Fortitude and Ambition

Aubrianne Ivanov

Aubrianne fell right back into his buff chest, which knocked the air out of her. She gasped as she watched her mate, eyebrows pinched, eyes dimmed, ready to defend against any oncoming tickles.

However, they were close, very close, and suddenly, she became very aware of how their lips were not far from each other.

Their eyes locked in a battle of intensity and searching, her eyes then fell on his gorgeous sweet, inviting lips, her eyelashes brushing her face, and without even thinking, she started to move in to kiss his lips, and Zayne was right there with her, letting her come to him.

He waited for her lips, which felt like it was taking forever to reach him. In the very short distance they were at, with absolutely no patience when it came to his mate Zayne closed the space, and their lips touched.

It was soft and sweet. Aubrianne's entire body was alight with fluttery tingles that warmed her. She adored him and felt so content at that moment with all the uncertainty in the air.

And she poured as much as she could into the kiss, and again Zayne was right there with her responding in kind.

Their lips and tongues danced in sweet melody. She leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, and she melted into the kiss.

Feeling every bit of her emotions through the connection they now shared, however, he was sure it was more of him than her. Because of all the explanations he had heard from those who had met their mate.

Nothing could have equipped Zayne for this overwhelming feeling of loving her, caring for her, protecting her, being her shoulder to cry on, the one she could talk to about anything.

He suddenly wanted to be her everything. The first thing she thinks about when she wakes in the morning and the last she thinks about at night.

He wanted to be in her dreams the way she had been in his.

He held onto Aubrianne, refusing to let go, his arms still around her protectively, possessively pulling an already close Aubrianne even closer to him as their heads tilted and adjusted perfectly as they continued to get lost in the most affectionate kiss they had ever experienced.

This is why it was hard to pull away, even when Theo, who had witnessed enough, cleared his throat.

Even then, they did not budge. However, after a few more slow passionate tongue dancing, they broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes.

They saw love and compassion reflecting in the depths, still in their world, feeling everything at once.

Aubrianne slowly moved in again and peppered three more soft kisses on his lips. Contented for now, she turned and relaxed into Zayne, her back to his chest, hands folded, and they returned to their position, sitting reclined a little in the chair, and she glared at her father.

However, her eyes softened at his hurt expression that she was glaring at him.

Nevertheless, it was time, and a guard suddenly came out of nowhere and tossed a shirt to Zayne, which he quickly pulled on, and they resumed their position.

Everyone was seated about the expanse. Kirrah sat on top of Shawn, Jada and Ivan sat together, Theo sat beside Ivan, and Daniela sat beside Rafael.

While the members of Theo's security team sat randomly about the back.

The guy had made the connection, and the first image that popped up on the screen caused Aubrianne to recoil. It was a photo of a dead creature.

Zayne's arms encircled tighter around her, "Brace yourself, baby. I am sorry you are seeing this." He whispered soothingly in her ear while simultaneously scolding himself for being so distracted in their time he forgot to warn her before the first picture came up.

His soft lips grazed the tip of her ear, giving rise to the honeyed stir that coursed through her when he whispered in her ear. Aubrianne relaxed again, her head on his chest as they lay there, slightly reclined.

Zayne kissed the top of her head and rubbed her lower back and shoulders comfortingly. Images and video clips of what the inside of one of those outposts looks like are shown on the screen now.

Also, video clips of humans they experimented on while transitioning came up next.

There were collected growls in the room, growls of disgust, little outbursts of protest about the unjust actions. Meanwhile, Theo sat calmly, already deducing this was not his fight.

As far as he was concerned, these people were not looking in his direction. His city and people were not affected by this, so there was no need for him to get involved.

Personally, this was the perfect opportunity to rid Zayne of their lives, especially his daughter's life. His daughter, who already looked lost to HIM.

He could investigate this entity and give them the man who has been attacking their outpost. Let them do the job for him.

Theo sat back, and suddenly, he was a new man again, with a new action plan.

While everyone else took in the horrors of what happened to a wolf once bitten by these creatures, they also saw what happens now if shot by these lethal bullets.

Now this piqued Theo's interest. After all, he could get his hands on some and do the job himself.

However, either course of action he took, he needed to investigate this entity first.

Especially now, the knowledge that they also have law enforcement in their pockets also piqued Theo's interest. Well, maybe it was someone that ran in his circle after all, making this hunt an easy one.

Nevertheless, Theo did not want to get ahead of himself. If he were to do this, it must be without his daughter's knowledge, and at that moment, Theo had resigned himself to being his father in this situation.

However, he still insisted they were nothing alike.

But no one might agree that he was worse than his father because at least his father did not get Athalia killed. But Theo did not care. In his view, a leopard simply does not change its stripes.

Before that happens, before that family falls back into their old habits and starts entertaining the scums of the earth, he would get her out.

Because all they would be doing by that was bringing more danger around his daughter, so help him, Goddess, he would flatten Zayne before that happens.

Meanwhile, the monstrosities of this entity continued to show on the enormous screen before them, and after, there was a deafening silence.

Aubrianne was genuinely awestruck by her mate and what he'd accomplished thus far, the distance he was willing to go with this, and how persistent he was in making that part of the world safe again for werewolf kind.

How passionate he was in this fight. Aubrianne admired and respected the fortitude and ambition of this man. Her MATE.

Aubrianne loved his heart of gold. He was indeed a leader, scratch that, a God among men.

Zayne was relieved that he finally got to show Theo this. Finally, being able to bring it to Alpha Thornton's attention was a challenge for Zayne for a really long time.

And honestly, how this went down, he could not have been happier, even though he felt like the man would only care for his people.

However, because of his mate, he actually got Alpha Thornton to sit and look at this with him. He did not imagine it being this easy without her.

Zayne did what he set out to do in hopes of getting some type of help, and he was in awe of his mate and thankful.

Ivan, Jada, Daniela, Kirrah, Shawn, and some of the security guards were already wondering how they could be of assistance to Zayne. What did he need in terms of support? Ivan realized that even though he was rooting for Daniel and Aubrianne.

Ivan was proud of Aubrianne's mate and what he had accomplished, and his stance toward werewolf kind while they were sitting pretty unaffected.

Ivan saw how his men followed him and stood by him; that had to count for something in his book.

However, it did take each one of them a while to grasp the situation before them truly.

When Zayne finally took the floor, at this moment, he felt he should say something, as Zayne was optimistic. He was getting good vibrations from those in there. However, the only one that gave nothing away was Theo.

And Zayne was not fazed. He expected as much. He would have done the same in his position.