Leaving a Mark

I liked plans. Plans made me tick. Plans kept me healthy and, by extension, kept the pack functioning.

What had happened with Sienna in the bathroom was not part of any plan.

I’d wanted to take my time with her. I’d wanted to get to know her, to entice, seduce—not dry hump her like fucking sixteen-year-olds during their first Haze.

But that little indiscretion was the least of my worries now. We’d made physical contact, and that had intensified ~everything~.

It was like alarm bells were going off in my head, alerting me to the imminent danger my unmarked mate was facing.

My eyes darted around the dining hall as I reentered, taking note of every male wolf. No, scratch the alarm bells, it was more like fucking ~sirens~.

I had to silence them. And there was only one way to do that.

I went straight to my seat, ignored Josh and Jocelyn who, thankfully, got the gist that I was in no mood to talk, and downed the food without even tasting it.

When it was time for my individual meet-and-greets, I kept them short. I half-listened to the guests, ignored those who tried to flirt—couldn’t they smell Sienna on me?—and sized up every potential threat.

Sienna was avoiding me like the plague after our encounter. If it had been anyone else, I would’ve considered it disrespectful, but after what had happened, I couldn’t blame her for keeping her distance.

But she had no idea of the danger she was in, the more she separated herself from her true mate.

As the guests all began to leave, I felt a sense of relief. The threats were leaving, and the sirens were quieting. But not completely. There was still an urgency in my mind that I couldn’t shake off.

And there was a lingering scent in the air, calling to me…

~Sienna.~

She was walking in a hurry toward the exit, a shawl draped over her shoulders. Her hair was brushed to one side, exposing the slope of her neck, the one spot that was every werewolf’s kryptonite.

At that, my wolf quickly took over and all rational thoughts vacated my head.

~Do it now.~

~Protect your mate.~

In two seconds, I was right behind her. Leaning toward her ear, I whispered, “Before you go, I have something for you.”

My mouth was hovering near her neck, needing to do this, to make sure everyone knew to back off, that my mate was under the protection of the alpha.

“I told you,” she started, “I’m not—”

I didn’t let her finish. My wolf refused to listen. I sank my teeth into the tender bend between her neck and shoulder.

Claiming her.

Marking her.

Protecting her.

A moan escaped Sienna’s lips, so quiet you almost couldn’t hear it, but it was like music to my ears.

I hoped I’d made the right decision by marking her, but I couldn’t for the life of me bring myself to regret it.

The mark on her neck made my wolf bare its teeth in a savage grin. It made me feel the most carnal kind of satisfaction.

My mate was marked, and my mind was finally at ease.

“You’re mine for the season,” I whispered, a surge of possessiveness rising inside me. “Another man touches you, and I’ll kill him.”

I left without another word. Now that she was marked, that she knew where we stood, I could breathe easily.

Because she was mine, and I meant what I said.

Sienna Mercer had the protection of the alpha now. And no man would dare come near her—or they’d be ripped to shreds.

***

I woke up on the sofa in my office at the pack house, exhausted. Last night, after the pack house had finally emptied, I’d retreated to my office and downed a few beers before crashing there for the night.

I often spent the night in the office, which was why I had a private bathroom and a small kitchen attached, along with a closet full of extra clothes.

As an alpha, I more often than not had to be on call, which was why I usually preferred to spend the night there.

But that would have to end now. Because I had a mate, whom I’d marked last night and whom I had to watch out for as much as possible.

If the situation had been different—if I’d stuck to my initial plan—I would’ve taken things far more slowly. But since there was no way to change the past, there was only one direction I could go.

~Forward.~

I took a shower, brushed my teeth, put on some fresh clothes, and then called the secretary. “Pack house, Emilia speaking,” answered a familiar voice.

“It’s me,” I said, and since she’d been the head secretary for almost thirty years now, Emilia knew who I was simply by voice. “I need you to send an invitation addressed to Sienna Mercer, pronto.”

If Emilia was surprised by the request, I couldn’t tell. “Will do, Alpha. What should it contain?”

I had a feeling she wasn’t going to be able to stay indifferent now. “Dictate as follows: ‘Dear Sienna Mercer…’”

***

I leaned back in my chair as Josh paced across the room, working himself up for some kind of grand discourse, but I was only half-paying attention.

Something else had spiked my senses or, rather, someone else.

My mate was near.

My wolf wanted me to get up and go find her. However, I had to stomp down the urge. I needed to focus on this meeting because I knew why they were here.

My friends had organized an intervention.

Jocelyn, Nelson, and Rhys looked on in silence as Josh struggled to find his composure. They knew better than to interrupt my beta when he was about to get on a roll.

I, however, had reached the end of my patience. “Josh, spit it out,” I snarled.

“Aiden,” he started, leaning on my desk, “we’re worried about you, and it’s not just us. Other members of the pack are starting to notice.”

~Let him talk~, I cajoled my wolf as its hackles rose. ~Let him get it out of his system.~

“It’s not just rumors and gossip now,” Josh continued, grimacing.

“People are questioning your ability to lead. They think you’re compromised. A pack can’t function when its members start questioning their alpha.”

I stirred in my seat, flexing my muscles in case he had forgotten who was truly in charge here. “Josh, there’s no reason to be concerned. I found someone.”

“You marked some nineteen-year-old you hardly know,” he said, his voice rising with frustration.

“How am I not supposed to be concerned after that? You should be looking for your mate, not fooling around with some teenager with a crush.”

That was rich coming from the man who’d tried to set me up with a dozen different alpha-obsessed women, but before I could speak, Jocelyn interjected.

“You don’t know her either,” she said. “It’s not fair to judge her.”

Josh glared at her, pursing his lips. “I’m not trying to put the girl on trial. I’m just saying the future of this pack is bigger than any of us.”

“Aiden would do anything for the pack,” Rhys said, becoming defensive on my behalf. “Are you questioning his leadership?”

As always, Jocelyn was quick to calm everyone.

“I doubt Josh meant to call anyone’s loyalty into question, but he does raise an important point.” She turned to look at me, her eyes soft. “Aiden, what are you going to do?”

They were worried. I’d been pulling away from them, stuck in my own head, for the past few months.

They were at a loss as to what was going on, and I debated telling them the truth—about what had gone on with me, and maybe even about Sienna—but it was still too early for all of it.

I also knew Josh, though, and I couldn’t keep giving him the runaround. And yet I wasn’t ready to share, wasn’t ready to lay it all bare.

So I simply said, “That melancholy is behind me now, I promise.”

Josh didn’t seem convinced. “All I want is for you to be honest with us,” he said. “What’s going on with you lately?”

Before I could give him any sort of answer that would appease him, a splintering crash rippled through the air, and the office door flew open.

I looked at the entrance where a redhead with glowing blue eyes locked her gaze with me, oozing aggression and rage.

My friends were staring at her, shocked, but she didn’t seem to notice—or care. “You,” she snarled, baring her teeth as she held my gaze, challenging me.

My wolf growled in my head, grinning savagely. It seemed Sienna Mercer had gotten my invitation and was not very happy about it.

Narrowing my eyes, I rose from my seat and walked out from behind the desk to face her.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” I said, which was the truth; dominant she-wolves hated being ordered around.

That invitation had been pure provocation. “Sooner than I predicted,” I went on, feeling my lips twitch. “I’m flattered.”

She seemed even more outraged than before, and the sight was both beautiful and almost scary. A lesser man would’ve done everything to appease her when she was in this sort of mood. I was no lesser man.

I wanted to fan the flames. I wanted her anger. I wanted her to assert her dominance.

“Flattered?” she growled incredulously. “Is that what you think this is? That I’m here for you?”

She refused to break eye contact, to back down. If she had been anyone else, I would’ve shown her what it meant to defy the alpha in such a direct and public manner.

However, since she was my mate, the woman I’d marked, I was relishing this confrontation.

“Why else would you be here?” I asked, making my voice smooth and unperturbed on purpose. “In my office? Surrounded by my leadership?”

She bared her teeth. “To show you I’m not scared of you.”

“No?” I growled softly, taking a step forward. “Maybe you should be.”

She was trying to find some semblance of control. I could tell. The effort was almost cute. “You may be the alpha,” she said slowly, “but I don’t belong to you.”

~If you only knew the truth.~

“The mark on your neck says otherwise.”

Her claws came out, and she tried to swipe at me.

But I caught her wrists and spun her around, pinning her to my desk, my hips pressing against her while one of my hands restrained both of hers and the other held her jaw shut.

Feeling my friends’ eyes on my back, I knew this had gotten too private for an audience.

“Out,” I barked, and Josh, Jocelyn, Nelson, and Rhys left the room as if their asses were on fire, closing the door behind them.

We were alone, just me and her. My mate, in my office, her scent all around us, mixed with my own, her neck tempting me to bite the lush skin again… But first things first. “Rein in your wolf,” I ordered.

She growled. I pressed more tightly into her, feeling the moment her Haze decided to burst to life, causing my own to stir.

Before I knew it, my lips were hovering over the mark I’d given her last night, the mark that ensured my protection.

“Woman, I told you you were mine, and I meant it,” I said. Fuck everything. She was my mate. Now that I had marked her, I was not giving up—and neither should she.

“Accept it, give in,” I added in a husky murmur.

She growled again, but this time with far less conviction. Her Haze was starting to take charge of her rational thoughts, and mine was responding in kind.

In almost a daze, I stretched out a finger, tracing the line of her lower lip, feeling her gasp, shudder, ease up.

“That’s better,” I murmured, my mouth on her mark, begging me to take another long, deep taste.

Her wolf retreated, and it was all woman now, Hazed and in my arms. I wanted to take her so badly I had to take a long, even breath to push back the desire.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I said, forcing myself to take my lips off her soft skin, “but don’t ever challenge me publicly again.”

Because, despite my lust, my desire for her, she needed to know there was only so much room I was willing to give her.

I could give her a pass for challenging me today in front of everyone, but next time, I would be forced to act.

“But challenging you in private is fine?” she murmured, momentarily catching me off guard.

No sane person, man or woman, would even conceive of the idea of challenging me, not even privately. But then Sienna did not appear to be just anyone…

My spine stiffened as my cock came to life, threatening to break through my pants. “Oh, I’m counting on it,” I said in a low murmur. “That’s why I marked you.”

Which wasn’t a complete lie. I knew she would go ballistic the minute she realized. She was in no way submissive. I wanted it. I ached for it.

But it was so much more than that—she was my mate. The thought of her walking about, unclaimed, was enough to shove me over the edge.

But she didn’t need to know that. Not yet.

“So, this is just a game to you?” she asked, trying to break free of my hold, but the effort was half-hearted.

I couldn’t help teasing. “Are you not having fun?” I asked, succumbing to the urge to plant my lips on her neck, shuddering at the taste of her soft, slick skin.

So lost to the taste of her, I missed the fact that she’d grown stiff in my arms, that her Haze was fading. “No, as a matter of fact, I’m not,” she said tightly. “Let go of me.”

I didn’t do well with orders, and by this point, rationality was a foreign concept.

So I pressed closer to her, feeling the lines of her back to my chest, wanting to bury myself in her slick, hot sex that I’d almost felt last night.

“Are you going to move in with me?” I asked, knowing I was pushing her to her limit.

Her voice was flat when she said one word. “No.”

And I couldn’t help it; I laughed. No one had ever said no to me so blatantly. How stupid could I have been, ever thinking she was submissive?

“I thought not,” I said, grinning now. “It appears I’ll have to catch you first.”

Her tension didn’t disappear. “At least one of us is amused,” she replied, venom dripping from her voice. “Now get off of me. I won’t say please again.”

I wasn’t a complete moron; I knew the moment had passed. “As you wish,” I said, slowly easing away from her, taking my time because I really didn’t want to.

“But sooner or later, the Haze will hit you again, and you’ll crave my touch like never before.”

She pushed me out of the way, and I smirked. She looked so flustered, so out of control, her efforts to establish her dominance by the rigidity of her spine was hilarious.

“You can try to catch me, alpha,” she said, an edge to her voice, “but don’t expect to succeed.”

She turned her back to me, marching toward the door, her head held high, but I needed one more thing from her, at least for today.

“Sienna,” I said, my voice low with need that I was almost unable to contain.

She turned, surprise etched on her face. It occurred to me I hadn’t called her anything but ‘woman’ up until now. Fuck, I’m an ass.

“Call me Aiden,” I said, feeling like even more of a bastard than before, asking for more than she was probably willing to give.

Because by telling her to call me by my name, we were becoming far more than an alpha and his subordinate. It made my intentions clear and put her in a tight spot.

But before I could feel too guilty about it, she proved to be able to handle it just fine.

A slight smirk played on her lips, and she made eye contact once more, her blue eyes staring me down as if to say, ~You can go fuck yourself~, before she turned and walked out the door.

And despite everything, I grinned. “The chase is on…”