Chapter 20

Aiden’s POV

Having Michael in the room was intense! He saw Ayla as his daughter; he took her in and raised her as his own. So naturally, he would be wary of whoever was destined to be her mate. Even more so, because there were three of us, she seemed to be handling the situation with him, though at least one of us appeared to have some control. I, for one, was this close to a mental explosion. How can any of this be happening? It’s unheard of.

My train of thought was broken as one of my brothers cleared their throat, grabbing our attention. I reached over and laced my fingers with my mate; it felt amazing being able to say that finally. Ayla was everything and more than I had ever hoped for; she was beautiful, clever, funny and strong.

“So, what do we do now?” Axel asked the one question we were all thinking.

“Don’t look at me! I don’t have a clue; I’m still in shock,” Ayla replies. She still looked so tired and weak; it tore at my heart.

“We need to work out what the heck is going on. can we all be bonded?” Archer was worried.

“I can feel a connection to all of you; not one of the links felt stronger than the others,” she tells him. “I feel complete. It’s perfect” she smiled as she looked at all of us.

“We do need to go and see what we can find out, though; there must be something written in the archives that mention multiple mates?” Axel points out

“Yeah, maybe we should do some research; there is going to be a lot of people not believing us and not liking what we are,” I say

“What are we all exactly?” she looks at me as the words leave her lips.

“Together!” I lean over and kiss her cheek instantly. She beams

“Let’s go find out what’s going on then!” she says as she tries to push herself up from the sofa.

“Ouch”

“Ayla, you can’t come with us; you still hurt; you have to heal”, Archer reminds her.

Anger rushed through my whole body. For a few minutes there, I had forgotten someone had hurt her. Some sleazy no-good bastard had laid their hands on my mate. There was no way something like this would ever happen again, and that’s because no one would ever be able to get close enough to her without going through us.

“One of us will stay with you; I’m not leaving you alone again. Whoever did this could still be around,” I state, sounding a bit possessive, but I didn’t care.

“Aiden, I’ll be fine, I swear” Ayla started to protest

“No, I agree! I don’t think you should be left alone for a while. It’s bad enough that Mason is around, let alone this mystery person,” Archer agrees.

“I hate that Dick”, Axel growls.

Ayla laughs at Axel’s confession. We all hated Mason.

“It’s settled then; we will take it in turns to stay with you, okay, and no, you can’t fight us on this, sweetheart! It is what it is,” Axel tells her; she pretends to sulk, but it is easy to see she loved the attention.

“Fine!” she sighs but grins.

“Aiden, you stay with Ayla first, okay? We will go and see what we can find in the Winter Moon archives,” Archer tells me.

“Fine by me”, secretly thrilled to be staying behind for a change.

Ayla let go of my hand then as she reached out for Axel. He had moved off the sofa, ready to leave.

“Will It always be this hard to watch either of you leave me, even though I know you’re coming back later?” she generally sounded sad.

Axel bent to meet her eye to eye. He ran his fingers through her hair, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. She shivered from his touch. Usually, another man touching your mate would send you into a frenzy. But I felt fine, with no jealousy or anger whatsoever. Just a need to make her feel better whilst my brothers were away.

“Trust me, I’m going to miss you too,” he whispered. She clutched his shirt in her tiny hand, and he responded how I knew I would. Gripping the back of her head, their lips met, and a slight moan escaped her lips. She was sparking all kinds of feelings inside me. Instantly I felt myself begin to grow, to get harder.

“Shit, if this happens just from a moan. I’m in trouble,” I thought.

Axel let her go and stepped aside; she had uttered Archer’s name right after their lips had parted. We all knew it wasn’t her wishing she had Archer instead of Axel right then. It was the fact she needed us all and hated that two of us were leaving, so she needed to say goodbye to both of my brothers equally.

“It’s okay; I’ll be back really soon; you can’t get rid of me that easily,” he tells her. His voice was a little husky. He kissed her too before leaving. The same little moan escaped her lips when she kissed him, sending another wave of desire through me.

“This girl is going to be the end of me; I swear” I can’t believe the power she holds over me already. Pretty sure the same thing was happening to the others too.

“Go before I change my mind,” she tells them. Slumping back into the cushions.

Emotion, after emotion, smashed into me; it was overpowering. Ayla was feeling the loss of two of her mates pretty hard right now. Meaning I was feeling it with her.

“Hey, come here. It’s going to be okay! They will be back later, so right now, you’re stuck with me” I smile at her as I squish myself closer to her. I reach my arm out, and she snuggles into my chest. It felt nothing short of perfect. She kept wiggling as though she wasn’t comfortable. So instead, I scoop her up and place her across my lap, her arm around my neck and her head on my shoulder. Pulling the blanket up over her, she stops wiggling and relaxes.

“Better,” I ask

“Much”, she answered; her breath tickled my neck; I shivered; she felt it, making her giggle.

“You’re enjoying your power over us, aren’t you.”

“Who me? of course not, I wouldn’t do such a thing” she chuckles again

“Goddess, your cute”, I tell her, and she rewards me with more soft giggles. “So Beautiful, what should we do whilst we wait” I felt her heartbeat pick up at my question. And her cheeks turn a gorgeous shade of red.

“Well, I normally wouldn’t say no to that, and definitely not to you, but you need to heal; I don’t want to hurt you more!” I read her body language but knew now was not the time. She seemed disappointed for a split second; it was fleeting; I would have missed it if we weren’t mated.

“Then I guess you better find a way to keep me entertained then.”

Axel’s POV

I wasn’t expecting much from The Winter Moon Packs archives; nothing had overly impressed me since we had arrived, well, except Ayla, of course. Yet I was pleasantly surprised. It hadn’t taken us long to locate the rooms either. The archives were like a library, and any werewolf should be allowed access to them; every pack has their archives. Many passages will be the same, but a few will be slightly different, written from that pack’s perspective, as well as exclusive pack entries.

When Archer and I left the room, Ayla was temporarily staying in. We went in search of Michael. We needed his permission to search freely through the Archives and tell us where to go. The pack house was more than it seemed at first sight.

A door off to the left opened, and Michael stepped out; he was lost in thought when we approached. We knew we weren’t his favourite people, but he was a good Alpha and treated us with respect regardless.

“Excuse us, Alpha Michael, we wish to gain access to your archives. We wish to see if there is any information on our current situation,” Archer asked him confidently. The Alpha looked us up and down before sighing.

“Funny enough, I was heading there myself; you might as well come with me; at least I know what you’re getting up to”, he answered, a slight growl escaping his lips right at the end.

“Ace! control yourself. Now is not the time to pick fights with the Alpha!” I could feel his unease rolling off of him in steady waves.

“You don’t like us, do you, Sir” Archer states, with more than just a little bit of annoyance lacing his voice.

“It’s not that I don’t like you per se, but I don’t have a clue who you are! And the sheer fact, for some unbeknownst reason to me, all three of you bonded with my daughter!” Michael answered. He generally sounded confused. As if something hard to swallow was lodged in his throat.

The walk to the Archive wasn’t the most pleasant. The amount of testosterone radiating from the three of us was unfathomable. Naturally, the Alpha of any pack makes his presence known regardless, but two beta males were trying to prove themselves, to show they are worthy of this Alpha’s daughter.

“Sir, we don’t understand it either, but I can promise all three of us will do everything we can to love and protect Ayla. We will do everything we can to work out what is going on here,” I answer, with what I hoped sounded sincere.

“You better hope you do, and I mean all of you” he paused. “We will get to the bottom of what is going on here! And we will rectify it, do you hear me” Michael used his Alpha tone. Both Archer and I could feel its pull, making us want to bend to his will, yet we managed to resist. Neither of us was prepared to bend the knee; Michael wasn’t our Alpha.

Silence took hold for the rest of the walk; Michael quietly took the lead, followed by the younger men, respectfully staying a couple of steps behind. We passed through a few doorways, and an arch or two before the hard wooden floor gradually sloped downwards. As the minutes ticked by, the air drew cooler. Goosebumps appeared on my arms. The tell-tell signs of magic are starting to make their self-known.

All Packs archives were protected by magic in one way or another. Some packs had more effective, potent forms of magic protection than others. The Winter Moon Pack undoubtedly had the most impressive we had ever seen.

Along the walls, swirled writing could be seen etched into the stone. Yet it wasn’t like an ordinary script. The letters moved of their own accord and shone with a violet light that seemed to pulse with life as it moved along the script.

“Have you ever seen wards this prominent before?” Archer’s voice sounded inside Axel’s head.

“No, I can’t say I have”, I answer in awe.

Michael continued to move deeper underground. The hallway became narrower and darker, lit only by a few magically charged candles. Their flames flickered an eerie shade of purple. Whoever had set the wards down here controlled insane amounts of power. The energy was so thick it felt like it would suffocate us. I couldn’t take a deep breath to rid myself of that horrible feeling.

“You okay back there, lads,” Michael asks, barely concealing his amusement from his voice. He was enjoying our discomfort way more than he should be.

“A warning would have been nice, Alpha Michael”, I growl back at him, hardly controlling Ace; he was beyond mad. He understood where the Alpha was coming from with Ayla even though he didn’t like it, but he felt this was a touch too far.

“Up ahead, you will come face to face with my head warden. She is under my employment and my protection. I expect you to treat her with the same respect you would to me,” Michael instructed. He had chosen to ignore my blatant annoyance. My interest was now peaked. Why would Michael need to tell us this if it wasn’t going to shock us? Who did he have guarding his archive?

We rounded the corner leading straight to the archive door with two more twists to the left. Massive, imposing wooden doors barred our entry. Large steel bolts ensured the door stayed locked until the warden granted us access. The intricate design that ran across the face of the old wood was stunning. Like the script running along the stone walls, the door was covered with swirling silver letters and patterns. So intertwined, you couldn’t see where one ended, and the next began; the door felt alive.

“Michael! How nice of you to visit me,” a female voice broke the harsh silence. Michael chuckled. A deep rumble of a sound, a stark contrast to the mystery female’s high twinkly sounding voice.

“Aleena, I know it has been way too long since I last made the trip down here. I hope you forgive me” he smiled at the person still invisible to us. She was hidden behind the Alpha’s broad frame.

“Ah, and you bring guests, I see” her voice practically sang the words. Axel felt light-headed and uneasy like something was amiss, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Yes, I bring two of the Chase brothers with me. They are here representing the Shadow Forge pack. This is Axel and Archer” he points to us in turn.

Stood before us was a creature we had only ever heard about in stories. Not something we had ever expected to encounter in real life. She was stunning, glorious and mythical. Her hair was silver laced with black, thick and flowing loose over her shoulders and down her back, the ends lightly brushing the floor. Her skin was the palest of violet and shimmered as if she had been dipped in glitter. The most mesmerising eyes, a deep shade of purple, flecked with jet black, stared back as we took each other in.

Aleena shifted as she studied us. She wore a simple silver silk dress that showed every intricate tattoo that wound its way around her arms and neck. I felt as if she was looking deeper than just the surface. It was a feeling I was not okay with.

“Holy Shit, you’re an elf!”