Into the Spirit

Making Sacrifices

---POV: Ayden---

9:58am. I sighed heavily while Lily ran around the room happily like she had been doing since I got off my last call around a half hour ago. I know she is excited, and I don’t blame her. “You pomise?” She asked again for the thirtieth time today.

I sighed again, remembering I had promised my pup that she would get to see her again. Now I have to deliver. It’s almost 10:00am and she still isn’t here. I flinched when I heard Mason’s voice outside my door. “Oooo, that hurts, making me go solo.”

I tilted my head a bit confused at who he was talking to so nonchalantly. “Mate.” My wolf called. Well, that answered my question. She’s here. She actually came. I grinned and continued to listen to their conversation. I wasn’t even angry that it was starting to tick past 10am. I was just happy she was finally here, and I could engulf myself in her scent of vanilla and strawberry. So simple for a woman, I know will be far from that truth.

“Thank you for clarifying.” I scoffed.

“I thought you would be chomping at the bit to take her.” I thought I would have too, but something was different. I had a feeling she wasn’t lying to me like the others I attempted to open myself up to, but I could also tell there was something more there. Maybe it was from her reactions last night at the club, or Bryce’s laughter when I asked him if she was coming today or not.

There was just something I needed to put my finger on, but I hadn’t quite spotted it yet. But I did know that my wolf was right. “So did I.” I agreed solemnly.

“Daddy! She’s here!” Lily called and I was snapped out of my own daydreams as Lily flung open my office door and raced out to meet Terra, my vanishing DJ.

---POV: Terra---



I looked over to him and then back at the other door that hadn’t opened between Mason’s and Ayden’s. I was curious, honest. Totally not procrastinating, but he did ask me a question. Am I ready? I looked over to him as he waited for my response expectantly. Finally, I shrugged and looked at the closed door once more. “I guess, but I gotta know. Who is in the CFO room?”

Bryce looked down at me while I pointed to the door in question. He leaned back a bit with a bit of a smug and confident look on his face. “I guess that would be me.” I guess he was right. I didn’t even notice the change in clothes. He definitely looked the part. He was wearing an ash gray designer suit with a dark blue turtleneck underneath the suit jacket. He had custom shoes to match. I know you cannot just find those in a*****e. They oozed money.

Uhuh…. Dabbling in finances, he says. He’s the guy that manages those who manage the managers who manage the finances. I shook my head when it started spinning to even wrap around where he actually sits in the hierarchy. “Wooooow, look at you finally putting that brain of yours to work. Why do you still bounce and manage the club when you make like a ton here?”

He shrugged and unbuttoned his suit jacket so he could put his hands in his pants pockets. “Meh, it’s fun. Alpha wants me to quit my club activities, but I’ll quit when I have other...priorities.” I winced.

I already knew what that meant. It’s always the same for all of them. Priorities change when you find the one. Everything changes when you find the one. I guess I’m the only one not looking for that type of change.

“A mate.” I said out loud again.

He looked away and he seemed in a bit of pain. Bryce is thirty years old. At a certain point in life, it does get harder to understand why you haven’t found your mate and some of us really want it to happen sooner rather than later, but we have centuries to look. However, anyone would tell you it’s better to have them for centuries than to look for centuries. “Yeah.” It was a short answer, and I concluded I shouldn’t pry.

“Sorry, was that a sore spot?” I clenched my jaw and looked away a bit guiltily.

He looked away at the same time. “It will heal. Let’s get you in there. No more stalling.”

He was right. It was already 10:05am. I had to start this conversation whether I liked it or not. However, there was no way I was going to ignore this conversation between Bryce and I for long either. He never told me he had a mate, so maybe…maybe he wanted a mate he couldn’t have? I shook my head to minimize the possibilities of why he was so averse to the conversation. Bryce was about to push me forward toward the looming doom I did not want to face when I heard a door fly open and slam into a wall.

I turned my attention to the now very open door to the CEO’s…to his office. “Tewa!!!” A squealing and bouncing pup came bursting out of the door and headed straight for me. I smiled just seeing her happy. When I didn't see her at the club, I knew something had to have happened to Lily’s mother. Hearing that she passed, didn’t make me feel any different towards Lily or her father.

If anything, it was a sigh of relief to know Lily wasn’t a mistake or taken from her mother. Initially, my head went to a dark place, thinking they were divorced, or she wasn't fit to raise the heir of such an empire...it had to be something for him to even entertain me when he already had a child and a wife. It was wrong for me to think so badly of them. This isn’t a romance drama…right?

Lily waited until she was inches from me and this time she didn’t even ask before launching herself at me. Immediately, I took her in my arms and spun her around. Her giggles and squeals continued as she enjoyed the spin. She squeezed her arms around my neck, and I didn’t want it any other way. She is just too precious.

Unfortunately, when the door opened, his scent overpowered all of my cognitive functions and I held onto the little munchkin a bit tighter. Her little legs wrapped around my torso, and she was not going to let go easily. “MINE!” My wolf growled in confirmation to the scent she begged me to claim last night, rising above all the other scents in the room.

We could call it that…or…her human pressing her further into the recesses of her mind to decrease the likelihood of her wolf recognizing the bond. Either one you see fit is fine with me, but I choose the latter.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held on to Lily to make sure she didn’t fall, but it felt as if I was just punched in the gut. It wasn’t this strong the last time. “IGNORE!! Please, ignore it!” I shouted, but to no avail. She was glued to the scent. How am I supposed to have a civil conversation when my mind is full of his scent because of my wolf’s newfound need for him?

“Daddy, lookie. She make silly face.” Lily giggled and held onto me, and I tried my best not to look at him, but my inner wolf won. Our eyes connected and my wolf smirked at the result ringing through our minds like she won a marathon or something. Cheeky brat!

I stared into his deep hazel eyes that surprisingly matched the doe eyes of his daughter when a deep wolven voice echoed through my ears. “MINE!” It wasn’t my wolf’s, so it had to be his.

“Oh, this makes sense.” He said plainly with a hint of sarcasm in that voice. D**n that voice. “That’s why Lily likes you and that’s why you ran from me. I still don’t get the 'run from me' part, but it would make sense if you picked up my scent yesterday.”

I wrinkled my nose a bit and I tried to pull my chocolate brown eyes away from his, but I couldn’t. “Oh, really? So, you are smart.” I guess responding with the same sass I received won over physical movement. At this point, my control was so bad, I was talking through my teeth.

Why me? I took a deep breath, and his scent overwhelmed me once more. Apparently, breathing is no longer a possibility. I slowly put Lily down and she allowed it, but her eyes started to glisten, and she looked a bit saddened by the loss of contact. I felt bad, but I had to stay focused on the problem at hand. “Look…and let me make this very clear.”

My wolf beat me to my response. “Mine!” She shouted and both Ayden and I clearly heard her. He grinned happily. The sequence of those words were not what I was intending. I’m sure in his mind he just heard: ‘Look, and let me make this very clear, mine.’ Terrific.

I shook my head and growled angrily at the voice in my head. She needed to let this go. She cannot make this decision for me. We can’t have happiness and she knows why! “We are not staying. He is not yours and we will never bother this family again. After Mya’s wedding I'm leaving. I know you own the club, so consider this my resignation.” I gasped for air as it took all my will power to fight my wolf now that she has confirmed he's her mate.

This is not how this is supposed to go. They all said if I didn’t want the bond, it would be easy for me to walk away, but my wolf spirit is fighting hard against my will. What is it about this spirit - our spirits - in particular that makes separating so challenging?

Once I caught my breath, I turned on my heels to the closest exit, but Ayden was faster. The pain was obvious, but the determination overruled everything in his expression. He will not let me leave that easily. I felt a growl emanate within my mind again, “Stay!” His wolf bellowed in my mind. My wolf was ready to stay, heel, whatever he told her to do, but I...will not.

I closed my eyes again. “NO!” I still cannot believe I could hear his wolf. My wolf was completely out of sorts today. No guard up at all. I was in deeper than I thought because of her.

I tried to get around him, but a tiny arm was around my leg before I could challenge him. “Pwease, don’t leave daddy.” A tiny pup’s voice came through my mind like a bullet pinning me to where I stood. It was Lily. I was able to stay out of Mya’s pack, but how am I supposed to say no to her?

I couldn’t help it. I relaxed a bit, but Lily held on like her life depended on it. Her little arms began to shake out of fear. I looked up and there he was still blocking my path in his crisp-cut black blazer and gray pantsuit paired with a white button up like his brother’s, but it was completely different on him.

The strongest male werewolf and the most powerful family Head. Ayden Rogue. “I’m trying to stay. She is fighting me. Help me. I want to stay. Help her!! She needs to stay.” I could hear my wolf pleading with Ayden’s, and it almost killed me.

I didn’t enjoy making my wolf’s life miserable, but that was just the cards we were dealt! She was right. If I ran now, I would be running forever. I’m tired of running, so tired. However, I don’t have a choice. I never had a choice.

Running was the consequence of my life, and it was something I was willing to deal with if it meant, you know, breathing and…a dash of freedom. She has never fought this hard for anything before. “But I can’t lose another family member or person because of me.”

My eyes grew. I said that out loud. Sh*t out loud. I was thinking and too many people were talking in my head and all of a sudden, my mind and my voice were not coherently defined. To confirm my slip up, he sighed as if releasing some kind of stress. I’m sure that stress was me. “You won’t lose me. I’m not the one running for the exit.”

He slowly walked up to me and when I didn’t dodge away from him, he took the opportunity and rested his hands on my arms softly. I looked down at Lily and back up to him. I can’t lose face. I’m not going to cave that easily. “You have five minutes to prove me wrong.” I turned around and gently pulled my arms away from him so I could pick up my Little Cub – I mean Lily.

“Walk with me. The five minutes start once you listen to me.” He tried to bargain.

Ha. Cute. All businessman-like. “It starts now.”

He raised up his hands in defeat and Lily buried her small head in the crook of my neck and shoulder, smiling. “Looks like someone finally has you pegged, brother.”

Ayden grimaced at Bryce, now snickering and doing his best not to disrespect his Alpha. Ayden was annoyed, but his playful smirk said otherwise. They were close. “Don’t interrupt my five minutes.” Now Bryce couldn’t help but laugh. However, Bryce lifts his hands mockingly in surrender. I grit my teeth realizing this situation was entertaining for him. Not helping.