Aurelia
The meeting room at the Northern wolf territories' central hub is small, but buzzing heavier than it would normally accommodate. The air is thick with tension and territorial energy. Conventional wolf law does not have a place here, where only the strongest are capable of deciding on the matters of the Alphas of the Eastern and Western pack.
"I find it hard to believe, Aurelia, that you would even consider a marriage between an Alpha and an Omega. Every single pack member has whispered about this for months." The elderly Alpha who runs the Boston pack, Vernon Blackwood, looks at me over his steepled fingers, rumours tinting his ears. He places a threat of malice in his gaze.
His accusation hangs heavy in the air, and I can't stop my brows from furrowing. "Excuse me?" I snap, my tone dripping with disdain. "Who do you think you are, questioning my decisions and alliances?" "For your sake, I hope they're true" growls Max Fontaine, a French Alpha I don't know. "You know as well as I do that such a marriage would be unheard of."
The male Alphas' words settle between my ribs like a weight. Like the weight of a burial in a cold, undisturbed place. I stand, slowly. My chair slowly squeaks as I rise deliberately. Pushing my chair away from the table with a rough shove. They all remark, watching the movement carefully. I glare at every one of them in turn, a low growl growing. "Speak to me like that again please" I comment over the growl, "Go on."
My voice comes out low, dangerously low. "I am Aurelia" I remind them, letting my Alpha's formidable strength bleed through the words. The werewolves sitting in the room stare at me. "And I will make choices of my own" I growl, the deadly prowl of my wolf resonating in the room.
Vernon's brows shoot up in recognition, and his jaw tightens. But his bark does not return. Fontaine's eyes widen in a hazy Recognition. Irony rings up my spine after they learn the only choice I'll have made. Without another word, I turn on my heels and storm out of the room, leaving the other Alphas in stunned silence. I walk down the hall, my mind racing with anger and confusion.
As I make my way out of the Alphas' council offices, my phone begins to ring. I fish it out of my pocket and glance at the screen as I move towards the gates, expecting to see Bryan's name or Kip's. But instead, it's Raina's. That's strange. My thumb hovers over the picture of her smiling face, which is my ringtone. I answer it and press the phone to my ear. The first thing I hear is a panicked whisper.
"Aurelia" Raina's voice is shaky, filled with a tension I've never heard from her before. "I can't talk for long she says" I hear the flurry of someone being hasty. She lowers her voice. "Elian's in trouble." My heart pounds in my chest as her words register. Everything else fades away and my world narrows down to only her and the information she holds. "What the hell do you mean?"
"Elian asked me not to tell you" Raina admits, her voice barely above a whisper. "But he's in heat, and it's getting worse!" My words come out cold. "How much worse?" I ask, my voice low and dangerous. Raina's voice trembles as she explains, "He's been sleeping all day, and he's burning up with fever. I've never seen him like this before."
Raina takes a deep breath, her words tumbling out in a rush. "He's been trying to hold it in, but it's become too much." Her voice shakes, conveying the gravity of the situation. "He... he got way worse, though, and he's been howling all day. And he shook the whole damn roof, even, when the heat took over." My heart slows, urges pushing into my race. I try not to react, but she can hear it in my heartbeat.
"Raina" I say, fighting my will with a menacing growl that shakes my hold on the phone. Slowly bringing my anger under control. "I'm going back to New York. Right now." I say. I draw on my own authority, despite the fear in Raina's voice. She is loyal, I know. "Watch him" I say. "He's mine, and I will defend him with my life."
With that, I hang up the phone and stride purposefully towards the parking garage. My blood is boiling at hearing about Elian's distress. I almost break into a full sprint, my muscles tensing with a fury that's making my vision rim in red. I need to get home. Now. To Elian. As I drive my black Mercedes back to New York, I push the pedal to the floor, weaving in and out of traffic.
🐺
As soon as I jump out of my car, I find that Elian's scent is overwhelming. It invades my lungs, my senses. It is stronger than I have ever felt. And the heat of it is like the sun blistering a desert at midday, pouring down around the villa. I can't stop my feet from carrying me to the front door. I can't stop my fist from shuddering in with a sudden rage.
Raina and Elara rush towards me with anxiety. The two standing before me with urgent juts of their eyes. The house shakes again on its foundations. Raina's hands rush up her face. Fear grips their voice when finally, she says, "He's in the room, and he's screaming! He won't let us in." Elara chimes in quickly. "He only wants you" she says, her voice strained with worry.
A heatwave blast of destroyed, desperate Omega sweeps over me. My chest flushes with a cascade of sulfuric flameless heat. Of fists of mad power that wrench through me. I can feel how Elian's shrieks overpower the very air, how they raid the walls and shake my very spine. Suddenly, my focus is on the one room in the house, where the floor is wreathed with shadows of shaking force. I race across the hall.
The door creaks open slowly, revealing a sight that sends a jolt of pure, primal electricity through my veins and almost halves my own fire for the intricate balance it's under. The heat intensifies tenfold, and I can feel its oppressive , seductive fingers gripping my whole body in response to the call of its power. His power. My Omega stirs, moaning softly, "Alpha."
The sight before me is raw and primal. Elian lies in the nest, his body slick with sweat and tensing with need. His hips rise, grinding against the sheets, his cock rigid and throbbing. Mid-moan, he senses the change on the door. Elian's voice mumbles softly, "Alpha" "Elian" I hiss his name. Slowly, my eyes pick up tiny details in my periphery. His scent hits me with brutal force now, drowning out everything.
My steps are slow, deliberate, as pure power courses through its own veins that separating and sparks fire form, I almost give into the demand. I stride towards nest, my voice steady, "I am here." My hands reach for him, and he arches into my fingers with his whole body. "Aurelia" he gasps out my name, he moans it in that lust-drunk tone; my heart wrenched at my name writhing over his lips.
"Please, please, please" he whimpers as his body melts into mine with sheer hunger. I take him in my arms, feeling his body shiver with need and respond to my touch. He lets out a heavy sigh as our bodies press together, his head tilting back to expose his neck and give me better access as his head falls back.
I gaze down at him, feeling an ominous need ignite in my very soul. Restraint falters, and I lean in, gazing down at him. Even in his fragile state, his eyes shimmer with a strength that I appreciate. I place my forehead against his, feeling his shivering roar in skin. My hands tangle in his hair, holding him steady as my breath mingles with his.
"Aurelia" he gasps out, his voice hoarse with desperation. "Help me" he begs. My lips touch his skin, my breath hitting his ear, sweating. "I will, my little Omega" I promise, my voice low and possessive. "I'm right here." My fingers trail down his cheek, and he whimpers at the touch, his body writhing beneath mine.
Elian's eyes flutter closed, his body trembling as he parts his lips, a plea for something, maybe everything. His hips cant, rolling against nothing. I feel another shuddering pulse of sheer, extinct heat drive through my body. My tongue glides past his lips, inviting him to taste me, and his hunger becomes his sanity. My heart races at the thought, and quickly, I lean in, drinking him fully into my mouth.
Our lips fuse, and the sound of our panting breaths fills the heavy air. Slowly, my lips move down, trailing kisses along his jawline, my tongue licking gently. I tease his muscles, biting lightly on his shoulder, my body rolled up on his. As if already overcome with animal lust; my body responds, and my own heat leaks from between my legs, soaking my white skirt.