Her Chosen Mate

Part 40

(POV-Aria)

Running with Marcus was a brand new experience that Aria immediately knew she wanted more of.

Her thoughts had gotten ahead of her, imagining how it might be if they were on a mating run instead. If when he let her get far ahead of him, far enough that his scent had almost disappeared, if that was how it felt to dash ahead wildly, her instincts begging her to set traps he might fall into, to test just how strong he was. How cunning and sly.

Aria had always had a knack for setting traps growing up. She'd grown up under her father's tutelage, learning how to look at any situation and find a way out. Her mother had taught her which traps would suit the terrain she'd no doubt be in, and had told her which traps even her father had fallen for on their own mating run.

"He did not fall for a snare," Aria had giggled, smothering her laughter with both hands so her father wouldn't hear it. Her mother had giggled as well, a fond smile on her face as she recounted the events of her mating run.

It was hilarious to think that her father, the Delta who had inadvertently been the one to handle most of the pack's matters while their Beta dealt with the Alpha and his softer tendencies, had fallen for as simple a trap as a snare. But if Aria knew her mother, and she liked to think she did, she knew that her mother would have set the most elaborate traps and even an Alpha wouldn't have been able to escape or detect them. She remembered how her father had been caught thousands of times, just staring at his mate with the softest adoration in his eyes. Even as a pup, Aria knew that she wanted her true mate to look at her the way her father looked at her mother.

But that obviously hadn't happened, and Aria had slowly begun to accept that it would never happen. And, with Marcus racing after her, she was beginning to feel okay about it.

He caught up to her again easily, playfully tackling her to the ground and pinning her to the damp earth beneath them. She huffed, a small snort of disobedience slipping from her snout in mock defiance. His huge body lay atop hers, his weight immeasurable, but Aria couldn't deny that it felt good to have his wolf pinning her down. It felt right. And Aria knew that it meant her feelings for him were only growing, and she wouldn't be able to contain them soon.

She shook her head of the distracting thoughts and bucked her lower body up, taking him by surprise and knocking him off. She leapt to her paws and trotted around him proudly, tossing her head and shaking her fur out.

They circled one another for a moment, his bright grey eyes glinting with mischief, before she sped off again, his excited growl echoing as she disappeared into the trees again.

He was right on her tail, expertly navigating through the thicket of trees and bounding over fallen trunks that crossed their path. The leaves thwacked their legs as they sped by, the whistle of the wind in their ears and the thundering of their paws in the dirt matching the thrumming of their hearts.

Aria wondered if she might stay, if maybe they could go out on runs everyday, and they could play and wrestle together and her heart would feel so much lighter, so much fuller because of him. Being a part of his pack, even if it was temporary because they hadn't addressed whatever was happening between them, she had felt more at ease than she ever had with her own pack. Back home, she'd had to keep her wits about her, always looking over her shoulder in case a few wolves would try to bully her. And when Aiden had returned and taken his place as Alpha, he'd scared her into hiding because she couldn't take seeing him and Meredith be so happy together.

She realized that she didn't really want to go back. She would be happy to stay with Marcus instead, as long as she could still visit her parents and April without worrying about Aiden losing his mind whenever she stepped on pack lands.