Тhe Alpha Stone

Their amber eyes were studying me from head to toes. I could feel their gaze at every inch of my body, especially at my neck. They were looking for a mating mark I don't have yet. I pressed my body tighter to Aiden's as if I wanted to hide in him for no one to see me. I don't like being observed like this, even if I know I should just let them do it.

Aiden hugged me tighter and kissed the top of my redhead, then cleared his throat.

"Pack meeting under the Alpha Stone in ten minutes," he announced with his strict voice, and to my wonder, I saw how the crowd disappeared after his words. Then, Aiden led me to the center of the Pack and stopped. He showed at the stone-paved path by which we got here, "That's the only road to the Pack. The Pack is settled in the middle of the forest and is surrounded by a range of natural mountains. Moreover, those mountains protect us from being attacked by another Pack, as the only road leading to here is guarded."

He made a pause, giving me some time to look around. I could easily see the two watchtowers at the place where the mountains were not seen. I looked around and saw some other watchtowers, even at the top of the mountains. Also, what caught my eyes was the fact that mountains are making a quite big half-circle, protecting the Pack from three sides: East, West, and North. The South of the Pack was protected by watchtowers and some guards. Also, the Pack territory was quite big, it would take some time to get from the beginning of the Pack to its end.

𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓽'𝓼 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰!

I could easily catch a few wooden houses in the process of building.

"Your Pack is truly a big one," I said and turned to Aiden," Where's my father's Pack?"

"Behind the mountains," he said, then turned me around and showed at some buildings on the range of not-so-tall mountains that could be easily called hills. There were a few wooden staircases leading down from here, up to those houses. I could see there were only five houses up there, and four of them were looking almost the same except for some small details. However, the fifth house showed all its glory with a White Wolf statue on its roof. It was probably also made from wood, as the wooden roof wouldn't be able to keep a stone statue on its top. I turned to Aiden to ask about the statue, but he answered my question before I pronounced it. His mind-reading ability is truly helpful. "My father had a white wolf as well, so it indicates not only me as an Alpha. This house is called "The Pack House". Main Pack business is being discussed there. Also, it's my other office. I usually spend a lot of time there, so I have even a couch and a wardrobe."

I chuckled at his words, imagining the room with an office table on one side, and a couch with a wardrobe on the other side. Well, if it's clean, then it's pretty comfortable. I put my hands in my pockets and looked aside from the Pack House. Not far from it stood a stone that stuck out of the rock parallel to the ground. A narrow path led directly from the Pack House to the stone. Further, this path led to the forest on the hill.

"I suppose that stone is what you called "The Alpha Stone", right?" I asked Aiden, showing with a wave of my head at the stone. He nodded, then pointed at the staircase leading up on the hill.

"This stone is called the Alpha Stone as only those who have Alpha status can step on it," he took my elbow and led me to the staircase, then upstairs to the hill. "Those houses you saw are the houses of four main leaders of the Pack. They were built at the same time my father created the Pack. We remained them at the same place, just made some modern renovations inside and outside."

Till Aiden finished his words, we reached the hill. He stopped in the center of the path, giving me some time to look around again. And what I saw, was actually the distance between those five houses. They were pretty far from each other and that's quite unexpectedly because they were looking closer to each other than when I looked at them from down. Then, he pointed at the first building from the Pack House. It was a modern-looking wooden house with two floors, two balconies, and a room on the roof. There were a lot of plants near it, making it look pretty lovely.

"That's my house," he said, taking the keys out and putting them in my hand, "Wanna have a look?"

I looked down with the keys in my hand that had the same moon ball trinket I saw before a lot of times. I smiled, then looked at Aiden with the back of my eye.

"Do we have enough time before the meeting?" when I asked, he looked at the watch on his left hand, then back at me, "Yes, for about five minutes!"

"Mmm. I'm afraid that's too little." My lips curled in a cocky smirk, then I put the keys from his house in the pocket of my jeans, then pointed at the other three houses. "They are the houses of the Beta, Gamma, and Omega leaders, right?"

"Yeah, in the same order you mentioned. Then, if you want, we can go to the Alpha Stone. The Pack is usually coming earlier than they were asked, just to not miss anything." Aiden held me his hand, and I gently took it, then pressed it to my hip, and we went in the direction of the stone. While we were going, I was enjoying the plants and trees that were everywhere, even on the hill. Wherever you look, you see a rich and healthy forest, and I know that's also thanks to the pack of werewolves leaving there. They are taking care of their home, and that's what they should teach humans…

Aiden stopped near the stone and looked at me.

"Don't be afraid, it won't fall down," he stopped because I made him. And that's not because I was afraid. That's because I wasn't sure I should be there, at the meeting of HIS Pack. Aiden read my thoughts quickly and shook his head negatively, "Letty, don't start that again. You're my mate, and you have all the rights to be here if we look at who your father was."

"But I'm not the Alpha," I protested, but Aiden just snored and pulled me to herself. My leg tripped over the small stone and I fell right at his hands. His reactions were fast enough to catch me and put me in a safe place near him. Then, he took my chin in his hands and tilt my head up, looking into my eyes. There was something in his look I couldn't explain properly, but that thing helped me to feel his inner Alpha power. "You are the Alpha, as your father was. A werewolf is an Alpha, if one of his parents was, no matter whether he or she had the Pack or not. It's inborn status. Something, we can never get rid of. Both of your parents were inborn Alphas, and you're twice stronger than any other Alpha here."

His look made me believe in every word he said.

"Even stronger than you?" I asked, and he laughed, then kissed me gently and put his hands on my waist. I wrapped his neck with my hands, pressed my body towards his, and kissed him back.

"Letty, I'm so happy you're finally here! Less to worry!" Both me and Aiden broke the kiss simultaneously and looked at the man talking to us. He was standing on the path leading to the stone, but hadn't stood at it or gotten closer to us.

He can't as he's the Beta.

"William! Was it you who found Aaron?" I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, so I got closer to him. Aiden followed me but remained silent. Suddenly, as soon as I got closer, William hugged me.

"I was so damn worried when I realized he got missing right after you got to the taxi!" William immediately let me go, then turned to Aiden and gave him some bag full of things, "That's what we've found near the dead body of the Aaron from Victor's Pack."

"Where's the body?" Aiden asked, then unzipped the bag and searched it over.

"Hasn't it been delivered to the city mortuary? It should be already there!" William took out his phone and called someone, while I looked at Aiden. He took some things out of the bag and put them down on the stone. There were a few books, a pen, a pair of… trousers and socks… and… a bottle of whiskey?

"What a strange bag of things," I shrugged and looked at William. His face was as pale as snow, "Please, don't say that the body is missing?"

"Exactly."