The Untamed Female Alpha And Her Beta Mate

CHAPTER 10 – Aiden finds his mate -A surprise for Ariana

Aiden

After we finished with the formalities, dinner was served.  Everybody took their places, and I went near my mother and whispered something in her ear. She looked up, smiled at me and nodded in understanding. I smiled back, went where Ariana had been sitting and sat next to her.

We started eating while talking to those around us, creating a beautiful atmosphere. In the air, there was a feeling of eagerness from the single werewolves. Everyone was waiting for the moment when the clock would strike midnight to see if they would find who their mate was.

 Ariana was in deep thoughts. She had not seen the one she was waiting for all night long. When I asked my sister why she was so sure he had not come, Ariana replied that she would feel it immediately if he passed by her. The feeling was so intense when Ariana saw him in her dream that she believed she would understand it was him the minute she saw him.

I did not know how to deal with my sister's stubbornness. I only prayed to my grandmother Aria that the frustration and pain Ariana would feel were not so intense. I turned and looked at my mother. She smiled at me and nodded in agreement. I realised that in a little while, she would try to open the connection with Alan.

When we moved into the ballroom, the DJ started playing songs, and slowly some of us got on the dance floor to dance. Ariana was always the soul of the party on this kind of occasion. She was a pleasant sight to behold. Many young people who had come that night tried to flirt with her and ask her to dance with them, but Ariana was negative tonight. She just sat at a table in the corner and watched the others dance. 

I couldn't watch my sister like this. Thus, I went near Ariana and took her by the hand, leading my sister to the dance floor. I asked the DJ to play one of her favourite songs. We started dancing together, and soon enough, Ariana was laughing happily with me. After a while, Sienna, Noah and Olivia joined our company, and we all had a lovely time together. Our parents had been watching us from afar, smiling contentedly.

I mind-linked at my mother and asked her if she broke the barriers Alan had put. She replied that she would do it in a minute. She was waiting for midnight so that Ariana could realise that her mate was nowhere in this room. I nodded and continued dancing with my sister.

At a point, the DJ stopped playing his songs. There was the loud sound of the clock. Midnight came. Suddenly, it hit me. My nostrils filled with the sweet smell of gardenia. My mate was right here in this room.  A voice in my mind stated, "Mate!" I was bewildered to realise that this was the first time my wolf spoke to me.

I looked in the direction where the smell was coming. I locked eyes with Sienna. She was smiling happily at something Noah was telling her. He still held her in his arms since they were dancing together before. Since they were underage, they didn't pay that much attention to the rest of the single werewolves that started claiming each other. Possessiveness filled my guts as I pushed Noah away and pulled a stunned Sienna into my arms, growling, "MINE."

 I claimed Sienna so intensely using my Alpha tone for the first time that everyone in the room froze. Even Sienna. Her eyes filled with unshed tears of joy. Her wolf was yet to come to the surface. She accepted my claim, though. I squeezed her on me tenderly. I put my nostrils at the base of her nape, smelling her unique scent which calmed me. I did not notice Olivia's face contracting in pain. Nor my mother, who hugged Aunt Meredith, happy that their children were mates. 

Ariana hugged us both, happy for the fact that we were a couple. She wished us all the best, and then Olivia approached and embraced us in turn. After she smiled at Sienna and whispered something shallow in her ear, she left the dance floor and went to sit where her parents and her sister Jenna were. 

Ariana

When dinner was served, I took my place at the table, deep in thoughts. I was expecting the man in my dream to show up tonight, but it was a vain hope. So, I just sat there, trying to be polite with the rest of the people sitting around my brother and me. We soon moved to the ballroom. I was not in the mood to dance tonight. I was feeling distraught. Plenty of young male werewolves tried to flirt with me and ask me to dance, but I rejected them politely. I preferred watching the ones on the dance floor.

Soon my brother came to pick me up and dragged me to the dance floor, asking the DJ to play one of my favourite songs. Not long after, Sienna, Olivia and Noah joined us, and the five of us had a lovely time. We started dancing together, and soon enough, I was back into my old self, dancing and laughing with my brother again. 

Since we had such a lovely time, we didn't notice the DJ stopped playing his songs. The big clock in the ballroom struck midnight, and everyone started looking for their mate. I never expected my brother Aiden to claim Sienna as his destined mate tonight. I was very happy for them.  I held my brother and Sienna and wished them all the best. I noticed Olivia's face and realised that she felt hurt that Aiden was not her mate. She hugged them in turn after me and went to join her parents and her sister Jenna where they were sitting. My silly brother had never even noticed that both girls had been in love with him for so long.

Suddenly I felt very lonely.  My brother had just found his mate, and although she was underage, she had accepted his claim.  That meant that soon both would be inseparable until Sienna became 18 years old and Aiden claimed her for real. That left me with no one to hang around. My brother was always next to me. It would be the first time in our lives that someone would get in the middle and separate us at certain moments. I was happy about them finding each other. I couldn't deal with the fact that I hadn't met my mate tonight.

Our parents and Sienna's parents came near us to congratulate and kiss Aiden and Sienna. My mother smiled at me and hugged me in consolidation. I smiled back and tried to convince my mother that I was okay because my mate did not show up tonight.

Soon, the party was over, and Aiden and I would go out for our first run in our wolves' form, together with mum and dad. Shifting for the first time was an exciting experience for us. It was painful for both Aiden and me, though. Bones cracked, and the feeling of tearing and splitting in two overwhelmed us both.  Soon, Aiden shifted to his enormous black-furred wolf Chase, his dark green eyes matching our dads. Connor was proud to see his male pup looked so much like him. Then, it was my turn to shift to my wolf Amber. My sight and hearing became sharper in an instance. My nostrils filled with various smells I never thought I would ever be able to smell. The minute my parents laid eyes on me, they were excited. Amber was an enormous white-furred wolf with dark violet eyes like my mums. She went near Chase and nuzzled him playfully. He nestled back happily, and they both started playing with each other. Then, Amber smiled at Tania, my mum's wolf and said, "Hey, cuz? What's up? Long time no see. Nice to be back and especially with you being around."

The way she addressed my mum's wolf made us all laugh, and then we all took a run to the woods.  It was the most fantastic feeling. I could feel the vibes of the soil ground under Amber's paws. The sense of the dry leaves crushing under her paws, the way the squirrels run for their life and the birds flew away, disturbed by our presence, made everything so exciting for my brother and me.

Soon we arrived at the river's bank. The first thing Aiden and I did was to urge our wolves there. We were curious to find out what we looked like in our wolves' form. The images of two beautiful beasts came from our reflection in the lake's water. I was proud of myself and my wolf, and so was Aiden. We noticed the resemblance our wolves had with our parent wolves, and we teased them about this. Connor and Tania nuzzled us, showing us how proud they were of us. We stayed by the lake for a couple of hours. We enjoyed the serenity of our surroundings and the company of each other. Each of us was deep in his thoughts.  

When the time came for us to go back, we went back to where we shifted for the first time. We turned into our human forms and headed back to the packhouse to have a relaxing bath for our aching bones. We entered the house and took the stairs up to our rooms. The four of us agreed that we should have a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows back in the kitchen before bed. The minute I entered my room, Amber spoke to me, "That was fun! I haven't felt so good in a long time. The only thing that bothers me is that we still haven't found our mate. But I am sure we will soon enough."

I smiled with the excitement Amber's voice held every time she spoke for our future mate. Although she didn't know who he was, she already felt happy about finding him in the future.

I entered the bathroom and took a long relaxing shower- I was exhausted and could not wait to fill the bathtub tonight. I needed to relax my aching bones, drink my hot chocolate with my parents and brother and come back to my room to sleep. Tomorrow was a new day for Aiden and me. We would be with our parents all day long, trying to be informed about everything so that we could take up the position of the alphas in a few days.

I stepped into my room, took off the towel I was wrapped in and put on my fluffy PJs. I got ready to go downstairs in the kitchen when Amber spoke again, "OMG! What is this thing you are wearing, girl? So embarrassing! Where the hell is our sexy underwear? How do you suppose to attract your mate dressed like this? Whew! It's a good thing we haven't found him tonight. Tomorrow is lingerie shopping day for me and you, honey."

My wolf's reaction dumbfounded me. Oh, my! My grandmother had given me a kinky wolf. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment with the thought of me wearing sexy underwear in front of my mate to be. Amber, who understood my feelings, laughed in my head and said, "honey, there's no other pleasure in life than pleasing your mate and him pleasing you. Trust me on this one!"

I blocked my wolf, who had been making fun of me and my reaction to her words. I left my room. I met Aiden and my parents at the top of the stairs. We went down together, and mum took over the hot chocolate preparation while Aiden and I prepared the marshmallows.

I was about to answer something dad asked me when I heard something in my mind that made me go numb. "I, Alan Hayes, reject you, Ariana Northwood as my mate."

The realisation hit me. For Alan to have rejected me this way tonight truly meant that he was my destined mate all that long. My feet froze at the place I was standing, and a sharp pain filled my whole being. It was unbearable.  My wolf Amber was doing rounds in my head, trying to get out, growling in annoyance. "NO, MATE. DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE," Amber's voice came out hurting, and everyone in the kitchen froze!