Page 52 of Alpha Marked

Stop!

"Go look," said Zeke. "I'm not lying to you. When you weren't at dinner, she didn't eat."

"Perhaps she wasn't hungry."

"Then why did she keep looking at your vacant seat? And why did she ask about you?"

Ares didn't want to get his hopes up. Couldn't get his hopes up. He needed to lock it all down. Everything inside him screamed for him to go to her. Every instinct his feral wolf had was to take, claim, mate, rut. But he couldn't. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done. It took more willpower than he knew he had not to take her, but if he did, she would never be his. And most likely, Cherry would sneak into his house one night and cut his throat.

"Keeping away from her isn't going to make this any better," Theo offered.

Ares regarded his men. "But it will keep her safe."

"From you?" Theo asked.

Ares nodded. "I can't control my wolf around her. Her scent. Her taste. The urges in me… I understand why that rogue bit her. It's horrible, but I do understand."

"You have to learn to control it," said Theo.

Ares growled.

"I've known you longer than anyone," Theo said. "And I get it. You are the heir to the Lycan throne and the biggest badass of all of us. You are used to getting whatever you want when you want it. But that's gonna change now."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you have a mate. Having a mate isn't about what you always want but what they want. Right now, you want what your wolf wants. It's what all of us want when we find our mate. But you must think with your human head and not your Lycan instinct. River isn't like other Omegas. She isn't going to roll over and play submissive. She wasn't raised that way. You have to be slow with her, gentle. Let her get to know you."

Ares rubbed his hands over his face. He'd never let a woman in before. His men knew him because they'd been through hell together on multiple occasions. But he'd only ever entertained women for one thing, and it wasn't to get to know him.

He hissed out a harsh breath. But for some reason, he wanted her to. To learn everything about him. To bandage up the broken parts and make the decent parts better. He wanted… her.

Ares openedhis suite door and stopped. Vanessa stood, hand raised, ready to knock.

"What are you doing here?" Ares had seen little of her the last two days, and it surprised him how much he liked it when she wasn't around.

Vanessa was the best assistant he'd ever had but a terrible friend with benefits. As has been made apparent in the less than three minutes she and River had spent in the elevator together. He'd not missed her at all over the past two days. Not driving in the car. Not sitting next to him at his meetings. Not listening to her make phone calls for him and schmooze people, nothing. None of it. And in that moment, looking at her standing at his door, he understood why. There wasn't any drama that came along with her just being her.

"I asked what you needed," said Ares.

She pulled a bottle of wine from behind her back. "I overheard the guys saying you got your own suite, so I came to see if you wanted some company." The flippant way she said it grated his nerves.

"I'm on my way to the other suite right now. I only moved over here as a courtesy to my mate because her sister has been staying with her for the last day or so."

A smile twisted the corner of her mouth. “Do you have any idea what newpositionyou want me in when we return to Montreal?"

His wolf's hackles raised, and he snarled.

Ares choked back the scathing retort he had for her and instead said, "I might be opening an office in Europe. If I do, I'll need to send someone to head it up I can trust. And they will certainly need an assistant, especially one as fluent in as many languages as you are. You put a lot of work into all those courses. Time to put them to use."

Her mouth fell open. "Europe? You… you want to send me to Europe?"

"You always said you wanted to go. This would be the perfect opportunity. Travel. Pay. And it would be hard for your home pack Alpha to reach you there. Unfortunately, with you not being my assistant, I won't be able to guarantee your safety from him."

Her cheeks flushed. "Why? Why are you doing this to me, Ares? Five years. I've been loyal to you for five years and-"

"And you knew when you started this would happen. I didn't lie to you or lead you on, Vanessa. I always told you I was searching for my mate. I searched every chance I got. I told you before you climbed into my bed for the first time this was friends with benefits, nothing more. You agreed to it. As a matter of fact, we signed a contract to avoid any misunderstanding. Do you need me to print you a copy?"

"I thought you'd change your mind. Stop looking. Choose me."

---