Page 54 of The Alpha's Auctioned Pregnant Mate

Articus chuckled, the sound sending a pleasant shiver down her spine. "What would you like to know?"

"Everything! Give me all the juice." Wren found herself leaning in, eager to learn more about the man who had become such a significant part of her life.

Articus lifted the jar of freshly squeezed orange juice and pointed it toward her. Wren blinked for a second at his half-smile before playfully pushing his hand away. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

The clown.

"Okay. Okay. Well," Articus started, a nostalgic smile playing on his lips, "I grew up here in the White Moon pack. I always had good people around me. My parents were supportive, and I had Rowan."

His smile widened at the mention of his best friend. "We've been inseparable since we were pups. He always just saw me as a friend."

"He's the one married to Juniper? Tell me about him," Wren prompted, enjoying this glimpse into Articus' past.

Articus chuckled. "Rowan's a character. Always has been. There was this one time when we were still kids..." He launched into a story about a prank gone wrong that had them both cleaning the general meeting hall for a month.

Wren found herself laughing along, picturing a younger Articus and Rowan causing mischief. It was a side of him she'd never seen before, and she found herself warming to it.

But as Articus continued, his expression grew more serious. "It wasn't all fun and games, though," he said, his voice lower. "When we were teenagers, something happened that changed everything."

Wren leaned forward, sensing the shift in mood. "What was it?" she asked gently.

Articus took a deep breath. "A crazed rogue somehow managed to break through to the light side of the mountain. He... he killed Rowan's parents."

Wren gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh, Articus, that's terrible."

He nodded, his eyes distant with the memory. "It was a dark time for all of us, but especially for Rowan. He was devastated, angry. For a while, I thought I might lose him to that anger."

"What happened?" Wren asked, her heart aching for both Articus and Rowan.

"We rallied around him," Articus said. "My pack, his, our friends. And slowly, he started to heal. But it changed things. We took protecting the divide more seriously after that. My father implemented stricter patrols, better security measures."

Wren nodded, understanding dawning. "Is that why you were so quick to help when Cassius brought up the rogues being snatched?"

Articus met her eyes, his gaze intense. "Partly," he admitted. “What happened to Rowan’s parents... it showed us that the divide between light and dark wasn’t as impenetrable as we thought. And it made us realize that not all rogues are dangerous, but desperation can drive people to do terrible things.”

He reached across the table, taking her hand in his. The gesture sent a warmth spreading through Wren’s body. “Meeting you,” he continued, “seeing firsthand what happens on the Dark Side... it reinforced that we need to do better. For everyone’s sake.”

Wren squeezed his hand, touched by his words and the emotion behind them. “I’m sorry about Rowan’s parents,” she said softly. “But I’m glad some good could come from it, even if it took a while.”

Articus nodded, a small smile returning to his face. “Rowan’s doing well now. He and Juniper have a wonderful family.”

“That’s wonderful,” Wren said, genuinely happy for Articus’ friend. “You must have been excited to be an uncle.”

Articus chuckled. “I was—the first time. But they’ve all gone and had kids now, and I am tired of all my friends calling me ‘Uncle Articus’.”

They shared a laugh, the heavy mood lifting. As their laughter subsided, Wren found herself studying Articus’s face, noticing the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, the warmth in his gaze as he looked at her.

“But it also made me realize how much I want that for myself one day,” Articus admitted.

Wren’s heart skipped a beat at his words. Did that mean he saw a future with her? The thought both thrilled and terrified her.

Is he talking about me?

“I could see you being an amazing dad,” she found herself saying before she could stop herself.

Articus’s smile widened, and he looked at her with an intensity that made her breath hitch. “And I could see you being an incredible mom.”

The words hung in the air between them, heavy with unspoken possibilities. Wren’s mind whirled, thoughts of a family she had begun to give up on having entered her mind.

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