I caught the smell of a perfume that I knew too well.
Kayla.
I sighed. This again.
I wouldn’t say that Kayla was the pack slut. I would say she was more of a gold digger. She was a very spoiled and clingy she-wolf. She didn’t stop until she got what she wants. What does she want?
Title, and what she wants is what Stella had. Being Luna.
There was nothing between her and me but only a couple of spoken words. Yet she persists.
I looked up from my desk to see she was wearing a very short skirt and a tight shirt.
Stella’s victory over her came to my mind. Yes, I knew she was a very strong vampire, but I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt. But when Kayla challenged her yesterday, I could only feel one thing.
Pride.
I was proud that Stella was my mate—a very strong and beautiful one.
I smiled when I thought about Stella, but Kayla must have thought that I was smiling at her because she twirled her hair with her fingers and batted her fake eyelashes. She walked closer to my desk while swaying her hips side to side.
The way she seemed so fake disgusted me.
Stella couldn’t be compared to anyone. She was one of a kind. Special in so many ways.
“Kayla, as you can see I’m very busy, so if you have something to tell me, then get on with it,” I told her seriously.
I didn’t want her to think I would be so easy to get.
No, she had to respect her Luna and me.
“I was wondering if you’d like to go out for dinner. We could have some fun,” she said while walking to my chair. She thought she was so seducing with her tight clothes and her face full of makeup.