9. Stolen Alpha

Storm’s pov

Why did she have to ruin the perfect moment? She must have felt it too. And then embarrass me at the last fucking moment?

"Cut her some slack; remember, she was only bought this morning." Brand said.

Fuck. As usual, my wolf was right. I should not have thought that. He already has such a big ego.

"I’m always right, huh?" Brand couldn't be happier.

"Fuck off."

I needed to think. I hopped into my own shower; I needed a really cold one. She looked so amazing with her dress sticking to her skin, and she stared at me with lust, making my dick hard instantly. She must have felt the attraction, or was that another thing she was faking?

I didn’t know what to think. We were both stuck in this relationship now, forced to be together without having a choice. But I knew things were different for her than they were for me. I was raised here; I had a life before I met her. I had girlfriends and sex; I had traveled and fought. I had no fucking clue what life for Aaro had been like at that school. She was seventeen, and she had grown up so sheltered from the world. Literally on a fucking island in the middle of nowhere.

But it wasn’t like I was moving fast. She could have fared much worse if she had been purchased by someone else. I didn’t want to force her to be with me, but I knew men like James would have no problem using Aaro’s body.

"So you’re the hero in her story?" Brand asked.

"No. I shouldn’t have fucking looked at her at the school. Mama had told me not to pay any attention to the girls. Make sure dad understood I wanted nothing to do with this. But when my father said Aaro looked like trouble, I knew I had to look. Just one fucking look, I didn’t even think dad noticed. I fucked up. But I’m not the villain here either. And she still turned me down."

"Your ego is just bruised. No one ever turns you down." Brand said.

"Fuck you. You didn’t like it either," I growled at my wolf, and he was quiet. I felt him when she turned her head when I tried to kiss her. I felt how Brand got hurt too, knowing that Aaro didn’t want us in that moment.

When I got out of the shower, I dried off and went to bed. Aaro would be tested the following day. I could feel her strength; there was no way she could fail the test.

"What would you do if she did fail the test?" Brand asked, and I had no clue what I would do.

I closed my eyes and tried to get the thought of her out of my head. It was fucking impossible, though, because I kept getting distracted by the sounds of footsteps in the room next door.

What the fuck was she doing in there?

I played with my phone, waiting for the footsteps to stop, but by now it had been an hour, and I was fed up. I got up and walked out of my room, grabbing some pajama pants. I usually sleep in the nude, and I was pretty sure Aaro wouldn’t appreciate me knocking on her door butt-naked. Not that I fucking cared what she appreciated right now; I needed to sleep, and she needed to stop pacing the damn room.

I knocked on the door, and Aaro opened it only a bit. "How can I help you, Storm?"

"You can stop pacing the fucking floor for hours." I pushed the door open.

She stood in the doorway, wearing my shirt. I forgot to take the clothes she wore on our shopping trip back. Her hair was in two braids. Her teeth started chattering, and she was shaking.

"Are you cold?"

"No, Storm, I’m fine. I’ll stop pacing." She said, but her voice sounded different. She sounded like she had a runny nose. Was she getting a cold? Werewolves don’t really get colds.

I turned the light on and looked at Aaro.

"Yeah, you’re not cold at all...." I pointed to her chest. Her nipples were proving her wrong.

Then I noticed her face. It was all red and puffy. Fuck, she had been crying.

She covered her chest. "I will stop pacing. You’re right; I am cold. I’ll go to bed now. Goodnight, Storm."

I shook my head, "what’s going on? Why can’t you sleep?"

The kindness in my voice must have surprised her, because she started to cry again.

"It’s too quiet," she said softly.

"What is?"

"The room. I am used to sleeping in a room with eleven other girls. I heard them breathe and snore. One grinded her teeth in her sleep, and my sister would often crawl in bed with me when she was cold."

This was one of the first times Aaro seemed to speak without thinking.

"Your sister?" I asked.

Aaro wiped away the tears, and the fake smile went back on her face. "She’s still there. It’s fine. I’ll go to sleep now."

I sighed.  "Come with me."

"Why?" she asked softly.

"You can sleep in my room. I am told I snore a little."

"A lot." Brand said.

"It’s fine. I’ll be fine." Aaro said.

"It wasn’t a question, Aaro. Come with me."

Aaro followed me to my room, and I walked to my bed. "I won’t do anything."

"I can sleep on the couch." Aaro said, pointing to the corner where I had a small area to watch tv and relax.

"Aaro…."

I got into bed and patted the bed next to me. "Get in the bed, Aaro."

She looked pissed, but she got into bed next to me anyway.

I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. Fuck, she was cold. She was absolutely freezing.

"Just lay your head on my chest. I usually fall asleep pretty fast, so get ready for some snoring." I joked, but Aaro didn’t laugh.

She sighed and placed her head on top of my chest. I grabbed her leg, which felt like an icicle, and placed it over my legs, warming it with my hands.

I fell asleep in a matter of minutes. Her scent, her body on mine—it was so damn relaxing.

When I woke up, she was still sleeping on my chest. I watched her sleep; she looked cute. I so badly wanted to touch her, but it would wake her up and I didn't want to ruin this moment.

"Where is she?" a voice from the hallway said.

"She has a tracking device, idiot. Just use it." My dad said.

"Dad, she’s with me." I said, mindlinking him. I didn’t want to get her into any trouble.

"You move fast. Her appointment is in twenty minutes. "You love birds; better hurry up." Dad said. Damn, he was annoying.

I touched her face, caressing her cheek with my index finger. Her skin was so soft. "Aaro, you need to wake up."

"Just a few more seconds, Ero," Aaro said.

Was that her sister’s name? Ero and Aaro sounded pretty similar.

"Aaro, it’s Storm. You need to wake up." I touched her face again.

My name woke her up, and she sat up straight immediately. I guess she forgot where she was for a second.

I smirked at her, "next time you can’t sleep, I’m happy to help."

She got out of the bed in a hurry, so fast that she almost got her leg tangled in my blanket. I quickly grabbed the back of her shirt to make sure she didn’t faceplant on the floor.

The shirt pulled up and revealed her perfect ass, barely being covered by her underwear that was sticking out in the air.

She put her hands on the floor and pushed herself up. "Thank you, Storm."

No, thank you, I thought to myself. "My father is looking for you. You’re leaving in twenty minutes to get tested."

She nodded her head, "I’ll get dressed then."

I watched her leave and then took another cold shower. I could just finish the job myself, but it didn’t seem fair that Aaro would be poked with a needle...

"While you are stroking your needle?" Brand joked.

"You know it’s not a fucking needle." I laughed at his stupid joke. If there was one thing I wasn’t insecure about, then it was the size of my dick. He could make jokes about that any day.

"Especially on days where you wake up next to Aaro." Brand added.

Whatever. I just wanted to help her. It can’t be easy coming here, knowing her sister is still out there.

"So you’re not still pissed she turned you down?" my wolf asked, ruining my good mood.

Having her in my arms all night made me forget the part where she rejected my advances. At least she wasn’t totally disgusted by me; I had seen her check me out a few times. I just needed to take things slow.

I got dressed and made it out of my room in time, just before Aaro stepped out of hers. She was wearing jeans and a black sweater with a low V-neck.

"You’re coming too, Storm?" Dad asked.

"Well, she is going to be my Luna. The more the merrier, right?" I replied.

Dad smiled at me, "I’m happy you’ve changed your tone. I thought you would show more resistance."

I shrugged my shoulders. "It’s not like either one of us has a fucking choice, do we? You made that perfectly clear."

Dad laughed, "well, you don’t seem to have a problem with that. Spending the night already, huh?"

I rolled my eyes, "let’s just go."

I didn’t want to leave Aaro alone with my father. I knew how mean he could be and although I was sure he didn’t have the things in mind that James did, I didn’t trust dad to hurt Aaro in other ways. Dad had a temper if things didn’t go his way.

"Goodmorning, Alpha Lex. I apologize if I kept you waiting."

Dad didn’t pay any attention to her words, simply saying, "follow me."

We walked to his car, and I wish I had called mam to come with us too. It might have made Aaro more comfortable. Dad didn’t allow mam to join the pack, so she wasn’t able to mindlink with anyone here. Just another way to punish and isolate her, I guess.

If Aaro became my Luna, she would be part of this pack, and I would make sure she had more freedom than my mom or my evil stepmother. Despite hating the woman, even I could see she didn’t have an easy life either.

I sat down in the back next to Aaro. Before I could help her with her seatbelt, she had already buckled herself in. She must have watched me do it. Too bad; I kind of liked helping her.

I didn’t say a word, and I knew Aaro wouldn’t talk unless spoken to, so we sat in the car in awkward silence until we arrived at the clinic.

We had a doctor inside the packhouse, but this required a geneticist.

Aaro was told to sit down, and the doctor drew blood from her arm. In the past, this might have taken a few weeks, but in the last few years, blood testing has changed dramatically, and we could see exactly what kind of genes Aaro had in only a few minutes.

"So, doc. I was told she has Alpha genes; is that correct?"

"She appears to be a firstborn, actually," the doctor said, looking at his screen. "Very high count of alpha genes. This is odd; she also has some human genes."

I checked Aaro’s face to see her reaction, but she didn’t seem surprised. Either that, or she just didn’t give a fuck about her genetics.

"Human?" Dad growled.

The doctor bowed his head, "it seems one of her grandparents was human, but the alpha genes are so strong that it won’t matter. If the girl were a boy, she could become an alpha with these types of genes. Her genes could strengthen the bloodline of any male. Your son is very lucky to have her."