13

"Malachi!"

Ariella breathed his name and shoved him back at the same time, gasping for air as pain shot across her skin and down her spine.

The open wound on her neck throbbed as warm blood spilled out, and she glared at her mate in shock. "What have you done?" Lifting tentative fingers, she touched the mark and pulled back with blood-covered fingers, her breath coming out in pants and her veins burning with a fire. It felt as if his toxin was coursing through her blood streams, consuming her, ravaging her with his Alpha intensity.

"You are mine now," the Alpha growled lowly, and when Ariella looked up at him she saw flecks of red appear in his dark eyes. His fringe hung menacingly over his eyebrows, and his jaw clenched as he came closer once more.

"No, wait," Ariella held up a hand, a tear slipping from her eye. "Please, just...just don't..." She hated how shaky her voice sounded, and even more she hated how confused she was. Had Malachi really just marked her? Was it what she wanted? They hadn't discussed it, nor even confessed that they accepted each other as mates. It had happened so fast, and it left her body flushed and trembling.

"You need me, Ariella. I am your mate," he reached out his arms to her, and when her legs could no longer hold up under the amount of pain searning her body, he was there to catch her. She clung to him, burying her face in his neck as he held her securely.

When his tongue gently glided over the open wound, she nearly sighed his name from the relief that washed through her. He pressed his lips to the mark, sealing it and completing the claim that all would see. Ariella felt such strong and conflicting emotions for this male who now held her; tears sprung to her eyes at the awareness of his every touch, of his hands that caressed the back of her head and waist. Malachi, her mate, her Alpha, had claimed her as his and she was consumed with the feeling of utterly belonging to him.

"What on earth is going on up here?"

Ariella pulled back at the sound of her dad's voice, and she saw him leap up the stairs with Lexi right behind him.

"What are you doing with my daughter?" The fury in Charles' eyes would make any wolf cower, but the Alpha only smirked.

"I am spending time with my mate. I didn't realise that was such a crime where you come from."

"Don't be smart with me, young wolf! I heard my daughter scream, and I want to know exactly what you did to her."

"Dad, it's not—" Ariella moved towards him, getting his full attention but realising it was a mistake when he noticed the fresh mark on her neck.

"You marked her?" Charles' eyes widened, and Lexi gasped. "On the first night of meeting her?"

"Actually, it's not the first—"

"How dare you hurt my daughter like this!"

"I did nothing of the sort," Malachi growled and glared at the former Beta, wrapping his arm firmly around Ariella's waist and pulling her into his side. "I would never hurt my mate," he said while turning to her and kissing her neck right above the blood stains that sat dark and incriminating on her pale dress.

"That's not what it looks like," Charles strode forward and clasped the young Alpha's shoulder, pushing him back.

Ariella felt pulled between the two agitated wolves as they stared each other down. One was young and reckless, surging with hot Alpha blood, the other wiser and strong from years of experience as top command. One had a heart full of youthful lust and dominance, the other forged with a parental bond that could not be weakened. Ariella shuddered to think who would come out second best if this turned into a fight.

"Is this pack so primitive and barbaric that you don't even ask before marking each other? Do you know what you've done?" Charles shook a finger in Malachi's face and snarled, baring his teeth while tugging Ariella behind him.

"Charles! Be careful how you speak to him. He is an Alpha!" Lexi clutched his arm and tried pulling her mate back. But it did no good.

"He is my daughter's mate, and he disrespected her. As her father, I have a right to put this young male in his place. I don't care if he is an Alpha or even a Head of Council, I will allow no one to mistreat my daughter like this."

"Dad, please—" Ariella looked like she was about to cry, and Charles wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders.

"Ari, did you accept him before he marked you? Did he ask for your consent?" Charles spoke in a softer voice, and she could see the restraint he was barely holding on to. His jaw was clenched and his blue eyes sparkled dangerously with a dark hue. His wolf was holding back for her sake and Lexi's, otherwise the former Beta might have ripped into this young pup in defence of his family.

Ariella looked between her dad and Malachi, her face crumpled in a sad expression, so obviously torn between what her heart was telling her and what all reason was demanding. "No, he didn't. We hadn't even talked about accepting each other..."

"Ariella," Malachi said quietly, but she heard every syllable and the menacing threat in each. "You said you wanted me."

"I did. I mean I do. But—" she stuttered, feeling the shock and anger once more welling inside her, even as she stared into his dark eyes. "But not like this!" she jabbed a finger at her still-bleeding neck. "And not so soon..." her words ended with a whimper as her entire body continued trembling with adrenaline and the marking effects.

"Then what he did to you is atrocious," Charles leveled his darkest gaze on the young Alpha. "And I don't know what he can do now to earn forgiveness."

"Sir, I'm not sorry for what I did," Malachi responded with a low growl, stepping forward and jutting out his chin proudly. "I am Alpha, and she is my mate. Is it so wrong for me to claim what's mine?"

His words burned straight to Ariella's heart. "I'm not just something you can claim, Malachi!" she glared at him.

"Ariella, I—" the young Alpha stepped closer and tried to grasp her arm, but Charles blocked him.

"Let me make one thing clear: you don't come anywhere near my daughter until you learn to respect her."

The he turned, ushering Ariella and Lexi through the hall, down the staircase, and to the front entrance. Snatching their coats from the stand, he didn't even look back as he made his way out the door.

But Ariella did. And she saw three pairs of eyes on her. Those of her mate's, dark with a mixture of torment yet pride. Standing beside him was his Beta, whose posture was stiff with arrogance and triumph. A certain amount of contempt ignited in Ariella towards this wolf, and it surprised her.

The third person to catch her gaze was Malachi's mother, waiting just in the doorway of the receiving room with a feline smile on her face, as if she had been expecting the misfortune of Ariella all night long and was now rejoicing in it. It made the young shewolf feel sick, and be glad to put the mansion behind her as her dad quickly drove them out of the estate and towards home.

Towards everything familiar and safe. She'd come with little expectations for the unknown Alpha and a longing for her mate.

And now she left with her neck stinging with the mark of that very same Alpha—her mate.

_______

"What is wrong with me? Why can't I stop crying?" Ariella wiped her tears and blew her nose with a tissue. She went back to clutching her dress tightly and trying to clean it. The blood stains on the bodice weren't really coming out no matter how much solvent she put on them, and it only made her more upset.

"Let me try, Ari," her mom took the dress from her and leaned against the laundry tub. "The hormones now running through your body from the marking are very strong, meant to heighten your senses and emotions towards your mate. This is especially difficult seeing as he was an Alpha who marked you. The claim is much more potent as it takes over your body."

"You're making it sound so terrible, like I've contracted a disease or infection," Ariella sniffed and tried lifting her shoulders, but it seemed all her energy was sapped. Pressing a cloth to her neck, she winced at the throbbing pain that still encompassed her.

The wound was still bleeding slightly even after two hours since the marking.

Lexi watched her daughter carefully, "Marking and completing the mate bond changes you, binding your bodies and souls into one. So yes, you could say it's like a disease. A beautiful infectious disease of love and personal sacrifice that two mates share only with each other. It's not meant to be so painful though," Lexi scrunched her brows and felt her heart ache for the pain her daughter was going through.

"Ordinarily, you would be in the arms of your mate, and the closeness would ease the burn and pain as the bond strengthens. Tonight's circumstances are very unusual, and I'm sorry for how it turned out, Sweetie."

"So am I. I can't believe Malachi would do this to me. I don't know if I want to punch him for marking me or kiss him for making me his," Ariella scrunched the tissue between her fingers in an effort to release some of her angst. Who knew having a mate finally could be this complicated? Why couldn't she just be mated to a regular wolf and not have to go through this?

Why couldn't she have just marked him back then and there and remained with him forever?

"How's she going?" The front door slammed open and Charles walked in casually.

"How are you going?" Lexi snapped her eyes up to look him over. "Have you calmed down?"

She'd sent her mate out for a run as soon as they had gotten home from the dinner at Alpha Malachi's. The former Beta had been so angry and unsettled, on the verge of running right back to Malachi and tearing his head from his shoulders for what he had done to Ariella. Charles had formed such a strong bond with the little orphaned shewolf, and his paternal instincts had been kicked into overdrive this evening when the young Alpha marked his daughter without consent. Ariella's quiet sobs the whole way home had only grown worse and spurred Charles into a heated fury.

"I'm good," he stalked towards Lexi, his steps slow and deliberate, then slid his hands down her arms and around her waist. Tugging her closer, he buried his nose in her neck and inhaled deeply. Then Charles placed little kisses up her neck and jaw, each growing stronger until he claimed her mouth with such a heated kiss, grown from years of trust and passion between the two mates.

Lexi's fingers forgot the dress, letting it slip into the tub while they tangled themselves in Charles' hair.

Pulling away slightly, he whispered in her ear, "You tell me. Is this calm enough for you?"

"You know I never liked calm," Lexi bit his ear gently and growled when he squeezed her waist.

Ariella just watched for a moment with amusement, until the kiss became so heated she left the laundry for some ice cream to cool down and forget the image of her parents making out.

While sitting at the kitchen bench, she stared into the Ben & Jerry's container until the chocolate swirls melted into the cream, drowning her tears that slid from her nose into the dessert. It did nothing to calm the furious heat in her veins or the racing of her heart, or the deep ache that settled in her chest and spread to her bones. When her parents found her later crying into her arms on the bench, Charles picked her up and carried her to her bed.

"Come on darling, everything will be better tomorrow."

"Stay with me," she latched onto his arm and wouldn't let go after he laid her down and pulled back the covers. "Please. It hurts too much. I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"Of course, Ariella," Charles lay down beside her in the single bed and pulled his little girl close. "It's alright now. I've got you."

She curled against his chest and finally began to relax, falling asleep as her dad rubbed comforting circles on her back. This, after all, was the safest place in the world.

Her father would never hurt her, and she only wished one day she could trust her mate as much as she trusted the loving wolves who had taken her in when she had lost everything.