It’s a struggle, but I release him moments before he would have suffocated to death. I step away slowly, and he doesn’t dare make a move. I look around and call everyone to attention.
“For those of you who don’t know, when I went to receive my mate, Ari had been intercepted by the Canadian Alpha who was posing as me. Thankfully she fought them off until we had arrived, but someone from either Alpha Wilder’s pack or ours leaked information that could have destroyed us. Braden here is even more of a suspect now than he was before. If anyone has any other information or suspicions, I expect to hear it by the end of the day. The traitor will be found and dealt with.
Also, let this be a lesson to everyone. I consider Ari to be my equal in every way. I think she has more than proven her worth to this pack. Together we are one, and when I am away, it will be her and Jerek, and whoever else she may choose, that will be in charge.”
I signal for Trace and Asher to take Braden back to my place and to the large cage under the barn. We can’t have him running off before interrogating him. Based on the answers he gives will determine if he gets to live or die. Of course, I may still kill him anyways for how he treated my mate. His mention of my mother also wracks on my nerves.
Braden was a part of my original pack, and he followed me after I killed my father, but had he been active in my father’s ways before I took over? He was closer to my father’s age, and we have never discussed it before. In fact, he seemed just as disturbed by my father’s dealings just as everyone else was, so I didn’t think I had reason to worry. Maybe it was all an act, and I was the fool who bought it.
Ari’s eyes meet mine, and I can see the storm raging inside them. She learned a lot today, and I assume I’ll be getting an interrogation of my own this evening. Walking towards her I watch many different emotions play on her face, but she doesn’t speak. She lets me pull her into my arms and run my fingers in circles on her back to soothe her. I can practically hear the wheels turning in her head.
Jerek stands nearby, waiting for his orders from his queen. She would hate that I call her that in my head, but no one is more deserving of the name.
“Can you give her a ride home?” I ask him, and he nods. Tucking her into my side, I walk her back to Jerek’s truck and open her door for her. “Go home and take a hot shower. By the time you are out, I will be home,” I squeeze Ari’s hand and kiss her forehead before closing her door. I want to keep her with me and take her home myself, but she needs a few moments of space to process. I can only pray she is waiting for me when I get home to her.
Chapter 15
Ari
Jerek wouldn’t elaborate. He said that Darien would fill me in on the rest, but felt that he needed to admit that to me, rather than risk someone else telling me. He stayed and waited in the living room on his own volition while I went upstairs to shower. I was too numb to care. I wanted to rewind to yesterday and let Jerek talk me out of going to help collect wood. I have always loved a good ass kicking, but normally it doesn’t come with all the drama and secrets.
Whispering downstairs reaches my ears when I exit the shower. Darien must be home, and Jerek probably dropped the bomb on him that the cat’s out of the bag. I get dressed and wait for him to come upstairs, which I don’t have to wait long.
I barely get my top over my head when his core-stimulating scent fills me. I turn to face him, and his eyes are dark and clouded with worry. Something flickers in his gaze though, and I can feel his love pouring into me from across the room.
Before I can stop him, he has me in his arms. His mouth devours mine with intense need, and I am surprised to find myself matching that need. He removes my shorts and undoes his jeans without breaking our kiss.
Unable to wait any longer, he lifts me onto his harness, filling me completely, and tears burn my eyes. The emotional roller coaster of today has zapped the energy out of me. After everything, and knowing there is more to come, I need this. I need to feel his love to tell me that if nothing else, we still have us.
“I love you, Ari,” he whispers the words that I need, and I moan with pleasure. The heightened emotions intensify every one of my senses. I feel like a time bomb, and every kiss, touch, and moan pushes me one step closer to exploding. He says it again as he thrusts into me, and I give him exactly what he wants. Detonating around him, I scream, as a single tear breaks free and runs down my face.
Using his free hand, he wipes the tear away, and plants sweet kisses on my cheeks, my eyes, my forehead, and everywhere else. He looks adoringly at me. His cock continues to swell inside me, but he is waiting for my permission to continue. I give him a small smile, and he doesn’t waste time removing the remainder of our clothes.
The skin on skin contact alone has me begging for more of him. He pushes me on the bed and surprises me by flipping me over onto my stomach. His arm reaches under me and lifts me to my hands and knees, pressing my back to his front. His large body encases mine as he pushes back into me.
I quiver and moan beneath him as the position angles him into me deeper than ever. Even he groans with pleasure in my ear. He bites into my neck from behind, and unable to control my reaction, I squeeze him tighter. He bites me harder in an attempt to muffle his moans.
His body pressed tightly to mine, and with my strength holding us up, he starts to move. Somehow, he feels thicker than ever as he impales me over and over, hitting nerves I have never felt before.
I’m moaning and screaming, not caring who hears as he fucks me roughly, filling me over and over again. I am a hot mess as he stretches me, holding me rigidly against him.
“I love you,” I finally say the words back. His grip on me tightens and his movements become more erratic as he pounds deeper and faster, fucking me with even more passion than before.
“Fuck, Ari,” he comes undone. His thrusts and his release into me cause an orgasm that goes on forever.
Darien’s movements slow, but our breathing is ragged. He grabs my ass, and pushes deep into me, and the tingles that follow make me collapse on the bed. He falls with me.
“Dammit, Ari, how do you do this to me?” I don’t respond since I should be asking him the same question. He turns me until my head rests on his chest. He looks down into my gaze and sighs. “What do you want to know?”
“Something I should have asked a long time ago. I want to know about your mother,” I see a flicker of pain pass over his eyes just before they turn to ice.
“As you know, after I killed my father, other pack members came for my mother. I protected her and commanded that they leave her alone. In that moment I realized that I had become Alpha. Mom was granted a trial. From there, you know that we discovered she wasn’t completely unaware of the things going on, yet she did nothing. She was too afraid to do anything. I didn’t want to lose my mother, but she was begging for someone to take her life,” he says with disgust.
“Being a young and naïve 17-year-old, I offered the kill to Jerek since he was one of the few who volunteered. I thought it would make him feel better, but for a long time, I think I made it worse,” he breathes and I can feel the shame and anguish rolling off of him. I feel terrible for the awful choice he had to make at such a young age.
I reach out to him and touch his face. His eyes close as I gently glide my fingers across his skin. When they open again, it’s his wolf eyes that greet me, showing me just how stressed he is. Darien blinks him away before giving me an apologetic look. His wolf doesn’t frighten me though.
Darien would have probably fully shifted by now if we had gone straight into the heavy stuff, but the sex alleviated some of that stress.
“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about Braden, but I wasn’t, and am still not sure. I also didn’t expect you to show up at my work,” he points out, gently reprimanding me for not giving him a heads up.
“I’m sorry too. It wasn’t my intention to keep it from you at first, but then I got nervous.”
“What on earth were you nervous about?”
“I don’t know. I’m used to people always being mad at me for one thing or another, but I didn’t want you to be mad,” he raises his brow at me, “and Jerek made it seem like my presence would be a bad idea.”
“Dammit Jerek!” he yells loud enough for him to hear, then softly says to me, “Baby, I would never have an issue with you coming to my work. You never have to be afraid of me,” he runs his gentle hands through my hair.
“So then, I can come with you to interrogate Braden?” I ask slyly. His hand in my hair stops before he looks at me like I’m crazy.
“You don’t want to see that, Ari,” he warns, but he forgets who he is talking to.
“It’s about me, so I think I have a right to be present.”
“You have a point, but how about just being in hearing distance and I’ll call you in if I need anything,” he tries to compromise.
“Okay, I guess that’s fair,” he looks at me in complete shock. “What?” I ask as he stares open-mouthed at me like I have grown two heads. He clears his throat and tries to compose himself.
“Nothing. Just amazed by your ability to compromise,” he admits, but hopefully he doesn’t go too crazy over it. I’m not always so agreeable.
“Well, it’s not an outrageous request. I already got my shots in,” I smirk, “but I want to hear what he has to say.”
“Yeah you did,” he laughs, and I blush at the proud expression on his face. I wasn’t sure when he’d arrived at the scene, but I guess he caught some, if not all of the fight. “Come on,” he gets up and holds his hand out to me. I take it and let him pull me up off the bed. We get dressed again and I slide on flats so that I don’t have to fuss with all the laces and buckles on my boots.
“Dammit, Ari,” he uses what seems to be his favorite phrase for me, and I glare at him with a raised brow.
“What now?” I ask icily, but it’s melted when I catch the molten emeralds in his eyes again.
“Why do you look so damn good in everything?”
I roll my eyes at him, but really, I could ask him the same darn question. Technically though, I have pretty much only seen him in jeans, t-shirts, and cowboy boots, but I can tell that he’s one of those guys who can pull off just about any look.
“It’s just jean shorts and a plain white tee,” I laugh at his ridiculousness. At least he’s easy to please.
“Yeah, but those legs! That ring on your finger. Those enchanting eyes,” he steps forward and takes my mouth with his. “You are perfect,” his lips claim mine again before I can argue, and I’m practically panting for more.
A giggle bubbles up when he lifts me by my ass and shifts me around to his large muscled back. I hold on tight as he giddily carries me piggyback style down the stairs.
Jerek gets up from his game of solitaire at the table, and trails behind us towards the barn.
As we get closer, I feel the tension resurface in Darien, and I slide down from his back. He lets me, but takes my hand in his.
When we reach our destination, he brushes his lips over my hand before leaving me with the horses. Jerek is torn on whether to follow him or stay with me. He decides to hang back with me, but Darien leaves the door to the basement open for us to hear. From this distance we will be able to hear even the slightest whisper if we focus.
Before the show starts, I give Royal and Lightning some love. Jerek joins me, and I can see that he is very fond of the horses just like everyone else. The horses can sense the stress of the situation, but I can feel them calm at our touch and presence.
I’m not surprised to smell Darien’s two right-hand men present. I realize now that Trace was probably antagonizing Braden on purpose earlier. Had he intended to get me involved though? I couldn’t see Darien being okay with something like that. Are there more wolves than just Braden betraying us?
“What the fuck is this?” Braden spits. I can just picture him tied to a chair and can even hear the clanking of chains rattle with every movement.
I flinch briefly at the sound of a fist against what I believe to be Braden’s face.
“I’m asking the questions here. And that was for the stunt you pulled with my mate earlier,” Braden groans in pain, but wisely keeps his mouth shut. “Now, tell me how the Canadian pack was able to intercept Ari.”
“I don’t know,” he mumbles, and I hear movement before the fist comes again, but it wasn’t Darien this time. He hadn’t been the one to move, and I’m sure he is trying to maintain his composure to keep his wolf under control.
“So, your angst against my mate is just pure coincidence?” Darien asks in disbelief.
“My frustration is towards the guard dog at her feet. I was your father's third, and I’m constantly being demoted by children!” His words are bitter, and I can tell he is probably glaring at those children right this second.
Probably because you sound like a petty child, I say in my head. Even Jerek snickers next to me.
“Jerek’s been a train wreck for a while now. He would have been out of our lives for good, but thanks to her, he is all of a sudden in a high position without even having to earn it? That’s bullshit!”
“So, you’re not happy about your pack mates revelation and his willingness to protect my mate, and you feel threatened?” Darien pauses and there is no response from Braden. Not verbally anyways. “Well you should feel threatened because your life hangs in the balance right now. Start telling me what I need to hear,” Darien commands and the coldness in his voice sends shivers down my spine. This is the Darien Shield everyone else sees, and the only side of him I was aware of before meeting him.
For a few moments there is no response. I hear a muted crunch before screaming breaks the silence. If I’m not mistaken, someone just broke one of his limbs.
“Okay, okay!” he wails in desperation, “John Flint and your father were friends. He’s the one Alpha you haven’t taken out yet that I know of who was involved with sharing and exploiting women. As you know, I wasn’t involved with it, nor did I know most of what was going on. However, I did know that Alpha Flint never messed with our pack. I wanted us to remain in their good graces, so I gave him a heads up that you were accepting a pact with Alaska. I never said anything about your mate, nor did I even know your exact arrangements for times and locations. I’m not the traitor.”
Did he not just hear himself? I can feel Darien’s anger from here.
“You. Almost. Cost. Me. My. Mate!” Darien growls back slowly and dangerously. “You almost ruined our pact with a strong ally. That alone makes you a traitor. Not to mention, you withheld information on Alpha Flint being involved in past crimes, and today you went off the rails.”
“I didn’t know Alpha Flint would do what he did. This is madness! I can’t believe this is happening over some girl who has been here for only days. I get it, she’s pretty, and I’m sure a good fuck, but she’s changed you Darien. She is distracting you,” he pauses suddenly. “What are you doing?” his demeaning tone has turned to absolute terror, “Please think about this Darien! I’m sorry…I will be loyal and do whatever you say. I won’t—,” his words are cut off, and the sounds that follow turn my stomach, which is not easy to do.
Braden was so paranoid that he could no longer see reason and apparently lost all sense of preservation until his last few seconds. Criticizing an already angry Alpha’s mate was Darien’s last straw. He had shifted, and based on the crunching and tearing of skin sounds, ripped Braden’s head off with his teeth.
Jerek and I say nothing. Neither of us is shocked by the outcome. Traitors were killed, and he may not have been the main culprit, but he put things into motion, whether he intended to or not.
The moment he was decapitated, everyone in the pack felt his death. While the Alpha can’t speak directly into our minds, we all sensed what he tried to get across. Traitor.
Darien climbs back up to us, still in his wolf skin. He steps in front of Jerek and stares into his eyes for a moment before Jerek turns to go downstairs to help Trace a
nd Asher. The wolf tugs on my wrist, and I know exactly what he needs.
With no one else around, I strip out of my clothes and shift. Side by side, we tear off into the forest, running almost full tilt towards nothing and everything. I smell the scent of many different animals but there will be no hunting tonight. His wolf already made his kill.
Running quietly by his side, I let Darien feel my support that he deeply needs. However, I can’t help but think that he wouldn’t have had to deal with this if it wasn’t for me. I’ve been a cause of stress for him ever since I arrived. Hell, I have been a source of stress for everyone almost my whole damn life.
Darien’s wolf strikes mine and we tumble until he has me pinned beneath him. He stays down low though rather than standing high above me. I use my senses to search for danger around us.
‘I can feel your stress and self-blaming. Stop it, Ari. This is no one’s fault other than Braden’s alone. He has brought war upon us. You on the other hand have brought love and a strength I have never known into my life. You are my mate, and you will never be anything less than precious to me.’
His words seep into my very soul and turn my insides to mush. How can he be so sweet right now? I’m the one who is supposed to be consoling him.
‘I love you,’ is all I say back, but I put every ounce of that love into my declaration. His wolf licks my muzzle and my wolf boldly licks the side of his face before bolting up and running.
He chases after me with a playful yip, and suddenly it is just the two of us in the world. Two people, two wolves, young and in love with no thoughts of war. No death, and no pack drama.
I wake to a nip at my ear. Darien’s wolf is cleaning my face, and playfully nipping at me, and I then realize that we are still in the woods. The sun is starting to rise. Birds are chirping, and I can hear the sound of the river nearby. I want to go back to sleep, but we both have work. Was it really my idea to get a job? Damn. I could live out here in the woods with him for the rest of my life.
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