Chapter 31

Stacy’s POV

My luck had finally turned around. I thought Mason would unleash hell on me earlier, but instead, he invited me to his room. I can’t wait for this meal to be over. It’s going to be perfect to be with him before my birthday, and then when I shift, and he’s right there already, we can be bonded then and there. Everything will be perfect.

“Can we talk” Jacob asked

“We have nothing to talk about, so what’s the point” I state, much to Jacobs’s displeasure.

“Fine, I see you have moved on already anyway. I don’t know why I even bothered coming over here” he shot at me, then walked away. He headed to the dining room; everyone was starting to filter in.

Mason was seated in the far corner, so naturally, I headed in that direction. He pats the seat next to him. Ecstatic, I have to control myself to not skip over to him.

Ayla and those super-hot brothers occupied the other end of the table. I do not understand their fascination with her; it’s not like she’s even pretty.

“Oh well, they had their chance with me; it’s their loss, really,” I tell myself, knowing I didn’t mean a word I just said; I knew if they approached me, I would be all over them like a rash.

I tried to ignore the other end of the table as best I could; I couldn’t help but notice Ayla leave with one of the brothers. They were gone no more than ten minutes. When they came back, they were holding hands. I couldn’t believe it. How on earth had she managed to snag one of them?

“When did she start dating him” I pointed out to Mason; he was just as pissed as I was.

“For fuck sake! Now it’s going to be even harder to teach that little bitch a lesson,” he cursed; he hated Ayla; I didn’t blame him; she was the worst!

The rest of the evening consisted of people mingling and primarily people talking about Ayla. There was even talk about her shifting already. I swear to the Goddess, if she has shifted before me, I’ll make her life even more of a living hell than it was before.

Tristan’s POV

“Well, that was that plan out the window. She’s mated to that massive beast of a guy. I will have to get my DNA sample another way,” I sighed, deflating inwardly slightly. I needed this to go smoothly.

“What am I meant to do now?” I was so lost for ideas; to make it worse, my phone kept ringing. It was Austin; they were getting close and didn’t know where to go.

This was a disaster. My mother would be enjoying my failure once again if she knew. I had to work this out and quickly.

“Will you excuse me for a moment? I’ll be right back?” I tell Melody. Goddess, she was beautiful.

“Sure, is everything okay?” she asked, but I had already started walking away. I continued until I was outside, ensuring no one was around; I returned Austin’s five missed calls.

“Hello, Tristan, is that you” Austin’s tired voice came over the speaker.

“Who else would it be? Of course, it’s me,” I hiss. “What do you want now.”

“We are about twenty minutes outside the Winter Moon territory; what do we do? Where should we go,” Austin asked as if I was meant to know the answer to that?

“Why did you plan to come here without working on all the details?” I huff, there was no way I would be able to sort this without something going wrong, and the blame landed in my lap.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry; we were desperate to see our daughter”, Austen’s hopeful voice filled my ear. Part of me felt ashamed about what I was planning on doing, but I knew I couldn’t let Ayla live if I wanted to keep my place in the pack.

“Fine, I heard there is a neutral place not far from here. It’s a patch of the forest that isn’t claimed by any pack and that it has to stay that way,” I tell them. all my snooping this last week had paid off. Something of use had come to light and just when I needed it.

“Thank you, Tristan” his voice sounded tired once more.

“I’ll text you the location. I have to go; I’ll ring tomorrow, and we will work out what to do next,” I tell him before ending the call. All I wanted to do was enjoy the rest of the evening with Melody and forget everything else. I was going to have to come up with another plan now anyway. So, I might as well enjoy myself.

Aiden’s POV

Protector, Provider and warrior, this is what she called us. But what exactly is it we are meant to do? Being with Ayla was the most natural thing, like breathing, so I didn’t know what more we were meant to do. I would lay my life down for hers, and I know my brothers would do the same. I guess this eternal bond thing explains why we are all mated and are incredibly close already; even before we have fully bonded, neither of us has gone through with the mating bond, where you mark one another with your bite, leaving a unique mark, assigned only to you, on the other’s body.

“That would mean Ayla would have three bond marks on her”, I whisper aloud.

“Yes, it will. Does that bother you” her beautiful voice filled the space between us?

“Not at all, I just know it can be a bit intense, receiving your mated bond mark, and you’re going to have to go through it three times,” I tell her. “Plus, I thought you were sleeping?”

“I can’t sleep, I’m exhausted, and all I want to do is sleep, but my mind won’t shut off”, she sighed; she sounded so frustrated. “How am I meant to be me, yet be someone else entirely as well.”

“Because you are unbelievably amazing, the strongest person I have ever met, the most caring, kind, loving and understanding person this world has ever known; that is why you have been chosen to play this role,” I tell her, meaning every single word.

“It’s too much; I didn’t ask for this! All I wanted was to be Ayla Smith, to get along at school and fit in, nothing more,” she choked back a sob.

“You’re not alone; I’ll always be by your side; never will you face anything on your own” I felt this overwhelming surge of love and devotion for the young woman curled up in her bed. My brothers were both snoring in armchairs mere feet away.

“How am I meant to change the world and put it back to what it was meant to be?” she begged me for an answer. “It’s an impossible task; I don’t even know what is wrong with the world yet, Aleena said; the Exalted is called when there is a problem to be fixed, but I don’t know what the problem is? I’m already the worst Exalted ever.”

“Hey, that’s not true,” I tell her, climbing up on the bed next to her. Her hair hung loosely over her shoulders, covering one side of her face. She looked just as mouth-watering in her pyjamas, with no makeup and tired as she had in her dress that evening.

“Come here, let me do my destined by eternity job, will you!” I say as I tug her onto my lap and wrap the double duvet around us. “I will be with you, protecting you for eternity; it’s written in history and the stars, don’t you know!” she chuckled, but I continued “, We are bonded together for life, be it this life or the next and the one after that. Okay, so you will never have to face anything alone again” I kiss her cheek and hold her tight. Life was going to become different from now on.

Mason’s POV

“Come in”, I call as I hear a soft knock at the door. I knew it would be Stacy on the other side. I wasn’t interested in her, but she looked cute tonight, so I thought, why not. And let’s be honest, she’s nuts about me. It’s so clear that I could get that girl to do anything I wanted her to; all I would have to do was smile and show her the tiniest amount of attention. This would come in handy with my little Ayla’s problem.

“Hi Mason, you said to come by tonight, so here I am; I had to tell my mum I was staying to see how Ayla was getting on! I’m not; I can’t stand her,” Stacy rambled.

“Stacy, hey, come in” I flash her my most charming grin. “Come sit by me” I pat the spot right next to me on the bed; she looked a bit nervous but still made her way across my bedroom.

“So, umm, Mason, what did you wanna see me about” her pulse had quickened. I could smell the change in her was closely approaching. She was due her first shift in a day or two; I couldn’t remember when she said it was.

“Well, you wanted to see me this afternoon, but you left so quickly I never got to ask you what you needed me for,” I tell her, never taking my eyes off her. She started to fidget on the bed under my constant stare.

“Oh, um, well, I was just looking for Jacobs brother, really, and your mum said it was okay to see if you were up here, so I did, and I should have knocked; I don’t even know why I just barged in like I did” she was rambling again.

“And here I was hoping you had come to see me and not my best friend” I pretend to be hurt.

“Really! I mean, of course, I wanted to see you too, more than him, if I’m honest,” the words tumbled out of her mouth.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I reach over and place my hand on her leg; instantly, she goes rigid.

“Surely, she’s not new to all this?” I think, yet she is acting like she doesn’t have a clue?

“So, was there something you wanted to see me about?” nervousness echoed through her shaky voice.

“I just wanted to spend some time with you. I have seen you a lot more recently, and not only with Jacob,” I say

“Oh well yeah, I guess so, and anyway, I broke up with Jacob today, so he’s old news now” still, that was news to me; she made it sound like it was something I needed to know, and that it was of some kind of importance to me.

“Do you wanna stay tonight, Stacy? Or go? Either way is fine by me. I just thought we could spend some time together and get to know each other better” I put it out there for her to make the decision; the better I know her and the closer I get to her, the more I could use her in my plans for Ayla.

“I, umm, well, I guess I could if you want me to”, she spoke with a slight tremble. This was going to be more fun than I first thought.