Fen's POV
Ari stayed out on the dance floor most of the night, dancing, meeting, and mingling with men that constantly approached her. She was really sluttin' it up tonight. It looked like she was practically throwing herself at every dude she danced with. Desperate much? Gross. I needed MANY more drinks to watch this more.
As time passes, I am getting more and more bored and impatient, but I see her finally heading off the dance floor so I start moving towards her.
“FINALLY...I was wondering how long it would take you to tire of dancing.” I blurt out to her, grabbing her by the waist. “C’mon! Let’s go sit by Lane. He’s been saving us seats.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a second. I just need to grab a bottle of water first.” She says to me heading to the bar.
I smirk at her and wait for her to get her water before heading to the table I had Lane reserve for us.
“Hey Lane! Any hotties I need to make myself comfortable with?” I blurted out n
“I expect you to make a good impression.” Alpha Lucian, my father, glared at me as we arrived at the Black Claw packhouse in our limo with two black SUV escort vehicles in front of us and behind us. “Yes, father,” I respond rather blandly. I know he expects me to be on my best behavior, and he expects me to find my mate. I roll my eyes in my mind since I know my father would beat me for actually rolling my eyes at him. We spent the last twenty-four hours traveling to the Black Claw pack from our pack to attend the annual Mates Ball and week-long festivities associated with the ball and claiming. Father committed to attending for the first time since I turned 18 because he is ready to officially retire and wants to try to make some alliances on my behalf before he passes the Alpha title to me, not that I need his help with alliances. More than likely, I’ll end up ending those alliances once I take over since father and I have never seen eye-to-eye on how to run the pa
Ares’s POV A rapping noise comes from my bedroom door. I sit up and look at the clock, 6:30 A.M. Who the hell is bothering me so early in the morning? “Master Martin, breakfast will be served at 7 AM sharp,” Sergio stated, waking me from my sleep. I don’t sleep very much or for very long at a time. Sleep is a luxury when you are used to your father bursting through the door stark raving drunk thinking you’ve done something to undermine him ready to beat you into a bloody pulp. I got up rubbing my face going to the bathroom to take a quick shower before going downstairs for breakfast. As I saunter down the stairs, I run into Alec and Alessandro apparently heading to breakfast themselves. “Hey man! How was your sleep last night?” Alec sees me and asks, smiling. “Hey....it was fine as usual. Nothing to write home about, but the bed is pretty comfortable.” I smirk. “Yeah...Alessandro snored like a damn freight train last night. App
Ares’s POV By the afternoon, I was ready to explore some more of the packhouse and attempt to mingle with some guests. Just as I was getting ready to leave my room, I heard a knock on my door. “Ares! Dude! What are you doing? You can beat off tonight! C’mon dude! There are some seriously smokin’ hot she-wolves out by the pool!” I open my door knowing all too well who is on the other side. “Hey Alec...dude - you’re such a dick. I wasn’t beating off! I was just laying down resting. I don’t sleep much, you know that.” “I know dude but seriously! Throw some swim trunks on and let’s go!” “Okay, okay. I’ll be right behind you. Is Alessandro going with you?” “Yeah - he’s already down there. He texted me and said the hot tub has nothing but she-wolves in it, and him...fuckin pimp.” Alec laughs. “Okay, well, you know I don’t care about the other shit. My father wants me strictly to search for her.” “Yeah yeah...there wil
Ares’s POV I was jolted awake by the pounding on my door, “DUDE! It’s ten o’clock! You are going to miss the ball if you don’t come down NOW!” Alec shouts from the other side. “What are you doing in there?” “Huh?” I shake my head and rub my eyes, realizing I’ve done it again, only no release. This was going to be a rough night with me all hot and bothered. I begin stretching and rolling out of the bed to go open the door. “I was sleeping!” That’s when I realized I actually slept quite well. I guess all my muscles relaxing allowed me to sleep more than normal. I rushed to the bathroom to put a wet, cold wash cloth around my standing soldier to make it stop throbbing. I also didn’t want Alec to think I was beating off again. Goddess he can be so annoying at times. Alec was standing in the doorway when I opened it, but I quickly rushed to the bathroom before he could see my current situation. When I came back out of the bathroom he gave me a once over and said,
Ares’s POV The ball was pretty energetic and it is clear that Alpha King Harmon spared no expense this year. As you walk into the ballroom you immediately see the dance floor with all the strobe lights and multi-colored lights flashing all around. The music is loud and helps to create an energizing atmosphere. The bar was expansive and stretched across the entire back of the giant room. People were dancing all around but mostly in the center of the room, some were standing around the sides of the ballroom socializing, and others were hanging out towards the back by the bar. I figured I could walk around the ballroom to scope the place out and see if I could pick up that scent again. It was dark in the ballroom and the fog machine on the dance floor made the air smell musty, but it was at least worth a shot. I started at the bar, picking up a crown and coke. Just as I left the bar to begin my lap around the song, ‘Search Party’ by Sam Bruno came on and that se
Ares’s POV When I get to my room, I change into some comfortable sweats and go lay in bed. I was in such a daze, so excited about the fact that I met my mate that I don’t think anything could bring me down from my personal high. As I thought about who my mate could be, I started thinking about the ranked wolves and their of-age children, trying to jog my memory to possibly figure out who she was. I remembered that Alpha King Harmon had a daughter - obviously, I couldn’t forget that, my father only reminded me of that fact every day since I was about ten years old; though I have never seen her since I don’t follow the gossip magazines or human television networks that like to blast our personal lives for goddess and everyone to know about. His beta Harold didn’t have any daughters, just sons, but his gamma did have a daughter that would be about 20 years old. I think her name was Anika if I remembered correctly. Was this my mate? That’s when I realized
Ari’s POV I woke up the next day feeling reinvigorated. Today was the claiming. The most important event of the week. This was it. I would meet my mate. The way the claiming worked was pretty straightforward. All the unmated she-wolves were sequestered the morning of the claiming and taken far away from the packhouse into the woods that surround it to an undisclosed location where they house us for the day. All the unmated males were ordered to stay within the packhouse walls and not permitted to go outside for any reason whatsoever. While the unmated wolves paced the floors waiting eagerly to begin the claiming, those not partaking in the claiming were doing all the things needed to get everything ready for the claiming. There was a lot to prepare and get ready for the day of the event. Tents had to be set up all around in the woods in case any couples that mated wanted some privacy. Some don’t care and mate in the woods where they find each other, others are more s
Ares POV The following morning I woke up and eagerly got ready for the day. I knew all the she-wolves would be gone and out of the packhouse before breakfast to ready themselves for the claiming tonight, but I was still excited knowing that I will have my mate in my arms in less than twenty-four hours. At breakfast, I see my father, Alec, and Alessandro all sitting together about to begin eating what looked to be biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and thick-cut bacon. GODDESS everything smelled good! I didn’t realize until that moment that I hadn’t eaten much since we got here. “Hey Ares! Good morning!” Alec shouted, waving me over to their table. I take my plate of food and walk over to their table to the seat next to my father that they saved for me. “So, what is this I hear about you finding your mate?!” My father growled at me, obviously pissed that I didn’t tell him last night. “I saw her at a distance, father. It was the end of the nigh