Aryn

Click, clack, click, clack.

The heels carried her further away from my position on the settee and I closed my eyes in an attempt to muster a virtue I was not blessed with, patience. Suddenly her movement ended and with that the annoying piercing heel sound. I opened up my eyes slowly anticipating a show and true to form she didn't disappoint.

Her long endless legs flashed as she bent to get me a cup of coffee that I had denied, but Tina being Tina, there was no escaping her relentlessness. Due to the packs lack of a Luna I had appointed her as the head she-wolf commandant, a rank below my beta. She was skilled in battle, a fast thinker, a genius at clever, out of the box attacks and one hella spy.

These qualities overshadowed her shortcomings and I was confident with her as my right hand woman. However, her unwarranted obsession to show up every female who even came a few centimeters towards me was off putting. Her possessiveness was uncalled for as I had no intention to share my bed with her or anyone else.

"I don't have time for all this," I ground out for the umpteenth time and as always she flicked her long blonde luscious locks, nonchalantly, over her shoulder and flashed her bright smile.

"You're always uptight and you work way too hard," She purred and swayed her hips towards my seat with two steaming cups of coffee in each hand. "You should let loose once in a while Mr Alpha," her amber coloured eyes twinkled and she winked while bending to place the cup in front of me. This gave me a view of her plump cleavage and I fought to control the wave of lust that stirred in me.

"I'd appreciate it if you gave me a report on your earlier assignment," I flashed my fang together with a warning growl.

"Don't be such a spoil sport," she insisted and moved to the back of my chair. She had guts, yes, but it could be quite annoying sometimes. Her warm fingers landed on my shoulders and she gently massaged them while she pressed her breast flush against my back. The flimsy low cut shirt she wore did nothing to hide the arousal in her perked up nipples and her scent was another giveaway.

"You of all people should know that I am not a very patient man," I growled, this time a little louder and I felt her tremble behind me. However, it only acted as a turn on as the scent of her arousal became even much thicker in the atmosphere.

I got up abruptly from my chair and strolled towards one of the shelves before turning towards Tina who had a glassy aroused look on her face as she struggled to stand on her heels. She was a beauty, if I was been honest, with her lean muscled figure which was outlined by her short black pencil skirt and her tiny waist, accentuated by the brown leather belt. However, they were wasted on me. I had promised myself to never fall for the wiles of a female. Never! Regardless of my lustful feelings.

"That's the last time I will condone this behaviour. Next time it will be fifteen lashes," I threatened but her lips only parted as she silently gasped. Just my luck that she had a kink for whips. There was no saying the right words with Tina. Everything I seemed to say evoked an unintended response in her.

"The rumours must be true then," she mumbled, jolting out of her lust filled haze. "I guess you aren't as straight as you play yourself to be," she challenged with a daring smile.

I eyed her intently and the mischievous glint in her eyes gave away her real intentions. Alright then! Two could certainly play the game.

"Darling, I don't swing for the other team," I drawled with a smile. "Just because you failed to win me over doesn't prove anything," I continued and moved over to her slowly. Her gaze was trained on me, watching my every move and when I finally got so close to her I traced her cheek.

I knew I was being cheeky using my allure to tease her but she drew the battle line for the survival of wills and it was clear which one of us would crack under pressure.

"If only you could capture my gaze for more than, maybe five minutes, then I could make good on your wildest sexual fantasies," I whispered huskily into her ears and her release of arousal was an indication of the torture she was going through.

I moved away from her and sat opposite her on the settee. "Now about that assignment," I started, changing the subject.

"Yeah s-s-sure," she stuttered and moved gingerly to sit opposite me. Her face was flushed red and she kept her laps tightly closed. Strike one.

She then took a sip of her coffee and cleared her throat before she spoke up. "The Alpha's are unto your tail. They have been to Linda Rodriguez as well as the T.A.B.R den but so far none of them have slipped up on any dealings that they have had with you,"

"Of course they won't," I laughed dryly. "I paid a hefty price for their secrecy," I picked up the tea cup and savoured the strong taste of its contents. Black coffee without milk and sugar just the way I liked it.

"However they have received some information from the lower ranked tomb raiders who assisted with the digging and blasting for the supposed tomb raid before it got cancelled, that they may have sighted a weird looking box,"

"Hmm," I mumbled, a sign that she should continue as I kept sipping on the coffee with my eyes closed. They kept telling me to loosen up which I often did with a cup of coffee. But even that wasn't enough.

"That's why Demetri kept insisting that you had a box and the meeting today was a way of luring you to give up hints about whatever knowledge you might have concerning the box," she explained. "But that didn't work, obviously,"

I chuckled inwardly at the craftiness of the four Alpha's. I knew they would be no hiding such a big information from them, they had vast connections with humans and it was only a matter of time before another underground worker who knew more than he was letting on gave up the information for a fee.

"At the moment they have little to no leads but with their deep connections to humans, it's only a matter of a few dollars and they'll be marching in here and going on about clan codes and the like," she rolled her eyes and crossed her legs.

Upon hearing her slight movement, I peered at her from under my eyelashes and smirked, instinctively she shifted nervously on the settee and avoided my heated stare. Strike two.

"True," I said, stretching my arms lazily across the arms of the settee. "So we will give them what they want and show them the power box," I announced with a shrug.

"What?!" She exclaimed and moved closer to the edge of the settee. "Why would you go through all that trouble to hide it from them all these weeks only to show them now?" She enquired.

"Firstly, I didn't go through any trouble hiding it from them," I amended. "They're the ones running around, like headless chickens, after lead upon lead. All I'm doing now is calling off the maze race," I chuckled and stood up from the settee with her following closely behind me. "Fred is good at replications and I'm sure it won't take him more than a few hours to create another identical box that would be so genuine it would fool even the white-wolves," I assured smugly. "That should be enough to quell their curiosity, right?" I asked turning to give her a dazzling smile.

"Genius," she breathed in awe. "I'll let Fred know of your plans and set a date for a viewing meeting," she said, typing rapidly on her smartphone.

"Just tell them it's a regular meeting. I want them unaware of my true intentions. It's the meeting of unprecedented surprise," I stated with a sly grin. "It has such a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Perfect!" she gave a thumbs up and chuckled. "They won't know what hit them," she agreed and bounced up lightly.

I nodded and abruptly stalked closer to her. She was confused as to my intentions and with each step she moved slowly backwards until she reached the table and could continue no more. Then I leaned into her neck and hovered my lips barely a centimeter above her neck. It was close enough for my breath to fan over her but not close enough for my lips to touch her skin. She shivered slightly under the sexual tension and a small moan escaped her parted lips.

"Bounce them up one more time," I said, referring to her bosom. "And you might just capture my interest and maybe then I'll make your deepest desires a reality," I whispered and trailed her spine lightly. "Goodnight Tina," I finished and with that I moved away from her and walked out of the study. Strike three.

The battle of wills was over and it was clear who had won.

☘︎

"Checkmate!" Dina squealed, clapping her hands excitedly before getting up to perform her jiggle dance.

The action caused her pigtails to bounce and her grin grew wider as she continued to chant repeatedly. "I win! I win! I win!"

"Of course you did," I acknowledged and leaned against the seat border of the couch.

"Yeah, only because he let you," Roy muttered as he glanced momentarily from his newspaper reading with a roll of his eyes.

I craned my neck to shoot a glare at him and he responded by hiding his face behind the newspaper but not before I heard his quiet chuckle. What was he doing here anyway?

Thankfully, Dina hadn't heard a word he said. She was currently engrossed with her victory dance as she pranced around the living room, singing loudly. I averted my gaze from her and fixated it on the tiny dot reflections that continually danced on the rug. I traced its source and noticed that the sunray that shone through the large one walled window panes, overlooking the veranda, had hit the dreamcatcher and as it twirled it produced dotted lights which danced along to Dina's victory song.

It was a beautiful Saturday here at the pack, a day the pack members rested from labour, but a day I rarely indulged in. I was the Alpha afterall, I couldn't afford to slack. However, in a twisted turn of events I had found myself persuaded by Dina to engage in a game of chess. I had promised to have only one go at it but her subsequent joy as I let her win over and over again was something I relished in and it was a little disheartening that I hardly ever got to see that side of her as I was always nose deep in my work. My consolation, however, was that it was for her good and the good of the pack.

It was of paramount importance that I protected the pack and found a solution to the regressing wolf gene.

Eventually, Dina flopped unto the lone sofa opposite me with her eyes closed and a content smile on her face as she began to hum a familiar tune. I continued to watch her in silence, marveling at how the sun ray's trick of light was able to create a crystalline haze that formed a halo above her head. Her peaceful expression radiated an aura of innocence and I crawled towards her slowly, wanting to imprint this particular moment in my memory.

However, upon getting closer to her I finally registered the tune she was humming and stopped short, a few paces away from her. It was a lullaby that our mother used to sing to us in an attempt to get us to sleep. The surprising part about this was that my mother died four months after having Dina. She couldn't have possibly remembered such a tune at a young age and also coupled with the fact that she had dementia.

The humming continued and with it flashbacks of repressed memories came pouring uninvited into my mind and out of it to form holographic mind representations before me. I saw my past self, as a pup who had just learnt to walk and crouched before me was my mother in all her glory as she tended to a wound that I had acquired during a game of toss at the nearby river. Another memory quickly replaced that one and it was now during my fifth birthday. My mother was dressed in a cream gown and some pearls adorned her neck and ears. She had the brightest smile on her face as she helped me up the stool to blow out the cake candles.

The relentless assault of old time, blissful reminisce continued to flitter past my vision and with that the pain in my heart grew steadily. Why now? I was better off without all this.

The serenity in my memories came to an abrupt halt and the darkness gathered momentum as the night when it all happened played all over again. It was almost like starring in a lead horror movie with your old past self being the unsuspecting victim of the terror that lay just across the wall and your present self being the spectator to the horror that you have no control over.

That was how I felt as I watched my nineteen year old self place his hands on the door that pushed my father and his elder son down the bottomless dark spiral hole of despair. I would like to think that I had successfully managed to repress all those feelings. How else would I have made it thus far? But as I watched on in apprehension, powerless to do otherwise, the pain I had felt that night began to grow elongated tentacles around my heart.

Dina's soft voice was a saving bell from the reenactment of dooms day that I was about to witness and just like that the mental holographic representations dispersed from my line of vision.

"Aryn?" She whispered, unsure as she eyed me cautiously.

"Yes," I answered before turning towards her, equally confused. Did she remember me today or was this a figment of my imagination?

"Daddy always says it's rude to stare off," she said with a petulant cross of her arms.

"Oh I'm sorry about that," I chuckled and crawled the remaining distance to her before placing my head in my palms as I trained my gaze on her. "Is this better?" I asked with a wiggle of my eyebrows.

She nodded and giggled in response before she quieted and stared at me with a solemn expression. "Where is daddy?" She enquired. "He hasn't been singing to me in a while," she added with a frown.

That explains where she learnt the lullaby from. But how could I explain to her that seeing her reminded the previous Alpha so much of his dead mate and so he had resulted to locking himself up in his room for weeks on end, content with drinking himself to stupor. The loss had stolen with it a vital part of him and for as long as he was breathing he would never remain the same ever again. It was a wonder how he hadn't committed suicide yet.

"He's just busy at the moment. I'm sure he'll come sing to you one of these days," I lied.

"You promise?" she asked with earnest eyes as she tried to stifle a yawn.

"Yeah, I promise kiddo," I added with a ruffle of her hair. "Why don't you take a nap upstairs," I suggested and she gave a half-hearted nod before she rose up gingerly and walked out of the room.

"Bye Roy," she called out before she climbed up the steps and he replied with a smile.

"She is not going to remember me once she wakes up," I thought out loud and Roy sighed.

"Probably," he replied before folding up the newspaper and setting it down by his side.

"How are the directions coming along?" I questioned and rose up from the rug.

"Star and I are certain that they are hiding in Arizona," he replied, mirroring my actions. "And with regards to finding it buried in Greece, someone has a probable theory regarding that state of affairs," he continued.

"Who?"

"Kodiak," he answered without missing a beat.

Kodiak Wolff was the second-in-command of the Night Prowlers, a rogue pack that, for a long time, had distrubed the power balance of the five clans. As they hunted and attacked viciously at the patrol borders of any pack, seeking a way to get in and usurp power. Their latest ploy to weaken the patrols and instigate a tumultuous war was the recent attacks on the weak half-shifted wolves. A week ago our pack had been their target and after a violent, blood-curdling, savage fight I had managed to administer a series of mortal wounds to Kodiak and he had ever since being my prisoner and sadistic play toy. Along with the few traitors from my pack who had helped them in.

"And why would I want to employ his help?" I snarled, menacingly.

"Because he says he knows for sure how it got there,"

"And how would he even know we had the power box?" I said, eyeing Roy suspiciously.

It wasn't a great shock to find that they had been traitors in our midst for even the strongest forts had individuals who would always succumb to the enchanting call of the forbidden fruit. However, after I was done with them, and any other person who went along the same path, they would regret they ever dared to cross me.

"Don't look at me like that," he accused. "Cayden told me that during his warden duties he had heard Kodiak boasting to other prisoners about how his rouge pack was this close to getting the power box and the hiding place of the white-wolves," he explained. "One of the traitors must have informed them about the fact that Star and I were working on the power box,"

"Do you know who it was?" I said referring to the traitor.

"Ashley Winters,"

"Hmm interesting," I walked to the corner bar cabinet, poured myself a tumbler of scotch and swallowed it in one gulp. "And what about Greece?"

"He said something about the Alpha's playing each other like ping pong balls and them using the foolish who thinks he is wise among them to do their bidding,"

"I'm guessing that would be me," I smirked.

"The crack head speaks in mumbo jumbo most times so I wouldn't know," he said, scratching his chin. He still hadn't shaved.

The puzzle was beginning to fit in my head and the theory that had been nudging its way into my consciousness, demanding to be acknowledged was beginning to ring true. Let the real game of chess begin.

"I want you to recheck Linda's background and the T.A.B.R's affiliations. Especially that of Marcus Rodriguez," I ordered, calmly.

"What? Do you think I didn't do a great job the first time," he questioned in disbelief.

"Not that you didn't do a good job," I assured him with a lazy smile. "But that someone much more craftier than you purposefully hid vital information from your online searches," I said with a shrug. "But don't worry their game will be their downfall. They don't just know it yet," I chuckled darkly.

He looked at me with a confused expression and scrunched up his forehead. "I'll get on it right away,"

"You do that," I dismissed. "While I have a friendly chat with our rogue," I strolled out with the scotch bottle but not before I caught the look of presentiment that flittered across his features.

He had seen what I had felt. The sadistic, ferocious monster had been unleashed and there was no stopping it now.
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