CHAPTER 5
1075 Words
Darius POV
“Darius… what did you mean when you said we’re going to make a great team?” Aria’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. Her brown eyes were sharp, searching, full of curiosity and lingering distrust.
I looked at her, studying the way her lips trembled slightly, the way her hands clenched in her lap. “You’ll know… everything… when the time is right,” I said finally, voice low, measured. I could see her frown, but I left it there. Answers would come in due course.
She didn’t like that answer, and I could see it in her expression. Good. Patience would teach her the stakes of our world. She would learn fast—one way or another.
Back in my room, I leaned back in the high-backed chair and let myself think, letting the memory of the anniversary replay. I hadn’t gone there for a business deal. Not truly. That was just a convenient excuse.
I had gone for Aria. Always for Aria. And seeing her… humiliated, cornered, treated like she had no worth… that image fueled something in me I couldn’t ignore. A fire. A zeal. A need to protect, to claim, to set right the injustice I had witnessed.
The soft knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts. “Enter,” I commanded.
A guard stepped in, holding a data-pad. “Lycan Darius, the operation against the company… It was successful. Nothing can trace it back to us.”
I raised an eyebrow, a faint smirk tugging at my lips. “Good. Job well done. Everything executed cleanly?”
“Yes, Lycan Darius,” the guard confirmed, eyes cautious. “But… may I ask, why the continued attacks against another pack’s company? Is there… a reason?”
I leveled my gaze at him, sharp and unyielding. “No questions. Orders are not suggestions. They are to be obeyed. Remember that.”
The guard swallowed, straightened, and exited without another word. I returned to my thoughts, letting the night settle around me.
A soft presence entered my room. I didn’t need to look to know who it was.
“Elara,” I said quietly.
Her eyes sparkled with a mix of curiosity and something else—desire. Her cheeks flushed as she took a cautious step forward. “I… I couldn’t help but notice… the way you were looking at her… Aria,” she said, voice low. “Is there… something going on?”
I leaned back, folding my arms, my patience thinning. “It is no business of yours. Prepare for the night run instead of asking silly questions. That is all.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line, and I could feel her jealousy simmering. I was supposed to have marked her a long time ago, claimed her fully, yet I had delayed. Aria’s arrival changed things, threatened her place at my side, and she hated it. I understood. I felt nothing but calculated indifference toward her questions.
Night fell. The full moon hung low in the sky, casting silver shadows across the training grounds. I went to Aria. “You will join tonight’s run.”
“I… I can’t,” she admitted hesitantly, gaze dropping. “I’m too weak. I… I won’t keep up.”
“Stay behind then,” I said with a shrug. “Rest. Heal. But observe. Do not wander off.”
I left her there and ran with the pack, feeling the moonlight on my skin, the power coursing through me. When I returned hours later, the silence of the sanctuary caught me off guard. I paused near the doorway of her quarters, hearing soft voices carrying through the walls.
Aria and Elara.
“You really should stay clear of him,” Elara said sweetly, venom beneath the tone. “He’s… not safe for someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” Aria’s voice was sharp, defiant, though I could sense the exhaustion behind it. “I survived Lucius and Freya. I can survive him.”
I stepped into the room then, my presence abrupt and commanding. Both girls turned toward me. “Enough,” I said, low and dangerous. “Elara… leave. Now.”
Elara’s cheeks flushed with indignation as she glared at me, lips pressed tight. “Yes, Lycan Darius,” she muttered, retreating without another word.
I turned to Aria, my tone softening slightly. “Apologies for her behavior. She can be…”
“Jealous,” Aria finished for me, her tone almost amused, though I could sense the lingering tension in her voice. I allowed a small smile to touch my lips at her insight. Smart. Observant. Dangerous in her own way.
Later, my beta approached with urgent news. “Alpha, unexpected visitors,” he reported, voice cautious. “Alpha Lucius and Freya. They request an audience.”
I stiffened. My muscles coiled instinctively, a low growl rumbling in my chest. Their presence… their audacity to come here, after attempting to kill Aria, after everything… It was insulting. And yet… I agreed. I would see them. Control, always. Power, always.
Inside the main hall, the air shifted. Alpha Lucius and Freya’s eyes widened as they caught sight of Aria. Alive. Standing beside me.
Freya’s lips twisted in a cruel smile. “Well… look who survived. Dumb, undeserving, and yet… somehow, here,” she sneered at Aria.
I moved subtly closer, voice calm but lethal. “Keep your mouth shut, Freya. One wrong word, and I will feed you to my dogs.”
Her smirk faltered slightly, but she made no sound. I let my gaze sweep over Lucius. He stepped forward, arrogance radiating from him.
“Aria… leave the room,” he commanded.
I turned my head, meeting his eyes with a dangerous calm. “No. She stays. In my pack, my rules stand. You do not get to make them, Lucius.”
Lucius’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. He understood, finally, that power here was not his.
The room held its breath. Tension crackled in the air, heavy and sharp.
I looked at Alpha Lucius again, measuring him, before gesturing slightly toward the table. “We will speak. Discuss. But not like children. You and the woman beside you should control yourselves.”
Lucius’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded, finally acknowledging the truce of circumstance.
I smirked knowing what must have brought him to my pack must be serious and needed my help.
- Writer
