(POV - Marcus)

Aria had fallen asleep in his arms, and he found his own eyes drooping as well. He was bone tired from their eventful evening at Aiden's banquet, and he was eager to get home and fall into his own bed with Aria at his side.

The trip back home was quiet, Jaden and Ryder remaining silent in the front seat, likely realizing that Aria had fallen asleep. They didn't want to wake her, and Marcus was grateful for them.

He'd have to remember to congratulate Inara on another job well done, considering how well Ryder had conducted himself despite Marcus coming very close to losing his temper. Every single one of his warriors knew that restraining Marcus when he'd lost his grip on his wolf was damn near impossible, and Ryder hadn't backed down at all.

Marcus was proud.

After almost two hours of driving, they pulled into the Ashryver compound, and Marcus glanced down at Aria.

She slept so peacefully, he hated to have to wake her, but he was itching to get out of the car. As gently as he could, he caressed her cheek, murmuring softly against her forehead.

"We're here," he said, brushing her hair out of her face. She shifted and slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she woke up.

"Hmm?"

"Let's get you inside," Marcus coaxed, helping her out of the car. She stuck close to him, and he kept his arm around her as they walked into the packhouse. It was quiet, as expected, considering it was long after midnight yet again.

"We're going to find Inara and debrief," Jaden whispered, nodding at Ryder who dismissed himself after bowing his head to Marcus.

"Before you go," Marcus said, stopping his Beta before he could disappear into the darkness outside. "I need you to gather as much intel on an Alpha named Griffin. He's young, white hair and a creepy smile. Something about him doesn't sit right with me."

Jaden nodded his understanding and left.

Marcus guided Aria back to his room, helping her climb the stairs one at a time. She giggled when she missed a step and almost fell, and it surprised Marcus with how much her laughter eased his tension.

"How come you stay in the packhouse?" she asked around a yawn. "Alphas usually have their own home a little further away from the communal house. Ya know, for privacy and stuff."

He knew she must have felt him tense up at her question, but she didn't push him on it.

"It's just easier for me," he lied, reaching the top floor - his floor- and unlocking his bedroom door. "It's more convenient for me to get work done."

"Oh," she yawned, nodding cutely.

"That makes sense."

He suppressed a smile and led her into his room, not bothering to turn any of the lights on. The LED from his digital clock was enough to illuminate the room, and Marcus was silently relieved that he'd at least decided to put Helena's clothes back inside his closet.

He helped her onto the bed and checked the bandages at her waist to make sure they weren't bleeding through.

"You can take the bed," he said, opening a few drawers and rummaging around for a spare change of clothes that Aria could wear. "I don't mind taking the floor for a while."

"That's silly," Aria pouted. "This is your land, and your bed, you shouldn't have to sleep on the floor just because I'm here."

He turned around with a pair of sweatpants that he knew would be too big for her and a T-shirt she would definitely drown in. A sudden rush of guilt surged inside him, and he set the clothes on top of the dresser.

"Are you really okay coming back here with me?" he asked, walking back towards the bed. She sat on his covers, her feet curled beneath her, and she looked so small that it almost broke his heart. "You're not uncomfortable staying here for a while, even with our prior arrangement?"

She glanced down, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

"What-" she paused, seemingly trying to find the words to phrase her answer. "What exactly are we, Marcus?"

He was momentarily stumped, because he did indeed care for her a lot more than he had before. And he'd already felt a deeper connection to her before his rut, meaning that whatever he felt for her now was definitely not considered 'no strings attached'.

But he remembered Helena, and the vision of her holding their son in the window of their home, and he realized he couldn't let himself care.

"I don't think we should put a label on what we have," he said, the words tasting like poison on his tongue. "We should just enjoy the time we have right now and enjoy it together."

If he'd been looking at her while he spoke, he might have caught the flash of hurt on Aria's eyes, but he'd avoided her eyes like a coward, because he knew his words were lies.

It was quiet for a tense moment, but Aria broke the silence.

"Then we should enjoy it," she said, climbing off the bed and walking towards him. The sway of her hips had saliva pooling beneath his tongue, and when her fingers ran across his chest, he swore his cock jumped in interest. "Every second of it."

She pulled him down by the neck, slotting her lips over his and sighing into his mouth. It was slow this time, unhurried and almost lazy, like they had all the time in the world to acquaint themselves with each other's taste.

He made sure to be mindful of the bandages on her waist and gripped onto her hips, pulling her body flush against his. His heart galloped inside his chest, her lips just as sweet as he remembered. He was dizzy with it, every bit of her intoxicating him, drugging him until his limbs buzzed with need.

He hadn't forgotten a single detail, and even his rut-induced fever hadn't stolen him long enough for him to miss the way she arched into his touch, eager to feel more.

He'd wondered if he reacted so strongly because it had been years since he'd allowed himself to touch a female that wasn't Helena, but he was convinced that there was something special about Aria, something about her honey-sweet tongue and her sugary lips, and her body that seemed to have been made for him.

He groaned into her mouth, his body turning pliant as her hands slipped down over the hard ridges of his abs. Her fingers stopped at the waistband of his pants, slowly working the button open and sliding his zipper with agonizing purpose.

"You're so quiet, Alpha," she murmured, her fingers dipping beneath his pants and curling around his cock. He hissed, already half hard just from her kisses.

"And you're very vocal," he ground out, his hand fisting in the silky fabric of her dress. "Shall we see how loud you can be for me?"

She hummed, her tongue prying his lips apart and letting him taste her again.

"I'm not rutting this time, little one," he warned, his fingers tugging the zipper on the back of her dress. She squeezed lightly, making him buck into her hand, heat washing over him and clouding his rational thoughts. "I can take my time with you, see how responsive you really are. I can play and tease and fuck you until the only name you remember is mine."

She smiled against his lips, her eyes still drooping sleepily, but her scent betrayed her arousal. He could smell it on her, that blooming need that had followed him around for days after she'd left.

"And what was that name again?" she teased, that shy, soft-spoken wolf disappearing entirely. He loved seeing her this way, strong and aware of her own power, the way a Luna should be, not the meek, scared pup that he'd had to see at the banquet.

The memory of how Aiden had reached out to grab her sent a spark of rage down his spine.

"Marcus," he growled, his hand resting at the base of her throat, his thumb brushing over the dip between her collarbones. "Alpha Marcus."

"Hmm, that sounds like a mouthful," she hummed again, baring her teeth at him in a teasing show of defiance.

"Would you like me to show you what a mouthful really is, brat?" he growled, licking over the seam of her lips and relishing in the way she shivered under his touch.

"I am a hands-on learner," she giggled, closing her fist around the girth of his cock and pumping slowly. "I learn best by doing."

"And teasing," he observed. "It's something I want to fuck out of you."

She stepped back, pulling him along by the end of his dick, sitting down on the bed when it hit the back of her legs.

"Do you promise?"

"Fuck, Aria," he breathed, climbing over her and pressing her body into the mattress. "Do you even know what your words do to a male? What your body does, what you do?"

"I'm only interested in what I do to you, Alpha," she murmured, leaning up to capture his lips again, lazily wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips.

The purple dress she wore bunched around her waist, revealing the tiny scrap of black lace covering her heated sex.

"You drive me crazy," Marcus admitted, running his fingertips over the lace, watching how her chest shuddered when he brushed over her clit. "I forget how to breathe when you're on top of me, and my entire existence blinks out when you scream my name."

"You make me sound so unreal," she said, a hint of blush tinting the apples of her cheeks. He could sense the insecurity she bore, no doubt thanks to being rejected by her true mate, and he was suddenly determined to prove her wrong.

"I thought you were unreal when I first met you," he said, unwinding her legs so that he could slide her panties off and toss them to the floor. "And even when I was so delirious I could barely see straight, you still seemed far too good to be true."

"Sweet talker," she accused, her eyes slipping shut when he slid a finger inside her dripping cunt, up to the last knuckle.

"It's the truth," he said. "And I'd be happy to show you, no matter how long it takes."

"I'll hold you to it, Alpha," she teased again, pecking his lips softly.

His finger dragged in and out of her pulsing heat, her walls clenching down around him and pulling his finger back in each time.

"Your pretty little cunt is so greedy," he drawled, pulling his finger all the way out and sucking her slick off his digit. "God, how are you so fucking delicious?"

He didn't give her the chance to reply, pushing himself off the bed to readjust their positions. He sat her against the velvet headboard, his hands spreading her thighs wide while he got comfortable on his stomach.

He nosed at her mound, her scent better than any alcohol he'd ever gotten drunk off.

"I've wanted to do this since I laid eyes on you at that stupid club," he breathed, blowing cool air over her wet lips. She shivered, her thighs threatening to shut, but he only spread them wider. "Uh uh, you should know better than to interrupt an Alpha when he's about to eat."

He stuck out his tongue and licked a long stripe up along her folds, her honey-sweet slick heavy on his tongue. He pressed his lips to her clit and hollowed out his cheeks, cock pulsing at the sounds he pulled from her pretty red lips. He felt her throb on his tongue, her need palpable in the air between them.

"Keep those paws at your sides," he instructed. She clenched her hands into fists and nodded. "You can only use them when I say so, got it?"

She nodded again, eyes glassy and slightly unfocused. But Marcus wanted to hear her.

He slapped her wet little cunt, pulling a shocked scream from her lips.

"Use your words, baby," he warned.

"Y-yes, Alpha," she panted, breathing heavily. He grinned up at her, his lips shining with her slick.

"Good girl," he growled, moving his hands so that his thumbs massaged the swollen flesh on either side of her sensitive clit. Her soft whines filled his ears, and he leaned forward to suck on her exposed clit, the new friction turning her whines to shrill cries. Her hips bucked on the mattress, trying to squirm away from the intensity but he refused to let up, only moving down to fuck his tongue into her quivering hole.

Her thighs shook, and he wondered how easy it would be to make her cum like this, with only his tongue. He felt a little mean, deciding to test just how far she could go by tapping the inside of her thigh.

"Be a doll," he said, pulling away. A string of clear, sweet slick connected his lips to her pussy, and some visceral, primal part of him urged him to mark her. "My arms are tired. Hold your little pussy open for me."

She whimpered, letting him guide her hands to where he needed them, pulling her lips apart to expose her entirely. Her cheeks flushed with obvious embarrassment, clearly not used to being put on display for a male. But Marcus admired her the way a dealer admired art.

Her breasts heaved with need, her fingers shaking where they held her pussy open, and her thighs quivered from being split apart for so long. Slick gushed from her clenching cunt, dripping down onto the sheets and pooling there.

Marcus wanted to drown in it, drown in her.

He lunged forward, eating her out like a man starved, his tongue fucking into her while the tip of his nose teased at her swollen clit.

"Fuck!" she squeaked, her mouth popping open in a silent scream. She groaned and threw her head back, a broken sob slipping through her teeth. "It's too much, Marcus, I can't- ah, ah, ah!"

Her body locked up as tight as a drawn bowstring before she unraveled on his tongue, a beautiful string of "Alpha, ah, ah, ah" pouring from her kiss-bitten lips.

He replaced his tongue with his finger again, looking to drive her to the point of delirious overstimulation, and crawled his way back up to kiss her messily. He licked into her mouth, making her taste herself on his tongue while his fingers curled inside her.

"Wait, Alpha, please it's- it's too much I'm gonna-"

"Then do it," he ordered, his fingers thrusting into her faster, his thighs keeping her knees parted. She cried out again, incoherent pleas and prayers on her lips until another orgasm hit her, this one so strong she almost pushed him right off the bed.

He'd kissed away the tears that slipped from her lashes, cooing at her as she came back down. He was gentle when he pulled his fingers out, but she still hissed, her knees snapping shut the second he was no longer pinning them open. He kissed her softly, peppering her face with small kisses; her eyelids, her cheeks, the tip of her nose.

"You did so good," he praised softly, his hands massaging her stomach as gently as he could. "So good for me, baby."

She hiccupped and lifted her arms, and he pulled her in, her face buried in his neck. He felt her drag in long, steadying breaths, no doubt using his scent to ground herself. He continued gently rubbing her back and her arms, whispering more words of praise in her ear.

"You're okay," he murmured, knowing how scary it could be to come down from a height he'd never reached. When wolves hit their highs, they often came down dazed and confused, forgetting where they were and, sometimes, who their partners were.

But Aria nodded, her fingers flexing against his skin. It eased his nerves and he reached for the bottled water he kept on his night stand and offered it to her.

He helped her drink, and when she was lucid again, she smiled.

"I didn't know you could do that," she breathed, a little giggle escaping her lips.

"We can do so much more," he said, his eyes roaming her naked body hungrily. "But after you drink more water."

They'd ended up making love all night, her lust insatiable and his need to please even more so.

And when he woke up the following morning, drained of every bit of energy,all it took was one look at her sleeping form to rid him of any doubts he might have had about bringing her back home.