Alpha's love

Aria's night after she had run away from her mate only took a turn for the worse when she got back to her pack house. Looking to rewind and relax with a warm bath, she was instead bombarded with a plume of smoke rising from the pack house, objects littering the lawn that Aria assumed had been thrown from the house in a rush. Cursing in her head she sprinted towards the commotion, not caring that she was naked. For the most part, there were only woman in her pack, other than a few men who were mates with her warriors.

Flames were roaring over half of her pack house, flames towering over her pack as they desperately attempted to dowse the fire with pails of water that were being passed from a nearby well. Hoses were being strung out from nearby houses, and men and woman were all turning their heads at her approach. The men were wise enough to avert their eyes as she approached, searching for her Delta. "WHY WASN'T I TOLD OF THIS?!" She roared, looking for anyone who could tell her of what was happening. Eve came sprinting out of the throng of people who were still staring at their alpha, before Aria yelled at them to get back to work.

"Alpha, I tried, but it seemed that you were um....preoccupied and didn't hear me. We don't know what happened, one second we were training in the yard and the next, people were yelling about a fire." Eve bowed her head, ashamed, waiting for Aria's words.

Aria sighed, "You didn't fail me, Eve, for now let's worry about the safety of the children and assessing the damage." Eve nodded gratefully, leading Aria through the people to the front of the house, the flames had been put out in the short time that Aria had been here, but the heat of the burning wood seared her face, and the stench of burned plastic, wallpaper, and metal singed her nose.

Eve wrinkled her nose as she talked to Aria, "No injuries to report, thankfully everyone who stays in the pack house was training, and the children who were playing nearby had enough sense to run and get help. The house was the only building that was caught fire which makes us think that this was an attack on you, alpha." Eve's eyes darkened as she said this, clearly angered that someone would try to attack her alpha.

"Could be rogues, I don't think that Alpha Marcus would do this. Not after he found out that we are....um.. mates." Aria replied, craning her neck to get a better look at the damage, while pinching her nose with one hand. Eve's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but at Aria's frown she continued on her debriefing.

"He could have done it before he knew? But I agree, rogues are harder for us to smell, and if they disguised their scent well enough. With us being distracted with training they could have seen you weren't with us and set fire to the house hoping you were in the house."

Aria's frown deepened, "Send scouts to see if any scents can be picked up, and let's try to cool the remains of the fire down so we can start investigating. I'm going to pay Marcus a visit, perhaps it was him, if so...he's going to pay. If it wasn't him, maybe he knows something."

Eve nodded before pausing," I forgot to tell you, but the beta...he's gone. He must be badly burned because I sent two warriors after him and they say he smells of burnt flesh." She laid her hand on Aria's arm, "We WILL find him, alpha, no one wants to see him walk away alive." Aria had been fuming at Eve for not telling her the news sooner, but realized that the murder of her best friend and beta would have clouded her judgement, and that she would have most likely been to concerned about him to do anything else.

Patting her delta's shoulder she said,"Thank you for all that you have done, Eve, I'm appointing you temporary beta until we can get you sworn in. Your judgement is sometimes better than mine, and you made good choices when faced with a sudden trouble." Eve beamed at her and thanked her before moving off to help haul buckets of water and order more scouts out to look for rouges. Aria turned away from the smoldering damage done to the house, grabbing some random clothes that had been thrown out of the window in a desperate attempt to save as much as possible from the fire. Slipping them on, she hurried over to her dirt bike, pulling on her helmet and boots and peeling out of the driveway in a hurry. Normally, she would take her car but someone had moved it away from the fire and she didn't know where it was at the moment, another thing she would have to worry about later. As she raced up the mountain, towards Alpha Marcus's territory, she couldn't help but feel a thrill at seeing her mate again. She quickly pushed the feeling away, reminding herself that she was here on business, as an alpha who might discover that her...mate had ordered that a fire be set to her house. Milean had been strangely quiet on their way to the neighboring territory, but as soon as they approached the gates and two male wolves approached her, she howled in delight at being so close to her mate. Sliding up her visor on her helmet Aria spoke to the wolves in a hurry, "I'm here to see Alpha Marcus, it's urgent."

One of the wolves was ignorant enough to laugh at Aria before sneering,"Come to see your mate, have you. Can't stay out of his bed, whore." Aria snarled at this and before the wolf could react, he was on the ground with Aria's claws pressed to his throat,

"Say it again, Sentinel. I could kill you right now with a swipe of my claws and you wouldn't even see it coming," she hissed as Milean snarled at her to tear his throat out. The wolf groveled a sorry, and Aria released him from her hold as he scurried away from her. I'm here on business Milean, killing him would be a sign of aggression, and I'm here on peace....unless he says he set fire to my house. "Now open the gates, or this whore will rip your throat out and feed it to your friend." She seethed, tired of waiting. The wolf's quickly opened the gates, calling in her presence using radios clipped to their waist. Don't even have enough clearance to have a mind-link with their alpha, but they think they can insult us. Milean snarled and Aria muttered her agreement, idiots, she replied rolling her eyes, despite the burning fury of his lack of respect.

She reached the pack house after a few minutes of treacherous speeds and tight corners. Best get this over quick, Aria thought as the house came into view. Several smaller houses stretched before the pack house, which was a large mansion with several floors and dozens of windows. Pups scattered the yard while woman sat watching with smiles on their faces. Aria could sense that most of the men were in the pack house, along with a few older woman which only made her more anxious. The woman's faces changed as they watched her ride by, calling their children to them and rushing inside. Aria wished she could call out to them and say that she wished them no harm, but she knew it would do no good. All enemies would say that to their victims right before they killed them, she could only take assurance in the fact that they cared enough about their pups to get them to safety. Aria didn't have more time to think about the pups and their mothers before she came to a stop in front of the mansion, and a couple dozen men and woman spilled out the front door. Their curious eyes landed on her as she took of her helmet, and realizing that she was an alpha, and most likely, their alpha's mate, a few bristled while a few of them smiled at her as they walked by. She gave them a small nod, before leaning against her bike, Milean, please keep your hormones in check she murmured to her wolf, as her mate appeared in the doorway his eyes searching for her. The corners of her mouth twitched into a brief smile at his frantic searching for her, among the throng of dispersing pack members, before his eyes found hers. He sagged against the doorway a little when he saw her, she noticed, some of the age taken off his face as the stress she had caused him dispersed a little. Milean crowed at this, and Aria forced her wolf to the back of her head, the faster she got his response the sooner she could get away from his scent, gaze, and body that all made her want to ravish him. She hooked her helmet around the handlebars of her dirt bike before walking towards her mate, "Alpha Marcus, I'm here to ask you if your set fire to my pack house." She said bluntly, as the sparkle in Marcus's eyes disappeared.

He pushed himself off the doorway, reaching out to brush his hands along her arms softly, leaning towards her a little to ask in a concerned voice, "Are you hurt?" Aria jerked her head back, taking a small step backwards out of his arms, her eyebrows crinkling in surprise,

"Excuse me? Um..no.. I'm not. But that doesn't answer my question," she continued with an accusatory tone. She heard a few whispers behind her and cursed silently, the last thing she needed was to make a scene and have his whole pack know that she was weakened by a fire set to her pack house. Marcus shook his head,

"No, of course I didn't. Your my mate, why would I do that? Rogues have been skirting my territory lines lately, some have been as bold as to come inside my lines, thankfully my warriors killed them before they got much further than a few steps. Perhaps it was them."

Aria let out a sigh, relaxing as his hand grazed her arm again. "Your right, I just wanted to make sure, your beta escaped so I thought maybe this was your rescue attempt."

Marcus frowned at this before stepping aside, "I would have killed my beta for his insolence, disobedience, and attempting to kill my mate, he would be stupid to come back here, even he knows that after disobeying me. Please come in, you look exhausted." Aria faltered, knowing that she should get back to her pack, and how dangerous it was for her to be in such close contact with her mate, but Marcus smirked at her, "I'm not offering to sleep with you Aria, just dinner."

Aria flashed him a smile before stepping inside, "half and hour, then I have to get back to my pack," she frowned before continuing, "I have to find that beta...and if rouges did attack, then I have to strengthen my borders." Marcus put his hand on her shoulder, sending sparks flying across her body as he whispered in her ear,

"Your delta can take care of it, stay awhile, I want to get to know you better." Aria bit her lip, leaning back against his chest, closing her eyes for a fraction of a second letting his arms envelop her. Then, Eve was screaming at her through her mind link Aria we need you back here NOW, the beta is attacking us! Eve went to yell something else but was cut off, Aria let out a snarl before ripping herself out of his arms. Spinning she ran for the door, before she felt his hand on her arm, "Marcus, let go damn it, your beta is attacking my pack I have to go," she shouted yanking her arm out of his grasp. He followed right behind her as she dashed out the front steps, his face creased with worry,

"I'll come with you, after all he is my beta, my responsibility and he's not stupid enough to attack by himself." He didn't bother to wait for her answer, instead yelling for his delta who came running from the trees in wolf form. Aria was in to much of a hurry to listen to what they were saying, or see if he was going to follow her. Milean get me back to my pack as fast as you can, she asked her wolf desperately. No more of my people can die, not at his hands. Milean let out a howl and Aria felt herself shift into her wolf. Aria didn't bother to look back, sensing that one of the many wolves following behind her was her mate. She couldn't afford any more setbacks, not now, she had to get back to her pack...before it was to late.