It was only a few days after Ida’s arrival, when Mala heard Ida’s voice scream her name down the mind- link. Pure terror and fear could be heard in that one scream, and felt down the line to her. Mala shot out of her chair in the pack house dining room and raced at full wolfen speed towards the girl.
She was latched on to the pack tether that was Ida’s, could feel the girl running this way and coming fast. Mala shot out of the pack house and could see Ida running towards her, as fast as she could, her blonde hair streaming behind her as an unknown man was running after her.
A complete stranger in pack territory, she could also see three other males behind him, likely his own men, she thought. She did not recognise them either, and she did know everyone here in the pack. Those three men were all being attacked right now by other pack members.
They too understood, that unknown and uninvited male wolves were in the pack territory, it could start a war if they weren’t careful. ‘Intruders.’ Mala roared via a mind-link she opened to her warriors, as well as alerting her Alpha, though it was likely when this lot came through the border he would have been alerted.
Mala could see Ida staring at her, still panicked as she ran towards her, and already knew that the man running after her, was going to be the Alpha, that was the father of the girls’ child. The three, trying to fight off her warriors and were being rapidly out numbered were fighting a losing battle. She could see at least twenty on the move towards them, they were already dealing with nine. A three to one fight for each of them.
They had run head long into an unknown pack, and were getting their asses handed to them, it seemed. They could all see her coming and left her to deal with the Alpha chasing Ida. They knew better than to get in between her and her target. Only a handful would step up and help.
Heard him yell out Ida’s name, he was gaining ground on her and quickly, it was likely she only had a lead because the pack had jumped him and his unit. His unit would have fought to get him free to go after the girl. Well, there was no way in hell she was letting that cheating scumbag get his hands on Ida. Not on her bloody watch.
Shot right between him and Ida, where she launched herself into an all-out assault on the man, he was strong but had been solely focused on Ida, and hadn’t seen her coming. The idiot needed to look at his surroundings, already more warriors were rushing to this part of the pack. Even if he somehow got passed her, he was in for the beating of his life, invading this pack, to get to one of their pack members.
He had no choice but to fight her. He was strong, but she was fast and deadly accurate with her punches, could feel not only the elite warriors were nearly here, so was their Alpha and his Unit.
Mala was trading blow for blow with him, kept herself between him and Ida at all times, and when he saw an opening to get to Ida, he tried to shoot passed her, Mala grabbed right on to him and let Suki’s claws rip right into him.
She heard his wolf snarl right at her, at the wolfen attack on his body and Suki snarled all aggression right back, then her wolf was on him. All her wolfen strength and claws in him dragged him down, and was actually struggling to keep him down. His Alpha wolf was stronger than hers, then Ben was right next to her and on him using Gravel as well, to hold him down.
She saw him finally stop struggling and look around himself. He could see his own unit were all pinned down. He could see there were now over a hundred warriors standing at the ready. He was not going to win this battle and he knew it. “We don’t take kindly to trespassers,” Mala grated out, “Let alone Alpha’s, who think they are the law.”
“I just need to talk to Ida.” He grated right back, he, nor his wolf liked the fact that he was pinned down on the ground and now knew they were massively out numbered.
“I don’t think she wants to talk to you, asshole.” Mala snarled and let Suki punch him right in the face for good measure. Saw his wolfs eyes glowing right up at her, full of fury and smiled at him “I dare you to.” She taunted him, would love a full wolf on wolf fight. It seemed Suki was up for it herself.
“Mala.” It was Ben, he knew her too well, there was a warning tone in his voice.
Too late though, she heard the first crack of the Alpha Wolfs shift and shoved Ben off of him and let Suki rip right out of her. She was no small wolf the size of a Delta and Suki was as fast as he was to shift.
Then it was on, wolf to wolf, Alpha wolf to Elite warrior; his wolf was bigger than Suki, but Suki had speed and decades of training on her side. She was pretty darn sure this Alpha wolf was only young, she’d been fighting longer than he had, and her training was as good as any Alpha's was.
Her wolf knew how to attack and defend, when to bite and when to use her claws, was on him a full bite to his back leg, as his wolf bit her on the side in retaliation.
Heard a massive roar “Enough.” Felt the Alpha Aura roll over her and Suki, and had no choice but to back away from the fight. Her own Alpha was ordering her to stop fighting. Suki stood snarling at him, blood dripping from her mouth and her side, his wolf was standing growling right at hers, lame on its back leg. Suki had bitten him good and proper.
Was told by Alpha Aston to walk away, didn’t like it, neither did Suki. This was what they trained for, to bring down intruders. She was just doing her job, stalked all the way around him, snarling right at his wolf the whole way. It never took its eyes off of her.
Suki walked herself all the way to Ida, and sat herself right in front of the girl, who was standing watching them fight from just a few meters away. He wasn’t getting near Ida unless Ida allowed it herself. If he tried, he’d learn the hard way. She and Suki would defend at all cost any and all pack members.
She saw that Alphas'; Preston, she presumed, entire Alpha Unit had been subdued by her warriors and were being held down, on the on the ground, could see one was still struggling, the man’s Beta she was Betting.
“Shift and explain yourself, Alpha.” Aston demanded of the unknown wolf inside his pack, as he marched down the front steps of the pack house. She’d known he was out running with a group, training today, had taken him a few minutes to get here, once he’d been alerted. “You are trespassing.”
Saw the man shift, heard Suki snort and felt her amusement at seeing the claw and bite marks she had left on him ‘Got him good I did.’
‘That you did.’ Mala agreed. She could feel that there was a small fist curled into Suki’s long fur at her neck, knew it was Ida that was clutching at her.
“My apologies, Alpha. I did not mean to trespass. I intended to ask permission but then I saw Ida and…” he sighed as his dark brown eyes moved to Ida “I called out to her, only to have her run away from me. My wolf and I reacted without much thought. We mean no harm to your pack. I just came for Ida.”
“I don’t think the girl wants to go with you. Preston, I presume?”
“Yes,” Preston nodded “I don’t understand, why she even ran away.” He huffed “We were very happy.”
“Hmm, not according to Ida.” Aston told him “You’re cheating on her, saw it herself.”
“What?” They saw Preston’s eyes go really wide, he looked completely shocked by Aston’s words.
“No, I would never.” Saw his eyes move right to Ida, took a step towards her.
Suki went from sitting to standing in an instant and a full aggressive snarl rolled right out of her, a warning for him to stay put way over there. His foot fall stopped.
“My office. I’ll get you some fresh pants, Preston. A discussion will have to be had. I heard those words from Ida herself. I believe she saw what she stated.” Aston turned and looked right at Suki, a half smile on his face. “Now son, you don’t want to take Suki on. She’s a to the death kind of fighter, and as you can see is still here.”
“My unit?” Preston asked.
Aston turned and looked down the pack road, to them all being held down, then right at Suki “Release them Mala. You and Ida in my office as well please.” Raised an eyebrow at her wolf who emitted a low growl at his words “Enough of that now.” He shook his head.
Suki stayed right in front of Ida as their Alpha walked passed them, snapped her jaw at Preston as he followed, saw the man step quickly to the side. Then he frowned deeply at Ida, kind of looked very confused to Mala, she thought absently.
“Release them but give them a full escort to the Alpha’s office, hands on.” She mind link to her warriors who were holding his unit down. They saw them all be released; they didn’t like the hands-on thing, that was for sure, as they were escorted towards the pack house.
Suki finally allowed her to shift back. She was handed a shirt. It was Ben’s she noted. The man had stripped it off and given it to her to wear. Pulled it on and found Ida’s hand in hers.
“I’ve got you Ida, your part of this pack now. Nothing they can do about it.” Mala announced as the Alpha’s Unit walked passed her. All eyes were on her and she smiled right at them, only one actually frowned at Ida’s action, she knew it was the Gamma, could smell his bloodline, saw him look right at Ida, at the way she was clutching her hand and heard him sigh heavily, before moving on into the pack house.
Mala followed them all into the Alpha’s office, walked Ida to the other side of the room and had her sit down, stood there right next to her.
“If I could talk to Ida, I can clear this up.” Preston stated to Aston. “It’s a miss understanding, whatever she saw is not what it looked like.”
“And just what did she see?” Aston asked him, he was now seated behind his desk and Preston stood before it, his unit right behind him.
“I don’t know.” Preston shook his head. “Could someone tell me. I’m certain I will be able to clear it up quickly. I have done nothing wrong, I assure you, Alpha. All I know is that Ida went missing and then she was severed from the pack a few days later. I feared the worst to be honest. We’ve been looking for her since day one. Came here in the hope she might have. I know what this pack used to be, as do many in my pack.”
Aston nodded, most did it was no secret anymore. “Ida arrived as a rogue she-wolf, very upset and distraught.” Aston told him “Saw you with her sister. Cosy like and then her sister was all over you jumping on you and hugging you. I believe you told her sister, she wasn’t to tell Ida, it was a secret.”
Mala watched as Preston sighed now, very heavily in fact. Then he turned and looked at Ida. “It’s not what you think Ida.” He walked across the room,
Mala raised a hand at him. “That is close enough.”
Preston stopped about two meters away from Ida and knelt down. “Baby, look at me.”
“No.” Ida whispered, and Mala could hear the pain in her voice, which meant that so could everyone in this room, including Preston himself.
“It’s not what you think Ida, Lena detected the pup’s heartbeat and she came to confront me about it.” He sighed “she was very unhappy about it. So, I told her the truth. Something I’ve not even told you yet…am not allowed…Ida, I’m you’re Mate, or will be in a few days. I intend to claim you on the full moon. The day after your 18th birthday you’ll know this to be true…wolfen laws state I’m not allowed to tell you, considered cohesion because you’re not yet 18…but under the circumstances and with just a few days to go…I’ll risk it. Lena was just very excited to hear the news, excited for you and for me even. Hugged me so tightly and I made her promise not to tell you, not to say anything to you…I would never hurt you Ida, I love you more than anything in this world.”
Mala nearly sighed out loud, it rang true to her ears, she didn’t think that he was lying about it, and now that he wasn’t posing a threat and they weren’t fighting it out. She could actually see that he looked not only tired but stressed as well. His mate had gone missing and then been severed from him and his pack. Could imagine that yes, he was stressed out about it.
“I…I don’t know.” Ida whispered.
What the girl had seen had broken her heart completely, even with his statement she wasn’t completely convinced. Mala moved her eyes to his unit. To his Gamma, to be more specific, he was all attention and focused solely on Ida. She would be his job, if what Preston said was right. By the way he was looking at her, she knew it was. Preston’s whole unit knew. Made her wonder if his parents also knew. It was likely he was, or had been the girl’s, boyfriend.
“A compromise.” Aston sighed when he realised Ida wasn’t about to just up and hug the man and take his word for it. Which she shouldn’t. “Ida stays here until the full moon. You can come and see her then. If what you say is true, she’ll know, it will be her decision what to do about it after that.”
Saw Preston stand up and nod “Then may I request permission to stay in your pack, Alpha Aston, till then. It’s just a few days.”
Mala could feel Ida squeezing her hand tightly now. Looked down at her to find the girl looking right up at her, still looking worried “You can stay with me Ida, in my suite. Any idiot would know better than to tick myself or Suki off.” Saw her nod and turned to look right at her own Alpha “If he is granted permission to stay.” and Mala was pretty certain that he was going to be allowed to “I’ll take Ida, to make her feel safe.”
Saw Aston nod “A good plan, Mala. I agree with this.” Then he turned and looked at Preston. “You and your unit may stay. Until Ida makes her decision on the full moon.”
“Thank you.” Preston nodded, sounded relieved to Mala.
“You’ll keep your distance, there will be no trying to sway the girl.” Mala told him.
“No sweet talking or charming her either.” Aston stated, “As you so clearly stated you should not tell her what you suspect, it’s against the wolfen laws.”
“I’m aware of the law.” Preston nodded to Aston. “I will keep my distance or perhaps your…” he looked right at Mala. “Warrior here could chaperone Ida the whole time.”
“Oh, I will be going everywhere Ida goes. I also won’t hesitate to put your ass in its place, if you step out of line. Alpha or not…I don’t care.”
“Enough Mala. Go and get changed and then take Ida to get something to eat please.”
Mala nodded at her Alpha, and headed out of the office. Suki’s hearing picked up Preston’s voice “Why is she not your Luna?”
“A good question, Preston, the answer is she is not my Mate.”
“You might want to sort that out. You let her tell your pack what to do. Acts like a Luna would. Very protective of the pack.”
“She should have been a Luna, in her words. Her Mate is an asshole. Rejected her.”
“Fool.”
Heard her own Alpha laugh “Agreed.”
Could feel Ida looking up at her questioningly “It will be your decision, Ida. I will not sway you either way, it will be your decision alone.”
Saw Ida nod slowly.