Part 83

(POV - Aria)

"What is he like?" Inara asked.

Aria frowned, looking away from the wildflowers they walked past, deep in the forest one afternoon.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Inara said, running a hand through her wavy hair. It shone under the dappled sunlight streaking through the treetops. "Marcus is still so cold and aloof around everyone else. He's so different around you, while he's still that fearsome Alpha around everyone else."

"I hadn't noticed," Aria said honestly. "I don't really think I've seen the fearsome Alpha that everyone is so afraid of just yet."

Inara threw her head back in a full-bodied laugh. She clutched onto Aria's shoulder until she was done, swiping a fake tear from her cheek.

"Oh, you'll never get to see it," Inara said. "I think he'd rather chew off his own leg before letting you see that side of him."

"That's ridiculous," Aria said, rolling her eyes at Inara. "It can't be all that bad, besides, he's gotten angry with me plenty of times."

Inara hummed, her footsteps impossibly quiet beside Aria.

"He may have gotten angry," she began. "But there's anger and then there's cold, icy detachedness. Besides, that wolf is so crazy about you. He would do absolutely anything for you."

"That worries me more than I think it puts me at ease," she admitted, finding it easy to speak to Inara about the things that worried her.

"Why's that?" Inara asked.

"I can't help but wonder why he lied to me," Aria said, sitting down on one of the fallen logs that ran on either side of the small path. "We're doing so well together, learning about each other and growing, but it makes me nervous"

"You haven't told him about the pregnancy yet?" Inara guessed, and Aria shook her head.

"I just don't know how he's going to take it," she said sadly. "He's hiding something from me, and I have a feeling it has to do with April, my best friend. She's in trouble and I keep begging him to help, and he keeps brushing me off. What if he does the same with the pregnancy?"

She rubbed her stomach protectively. She knew how difficult it was for wolves to fall pregnant at all, let alone carry to term healthily, and with Marcus' past, she wouldn't blame him for being terrified or unwilling to become a father.

Inara laughed softly and reached down, her hand circling Aria's wrist and pulling her to her feet. Inara embraced her and sighed.

"I can say from experience that Marcus only hides things he needs to hide, especially if they might hurt the people he cares about most," she explained before pulling away. She kept her hands on Aria's shoulders, squeezing reassuringly. "He once hid the fact that Mercucio's favorite sneakers had been ruined by something stupid that Jaden had done just because he knew that Mercucio would have been bummed about it. Imagine the things that actually matter?"

Aria considered what Inara had told her, but it still weighed heavily on her mind.

"What would you do, Inara?"

She took a long, hard look at Aria, as if sizing her up before she spoke.

"I'd trust that he is only trying to protect me," she said finally. "And let him tell me the truth when he's ready."

Maybe Inara was right.

But it didn't stop Aria from keeping an eye on their schedules, learning the specific times that Marcus, Jaden, Mercucio, and Inara would all be out of the packhouse at the same time so that she could snoop around Marcus' office for clues.

And one afternoon, she managed to slip in unnoticed, looking around to see if there was any hint that he really was keeping something from her.

There were piles of papers neatly stacked on his desk, in order of what she presumed was priority, ranging from general pack supplies to patrol schedules with as few details on them as possible. His bookshelves held no information either, just a variety of books on subjects Aria had never been interested in before.

She walked around to the window behind his desk, peering out at the forest below while she thought about where else he might hide something.

That was when the door clicked open and she jumped out of her skin.

"Aren't you a little skittish," Marcus remarked, his brow cocked and his mouth set in a hard line.

"You're back early," she said, trying to avoid his piercing gaze. "I thought you went out for a run."

"I did," he said simply, closing the door behind him and walking towards her. He stopped on the other side of his desk, the polished mahogany sitting innocently between them. "But I felt antsy and came home early. What are you doing?"

"Oh, uhm, I was just uh," she floundered, waving her hand uselessly. "Admiring the view from the window. I got bored and it smells like you in here."

He hummed low, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Is that why your scent is covering this stack of sensitive information?"

She swallowed thickly, nerves heavy in her belly. "You're too smart to leave sensitive information lying around for anyone to see," she dodged, her eyes meeting his briefly before darting away.

He knew.

He knew she was lying.

She had no idea why the thought scared her so much but she was suddenly worried that she would see the cold, cruel Alpha that Inara had mentioned earlier that day.

"You're too good at flattery, little one," he purred, walking around the desk that separated them. He reached up and grabbed two fistfuls of her shirt and tore it open, a gasp traveling up her throat. "You like the view that much?"

She nodded, committed to her lie, unable to meet his gaze. His hands pressed to her sides, running up her ribs and over her breasts. He hummed.

"I can think of a better view," he mused, turning her around roughly so that she faced the window. "You, flushed and fucked out, bouncing on my cock while anyone could walk past and see what a dirty little girl you are."

She breathed in shakily, her knees already weak. He bit into her shoulder, his clothed cock rubbing against her ass.

Oh, so 'that's' what he meant by feeling antsy.

"You know," he said, his fingers trailing up her stomach and over her bra, pulling the soft lace down to expose her breasts. She hiccupped when the pads of his fingers pitched her sensitive nipples, her thighs twitching in anticipation. "I think you enjoy the thrill of almost getting caught. It gets you wet just thinking about it, doesn't it, baby?"

One of his hands descended to her stomach, leaving goosebumps in its wake, his fingers dipping beneath the waistband of her sweats. He groaned into her ear, his fingers finding nothing but bare skin beneath her pants.

"Didn't even wear panties," he grunted. "Like you wanted me to catch you and fuck you into a coma."

She couldn't speak, rendered speechless by his dominance, his hands playing her body expertly.

"Maybe I should fuck you for the world to see," he said, his fingers sinking into her folds and finding her wet and needy. "Maybe that's what my little Luna wants? Her pack to see their Alpha claiming her, see how she begs for more, a cock-hungry little slut that only belongs to me."

His words made her dizzy and she couldn't figure out how he did it, how he sent her into a lust-filled frenzy with a few light touches and some choice words.

She supposed it was just her body's reaction to him, her wolf egging her submission on until she gave herself over entirely.

He slipped his ring and middle finger inside her pussy, his palm pressing hard on her clit, while his other hand trailed up her chest and settled on her throat, his thumb resting possessively on the matingmark he'd left on her.

"Should I make you cum like this?" he murmured, sending tingles skittering down her spine. "Should I open the window so that even the birds hear how sweetly you cry for me?"

God, she wasn't going to last like this. She clung to his arms, desperate to keep herself standing of her own volition, but his talented fingers made it damn near impossible. He dragged the pads of his fingers over that spongy spot inside her again and again until her body felt hot and cold all at once, her legs turning to jello.

"Say something, sweetheart," he teased. "I can't give you what you want if you don't ask for it."

Bastard.

He knew that she could barely string two words together in this condition but he would keep her at the very edge of pleasure for hours she didn't say anything. And she so desperately wanted fall into the embrace of bliss that he offered her every single time they fucked. Sometimes, four or five times.

"You know what I wan'," she slurred, lust making her tongue heavy and lazy.

"Hmm, and what's that?"

She threw her head back as his palm pressed into her clit, grinding over the swollen bundle of nerves until she cried out, fingers scrabbling at his arm.

"Fu- ah! Fuck me, please," she whined, grinding her ass back against his cock, hot and hard beneath his jogging shorts.

"Right here?" he asked, aghast. "What if someone walks past and spots us?"

She shook her head, a sob climbing up her throat.

"Don't care," she cried, her thighs clamping around his hand, and she wasn't sure if she was trying to get him to stop or go harder. "Let them see, 'm only yours."

That was all it took to get what she wanted. His hands disappeared for less than a heartbeat before she was pressed against the window, hissing at the cool glass on her nipples.

"You want them to see, huh?" he growled, one of his hands pulling her sweats down over her ass, just enough to get his cock inside her. "Want them to see how dirty you are, letting me fuck you with your clothes on like my personal little slut?"

She panted out tiny, "Yeah, yeah, yeah's" in time with his harsh thrusts, her lower abdomen burning with desire and a pleasure so sweet she could die from it.

"They'll see how beautiful you are like this," he continued, and she was sure he was as lost to his lust as she was. "Pink cheeks stained with tears, drool on your lips, your body so perfect while you take me."

Yes, she wanted to say. Yes to all of it. She didn't care who saw. Let them watch, let them drown in a jealousy so raw because they could never have him the way Aria had him, just like they'd never have her the way Marcus did. She secretly hoped someone would walk by...

"Fuck, if you keep clenching down on me like that," he warned, his hands squeezing her breasts and holding her body in place while he jackhammered into her.

"Do it," she dared him, breathless and bratty. "F-fill me up."

He growled and fucked into her harder, chasing his own high. One of his hands went back to her clit, his fingers rough, calluses driving her to the edge even faster than she realized. And suddenly, she was coming undone, her thighs snapping shut and buckling, his arms the only things keeping her pinned to the window. The glass fogged in front of her face, warm to the touch and slick with her sweat, reflecting her own glazed expression back at her. She spotted Marcus' reflection too, his eyes impossibly dark, fixed on the way his cock disappeared inside her, wet, slick, the glide almost too smooth.

"Going to fill you up, baby," he grunted, a single curl falling from behind his ear and into his face. "You'll have my cum dripping out of you for hours."

She keened at the promise, coming undone again when he spilled into her, lazy strokes keeping her stuffed full of his seed.

He squeezed her ass teasingly, a self-satisfied smirk on his beautiful face as he pulled out. She whined, feeling the mixture of their arousal dripping down her inner thighs.

He pulled her sweats back up over her ass with a smirk, tugging her bra down and offering her his shirt.

She took it with shaking hands and he helped her get it on, her shirt ruined for good.

"You okay, little one?" he asked once she was dressed. She nodded silently, still a little too dazed to make sense of up and done. He kissed her forehead and pulled her forward and into his lap once he sat down on his chair.

She curled up there, trying to ignore how his cum spilled out of her and stained her sweats. His heart thrashed against his chest, beating hard against her cheek, and he rubbed his big palms over her back comfortingly.

"You did so good," he murmured to her, kissing the top of her head sweetly. "Always so perfect for me."

She fell asleep like that, wrapped up in the safety of his arms, content that maybe she was overthinking.

Marcus wouldn't hide anything he didn't think she could handle.

And that was enough to send her into a dreamless slumber.