Chapter 24

Aiden's POV

The view of Ashira on her knees, crying out loud, breaks my heart. I wanted to touch her, to embrace her, give her my warmth and comfort her but I couldn't.

I'm mad. I hate that she kept this from me when she had every chance to tell me.

I can't guarantee I won't be outraged about it if she does confess about being a stealer but at least I won't be dubious with her motive.

A stealer, hiding inside her shell, is my mate. A stealer.

On what odds would I not think she's deceiving me? I'll be a fool if I'll believe that she's not lying. A stealer is a stealer. They had the ability to deceive any wolf. She had that ability.

I don't know what to do yet. My mind is clouded by anger and pained by her betrayal. I can't think straight for a resolve or what my next action would be.

She can be my true mate and she can be not. How would I know what to do?

For now, I'll keep her close. She wanted to run away from me and I won't like that, I know. It's better to lock her up than to lose her, that's what I think. At least until I have a solution for this, I'll decide for what's best. However, I'm also confused about what I wanted from her. One thing is clear that I don't want her far. Away from me.

Nick quickly walked to me as soon as I went downstairs.

"How did it go?"

Great. The least I'd want to hear is his questions yet he's eager to go for it.

I ignored him and sat down on the couch. He looked upstairs like he's waiting for my mate to come down and I'm immediately pissed by it.

"Go fucking home." I hissed at him.

"What happened? Did you talk to her?"

I sighed. Of course, he wouldn't understand that I'd want to be alone right now.

I just nodded my reply.

"And? What did she say? Is she a stealer?"

I closed my eyes tight. A low growl was coming from my chest.

"She is."

He felt silent for a moment. I leaned on the backrest and looked up. Why me for all people will encounter this kind of situation? Everything is falling into place for me. But why this? In which I'd like the least is to have a mate and yet I had one. And a stealer!

What should I do, Moon Goddess? Is she mine?

A few thuds outside made me look at the door. Wow. Here comes another defector.

My body trembled quickly from anger. Just in time, Gamma. Just in fucking perfect time.

I waited for Seth to enter and when he did, I moved with inhuman speed to him.

"Aiden!" Nick shouted.

Seth did not even try to look me in the eyes when he saw me in front of him. The bastard know what his fault is and that anger me even more. I grabbed his neck and held him up, his feet floating on the floor. He winced as he gasped for air, I only gripped his neck tighter.

"Aiden!" Nick went to us and try to pull my hand away from strangling Seth but I did not budge a bit. Instead, I pushed Nick away with my other hand, causing him to grunt as he hit his back on the wall.

I growled at Seth. My eyes are deep red and my Alpha is taking over.

"You got nerves to come here!"

He is mumbling something but he can't. His face is turning blue and I decided to give him a blow as I let his neck go. My fist hit his face hard than I can feel it in my knuckles.

Seth was thrown straight outside, rolling on the ground and stopped when he hit the bush.

Nick is beside me again. Huffing and cracking his neck which I guessed snapped from when I push him.

"You should calm down, Aiden!" He hissed at me and run to Seth who's already on his knees, he spitted blood and wiped the end of his lips.

I stood straight, not caring on what I did. If Seth can hide something from me, his Alpha, then he can handle much worse than that.

I saw Nick helped him stood up but he denied. He looked at me and then bowed before standing up on his own.

I turned my back at them and sat back on the couch. Not long after, they stepped inside my house again. Nick's face shows dismay from my action while Seth still have his head down.

Sarcasm enveloped me from Seth's behavior.

"I didn't know you can still act with respect, Seth. I thought you forgot to do that these past days."

"Aiden." Nick's tone is like he can't believe me right now. Even shake his head like I shouldn't be how I am right now. I smirked at him, another wave of sarcasm laughed inside my head.

I have every right to be like this.

"You made a mistake when you hid what Ashira is. And covering for it?" I chuckled, feeling my sanity playing push and pull in my mind. "You clearly forgot your place."

"Let him talk, Aiden." Nick said. Trying to balance my head again. But I'm not feeling an ounce of consideration right now. Not even a drop.

"What for? We never let the traitors talk before we punish them, Nick."

"He's our friend!"

"I'm not a traitor."

Both of them spoke at the same time. I eyed them as my eyes squinted. Wow. They both said incredible phrases.

I ignored what Nick said and looked at Seth. He is now looking at my eyes, trying to prove his words.

"You're not what?" I growled and straighten my back. "You did something behind my back. You and that woman kept something so important from me! I am your Alpha!"

"She's the Luna, Aiden! My loyalty also stands with her the moment you met her!"

"Seth." Nick tugged on his shoulder, stopping him when his voice raised. "Aiden. We can talk in peace once your head cooled down."

I ignored Nick again and stood up. Stepping close to Seth and hovering my huge figure before him. Making him see who I am and what I can do.

"I. Am. The. Alpha. Even if you start wiggling your tail to her, you'll still think of what's better for your leader. And that is me." My body trembles as I surge my power around them, making their knees shake, making them know who holds power.

Both of them cowered and now their head, not fighting the superiority I had for them.

My breathing is heavy. I can feel my blood boiling in my ears and I controlled myself not to hurt both of them unconsciously. But I'm at the edge of it.

I got a stealer for a mate and I have a Gamma who's fooling me around.

I inhaled hastily, letting my nose flare-up. When I exhaled, I decreased the power I'm making them receive, and both of them breathe again. Relieved.

Seth is the first one who looked at me.

"I know my fault, Alpha. And I apologize for it. But I believe Ashira. And she is without bad motives."

Nick turned to him before looking at me. He shook his head and walked to the couch, slumping his body on the soft furniture.

"But why did you keep it from us, Seth? You're the first one who should have said something about this. Not Titus." Said Nick.

"He's a traitor. What do you expect?" I smirked and Seth closed his eyes shut like he's frustrated.

"I am not. Aiden, I didn't want for this to happen. Ash said she will tell you. When we talked to Titus today-"

"Today? At the ceremony?" Nick interrupted. I exhaled and slumped on a couch as well, trying to hear everything Seth is saying because right now... I needed it.

"No. Earlier. That day when Ash first saw Titus at his house, he immediately found out about her but he made a deal with her. He asked if Ash can convince Aiden to let him keep his position until he's properly healed from his loss."

My nose flared again when I thought of the night of our fight. The root of that is this. The reason that she's talking about Titus' position is because of this. Because she wanted to keep her secret.

I stayed quiet but low growls came from my wolf. He's not happy with how Seth tell the story. My wolf is agitated that it sounds like our mate is truly trying to keep her abnormality a secret from us because she made her end of the deal.

"She agreed? That's doubtful, Seth." It was mostly Nick and said talking and I'm analyzing what I'm hearing from it.

Nick is right. If she agreed then she's head over heels desiring to discrete this to me.

"I know. But she have her reason. Where is she? You can ask her about this."

I snapped my head and turned to Seth.

"She's not going to join this conversation!" I growled between gritted teeth.

Seth frowned from my reaction. My lips turned flat after my sudden outburst. Seth knows nothing about anything with a stealer involved. Nick on the other hand shook his head slowly.

"I agree with Aiden, we shouldn't."

"What? But how can she defend herself? What if she's your true mate, Aiden? You are hurting her with this!"

I growled. I know. I already know that. But I'm not sure who she is to me. There's always the opposing if. What if she's not my mate?

"Sit down and we'll discuss this calmly." Nick said and looked at me. "You calm?"

I huffed and looked upstairs. To where my room is. "Barely."

"That's better."

Seth slowly stepped backwards to the chair behind him, careful of his actions like I might jumped at him any moment.

"So where is she?" Seth said and looked around. Trying to sniff her scent. My wolf groaned. Damn, why can't I stop getting irritated when someone seems attracted to my mate?

'Worse is yet to come.' My wolf huffed and slumped inside my head, reminding me that my mate is a stealer and more wolf may come for her. I ignored him when I felt getting agitated by the thought.

"Aiden left her in his room."

"Why isn't she coming down? We can talk to her and you'll find out she's not-"

"I locked her up." I said, resting my body on the backrest of the chair as I run my hand on my hair. Until now, I'm still unsure of what I did but it's what's best at the moment.

"What?!" Seth looked at me with widened eyes like he can't believe me at all.

Nick on the other hand examined me for a second before nodding.

"Its for the best." he said.

"What's wrong with you both? She is not a danger!"

"You can't understand, Seth. Stealers are more dangerous to the opposite sex than you can imagine. If she is one of the bad kind, she can make the three of us fight for her."

Nick was right. Both of us have enough knowledge than the rest. We're already around when the Ravenous pack tragedy has took place. It was private, no one knee about it but some. It includes me and Nick.

"What are you talking about? That's impossible. I have my mate." he hissed, I almost growled at him when he indirectly implied that Nick and I are thinking like we're insane.

"A stealer can steal. She can steal you from mine, she can steal you from yours. With mate or without." I explained. Seth jaw dropped and I continued. "I haven't claimed her. No one had and that's why she can pick anyone to deceive. And the three of us, Alpha or not, can kill each other if she'll like too."

"But she's not like that!" Seth defended.

"We're not saying she is, Seth. But we are not being careless, too."

Everyone went silent. I looked up, watching the chandeliers as it moved a little. I closed my eyes and let the mate bond sense Ashira inside my room.

Even if it's a wolf proof room, the bond between mates is strong.

She's not moving. But I can hear her breathing, low but never peaceful. I sighed.

She's not even crying. She had stopped trying to get out of the room. What is she thinking right now?

'She hate us now!' My wolf growled at me, angered by his assumption. I almost flinched from it but I growled back to him inside my head before ignoring him and completely shutting him. I can't trust him now. Wolves intend to think of just their libido and desire when it comes to mate.

"How do you know this? We met with Titus to know more about stealers. Even Ash lacks information about what she is." Seth asked. I did not look at him and stayed my eyes close, trying to focus on Ashira's breath since its the only thing that I can sense right now.

"You heard about Alpha Zeuracious and the stealer right?"

"Yeah? Everyone knew that."

"Yes but not everything. Informations are sealed and within our pack, only Alpha James, Luna Tina and my father learned about it."

"How did the both of you know then?"

"My Father told us both. Aiden has started his role as an Alpha back then and I'm training so I'm always around."

"Michael told us to warn us." I said, Michael is my dad's Beta and my first Beta when I became an Alpha. Followed by his son, Nick.

"Warn for what? Everyone already know that stealers can steal. And Alpha Zeuracious was stolen from his true mate."

"That's not true." I hissed, remembering the true tragedy behind the story everyone knew.

Seth looked at me with turmoil while Nick sighed heavily.

"My uncle's mate is a stealer. And he was stolen by another stealer."

"The bad kind." Nick seconded. Seth's eyes widened even more, unable to speak from the fact he heard.

"It's a long story. We'll talk about that some other time. Right now, I needed both of you to think in balance. We need more information about stealers." I turned to Seth. "And you will stop thinking Ashira is not lying, but also won't think she's not telling the truth."

Nick nodded. "We'll be in between."

"Ashira is forbidden to leave the room for now. I'm the only one allowed to see her. No words about this will leak, is that clear?"

They both nodded.

"Nick, talk to Titus. We need to keep this a secret to avoid uproar. If he won't, kill him."

"Kill? Aiden, he's part of the council. What reason can we-"

"She used my Luna for his personal desire. On second thought, don't talk to him and just kill him. I don't trust his discretion. If she had threatened Ashira, there's a possibility that he'll do the same to us because he hold a card. Either way, I'll kill him in the end."

Seth nodded. "The former is better. If he'll be dead either way then it's better if he won't leak any information before it happens."

Nick sighed and just nodded. I knew he understand what I meant.

"What do you plan to do with Ash? What if she is deceiving us?" Seth's innocent query gave me a chill. I already set my mind with what to do when I found a disastrous stealer. But thinking that it's Ashira, the words are hard to speak forthwith.

"I needed to kill her." it taste like poison as I said the words. I bet my wolf will growl at me right now if I hadn't blocked him.

Seth gulped, didn't say anything more.

"And If she is your true mate?" Nick said.

I sighed. His question is even harder to digest. Because if she is, and from how I treated her, then I can only pray that she'll trust me still.

"Then I'll give the world to her."

Both of them smiled and I quickly thought they forgot to stay in between. It seems they both hope for the latter.

I stood up, ready to resolve this. Whatever it takes, I needed to face it.

"Let's go to the elders."

Nick huffed and groaned before wiping his face with both hands.

"Damn. I'll see the old man again!" he swirled. One of the elders is Nick's father, Michael. He never liked to be around his father because he is strict as hell. And Nick's cockiness never passed by Michael.

"Endure it. Seth, guard the house and DONT dare come near her."