Chapter 4

AEON.

'Alexa is mine!' Thunder growled in my head, and he’d been telling me that from the moment we laid our eyes on her. And he was telling me this again after I confirmed that all the perimeter had been searched and we were now ready to leave this area to head home.

This was the first time that Thunder wanted to take full control of my body.

My wolf, Thunder, has always been submissive to me. He was not like other Alpha wolves who were hard to control, such as Caspian and Riley’s wolves. Thunder would always do as I asked him to, even if he didn’t want to. 

But he was showing me a different side today. The mate bond was awakening his protective side, his Alpha blood. He wanted to protect his mate. And I knew it would only be a matter of time before he asserted his power over me.

'Relax. She’s yours. But we can’t let Father know until we can make a plan on how to keep her safe. Right now, Krane is our best option to take her home. You understand, right?'

He growled once more, and it was getting harder to control him. 'Alexa rides with me!'

'Dammit, Thunder! You need to get your f*cking act together! We’re doing this for Alexa! How would you explain to Father why a rogue was on my back if the rogue meant nothing to me?'

'Alexa is mine!'

I closed my eyes. This was a losing battle. Thunder wasn’t hard-headed, but he was giving me a headache now. 'Listen, I will give you time with Alexa, but just let Krane take her home. After this, I promise you, she won’t be riding any wolves except you. Okay?'

I went back to where Krane and Alexa were. She was resting under the tree, her arms around her knees while they were pressed against her chest.

I went up directly to her and grabbed her arm, dragging her up. "Get up!"

I led her further into the forest while I searched for a big tree. And once I spotted one, I pulled her to follow me behind it.

"What do you want?" She tried to draw her arm away from me, but I was gripping her tightly.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I sent a mindlink to my Beta. 'Make sure no one goes in the direction where I took her. And alert me if Father or his Beta comes back.'

'Noted. But seriously, Aeon, are you going to f*ck her? Can’t you wait until we’re home?' Krane’s voice sounded annoyed, and it pissed me off more.

'Fuck you! I had no intention of f*cking her at all! Just do what I asked you to do!' I snapped at him before cutting off our mindlink.

"Get your hands off me!" She hissed and tried to pull her arm back, but I wasn’t letting go. I tugged on her forearm instead, pulling her closer to me.

"Listen. My wolf wants to meet you. Just give him a minute before we go, otherwise, he might end up killing my Beta for holding you."

"It’s not my problem. Maybe it’s better if he kills everyone around here, including you!"

"F*ck! Can you try to be submissive for once? This is fucking annoying already!"

"Submissive? To you? I wasn’t born to submit to any man! Not even you!"

"You’re fucking stubborn!"

"And you’re an asshole!"

"Can we get this done? Just meet my wolf! And then we’re done!"

She pulled away from my hold and folded her arms against her chest, and the sheer clothing she had on her pressed against her body, giving me a view of her breasts and nipples. F*ck this! 

Sweat formed on my forehead and I knew soon, my dick would be saluting her and I had no clothing to hide it. I could never let her know she could affect me.

I moved backward and crouched on the ground, while she watched me with her eyes squinting. If she was ever mesmerized by my nakedness, I would never know. She seemed to be unaffected at all, probably because he had seen and been with many men before and my nakedness didn’t pique her curiosity.

I shifted the moment I gave Thunder a signal. 'Behave, Thunder. And just for a minute, okay? Give me control soon.'

Thunder growled at me before he walked slowly toward Alexa. 

Alexa’s hands dropped to her sides as her eyes widened before she moved backward. I couldn’t see the emotion in her eyes if she was scared or disgusted with my wolf. But either way, it hurt Thunder... and me.

Thunder stopped moving forward and whimpered. 

F*ck! Was my wolf about to cry? 

Alexa stopped moving backward the moment my wolf stopped walking. I saw her swallow hard before a nervous smile slowly curled on her lips.

And my world stopped. 

Even if the smile wasn’t meant for me, it delighted my soul. She was a real beauty despite the dirt and blood on her face. 

Thunder panted in happiness as he made his way to Alexa, this time with slower steps until he was in front of her. 

Alexa sat down and opened her arms to my wolf, and Thunder scooted forward before licking her face. Alexa giggled while her hands patted and rubbed my wolf. 

This was fucking too hard to see and feel. My wolf wanted her. And I knew, deep down, I did as well. But this was just lust. Nothing more. The mate bond made me feel this way. Yes, I was just attracted to her body, nothing else.

Thunder was enjoying his moment with Alexa, and I would say my little mate was enjoying herself too. She looked carefree and happy as my wolf took his time to lick her face and arms clean from all the blood and mud.

It was only when most of the mud on her face was gone that I saw the fading blue marks on her cheek. It was too big to miss. And it’s impossible that she got it just tonight, otherwise, it would be more swollen. 

Was someone hurting her? Was it her father? 

I had no idea who tied her up in the tree, but I thought it was my father. But looking at her condition right now, maybe I was wrong.

'Alpha, Alpha Argon signaled for everyone to leave. We need to go now.' Krane dug into my head, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I was too busy staring and thinking about her that I didn’t hear the signal.

'We’re coming.' I replied and cut off the mindlink right away, shifting into my human abruptly, much to Thunder’s disapproval, but he knew better than to put Alexa in danger. 

Alexa’s hand was on my face as she was rubbing Thunder’s face before I shifted. Her eyes widened before she withdrew her hand as if my face burned her so that she fell backward on her ass in surprise. 

I reached out for her, but instead of helping her up, my hand flew to her cheek, brushing the fading blue marks lightly. "What happened here?" 

She swatted my hand away and stood up on her own, brushing the dry leaves that clung to her nightgown. "It’s none of your business."

I sighed, brushing my hand over my hair while I just stared at her. We just keep snapping back and forth with each other, and if this is what every day looked like, I would be the first one to lose my mind.

I was never patient with anyone but I was doing my best since I met her. 

It didn’t take long before Krane appeared behind me. "Alpha, we need to go."

I stood up and nodded at him. "Shift now."

He nodded back and crouched on the forest ground, before leaping and shifting mid-air into his wolf, Canon. Canon instantly slumped his body to the ground, preparing for Alexa to climb on him.

I turned my head to Alexa. Her face was pale as she bit her bottom lip.

"No time to play any games. Climb up." When she didn’t move from her place, I snapped at her in a louder voice. "Now!"

Her body jolted from the intensity of my voice before she scrambled to climb behind Canon, but her nightgown was making it impossible for her. I went around and clutched the hem of her cloth and ripped it midway so that it ended just on her midthigh before holding her waist and hoisting her up until she was seated nicely on Canon’s back.

"Why did you do that!" She hissed, slapping my hands away from her waist. "You tore my favorite nightdress…" She added in almost a whisper that if we were not in a hurry, I would have taunted her that it was fucking dirty and destroyed already even before I ripped it.

"I’ll buy you a new one. Now, hold on to his fur and keep your head down, near his neck, so you won’t fall if he speeds up."

"I don’t want to do this! I never rode a wolf before!"

"Not every captured rogue gets to ride on a wolf’s back either. They were either dragged on their feet or clutched by fangs around their neck. Now decide which way you want it to be!" 

"I hate you…" She murmured as she threw me a glare before leaning her head down and clutching Canon’s fur. Her legs tightened their hold on Canon’s body.

I flinched at the sight at the same time Thunder growled in my head, not liking her position on Canon’s back. I didn’t like it either, but it was for the best.

'Go.' I ordered Krane, and he slowly rose from the ground, and in seconds, started sprinting away. 

I shifted into my wolf and ran after them. Soon, we reached the pack of wolves heading home, but I couldn’t see my father.

'Dad?' I sent him a mindlink. 'Where are you?' 

'Me, my Beta and a few of our warriors are heading in a different direction. I just want to make sure we didn’t miss Achilles if he was still around. I will see you at the territory.'

'Okay. Be careful.'

'You as well, son. And make sure you’re watching the rogue. I don’t trust her.'

'I don’t either. I’ll make sure to watch her carefully.' I answered before the mindlink was cut off. It was either he closed his mind or he was already too far from where I was that mindlink was not possible anymore.

My attention shifted to Canon and Alexa in front of me. I wanted to make sure she was securely holding on to Canon before I cranked up my speed and ran in front of the pack. My father was not around. It was my duty to lead our warriors home, even if all I wanted to do was run behind my future Beta and make sure Alexa was safe.

We had already been running for an hour with me on the lead when I received a mindlink from my Krane.

'Alpha! Alexa ran away!' Krane yelled in my head, and a growl reverberated from my chest in annoyance. 

F*ck me now! 

I mind-linked one of the men to take the lead before I sent a group mindlink to all the wolves running with us to head home and be safe before I made a turn to head back.

My nose tried to scent Alexa and Krane. Her smell was faint, but I could smell Krane until he came into view, already in his human form.

I was about to ask where Alexa was when I came face to face with the dead body of one of my warriors, pooling in his own blood.

I shifted immediately into my human form and narrowed my eyes at Krane. "What the f*ck happened here? Where is she?"