Part 51

(POV - Marcus)

Marcus came to a halt in the woods, Jaden and Mercucio stopping with him.

"I don't know," he said hesitantly. "I don't know when I'll be ready to get over Helena."

"And that's okay," Jaden reminded him, quietly enough that it was barely a whisper. Marcus offered him a grateful smile in return.

"But I do know that it won't ever happen if I don't make the first move," he finished, turning around to face his best friends. "I know I need to share my past with Aria, and I think I'm finally ready to do it."

Both of their faces split into matching grins.

"I think I might cry," Jaden declared, blinking away the fake tears in his eyes and earning himself a half-hearted punch from his Alpha. "Don't hit me! This is a big deal, man, I'm so proud of you. We both are."

Mercucio nodded, his grin just as wide as Jaden's.

"Whatever," Marcus snickered, his heart feeling lighter. "I can't wait for her to call."

"It's already been three days," Mercucio pointed out, looking a little concerned. "She should have called, by now, right?"

"I've been thinking the same thing," Marcus admitted, recalling the unease that had kept him from sleeping every night since she left.

"Maybe you should try and call Ayla yourself," Jaden suggested, nudging Marcus in the ribs and waggling his eyebrows.

"Shut the hell up and mind your own business," Marcus snapped, his protectiveness and possessiveness front and center when Jaden mentioned Aria's name. He mentally reprimanded himself for losing his temper so quickly, and realized that he was probably on edge because he had finally come to terms with his own feelings.

"Marc," Mercucio cautioned him, keeping his voice quiet and calm. He was often the one to diffuse any sticky situations where Marcus and Jaden butted heads, which happened a lot more often than it should have.

"Yeah, yeah," Marcus grumbled, shaking off the sudden wave of blind anger and turning to Jaden apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't really mean to snap at you like that. I'm just..."

Jaden smiled and patted Marcus' shoulder consolingly. "I get it. You're on edge because she hasn't called and your wolf is wigging out."

"Something like that," he said sheepishly. "Wigging out' was a little too tame for how his wolf was currently handling the situation. If Marcus didn't have a solid grip on his wolf, he would have shifted hours ago and torn through every wolf in his way to get to Aria.

As it was, he'd managed to keep a tight hold on his self-control, aided in part by his Beta and Delta.

"We still need to go over a few more plans for tonight," Jaden said, drawing Marvus' attention back to the present. "When she calls, we'll be leaving the pack with Inara and her sentries, but I want to see if we can't beef up her defences with a few of my men."

Marcus nodded, turning to lead them back to the packhouse where they could flesh out those plans carefully. They'd grabbed snacks out of the kitchen before locking themselves in Marcus' office, strategically combing through every eventuality in their absence and how they could plan counters and defences while the three of them left to bring Aria back.

They hadn't expected anything to happen in their absence, but Marcus was paranoid by nature and preferred having contingencies for his contingencies.

"Inara could probably use more men on the western borders," Mercucio offered, pointing out the thin stretch of wolves that were stationed there. They'd laid out a map of their territory across the huge meeting table, stacks of red chips used to identify groups of sentries and their patrol points. The spot that Mercucio had pointed had very few red chips, indicating the smaller groups along that border.

"There are the wolves that were on patrol last week who will be off rest from tonight," Marcus recalled. "We can split them up and bolster their ranks, even if it's just for tonight."

"It'll have to be a one-time thing." Jaden hummed, inspecting the map closely. "Those wolves are nowhere near trained enough to stand side by side with Inara's wolves."

"But it will be a good learning experience for them, regardless," Marcus countered easily, earning an appreciative nod from his Beta. Mercucio rounded the table, his nose down, concentrating on the division of their patrols.

"And it will give them a good taste of what it will be like once they join her training." Mercucio observed. "No doubt she'll want to study them tonight to make her final decisions anyway."

"No doubt," Jaden readily agreed, his eyes straying to Mercucio more often than usual. Marcus caught him staring at the Delta for immeasurable moments, something fathomless and contemplative swimming in his eyes.

"Yes, well," Marcus murmured, clearing his throat to bring attention back to the matter at hand. "Either way, it's our job to filter out the first batch of wolves for her."

"Then we should get a list of viable options together and filter from there, I already have a few prospects in mind for Inara's training."

Marcus nodded, already knowing he'd be able to approve all of Jaden's and Mercucio's options. They huddled over the table together, shifting around their own prospects to submit to Inara for her own decision. They had around thirty wolves to sort through, and they knew that Inara would choose no more than five.

The younger wolves in their pack were all immensely talented and deserved a chance to be trained by Inara, but they knew better than to present Inara with more than ten options.

It took roughly two hours for the three of them to agree on exactly ten wolves that they would send to Inara and the rest would be scattered to fill in the gaps in the other sentry groups.

Jaden sighed once they came to a decision, rolling his neck and shoulders out and groaning.

"We're going to need some kind of rest before this," Jaden huffed. Mercucio watched Jaden closely, studying the dark rings beneath his eyes and the sallow tinge to his skin.

"Dealing with pups and briefing them before handing them off to Inara is one thing, but traveling in wolf form to another pack to potentially challenge a cocky little Alpha is a completely different story."

"We'll need to fuel up and sleep before we leave," Mercucio agreed. not looking away from Jaden as he spoke.

"I'm beginning to think the two of you might need some time alone," Marcus mocked, his brow cocked sarcastically.

Two sets of wide, saucer-shaped eyes turned on him, followed by stuttered excuses and half-assed lies that Marcus brushed off easily. He knew something was up with the both of them, but they would open up in their own time. Marcus wouldn't push them to explain what the hell was happening and, at that moment, he only had enough of his mind to focus on their bullshit. The rest of his mind was devoted to the silence of his phone and wondering why Aria hadn't called him yet.

They bickered a little more, their voices free of any venom and it made Marcus think of their childhood moments, their teenage voices filling his mind with their innocent arguments.

Marcus was grateful for the distraction it provided, and it was only after they'd left his office that he began to feel the niggling sense that something wasn't right..

Aria wouldn't have lied to him. She wouldn't have tricked him into falling for her only to stab him in the back. He refused to let his insecurities get the best of him.

But then why hadn't she called him yet?

There should have been no reason for her to take this long. It set his teeth on edge and he stared at his phone where it lay. The silence stretching out in his office echoed inside his head, and it gave him too much space to think the worst.

What if Aiden had hurt her? Or locked her away somewhere she couldn't get to a phone?

God, he didn't want to think about it, but the idea that something had happened to her scared him out of his wits.

Before he could stop himself, he'd snatched his phone off the desk and dialed her number.

It rang twice before Aria answered, her voice bringing him down to reality and grounding him in a heartbeat.

"Marcus?" she whispered, her voice close to the receiver, breathy and urgent.

"Darling," he growled contently. happy to hear her voice again. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to call me at all."

"I'm s- I'm so sorry, Marc," she sobbed, the pain in her voice cutting through him like a knife. He sat up straight in his chair, every nerve on high alert, his limbs already vibrating with violence.

"What did he do?" he asked, deadly quiet, trying to stay calm so he could figure out exactly what had happened to Aria. He needed to know that she was safe and unharmed or else he wouldn't be able to see straight until Aiden lay dead at his feet and Aria was in his arms again. "Aria, what's going on, did he hurt you?"

She whimpered on the other end of the line, his vision awash in red when her voice was ripped away and another replaced hers.

"If you know what's good for you," Aiden snarled into the phone, setting Marcus blood alight with rage. "You'll back off of my mate."