Alexander, sitting on his haunches, was confused by her expression and her choice of words.
What did she mean she knew it?
Unsure what to do, he shifted back.
"What? How did you know"?
Ayla, perfectly calm, settled onto the couch.
Joy and peace both rested in harmony on her face.
"It was obvious. Night vision spot on. Hearing superb. Amazing swimming skills with superhuman underwater breathing. Plus, everything else. Add in how scared you were to say it. ONLY being able to show me," she shook her head, "I'm not an idiot. Eventually, both of you men will realize that".
Now, he felt like he was the idiot for so many reasons.
What made it so easy for her to figure it out, but not him?
Playing stupid was one thing, but he didn't want to look like he wasn't smart.
As he sat there admiring how smart she was, he began wondering if he was really as intelligent as he thought he was.
While doing so, his eyes grew in size.
Suddenly, a wolf appeared before him, several shades lighter than he was, matching her light blonde hair- nearly white in the living room.
He was in awe.
It took her a matter of seconds to figure out how to shift into her wolf form.
No questions, no hesitation, just a shift, as she darted off through the apartment.
Rounding the corner, Alexander came to find Ayla standing there, naked.
Ayla was running that morning's events through her head.
He wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but he knew she was thinking.
"What is it, I can see you thinking"?
"This morning, when you and Julius..." but she was interrupted.
"Yes".
One word was enough for them both to understand.
Whether she was safe or not, she didn't know.
"How long have you known this about me?" Ayla asked.
"Just found out this morning. Honestly. I told you when you agreed to stay with me, no lies. Now, I'm including no secrets either," he replied.
That wasn't something she could truly agree to, and she knew it, but she could try.
She knew one thing, though: she no longer felt alone.
Alexander was like her, and if she him, then he came with Julius.
They were a pair.
For the first time, she was uncovering details about who she really was.
Before meeting the two men protecting her, she knew nothing about herself.
Now, Ayla knew that she was strong, fierce, independent, smart, and a werewolf.
"So, the three of us can openly talk about all of this," she confirmed.
"Yes, but there's more," he said, making her look worried.
They sat on the couch as he told her the rest of what had happened in Julius's room.
Unsure of how to feel, she wanted a minute or two to let it ruminate before talking about it again.
"So, we don't need to look for the Dominic guys' son anymore. That's a bummer. I was looking forward to that," was all she managed to say.
Alexander suggested heading to the roof for some fresh air while she processed everything that she had learned.
Everything was getting so messy that she didn't want to make the wrong move.
Fresh air sounded great to her.
Ayla just needed to breathe and be in nature, not trapped within four walls.
Once they were up on the rooftop, they found her new favorite spot and settled in, the late afternoon sun warming her as she relaxed in Alexander's arms in the hammock.
Even though they weren't tired, they seemed to drift off to sleep anyway.
Every time she was in his arms, resting, it was like she couldn't help but drift away.
She just felt safe.
As they drifted to sleep, the club was clearly the place to be.
Even though it was still a bit early, the place buzzed with more life than usual, thanks to the lingering summer sun.
Julius was inside, and thought the bar was beneficial last time, so why not choose it again?
He was making himself comfortable and charming the locals, per usual, with his trademark cheeky smile.
Before too long, Dominic, Phoenix, and Raphael made an appearance, heading straight for him, unaware of the shadow trailing them.
Phoenix greeted him first with a dap and a massive hug, like old friends, followed closely by Raphael.
Just at the door behind them, Mason slipped in, eyeing the scene with narrowed eyes.
That was not the same scene as the day before, but he didn't see them arrive or leave.
After greeting their newly found pack member and rubbing their scent all over him, they beamed with satisfaction.
"Well, if you don't mind, we are going to leave you two to talk or whatever. We are on the prowl for those ladies," Phoenix grinned, waggling his eyebrows.
Dominic waved him on and motioned for Raphael to follow the troublemaker, almost as if to keep an eye on him.
Julius was almost worried for his patrons at that point, but he wasn't going to stand in the way.
"Go, enjoy," Julius said with a gesture.
Dominic shook his head as he took a seat at the bar and raised a finger.
Without asking, Julius poured him a double whiskey over two large ice spheres, leaving the spy to wonder how he knew Dominic's drink so well.
Did he come here often enough to be a regular?
Just how long had the general and his men been around?
Mason was getting the feeling that he wasn't going to get anywhere by standing at the door.
If anything, it was just going to arouse suspicion around himself.
So, he decided to join the action and have a drink with his competition.
"What brings you back here again?" Dominic asked, surprised.
"Thinking about following a lead that my A... Ulfric is sending me on," Mason muttered.
"Only thinking about it? I've heard about him. He doesn't just make suggestions. If you don't listen, then..." and Dominic cut himself off.
"Aren't you worried what the little bartender will overhear?" Mason questioned.
Dominic knew that he should be, and Mason was right to question it.
"Of course I am," he cleared his throat, "I was just shocked you'd disobey a direct order, that's all."
"If I was told about the tip on the girl, weren't you?" Mason pressed.
"I told you. I'm taking some personal time," Dominic snapped.
Mason raised an eyebrow, lowering his voice.
"Why would you take personal time now? Alpha Ulfric told me I only had until the Wolf Moon to bring his daughter Ayla home to him."
Dominic started to scratch the side of his face.
"HIS daughter?"
Mason didn't understand the Silver Moon wolves' tone.
"Yeah. He said she was his daughter. Why?"
While he saw Dominic processing what he was just told, Mason decided to let him in on his plan.
"Alpha Theo said she was his daughter and mentioned we were running out of time as well. That's why I decided to quit and drink."
Dominic still didn't trust Mason, but at that point, did it really matter?
He wasn't about to reveal that he knew Ayla was nearby.
Julius was trying to pretend like he wasn't paying attention, but he was failing miserably.
"What do you mean?" Mason grumbled, "One of them is lying!"
"Or both of them," Julius mumbled under his breath.
The two men gave him a questioning look, and he quickly moved further down the bar to tend to other guests.
He had forgotten that they could hear on the level that he could.
Dominic decided to speak his mind, to draw attention back to himself.
"I don't want to get caught in the middle of whatever game they are playing. Do you? That poor girl's the one who'll suffer if we don't know who she really belongs to. No offense, but she doesn't look like she belongs to either of them."
Knowing that he had no clue what the girl actually looked like, Mason couldn't say one way or the other.
"Kids don't always look like their parents, though, not always," Mason spouted.
Dominic was happy that Julius had stepped away, but at that moment, Julius was walking back.
Thankfully, he was looking down.
Mason failed to realize the man on the other side of the bar was doing his best not to allow him to get a good look at him.
Given the way the conversation was going, it was easy to see why Dominic stayed put; it gave the man leverage.
"What kind of bartender are you? Get me a drink already!" Mason barked.
"Yes, sir. What'll it be?" he asked, as Mason pointed to Dominic's drink.
"Humans," he scoffed.
"Anyway," Mason continued, "I can't say much about Ayla because I've never seen her. If you have, you know more than I do. Either way, we're both screwed. I don't know how we even ended up in this mess."
"I don't know about you, but I was assigned because I'm good at what I do. As for the mission? Greed, apparently. Supposedly, we are the greedy ones," Dominic chuckled.
Mason started looking around the club before focusing back on Dominic.
He knew what Mason was thinking.
"Yeah, if you look around, I don't think our greed comes close to any of the other kinds of greed around. Look at them."
Mason paused for a moment.
"Did taking all of our children solve anything? They're all still trying to take Ayla. Lying, scheming, plotting, doing whatever it takes to win her into their pack. She's the prize, apparently. If anything, they're greedier now than before. They think that if they win her, all of the missing children will follow her there."
Dominic's ears twitched.
"What do you mean?"
Suddenly, Mason bore a look that he knew very well.
"You didn't know?"
Dominic shook his head, and Mason laughed.
"Wow, your Alpha really sent you in blind, expecting results and loyalty. I don't know how much of it was true, but that rumor's been circling our pack for years. Both our Alphas did tell us she was their daughter, though," he shrugged.
"She's not a freaking shepherd," Dominic muttered.
Unsure how to respond to each other, he sipped his whiskey, and Mason did the same.
Neither man wanted to be the first to truly admit they were ready to abandon their mission, but both felt it.
Why would they put their life on the line when it was for a lie?
They would much rather help the young girl stay protected than be used.
Again, neither one wanted to be the first to truly admit it.
Still, pride was a hard thing to fight.
Mason knew he faced certain death very soon, so he leaned in.
"If you knew where she was, would you help her?" he whispered.
Dominic pulled his eyebrows together in shock.
"Why would you even ask that?"
"Because we aren't the only ones here," Mason said as he turned his head to the entrance, setting his sights on the two werewolves who had just walked in, holding their noses with a slight tilt.
Julius heard them and glanced up, instantly recognizing they were scenting the air for other wolves.
'Fuck' Julius thought to himself.
"What the hell," Dominic muttered, as he set his drink on the bar and let his head fall forward between his shoulders.
'Didn't the decoy message work at all?' Dominic thought.
'Maybe I should just change the name of the club to the Wolves Den,' Julius joked to himself.
Something had shifted, and it wasn't in Ayla's favor.
The little bartender had never been so happy to have grounded his roommate and Ayla.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked, walking back to the two old wolves.
"We are fine," Mason grumbled.
"I'll handle it," Dominic told his son, the honesty in his tone making Mason take a second look.
"Wait a minute. That's impossible," Mason gasped, feeling as though he'd run into a wall.
"How could I have been so blind. You aren't here for Ayla. You are here for him," he pointed.
Dominic, uneasy, glanced at his son, worried about drawing attention to himself and Julius.
Julius, unsure what to do himself, nodded his head at another server to come take his place.
With one hand, he waved for the two men to join in following him.
Dominic didn't think to warn Phoenix and Raphael as he left the club floor, because his only concern was not alerting the two new wolves in the room to anything suspicious.
Once free from spying eyes and ears, Julius spoke first.
"What was the purpose of all of that?"
Mason looked like he didn't want to answer, but he did, stubbornly.
"All of what"?
Dominic pushed further.
"Your sudden revelation. What exactly do you think you've figured out?"
Mason's confidence spiked, though looking at the two men side by side, Dominic doubted he knew anything, yet Mason was certain.
"You mean, what do I know?" he sniffed the air toward Julius to verify.
"I saw you two last night, leaving the woods. At first, I thought you and the other two had rubbed your scent off on him. But that's not it. This is your boy. The one you've been searching for. Glad you finally found him," Mason said with a nod.
"You can't tell anyone. He just found out about me. We're keeping our relationship in private for now," Dominic said sternly.
"This isn't your secret to tell," Julius added.
"Isn't it? I have nothing left to lose. My Alpha will have my head in a few days. What difference does it make to me?"
Dominic could hear the desperation seeping through his words.
"What is it that you want. I can tell you want something in return for silence," he asked.
Mason drummed his fingers on the table.
"Clearly, you meant it about taking some personal time, but that wasn't the whole truth. Otherwise, those two buffoons wouldn't have shown up. I've seen them before... the Sharp-Fang sometimes runs with the Deep-Fang. They think she is here, just like I did. It's only a matter of time before someone finds Ayla."
"Get to the point already," Julius interrupted.
"You know her," Mason said with a smile.
"That's why you were listening so intently. You want to report back to her. Clever boy."
If anything, Mason was quick to pick up on the small things.
That was probably how he got the General position.
Julius's ears dropped back.
"That's not true," he lied.
"It's okay. You don't have to lie to me. I'm just curious to see how the next hour alone is going to play out," Mason said, as he smiled and walked away.
The young man couldn't shake the feeling that Ayla was in trouble.
Not just that, but the three of them, himself, Alexander, and Ayla, were in over their heads.
Thinking of Ayla, he wondered what she and Alexander were doing at the apartment.
What did Mason know that he didn't?
Were they even at the apartment like they promised?
They weren't.
Instead, they were racing across the rooftop above it in wolf form.
The two of them were reveling in the feeling of the night air in their fur.
Baring their teeth as the moonlight soaked into every part of their body that was visible.
Smiling wasn't something they could do in wolf form, so it looked slightly aggressive when they tried, blissfully unaware of how it looked.
Thankfully, the men had made a lush oasis of nature at the top, making it feel as if they were running through the wilderness as they played the best game of chase they had ever had in their whole lives.
There were many things they hadn't experienced in that form, but one more was about to be crossed off the list.
Alexander was quickly gaining on Ayla, as he was figuring out how she managed to escape his maneuvers.
She was quick and turned without notice, unpredictable, making it hard for him to keep up or catch her.
He was gaining on her after every turn, though.
Before she realized it, he was within her proximity, and with one major push, he pounced on her.
She was pinned under him.
A playful, "GGRRRR" escaped her as her rear wiggled slightly.
This was new for both of them, but it felt right.
All they knew to do was follow their instinct, as they let nature take its course.
He had caught her; she was his.
Unsure of what to do, he turned to face her and nuzzled her, rubbing his nose in the crook of her neck.
The sensations that ran through her body told her that this was right, that they were meant to be together in that moment, caressing each other.
Ayla accepted him, as she responded the same, as the same feelings erupted over Alexander.
As they rubbed against each other, he began to slowly move around her, making sure he kept himself pressed against her as much as possible as he did.
When he made it to his destination, he was standing back in his original position, behind her, and she didn't move.
He pulled himself into position, and the act of joining the two as one for the first time in wolf form began.
The act itself was a blur that neither of them remembers.
It's assumed that the wolves inside of them take over for that part, but they didn't think about it.
Afterward, they continued to run around a while longer, not just on the rooftop, but through the apartment as well, until they wore themselves out and collapsed in the bed, with Alexander holding her.
Julius didn't have to worry about whether they were in the apartment too much longer when he got the ding on his phone of the elevator letting them back in from the roof.
Even though he was happy they seemed okay, he was irritated that, yet again, he was left to clean up the hurricane that was after Ayla.
What kind of cursed life was he living that this was the life he had?
Julius was grateful to her because he felt she brought his father to him.
Ayla.
She was a blessing.
Ayla was also a curse.
His curse.
Of course, they were at the apartment having fun.
The pair had a free pass to laze around all day.
Julius realized that he, in fact, did not want to think about what they were doing at the apartment.
Visions of the two of them naked on the island, intertwined, popped into his head as he tried to shake them out.
How was it that he was the one stuck cleaning up Ayla's mess again, while she was lounging around at HIS apartment?
He thought to himself that no amount of her berating his roommate was going to make up for the hell he was going through this time, no matter how funny it was to watch.
"What did that Mason guy mean about seeing how the next hour alone would end?" Julius asked.
Dominic didn't know how to answer that.
"Well, we have unknowns. You're an unknown. Ayla is an unknown. He is an unknown, so many unknowns. Lots of wolves in the mix."
His face fell flat, "Phoenix and Raphael! Where are they? I forgot to warn them," Dominic said, panicked.