Ares doesn’t look happy, but he doesn’t try to stop me from trying to use one. I focus and close my eyes, clearing my mind of everything. As I empty my thoughts and calm my senses, I feel a warmth pass over my body and when I open my eyes, I’m not standing in the hallway between Ares’s office and the hall bathroom any more; I’m standing in a GIANT library. It’s quite breathtaking and marvelous, but it is definitely a library I have never seen before. There are three GIANT cathedral style windows with stained glass to the side above the shelves. In front of me are couches and lounges with tables, I assume for those interested in reading in the library or studying here. To my left and right are rows and rows with shelves and shelves of books! When I look up, there is a second floor to this library and you can see all the way around the upstairs since it is open from floor to ceiling with a spiral staircase off to the left. Upstairs is just more shelves
“Ani? What are you doing here?” I walk around the corner to see her standing in the entry. “Oh! Um, well...Alexia and I got bored and so we were going to go to the library to do some light ‘What to Expect When You're Expecting’ reading.” She chuckles as she turns a light shade of red. “Already that excited?” I laughed. “Well...being wolves and clearly not educated in this stuff like everyone here at Freedom Ridge...I thought I should brush up on everything about to hit my ass so I don’t make an ass out of myself like I did on the car ride over here!” Ani laughs. I scrunched my brows, “What do you mean?” “Ari...Alec told me their pack…” She paused
Ares’s POV Now that Ari, Ani, and Alexia have something to focus their energy on, Alec and I have some pack business that needs to get straightened out. “Do you really think Alexia will roll over on her own mate?” Alec asks me skeptically. “I don’t really know, but Ari swears she can read her lies like an open book. If she sucks that much at lying, she won’t technically be rolling over on him.” “What are you going to do if she confirms our suspicions? Will you let her leave?” “If she wants to return to him, then I can’t stop her. If Ari thinks it best she stays with us, or she wants to, I won’t tell her she can’t stay.” I begin to think over all the possibilities
Ari’s POV When everyone leaves Ares’s office except Alexia and me, I finally take a deep breath and exhale. Whatever Alexia can’t say in front of everyone else can’t be good. I put my block up so even Ares can’t eavesdrop through our mate bond. ‘Is that a good idea princess?’ Ares coos through the mind-link. He may sound like he’s trying to be sweet, but I can also tell through our bond that he is irritated that I put the block up. ‘Haven’t you ever heard of a thing called - PRIVACY?’ I scoff back to him. ‘We are wolves, what is privacy?’ He openly laughs, which only frustrates me.
Ari’s POV A few hours later, after some downtime to collect my own thoughts and get a grip on my emotions, I was able to call my dad and ask him where his witch contact could be found. He told me I needed to seek out the leader of the Sisters of the Moon. They are a friendly coven of white witches. Dad told me that their coven is hidden away in the mountains of Montana. This works out pretty perfectly for us since we are already in Freedom Ridge and Montana is a part of Freedom Ridge territory. Ares said it is about a two-day trip to the area he has heard rumors of a coven residing. He has never gone to investigate because they have never caused any trouble or created any problems, keeping to themselves and seldom ever going out. Ares tried to take
Ari's POV Just then, a rush of hurried knocks comes rapping at the door, interrupting this sexually charged moment. “Alpha, Luna - there has been a breach in security!” Alessandro shouts. That shakes us out of our mesmerizing haze and we both look at each other with concern. I check myself to make sure everything is back on where it should be, while Ares snaps the button on his slacks and fixes his belt before walking out of the office. “What’s going on?” Ares asks Alessandro as he swings the door open abruptly walking out. I follow them as we head to the central security office where all the monitors to all the cameras around the compound and territory are placed. Ares showed me this office when we first got here, letting me know this is like the central nervous system of the entire pack, and right throu
Ari's POV “We will finish this conversation later.” Ares grits out, turns around, and walks out of the security office and into the interrogation room. Since I’m still in the security room, I call Alessandro in and ask him to pull up the footage of interrogation room one so I can watch Ares interrogate this woman. “What’s your name?” Ares asks the woman as he sits in the seat across from her. She looks up and stares at him. “Oh. My. Gosh! It’s really you!” She squeaks out. “Name?” Ares reiterates more forcefully. “Stacey! Stacey Scroggins!” She quickly blurts. “What are you doing in the woods...alone?” “Looking for you of course
Ares’s POV After a few days of going over pack paperwork and business, we finally were able to get to a place and position where I felt comfortable leaving the pack again, even if we weren’t leaving our pack territory, I still didn’t like making long trips with business hanging over my head. Ari wouldn’t let me leave without her, come hell or high water. She even insisted that we go like a caravan! After all matters and arguments were settled, Ari, Ani, Alec, Alessandro, Illyana, and I all ended up going together in one SUV. I left the pack in the hands of former Beta, Trace. I knew he would keep our people safe and protected. He had done so for many years for my father while I was away for pack business or hiding out in Texline when I was younger and my father was so wasted that he couldn't. He was a good Beta and one of t
Fen’s POV I’m getting tired of waiting for the council to make a decision about Ares and Ari. He wasn’t supposed to be her mate! Their mating one another royally fucked my plans up. Now I have to spend most of my time pandering to the court of public opinion...the media. The more of the ‘Mr. Perfect’ image I project right now, the more everyone will sympathize with me and press the council to name me the heir. I hear a knock on the door of my office. I’ve been hulled up in here for the past few days working out the schematics of my proposal I am going to present to the council. Before I do though, I’m going to give a speech to the public on national television to pressure the council to lean in my favor. Alexia still hasn’t returned home. I’m beginning to t
Ari’s POV - After my first doctor’s appointment to check on the baby, I was so emotional. Ares was emotional too. We spent the evening alone together, bonding. We needed time to ourselves to feel close and decompress after everything that had happened recently. With this trip to Hawaii nipping at our heels, we felt it important to spend what precious time we had alone together as much as possible before the baby comes and more things get in the way. The next morning, Ani came bursting through our bedroom doors to wake us up. She was overly excited about this trip. We both may be about 2 months pregnant, but that wasn’t slowing her down from attempting to get to the beach and show off that gorgeous figure of hers. She ended up convincing Ares that Alexia needed to come with us to ‘heal’ herself from her rejection. He couldn’t say no when he knew everything Alexia had gone through. She had been moping around the pack house since she rejected Lane and knowing Fen was now dead helped
Ares’s POV The match was challenging, but not too difficult. After Councilmen Horis declared Ari and I the clear winners, the entire council as well as the other alpha’s bowed in submission and swore their fealty and loyalty to us both. It didn’t take long for the media to get word, and thus, the circus monkey’s are at it again, only they are starting to get worse. It was a relief finally ridding the world of that disgrace of an alpha. The fact that he openly admitted to murdering my father was icing on the cake - an added touch to the reasons for his death. His pack will end the horrid practice he was fully taking advantage of and I will send my father’s former beta to go and run the pack up there for the time being until we can find a better solution to managing our new pack territories. Ari has been scared to death of everything that has happened, and I don’t blame her, but I did reassure her multiple times that I would be fine and everything would be okay. I think she can fina
Ari's POV“Baby there’s no rush, we have all the time in the world,” Ares moans as I continue to rock myself up and down on his thick and engorged glorious member inside me.“I don’t care! I need you and I need this NOW!” I moan out as I slam myself down on him harder and harder, feeling myself growing closer and closer. As I get closer to my peak, I feel my emotions are quickly getting away from me and for some reason, as I reach that magical peaking moment, I burst into tears as I cum all over his throbbing shaft inside of me.“OH ARES!!” I cry out, “I can’t lose you! I can’t!”He lifts me up and flips us so he's on top of me now. I feel his nee
We left the diner to go back to the council headquarters where our room for the night is waiting for us. I’m exhausted all the time now, and I can’t wait to put my face into a pillow. We said goodnight to my dad and settled in our room for the rest of the night. As I laid my head on a pillow on the bed, my phone went off. Someone text me, so I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the bedside table. Alexia: I’m going to reject Lane. Me: Really? Are you 100% sure about this? You know I will support you either way. Alexia: I’m sure. I can’t even think about that place. I just can’t. Me
Ari’s POV In the council chambers, I see my dad currently in the middle of some big speech to all the alphas and elders. Ares and I stood quietly in a corner until he found his seat at the panel. He led me to his seat, and sat me in his lap, placing a gentle kiss on my temple before smiling and nuzzling his nose into my neck and inhaling my scent. He apparently needed a moment to calm down and relax because as he was inhaling my scent, I felt his whole body instantly relax. That made me feel good - knowing that I had the ability to calm my mate just by him inhaling my scent. As my dad finished his big long speech that I had paid no attention to, I hear the voice of the prick I loath more than anyone else in this world, “Ahh…so glad you could join us Alpha Ares, LUNA Ari! We thought you were too busy playing house to grace u
After a while, the witches settled down a bit and actually welcomed us in. We sat down in their main greeting room and one of the mistresses brought tea for everyone. “It’s not much Alpha, but we do pride our coven in our generosity towards those in your territory and pack. We are loyalists after all.” One mistress stated while sipping her tea. Something was bothering me and I knew what it was but I didn’t want to raise any alarms with Ari so I tried to be cautious in how I approached the subject. “What’s wrong?” Ari whispers to me from behind me. “Nothing. I was summoned to the council. I told Trace I couldn’t go right now, obviously.” I whisper back to her as she nods and relaxes back into her seat.
Ares’s POV “To what do we owe this pleasure, Alpha?” the coven mother asked in a very husky and labored voice. “We come seeking your wisdom and talents,” I state in a flattering manner in an attempt to make nice with the witches. We may be still in our own pack territory, but we were definitely out of our depth in the middle of a coven of witches, even if they were white witches and friendly with our kind. “What is it that you seek?” “We are in search of answers to help one of our own.” I responded just as vaguely as she was with me. “We are here trying to find answers for a half-breed madam,” Ari interjected. I glared at her
Ares’s POV After a few more hours of driving into the mountains we finally arrived at the location I knew to be the Sisters of the Moon’s coven headquarters. We had to dip down a side street in the small mountainside town due to the paparazzi that seemed to be accumulating in every area we went. “What are we going to do? They are swarming around that place!” Illyana says in a very concerned voice. “Relax! Throw these on.” I toss back trench coats, sun glasses, and hats to everyone to put on. Sometimes covering up as much of your identity as possible is the only defense. As we hop out of the SUV and begin walking towards the crowd and coven entrance, a photographer notices us. I immediate
As I hop out of my Range Rover, I see that a council elder is standing at the door waiting to greet me. It’s not a very far drive from Slick Paw to the council headquarters. Even though they have a chamber in Black Claw’s palace, their central offices are located about 2 hours away from our pack. It’s located on the edge of 4 pack territories and looks more like a four-story office building than anything else. From the outside and those not a part of the supernatural world, you would never know this is the seat of Wolf Nation, outside of our capital in Black Claw. “Alpha Fen, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Elder Peter smiles, holding his arms out in a greeting. “I’ve come to speak to the council. It won’t take long.” I declare. “They are in session. I will let