Are You Ready?

I was still at the bar with the alpha of the Millennium. I’d watched Sienna leave seven minutes ago and knew something was wrong, but he kept talking, kept ordering us another round of drinks.

I couldn’t leave him. I knew that much…but I had to.

“Would you excuse me for a couple of minutes? My beta…just down there, let me introduce you two. He makes a great drinking partner,” I said, motioning to the wall where Josh was mingling.

“No need,” the alpha of the Millennium said, stopping me from taking another step toward Josh. “I’ll come with you.”

“I was going to head outside, get some fresh air.”

“I could use some too.” ~Huh~. He was not budging from my side.

“Great,” I said and then led him through the ballroom and out the doors. I looked around when we got outside but didn’t see a soul. I tried to close my eyes, to sense her—but I couldn’t.

~Think.~

She’d looked upset. She wouldn’t have left the ball, not if there wasn’t a real reason. If she were really upset, mad, she’d shift. The forest.

“How do you feel about seeing the forest? It’s beautiful this time of year,” I said, wishing that I could just tell Raphael to get off my ass.

“I’m up for anything.” He shrugged. So I veered right, and we walked to the edge of the forest and then continued on, smelling the distinct scent of oak and mud.

“You’re here for me, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Come again?”

“You come to the Yule Ball with no explanation… Excuse my candidness, alpha of the Millennium, we’re happy to have you, but we don’t know anything about your visit.

“And you haven’t left my side since you got here. You’re either here to find out something from me or to find out something ~about~ me. Is that right?”

I was over this bullshit back-and-forth. I wanted him to just spit it out already.

He stopped walking, looking me right in the eye. I could feel his power through the glance and knew I very well might have crossed a line. But after a moment, he blinked and then started speaking.

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“Who sent you?” I said, keeping my tone as even as I could.

“No one sent me. But I’d been hearing things. About the possibility of your power dwindling.”

I let out a growl before I could stop myself.

Someone in ~my~ pack was going behind my back, questioning my strength, to the ~goddamn alpha of the Millennium?!~

“From whom?” I seethed.

“That’s not important. What’s important is I’m here. To sense you, to see if the potential problem is actually a potential problem.”

As much as I wanted to lash out at Raphael, he actually sounded concerned. He wasn’t being condescending.

He paused, looking out into the trees before turning back to me. “Are you looking?”

“Looking?”

“For your mate.”

So that ~was~ what this was about. My strength dwindling, the rumors that I wasn’t as dominant as I used to be because I hadn’t found someone.

~But I have.~

“No need. I’ve already found her.”

“You have?” the alpha of the Millennium asked skeptically. “I don’t feel that from you.”

Now I looked at the ground. “She doesn’t know it yet. We are a pair, for the season. But I’m taking it slow. For her sake.”

I could’ve sworn his expression softened, just for a second. “That’s why you haven’t consummated. I can sense it. Your frustration, your hostility. That’s what’s interfering with your dominance.”

“Tonight was gonna be the night,” I said without thinking. “But she…she ran from the ball. Something must have happened…”

And just then, in that moment, I scented her. As clear as crystal, I was certain the aroma was hers. And she was near.

“She’s here. She took off for the forest. I just… I have to find her. I have to tell her.”

He gave me a nod, nothing more, nothing less.

“Thank you, alpha of the Millennium.”

“Aiden. It’s Raphael. I’ll see you inside.” And then he turned and started walking back the way we had come.

Without wasting another second, I removed every article of my tux and shifted, taking a deeper whiff.

I let out a howl, letting her know I was near. But she didn’t respond. So I started to run.

After a few yards, I started to see the red of her fur in front of me. She was about half a mile ahead, so I upped my pace.

I howled again to let her know I was there, but it only seemed to make her run faster.

Within seconds, I was on her tail, but still she wasn’t stopping. No matter how much I howled, she didn’t slow down or stop. I had no other choice, so I lunged forward and tackled her.

We tumbled for a while, her limbs trying to fight me off, but when we came to a stop, I had her pinned beneath me.

I growled. ~Shift.~ She shook her head. ~No.~

I growled louder. ~SHIFT!~ But she just shook her head harder.

I tightened my grasp on her and snarled directly into her face. Her big blue eyes rolled in a complete circle.

And then she started to shift. I watched as the fur disappeared, her limbs condensed, and her muscles spasmed their way into human form.

She was under me, naked, her back on the muddy floor of the forest. I shifted too, holding her as a human.

That was when I saw the tears.

“You lied to me. You were using me to…to convince the alpha of the Millennium you’re strong—”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Josh told me…he said you knew you weren’t my mate.”

“Josh said ~what?~”

Suddenly it all became too fucking clear. I’d been thinking Raphael was out to get me all this time, but it was ~Josh~ who had misled him, made him think I was losing my ability to lead.

“He said you’re not my mate. That you’re just pretending,” she wailed.

I grabbed her face in my hands, forcing her to look directly at me.

“I lied to you. I admit it, I did. This whole time.” More tears pooled in her eyes, and her face got all red.

~But now it’s time for the truth.~

I continued, my voice cracking a bit.

“Because I knew you were my mate the second I laid eyes on you, Sienna Mercer. I knew it when you were drawing by the river. And I’ve known it every second we’ve been together since.”

The red in her cheeks slowly faded to pink, and I could see the realization pass through her eyes. “If you’re lying to me, Aiden, I swear to God, I will kill you.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “I know. And that’s why I love you.”

There was a brief pause, maybe two or three seconds. But those mere seconds felt like a goddamned eternity.

And then she said the words I’d been dying to hear, the words I thought she’d never be ready to say.

“I love you too.”

Her eyes glowed like orbs of fire, and I could see my reflection in them; I could see her understanding that I was so much more than she had ever imagined.

I was her mate, and she was mine.

I leaned down and kissed her, and in that kiss I felt everything that I’d been fearful Sienna didn’t feel for me.

She wanted me, no, ~needed~ me. Her desire for me was so much stronger than it had ever been before. Because she had fully accepted me as her mate.

There was no more resistance, no more uncertainty. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was the man for her.

All my fear was washed away in that instant, and in its wake only love remained.

As we kissed, our emotions supercharged by the moment, it felt as though nothing else existed outside of us, our naked bodies intertwined in this special pocket of time and space.

I was fully aroused, her scent driving me mad with desire. And she was clinging to me for dear life, running her hands up and down my back, breathing softly but emphatically.

My lust for her was immeasurable now that her eyes had been opened. Now that she wanted me just as badly.

I wanted to take her right there, in the leaves and dirt of the forest floor. Raw, primitive, and unrestrained.

Our hearts had become one, and now it was our bodies’ turn to join together.

My cock slid up against her entrance, and she let out a soft moan.

That fucking sound, her pleasured excitement, it drove me wild.

She was getting wet, inviting me in, and I wanted her so bad it hurt.

But she was still a virgin; this was her first time.

I couldn’t let the alpha out; he’d ravage her in ways she couldn’t dream of. No, I had to show restraint.

I had to make sure this was everything she needed it to be.

So I asked her a question, one that I’d needed the answer to since I’d first locked eyes with her.

“Sienna... Are you ready?”