Chapter 04 A Hardwired Need And Birthright Claim

Aidan watched her disappear from sight, his mouth salivating from her fragrance as he fought to keep his beast in check. After decades of waiting, after having given up on waiting her out and finding her, she finally showed up in the least likely places in a form that wouldn’t make him look twice.

He had always pictured her to be this beautiful woman, this goddess, who would captivate his eyes the moment he saw her - a stunning, feminine, sexy female who would grace his bed for forever – a perfect match for him, a match made in heaven. At the first confirmation of his beast, he denied it in his mind. She couldn’t possibly be the woman for him! And yet her scent excited his blood, stirred his beast awake and with it, a deep primal need to sink his canines into her soft tender flesh as he buried himself deep inside her. Let everyone know that she is his, mind, body, and soul.

She is his … but of all the fishes in the sea, why her? The woman was on the thicker side, and he preferred his women petite but packing with assets.

And don’t get him started with her face, which held no comparison to his vision. A heart-shaped face, light green eyes, and long black hair in a ponytail. She was too … ordinary.

“Aidan?” Hunter asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

He caught his hand and squeezed it hard, making Hunter protest. “Ow, ow, ow, ow… Aidan!”

He freed Hunter’s hand then shifted his gaze from the sidewalk to him. “Do that again, I’m breaking a finger.”

Aidan walked up the stairs with Hunter following him. “What was that about?”

“Nothing,” he replied.

As the doors opened and he walked in, every employee was standing in two lines, making way for him. “Welcome, Alpha,” they greeted in unison.

He gave the place a sweeping gaze, nodded, then looked at Henry. “As you were,” he said then the employees dispersed, returning to their work stations.

“What happened to you?” Hunter asked. “You look like you haven’t been outside for months.”

Aidan agreed. Still, Henry had the ever-present sharpness in his eyes - cerulean blue – the most noticeable feature the brothers shared. Should he choose to lose his disguise of a middle-aged man going through a midlife crisis and opt for something more decent, he was as much a chick magnet as his brother.

Henry smiled at his brother’s remark, then engulfed him in a hug. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Good to see you too. Want to join us for dinner?” Hunter asked as he pulled away.

“Why not?” Henry replied. “It’s the only dinner invite I get nowadays.”

“There were more of you last time I was here,” said Aidan, interrupting the two. “And a human … you hired a human?”

“They were moved to our new branch. Not a lot of members interested in taking up this job, so we make do with what we have,” Henry said casually, as he led the way into his office. “As for the human … she’s an intern.”

Aidan huffed. “We never accept humans here, Henry. That’s the rule.”

“Well, as you’ve already noticed, we’re understaffed. She was the only one that applied here and it’s only for a semester. Might be shorter ‘cause of the hours requirement so it’s fine.”

Henry’s office was a small, cramped space, file cabinets on every side and an old wooden table in front of a beat-up black leather chair. Aidan sank on the chair, trying to focus on the agenda and not that woman. Henry and Hunter both sat across the desk.

She wasn’t attractive in any way – the tacky clothes she wore and the way her hair was messily tied back in a ponytail were more than enough proof that she didn’t look after herself. If she wasn’t an intern, he’d think she was a drug addict – those bloodshot baggy eyes were horrendous. Aidan sighed. He shouldn’t be thinking about her.

“She your mate?” Hunter asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Aidan shot him a look and he smirked.

“Oh … shit!” Hunter exclaimed, his hands on both sides of his head as he stood up and paced around the room. “Oh shit!”

“She’s your mate?” Hunter asked with a tone he knew all too well. The Beta laughed loudly, doubling over on his stomach.

Aidan clenched his jaw, thinking that Hunter was laughing at him for having an ordinary mate. Hunter grew up with him – if anything, she was more his type, but Aidan doubted even this player would go out with someone like her, and he hit on almost anything that moved.

Henry scratched his chin with the back of his fingers, his lips pursed. “She’s not bad,” he commented.

Aidan raised a brow at him. His voice was a little higher than normal. “Not bad? Not bad? She’s a fucking train wreck! How the fuck is she ‘not bad’? She’s the worst!”

“She’s kinda cute,” said Hunter.

“Like you’d date her.”

“Yeah…” Hunter trailed, chuckling. The paused. “Take her out for dinner, go somewhere nice. See how it’ll turn out.”

“Like you ever took a girl out just to see how it’ll go,” Aidan spat.

“I do,” Henry said, interrupting the two. “She’s my type.”

“Yeah … your lonely ass can use some company,” Hunter said and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Henry took it off and with a straight face, met Aidan’s hard stare and said, “With all due respect Alpha, given the chance to take the lady out on a date, I would.”

“Are you serious? She looks like she’ll eat for the two of you!” Hunter said, laughing. “Now that… sounds like a fun date,” he added with a thoughtful expression.

Henry pushed his glasses up and in a serious tone answered, “She’s a smart, diligent, responsible young lady who happens to be on the thicker side. If she was my mate, I’d be thanking the goddess right now instead of insulting her.” He said the last words with a hint of anger while giving Hunter a side glance.

Hunter and Aidan looked at each other, both at a loss for words. Henry was the oldest among the three of them - he was like the eldest brother of the two, and whenever he was serious about something, which was a rare occurrence, it was best not to argue with him. Still, Aidan questioned what Henry could have possibly seen in his mate that would make him stand up for her?

If Hunter was a casanova, Henry was the complete opposite. While his younger brother left a trail of broken hearts from the games he played, Henry gave every willing woman who offered themselves to him in a silver platter, the cold shoulder. Romance for him, where unnecessary, was a distraction from his work. He was Gamma, a title for the third rank, and was tasked to oversee a majority of their business amongst other concerns. Except for the occasional sex when his heat got the better of him, he wouldn’t look at a woman twice, no matter how erotically enticing she was.

“She’s human,” Aidan said, sighing.

“So she is,” Henry simply said. “More desirable than most, although not as sexually as you wish, Alpha.”

The Gamma was protective of her – but why? She was just another human, no different from the rest! Aidan could kill her tonight and the rest of the world wouldn’t care. Instead, they’d probably thank him for lessening their exponentially growing population.

“Enough about her,” he said, but before he could jeer their topic on the purpose of his visit, Hunter just had to interrupt and ask the one thing he didn’t want to know at this moment. Knowing it would label her, give her identification, which he neither needed nor wanted. His beast was already snarling at him for indirectly rejecting their mate, and for the harsh comments.

“What’s her name?” Hunter asked.

Henry kept quiet for a few seconds. “Emma,” he said. “Emma Dheros.”

Aidan repeated her name in his mind, and thus, the image of her face now had a word to associate itself with. His beast howled in joy before retreating to the back of his mind.

Then he was reminded, of her fragrance and the strange scent that wasn’t hers but strongly came from her. He shouldn’t care at all but for the sake of his sanity and a good night’s sleep, he had to know.

“Henry, -” he said, then squeezed the rest of the words, “- if she’s really human… why does she smell like one of them?”

“I don’t know,” said Henry calmly like it didn’t bother him at all. “Why don’t you take her out and ask her and hope she’ll answer you?”

He pushed his glasses up again. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t want to.”

“What do you know about her?” Hunter asked, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was interested too.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked bitterly. Henry was more possessive of her than him!

Hunter grinned, leaning back into the chair as he placed both hands behind his head. “So you did run a background check on her.”

“I read her application form,” the Gamma replied, looking at Aidan, “Just so you know, I had intentions to mate with her a couple of years down the line.”

“A human?” he scoffed. He was Gamma of the royal werewolf pack of the world, and he wanted to mate with a human? Fucking ridiculous.

“Yes, Alpha,” he said. “My human, until today… unless you renounce your claim on her.”

Aidan spread his arms on the table, drawing closer to him. “You challenge my claim, Gamma?”

“She possesses the qualities I look for in a mate,” Henry replied, meeting his gaze. “I’m not challenging your claim, Alpha, but if pass up on her, I’ll be marking her as mine. And if the asshole who marked her dare waltz back in her life, I’ve more than enough ammunition to blow the fucker up higher than he ever flew. Besides, I think it’s about time I settle down. Get married, have kids…”

Henry stood and went to the other side of the room to get himself a cup of water from the water dispenser. “She doesn’t seem aware that she carries the scent, and just as you said Alpha, she’s the ‘worst’. There’s nothing they can gain from using her,” he said then took a sip of water before adding, “I can tell you this – she’s striving for a better life like the rest of the humans in the same status as her, do. She’s completely focused on her goals which is simply remarkable. I’m positive she’s not involved with them in any way, but she has been marked, hence the scent and why it’s that strong.”

Aidan unwillingly felt a pang in his chest at the Gamma’s remarks. His mate had been marked! His mate…

His beast stirred and bared its teeth. Aidan didn’t like the woman, not in any way, but she was rightfully his to claim since the day she was born and nobody else’s. Emma Dheros was his – to mark, to reject, to pleasure – to do anything he wanted to.

His hands balled into fists and his blood boiled as his beast hungered for the disgusting blood of the man who dared claim her.

“Who?” he asked, his voice hinting a bestial tone. He had a hunch but immediately dismissed it. Much like him, that overgrown lizard wouldn’t spare a glance at her direction.

“I don’t know,” Henry said, taking another sip. “Nothing in her records. Never been married, single mom –“

“Single mom?” Aidan shouted, cutting him off. “She has a kid?”

She’d been bred … she carried someone’s seed. Aidan tilted his head to the sides, fighting to keep himself under control. His claim … had been tainted.

Everything that belonged to him belonged only to him. Everyone that belonged to him belonged only to him. The royal pack respected his claim. Every other pack in the world respected his claim, even the scattered covenants never dared oppose him in any way.

And yet one shitfaced asshole dared to touch what was his – rightfully his!

“That explains her size,” Hunter commented, and he snapped. His hands gripped the edge of the desk and threw it at the Beta. Hunter dodged in time, and the desk hit one of the filing cabinets. A crashing sound echoed in the small room as the desk broke into pieces and papers flew out of the cabinets. The impact caused the metal to bend where it had been hit, and every drawer opened.

His men immediately barged in the room, all on high alert.

“Get the fuck out!” he shouted and without hesitation, they left.

Aidan went to Hunter and held him by the collar. “Learn everything there is to know about her – every fucking detail about her life.”

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