Stella was using her charm and goddess-given assets to keep Orion distracted at the celebration.
It was going surprisingly well, too.
He seemed to have liked her usual charm and the way she was different from the rest of the girls in the pack.
Meanwhile, Alexander was making his way to the sleeping quarters that had been assigned to them when they first arrived at the Moonlight Shifters.
All he knew was that the others had fled a short while earlier, and he was doing his best to give them as much time as he could.
He wanted to keep up appearances for as long as possible in case anyone was watching him.
The last thing he needed was for someone to tell the Luna he was lying about anything and screw up his and Stella's start in their new home.
Especially seeing as she was doing so well with Orion at the moment.
As he walked, he continued to talk to himself, mostly in his head.
"I need a good plan. Something that will give the group more time to get away. This is giving them more time to get away. Just pretending to go and get them alone is letting them get further away. What the fuck am I doing? No, I just need a good story that will keep them off the right trail. I need time to come up with one."
Just then, Alexander was out of time as he was approaching the quarters.
He took a deep breath, greeted the guards like he had known them his whole life, and walked inside.
"Ayla, Titan, Phoenix, Raphael, Rhae. You guys are late for the party. My party"
Waiting a decent amount of time for them to reply, he kept walking towards the rooms, "Are you guys sleeping or, WOAH...SORRY, SO SORRY."
Making sure to stomp as loud as he could, he took several steps back.
"LOCK THE DOOR NEXT TIME, RAPHAEL. I'M NOT EVEN OPENING YOUR DOOR, TITAN. I SWEAR THIS IS A BROTHEL."
This was the worst possible way to give him time to come up with a plan, but he deepened his voice the best he could and impersonated Raphael.
"SORRY, LOST TRACK OF TIME, MAN. DID WE MISS THE THING?"
"NO, YOU ALL JUST NEED TO GET DRESSED AND GET MOVING."
"AYLA, I'LL GRAB...FUCK WHY DID YOU HIT ME, MAN... I THOUGHT YOU WERE IN YOUR ROOM."
At that point, he had hit himself as hard as he could in the lower part of his eye and cheek.
It had to be hard enough to leave a decent mark if they were to believe that Titan hit him.
"I'M DONE WITH THE LOT OF YOU. GET DRESSED AND MEET ME OUTSIDE. LUNA WANTS YOU ALL THERE."
He started stomping toward the front door, swinging it open quickly and slamming it shut behind him.
He thought talking to the guards would give them time to pretend to get ready, and more time.
"All they want to do is eat and have sex. I swear. I thought they were in his room, not hers. Honest mistake, really. Doesn't mean he had to punch me. We've had our differences, really, I mean, yeah, I was jealous of him when he first came along. Not anymore. Do you know who I am now? I outrank him. I, Me, a former orphan, I outrank Mr. never got cursed. He can have her. I'll have my pick of the pack, better than that, all the packs!"
The two guards looked at each other like a madman had just walked between them.
In essence, one quite literally had.
One of them finally asked, "Who are you exactly?"
That was not part of the plan.
They were supposed to know he was the lost son of the Luna.
"Oh, right. You weren't at my celebration. My name is Alexander. Brother to Orion, and son to Luna Alina. Nice to meet you. You know, now that I think of it. He might be jealous of me now since Mom doesn't need him anymore. Funny. He gets the girl; I get the pack."
The second guard got up with a menacing look on his face.
"I think they've had plenty of time to get dressed inside. I'm going to have a word with Titan. See how he feels about all this. Him being one of my oldest friends, and all."
That was definitely not part of the plan.
Alexander hadn't thought about Titan having friends in the pack, but he had given them all the time he was able to at that point.
That, and he might have played his hand a little too hard without knowing all the details.
"Alright, but if he hits you too, I warned you. He's a bit sensitive right now."
The guard raised his eyebrow at him and then grew a look of disdain toward the mouthy new pack member, "I'll see just how he is for myself. Thanks."
Alexander took in a breath and nearly forgot to let it out as the two guards made their way through the front door.
Silence fell on them as they ventured down the hallway, looking through every room, ensuring they were all empty.
That was, until they noticed that the back door was open, not wide open to make it obvious that it had been left that way, but open.
"Told you he was jealous."
The guard that had claimed to be Titans friend was the only one to speak yet again.
"This way. The runt may be right. Titan might realize he isn't needed now and could have fled with the prisoners."
Alexander furrowed his eyebrows, "Prisoners?"
"Yeah. Since you are part of the royal family, you should know, right?"
"Of course I do. That's why I came to get them for my mother, Luna Alina, I mean."
The guard that had been quiet outside was still suspicious of Alexander, "Did they give you any indication of where they might go?"
Alexander had been so distracted that he forgot to work on the rest of his plan.
Now, he had to think quickly.
"Well, he was smitten with Ayla. He was worried about what they had planned with her and her safety. All he kept mentioning was home. How safe would they be there? Do you think he took her back to his pack?"
The two guards looked at each other to gauge whether the explanation was possible or not.
"Let's go inform your family of the new developments then. They will be very disappointed to hear that they escaped under your watch, since you were the last to see them."
Both guards were now smiling.
Since Alexander was the last one in the house and had spoken to them last, given the scene had allowed them to hear, and the bruise on his face, he was going to take the blame for letting them escape.
This had to be the worst plan he had ever come up with.
At the very least, they were getting even more time to run away from the territory.
Once they had arrived back, without the additional wolves, the Luna did not look pleased.
She wore an even less friendly face when Alexander was forced to explain what happened, in every detail, at the assigned quarters.
He gave her every tiny little detail, and she was less than amused.
There were a few times when Luna Alina wanted him to get to the point, but he assured her that it was all important so that she knew the guards were not at fault.
The irritated Luna rolled her eyes in frustration and glared at the guards.
"Did you make him feel like you would be blamed if he didn't tell me everything?"
The one guard who had made it clear he had been close friends with Titan spoke up.
"No ma'am. Not in the slightest. We just said that since he was the last to see and speak with him, he could give you the most insight. That's all."
That didn't make it any better for them.
After Alexander had given her every detail he could think to give her, and the trail he planted for the guards to potentially follow, he nodded his head and smiled like a pleased little boy who had done a good job.
"Thank you, Alexander. I know you tried your best. You couldn't have foreseen them running when you came for them. I am terribly sorry Titan hit you. I just don't know what has come over my sweet boy."
Alexander had to turn to the side to stop from letting a laugh out, and that is when he saw Stella standing there, glazed eyes and flushed cheeks soaking it all in with a smile so large it couldn't be hidden.
Poor Stella was moments away from bursting at the seams with laughter.
Drinks with Orion had apparently gone extremely well, and agreed with her system, because he had never seen them affect her that way, but her laughing at the situation would blow the whole plan to bits.
"Well, if you don't mind, Luna, I would appreciate it if I could get my friend back to the quarters. She seems to be, well, she just appears to need to call it a night, " he said as he began to head toward her.
"Nonsense."
Alexander froze.
"I'm sorry."
His mother shook her head.
"You aren't staying in the quarters anymore. You and your friend will be staying in the pack house now. No son of mine will stay anywhere else. Clearly, she is a special friend. She can stay with you."
"You misunderstand the situation. We are just friends. Nothing more."
Not sure whether to believe him or not, Luna Alina didn't care.
"She can still stay in the pack house with you. We have enough rooms."
A smirk was now on her face.
Alexander wasn't sure what she was playing at, but he didn't mind having Stella close by to keep an eye on her.
"Okay. Can someone show us where we are staying then, please?"
Luna Alina nodded, "Of course! Your brother would be glad to."
As she lifted a hand to usher them all toward the door, Alexander was thrilled to be through the whole debacle.
Now, all he had to do was worry about Ayla and the others.
His biggest hope was that they made it far enough to escape whatever plan his mother was concocting.
Ayla had the same concern as the group ran as fast as they could through the trees and shrubs.
They didn't have a real destination yet, just away.
Phoenix and Raphael knew that at some point, they would have wolves coming after them.
If they headed toward a particular location, it would make it easier to find them.
The plan they came up with while they ran was to run in a direction that had no pack at all, including Scarlet Crest.
For not having a plan, that was a great plan.
Even better was running in human form to give off as little scent as possible for the first portion of the trip.
Once they were a good distance, they shifted and started running at a slightly faster pace than they probably should have to get as far as possible.
It was smart.
Now that they had been running for what felt like hours, they were all catching the consequences of running at such a pace.
Their wolves were starting to feel drained.
They needed to eat and rest.
The only problem was that they barely had the energy to function, let alone hunt.
Rhae was depleted of all reserve energy and wouldn't be able to help at all as she nearly collapsed, causing them to come to finally come to a stop.
Raphael was worried about her, but he knew part of it was due to emotional strain.
Her wolf was sad after leaving Stella behind.
Ayla was used to running in conditions similar to these, so she knew what to do.
Once everyone was situated and secure in the area, she decided to look around for water and food.
With any luck, both would be close, somewhere.
She was just as exhausted as the others, if not more, but she wasn't one to give up.
Ever.
It didn't take her long to find a little area with suitable water, which meant that food would be around somewhere.
Ayla had learned that when she found water, critters normally lurked close by.
In order to conserve some of her energy, she decided to stalk the water whole and wait for any kind of animal to make its way to quinch it's thirst.
The Moonlight Shifters had a point.
Why chase your prey when you can lay a honey trap and wait for it to come to you?
While she sat there, squatting at the base of a big oak tree, she failed to hear the two feet creeping up on her.
Either it was from being that focused on the water area ahead, or she was that tired, but before she knew what had happened, two hands wrapped around her throat and pulled her tired wolf body up and held it firm against the tree.
"Shift! NOW!"
She was so tired that she didn't have the energy to fight it.
Without a second thought, she shifted into her human form and was face-to-face with a naked Titan.
"Why are you out here alone?"
Ayla was confused.
"What...Why does it matter?"
"We just fled from a whole pack that is probably chasing you as we speak. If they capture you, we would never know it. Why are you out here alone? I went against a pack I grew up with to run away with you. You realize that, right?"
Ayla could see the concern in his eyes, but also the desire that was burning deep within them.
He leaned forward and put his nose to the nape of her neck.
"If they take you, I can't even track you. If the bond fully dissolves from the bite, you will just be gone. I can't smell you. All I want to do is to be able to smell you."
Titan began to rub his nose gently up and down her neck.
Chills overtook her body, and she forgot how tired and hungry she was.
Her arms came up and wrapped around the back of his neck with her hands finding the back of his head.
She knew he was showing this level of concern for several reasons, but mostly because the bite was slowly starting to fade, making the connection between them less and less over time.
His hair was so soft, and just the right length for her to grab, which she did as she pulled his head back and exposed his neck.
Without a second thought, she bit him, hard, once again, realizing that she had, or that her wolf teeth had dropped with her venom.
Titan moaned and soaked up the euphoric feeling that overtook him as she flowed through his veins for the second time.
This time, he was able to enjoy it, with the two of them being alone in the woods together, as he jerked his head back into his own control and began kissing him like the possessive wolf that he was.
She was his in that moment, and he wanted her to know it.
His hands were moving to memorize each curve of her skin, every line of her breast, the softness of her abdomen.
Then he came to the throbbing center she had teased him with the night before.
Ayla went to grab his hand while she continued to kiss him back with every bit of passion he kissed her with.
He growled at her, "No. I know where you stand. I won't take it that far. You will feel some parts of me, though. Open your legs.
Just my hand. I want to feel you."
Titan went back to kissing her with the same passion as before he spoke, and Ayla did as he told her.
Opening her legs for him to feel her.
As he slipped his hand between her legs, a small moan escaped as he rubbed her fingers along the outside, using his thumb to tease her clit while playing with the mounting moisture at the entrance of her pleasure center.
He was having fun teasing her after all the teasing she had done to him so far.
When she was sure that was all he was going to do, tease her, he squeezed her nipple, bit her lip, and slid two fingers inside of her at the same time.
A moan found its way out as he caught her off guard and surprised her with the sensation all at the same time.
Ayla's body wasn't sure where to focus on the sensations that were hitting her.
Titan pulled away from kissing her, "I just might make you wait, even when you're begging me to fuck you."
That made Ayla pause, as he pulled back from her, kissed her forehead, and licked his fingers clean.
"You do feel and taste so amazing though."
Ayla didn't know what to do.
That was a new experience for her.
"Excuse me. What was that? You can't just..."
Titan looked amused.
"I can't what? I think I can do what I want. You didn't say no. I believe you opened your legs, and I didn't do anything I said I wouldn't. Now, let's feed the hungry wolves."
He was fully aware of exactly how she felt because she had just recharged their bond to the fullest degree, and she was more than frustrated.
"I bet this was all part of the plan. 'Titan's big plan'. Right? Let's find food," she said as she brushed past him, now filled with something she hadn't felt before, and ready to hunt.