Ari’s POV
After a long soothing nap in Ares’s arms, we woke up and decided to go outside and get some air. We walked through the gardens in silence for some time before I spoke up.
“SO...how do you want to announce this? Tomorrow? What do you think the best plan would be? How many warriors do you have in your pack? How fast could they all get here if they had to?” I start randomly rambling word vomit. He can tell I’m nervous and starts laughing the more questions I ask, the more ridiculous in nature they become.
“We can announce this whenever you are ready. If you want me to keep my distance for a while, I will, though I rather not. There is the issue of my father’s death to deal with, so I may be somewhat occupied with that partially while the celebrations go on.” He started to explain. Goddess, I felt so insensitive! Here I was already jumping to war and he hasn’t even processed his father’s death, let alone investigated it or even buried his father!
<Ari’s POV “How so?” I was curious. “My father had this obsession that slowly over time drove him a little crazy. Then he started drinking to mask the crazed behaviors. He got aggressive instead and he eventually turned into a raging alcoholic and asshole.” Damn! Ares had a rough go of it with his dad, that is for sure! “I’m sorry to hear that. What did your mother say about his obsession?” I asked showing sympathy. “Nothing, she’s dead. She died during a rogue attack on our pack shortly after my father became Alpha. Our defenses weren’t what they are today and from that point forward, he just grew more and more obsessive with our pack being the strongest and largest to defend ourselves from attacks in the future. That’s how we got into the security industry. It’s a much larger operation now of course but we started out by providing private security for CEOs of corporations and the like in the human business sector.” I looked down again
“I was a virgin when we met…” I started feeling very brazen. I think the wine was starting to get to me. Usually, wine didn’t hit me this fast but when I looked at the bottle at the table I realized it contained a much higher alcohol content than human wine. It was from a vineyard wolf owned that distilled the wine to make its potency similar to liquor and the effects of liquor on humans. The vineyard didn't do it all by themselves. They had a fae on their payroll that knew a spell or sprinkled magic dust or something in the wine to enhance the potency. I didn't really know much about other species, just that we were friendly with most other creatures...just not vampires and demons. It was a treat for sure since this stuff was expensive as hell; I guess dad was really pulling out all the stops for us! Ares gave me a knowing smirk, “Baby, I could smell your innocence from a mile away. I knew you were pure, that’s why I talked you through everything the first time.”
“Lay back up towards the head of the bed.” He instructed me. I gladly inched my way back into the center of the bed. He climbed up on top of me and started kissing my neck while his hands took a vacation and toured every square inch of my body. I ran my hands down his chest to his rock-hard abs. GODDESS, he was gorgeous! He cupped my breasts and slowly moved his kisses down to one of them. He put my nipple in his mouth and gently sucked before giving it a firm nip that sent shockwaves through my body and I couldn’t contain the feeling, “Ohhhh goddess….hmmm….” I moaned out in pleasure. He moved to my other breast before continuing to trail his kisses down to my hips. His hands followed suit. My hands moved to his hair. He had a short almost military cut, but there was enough for me to grab and give a pleasurable tug. I loved the color of his hair, it was a shade of brown that was light and glowing. I’ve never seen a brown like it before. He trailed his kisses
Ares POV When we woke up the next morning, the room reeked of our sex-induced marathon from the night before. I had no idea what time it was, but I could imagine it was probably pretty late in the day. Ari was passed out in my arms, her beautiful dirty blonde hair was spread out around her face almost like a halo. She was breath-taking and at that moment, I couldn’t remember what my life was like without her in it. The love I felt for her consumed my heart. I was not letting this perfect specimen out of my sight from this moment forward! This mate bond was a force so powerful that it scared the hell out of me. All I ever wanted was to love and be loved, and that was happening all in one fail swoop. It was exhilarating and frightening all at once. What if this hazed dream came crashing down around me? I don’t think I could ever recover from being ripped away from this heaven on earth that I don’t deserve to be in. I hated moving at all because I didn’t want to
Ari’s POV After that relaxing bath that Ares made for me, I was like Jell-O in his arms. It felt so good to have my hair washed for me by my mate. It sent chills down my body that relaxed me instantly. Every touch was amazing and by the time I was done, I could have gone to sleep but we had just woken up. Ares told me that we needed to go present ourselves at the celebrations with the other mated wolf couples. I was dreading this part of the night. Ares gripped my hand in his tightly as we walked to the outdoor celebrations and the stage where the Master of Ceremonies was announcing the mated couples as they arrived. I chose a white and pastel pink long silky flowing dress with spaghetti straps. The white color of the silk chiffon faded to a pastel pink towards the bottom of the dress, matching my pastel pink heels. I left my dirty blonde hair down in its natural wavy state only pinning back the strands that naturally fell in my face. Ares wo
Ari’s POV Alec looked like a statue. I could see it written all over their faces - MATE! They were mates! “ANI!” Alexia squealed out, breaking their romantic trance. Anika didn’t respond to her and instead, she took a step closer to Alec. He stepped towards her and took her hands in his. He looked at Ares with puppy dog eyes, almost as if he was asking for his permission to accept his mate. I looked at Ares. He was glowing too, happy for his best friend. Just then, Alec took Ani into his arms and bent her down in the most romantic swooping and passionate kiss I have ever witnessed! My heart melted for Anika! Her fairy tale dream of finding her mate was coming true! I grabbed Ares’s hand and he pulled me into a hug and kissed me passionately in front of everyone. I felt so hot now that I was panting when I broke from our kiss. Ares noticed how hot I felt in that kiss and took another deep breath, smelling the air. ‘Ari...you’re REALLY hot.’
Ares’s POV Something was going on with Ari and it was starting to really concern me. She was giving off WAY too much heat. I could sense she felt drained, hot, and something else, I couldn’t quite pin down. Every time I smelled the air around her, I smelled her arousal, but it was very faint and subtle, but still there and I didn’t know why. When I asked her, she got defensive and pissed at me for questioning her. I didn’t appreciate that. She started ignoring me, so I gave her space since she didn’t storm off and she just turned around to talk to her friends. I made due talking to Lane, the Beta of Slick Paw Pack. I could tell Ari wasn’t sure how to feel about this guy, but I have had enough dealings with him to know he isn’t a bad wolf, he just has an ass for an Alpha. As I was talking to Lane, Fen showed up making a fool of himself because he was clearly drunk on wolf wine. I hate belligerent drunks. They remind me too much of my father and it just sends my blood
Ares's POV I thought about it for a minute. “We mated the night of the claiming. So...this is day 2 AFTER the claiming…you don’t think this is the start of her heat do you?” I started to get a little concerned. I had planned on leaving with Alec tomorrow morning and taking Ari with me. Her father said this wouldn’t happen for at least another day or two. “It could possibly be her heat starting. Did you notice her...scent? Was it growing stronger?” Harmon was asking, implying her arousal scent that attracts other wolves. “It’s subtle. She said she got aroused because I made a remark that she thought was me flirting with her!” I reflect. “Well...did anyone else notice her scent?” “Not her friends...Lane didn’t...but...Fen noticed...does he normally notice her?” I questioned feeling Eros’s jealousy begin to rise. Eros was not happy to even entertain this thought. We thought he was just drunk since Lane suggested that. Harmon chuckled and