15. Stolen Alpha

Storm’s pov

I tried to get some work done, but my mind kept wondering about tonight. What would be a good date idea?

"Let me meet her," Brand said.

"And then what, have a picknick? It’s fucking freezing outside."

"Please?" Brand asked and I think it was the first time he said please to me.

"I’ll see what I can do, okay, buddy?"

Dad had given me her tracker information, and I felt like a fucking stalker, tracking Aaro’s moves. She went from the hospital to the orphanages, to lunch somewhere, and then to one of the elders' houses.

When it was around four, I just gave up on working and decided to pick up Aaro early. I'm sure she'd appreciate it; I couldn't imagine spending the entire day with Ruby.

I went to the O'Hares' home and watched as Aaro spoke to a young boy. He must be one of the grandkids or great-grandkids of the O'Hares. Mister O'Hare was 104 years old and looked no older than 70.

When the boy saw me, he bowed his head and seemed scared. It was such an obvious contrast between how he was around Aaro and then me.

"Hi, Storm," Aaro said as he turned around.

"You get to call him Storm?" the boy whispered.

Aaro nodded her head, "I will become his Luna soon; it would be weird to call him future Alpha Storm, right?"

The boy nodded, "it’s a pretty long name."

"My real name is even longer: Storm Alexander Mathijs Snowden," I said as I walked closer to them both.

"A pretty long name indeed," Aaro laughed. "Sams."

"Sams?" I asked.

"You get Sams if you use the first letter of each name."

The boy started to laugh uncontrollably, "My name spells, "Poo!"

"Peter Otto O’Hare." He said it with tears streaming down his cheeks, as if it were the funniest thing in the world.

"You do look like a poo," Aaro said, laughing.

"You look like a poo." He replied before realizing who he just spoke to. "I’m sorry, future Luna Aaro."

He was suddenly silent and very pale. "I didn’t mean that. Please don’t hurt me or my family."

Aaro looked shocked at the boy, "why would you think I would hurt you, Peter?"

Peter looked at me, "please, future Alpha Storm. I didn’t mean it."

"It’s fine, Peter." I said, "it was just a joke."

My dad ruled the pack in fear, and talking shit about our family could be a reason for punishment or death. Dad wanted to make sure nothing like what happened to my grandfather would ever happen to us again, but I wasn’t convinced his way of handling the pack had the desired effect. We weren’t loved; we were feared.

I turned to Aaro, "let’s get out of here?"

Aaro touched Peter’s hand, "It’s really fine, Peter. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. I’ll see you soon, okay?"

Aaro seemed so much more relaxed when she wasn’t in the packhouse. She spoke without thinking, she seemed more relaxed, and she smiled more. Is this what she was really like?

"Do I need to get changed first?" Aaro asked, and I shook my head.

"You look fucking perfect." I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

We walked outside, and Brand kept pushing me to ask her. "Aaro, would you like to meet my wolf?"

She smiled, "I’d would love to. What’s his name?"

"Brand, it means fire in Dutch."

"Storm, Fire, and Snowden?" she inquired.

I raised an eyebrow, "you can’t really mock my name when you were given the name Aaro."

She didn’t seem to like that remark, but like usual, she kept her mouth shut.

"It was just a joke." I replied, and she smiled at me with her fake smile.

"It’s fine."

"Just let me take over. I can’t ruin things by talking." Brand joked.

We walked to the woods, and I started taking my clothes off. We had several watertight boxes hidden throughout the woods where you could store your clothes.

"It’s cold; maybe you can wear my sweater on top of yours."

She nodded and put my sweater over her dress. It looked too big on her, but it made her look even cuter.

I was now standing in my underwear in the snow, and it was fucking cold. I might be able to handle snow better than most, but standing naked in the snow wasn’t really nice for anyone.

I took my underwear off and placed it in the box, and I saw Aaro stare at my body. I let her look for a bit until she looked away, and then I shifted. Like most wolves in my family, Brand was white and very big. But Aaro seemed unfazed by his size. Had she ever seen a wolf before? Everyone at the school was younger than eighteen, and I doubted that the teachers would shift in front of them.

Normally people were scared of Brand, but Aaro walked towards him and started stroking his fur. "So you’re Brand, huh?"

Brand put his nose against Aaro’s hand and licked it. I didn’t realize it before now, but she had hurt her hand; there were some small cuts, and it was turning blue in some areas.

"It’s find, Brand. It doesn’t hurt. Are you a cuddly wolf?"

Brand seemed to like the attention, and he laid down in front of Aaro. She started to laugh and started scratching between his eyes with her nails. Brand began to purr, and I had never fucking heard him make that noise.

"Like your noises are that much better?!" Brand said.

"She seems to like you. She’s really relaxed around you." I replied.

"Can I ride on your back, Brand?" Aaro asked my wolf.

He didn’t seem to mind, and she got on his back and held on. "Okay, Brand. Show me how fast you are."

It was almost like she had gone on another wolf's back before. She seemed to know where to hold on, and when Brand took off, she didn’t sound scared; she actually laughed and seemed to enjoy it when Brand went really fast.

"She’s not scared at all." Brand said, picking up even more speed.

"Let’s get back; we also need to eat." I told Brand not because I was hungry but because I wanted Aaro to myself.

Brand ran back to where I left my clothes, and Aaro got off his back.

"It was nice meeting you," she said, and she gave him a kiss on his forehead. "You’re a good boy."

I had never seen Brand’s tail wag as fast as it did right then.

I shifted back, and Aaro handed me my clothes. She took my sweater off and handed it to me after I put the rest on. It smelled like her, and I loved the idea of smelling like her all evening.

"Did you have fun?"

"I did," she said with a smile. "Brand is cute."

"Cuter than I am?" I asked, giving her a wink.

"Are you jealous of your own wolf?" She joked. Brand and I both knew I was. She was more at ease around Brand. She spoke freely, and she didn’t have to pretend. Similar to how she was with the boy at the hospital. I hated that I was one of the people she felt she needed to pretend around.

"I’m happy you got to meet. Now, I am starving, let’s get something to eat."

She followed me back to my car and got into the passenger seat. She buckled herself in and then began taking her braid out and running her hands through her hair.

"It’s fucking beautiful, Aaro." I said, and she smiled at me.

"I thought you would like it."

"I do; I really like you." I replied.

She seemed shy and turned her head to look outside the window. Did I say something wrong?

"You told her you liked her. Not her hair." Brand said, and I hadn’t even realized it.

I decided to take her to Cara, one of my oldest friends.

"That you also used to date." Brand growled, but that was ancient history. We had been friends for almost a decade and had dated for only a few months of that time. And if Aaro did get jealous again, it wouldn’t be the worst fucking thing.

I stopped the car near the restaurant that Cara worked at and opened the door for Aaro.

"Future Alpha Storm, I will tell the chef you are here. Your usual table?" The waitress inquired, turning her head to look at me without looking at Aaro. I might have had sex with her in the past; from the way she looked at me, it was very likely I did.

"Yes, my usual table will be fine. "Please notify Cara that my future Luna will be accompanying me today."

The waitress suddenly realized who Aaro was, and she bowed her head. "I will take you both to your table."

Aaro seemed unfazed as usual and followed the waitress. We sat down at the small table in the back, where I had some privacy and was near the kitchen. As soon as we were seated, Cara came out of the kitchen, smiling brightly.

"So, you brought your future Luna?! You didn’t even tell me you were dating someone new! I had to hear it from Lisa. And you know I dislike Lisa almost as much as the other woman you were seeing before her."

Aaro’s eyes went wide, and she sat there watching us.

"This is Aaro. We met through one of dad’s contacts and hit it off right away."

"One of your dad’s contacts, huh? So it’s like an arranged thing?" Cara asked, and it bothered me that she hadn’t spoken to Aaro yet.

I mindlinked Cara, "I actually like her and am getting to know her. Please give her a chance."

Cara walked over to Aaro and shook her hand. "It’s nice to meet you, Aaro. I’m Cara. One of Storm’s oldest friends."

"Hi, Clara, it's nice to meet you as well," Aaro said with a smile.

"I’ll be back in the kitchen, but I’ll come see you both later. Hope you enjoy the food." Cara said, and she winked at me.

"So, how was your day?" I asked Aaro.

"It was okay; the children at the orphanages and hospital were really nice. Luna Ruby taught me a lot."

"I’m planning to do things differently when I’m alpha." I explained. "So don’t feel like you have to follow Luna Ruby’s lead."

She smiled at me, "okay, Storm."

I wish I could hear what she really thought. It must be fucking odd to see everyone so scared around us, and hanging around Ruby couldn’t have been easy.

"And where did you do this?" I asked as I grabbed her hand and touched it softly where she had hurt it.

"It’s almost healed; it doesn’t bother me." Aaro said.

I growled, "What the fuck happened to your hand, Aaro?" I hated how she kept avoiding giving me a straight answer.

"Nothing," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I just bumped my hand into something."

"I have hit enough walls to know what that looks like, Aaro. So, what or who pissed you off?"

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I have written two today