Chapter 31

Belle POV:

"Aria, there is someone here with us," I say. I begin shaking. I am afraid. He pulls me close to him and holds me while we wait to see who pops out of the woods.

He turns to look in the direction of the noise. I can hear his heart beating as I try to listen to whatever lurks in the woods. "I will protect you, Belle," Aria says.

I look back at him. I am older and stronger, but he is soon to be Alpha. I guess I can let him protect me if it makes him feel like the big bad wolf. More branches break, and the movement becomes quicker as whatever it is moving toward us.

MOM! I call to my mother in our mind link with her. We are in trouble; send dad. I send her an urgent plea for help. I have a feeling whatever is lurking is not good. Aria pushes me behind him. I feel something grab my upper arm and pull me.

"Let go of me!" I scream out.

I look at Aria and see Alpha Locke standing beside Aria. "Well, look here what we got. Two pups in the woods, what are we going to do with you two?" Alpha Locke taunts us.

Aria does not back down from Alpha Locke. He stands tall and in his face. "We are going back to the party. Come on, Belle," Aria demands. He reaches for my hand, and someone pulls me back and begins laughing.

"I think the two of you want to party with us. Especially Belle. She looks like my type. Tell your boyfriend here that you want to party with a real wolf," Alpha Locke says. He moves closer to me while another wolf holds me.

"Let go of me," I scream out. Aria rushes toward me and stands in between Alpha Locke and me. Aria is determined to protect me.

"I said we are going back to the party," Aria growls at Alpha Locke.

Alpha Locke gets in Aria's face. "I do not think so, pup," Alpha Locke says. He pushes Aria, but Aria pushes back. Aria is not backing down from him. The two begin growling at one another. I could easily take Alpha Locke down, but how would Aria feel if I did that? I have to let him defend me.

"You heard him, Locke," A much louder, more resounding voice calls to Alpha Locke. Alpha Locke turns to see Alpha Sebastian and my father in their wolf form and ready to fight.

Alpha Locke backs away from Aria. Aria takes my hand and leads me away from the three Alphas. "Come on," Aria says to me.

I follow Aria toward the garden. I am shaking as we come to a clearing. My mother is waiting for us. "What happened? Are you two okay?" my mother asks.

"Yes, Alpha Locke and his wolves were just trying to rattle us. You know how Alpha's can sometimes be. I may have overreacted, but I was afraid," I say. I downplay what happened. I do not want her to worry.

My mother looks down to see Aria holding my hand. I can tell that makes her happy. "Are you two friends again?" my mother asks.

"I think so," Aria says.

I still do not know why he brought that wolf with him. I want to know who she is and why he brought her here. We leave my mother to wait on my father. Luna Alanis is running toward my mother full speed. She checks on us and stays on track to wait on her husband to come back.

"Are you going to tell me about Lakota?" I ask him. Aria holds my hand tighter. He stops walking and turns to me. We are close enough to the party that everyone can see us.

"She is only a friend. I asked her to come with me to support me while I took on this huge role my father is giving me and because I planned to ask you something important tonight, but you took off upset when you saw her," Aria says.

"Oh, I guess I overreacted," I say. I am a fool. My father is right, and I do jump to conclusions without letting people explain to me what is going on first. I guess I need to work on that.

"It is okay. After I got to talk to you, I knew that we would be fine. Belle, I want you to be more than my best friend. I want you to be my Luna, my wife. I know I am younger than you, but I have loved you my entire life. I want us to be together. Will you be my wife?" Aria asks me.

Aria reaches into his pocket and takes out a small box. I look to my mom. My mother, father, and Aria's parents are coming back from the confrontation with Alpha Locke. They stop and wait for my answer. Aria goes to his knees as he opens the box. I cannot believe this is happening.

"Don't leave me hanging; everyone is watching," Aria says. I look around and realize I have his pack and my pack watching and waiting for my answer.

"Yes, Aria. I will be your wife," I answer him.

Aria removes the ring from the box and slides it onto my ring finger. He takes my hand and stands in front of me. He takes my mouth and kisses me. The sparks fly between us. My mate, he is my mate. I have known it my entire life, but now it is real. We are going to be together after all this time.

I do not even realize that people are cheering for us. My parents and his parents join us. I look at my dad and my mom. They knew what was going on but let me have my nervous breakdown. I guess I had to see for myself how much Aria cared for me.

My mother puts her arms around me. "My sweet little baby Belle is all grown up," she says. I look around for Katherine. I want to share this moment with her.

"You still have Katherine, who will never leave you, mom," I say as I scan the crowd for her.

"Is everything okay with Alpha Locke?" Aria asks my dad.

My dad nods. "I had some of my wolves escort him out of here. Everything is fine. He is a bully and an asshole. You did good standing up to him, Aria," my dad says.

We begin all walking back to the party. Aria does not let go of my hand, and I cannot stop smiling at him. "Thanks for protecting me," I say as we get back to the party.

"We both know you could have taken Alpha Locke. I know you are stronger than me, and I know that you are unique. You never have to do anything to give me an ego boost. I think it would be hot to see you kick his ass," Aria says. I look over at him. I do not think he has ever used the word Hot and me in the same sentence. He has always kept things very vanilla between us.

"Well, I will always let you protect me, but if you need my help, I will always have your back," I say. I lean my head over on his shoulder. He pulls me closer. I look up at him, and I want to kiss him again, but I can wait until there are not so many people around. I want to kiss him until he grows tired of me and then kiss him some more.

"I want to be your protector, your husband, and whatever you need me to be. I want you to be happy," Aria says. If he only knew just how happy he makes me.

"Good, now let's get this Alpha announcement out of the way so we can ditch this party," I say. I hope he agrees. I do not care where we go as long as we are alone, and I can melt into his lips for the rest of the night.

"Sounds like a plan," Aria says. He pulls out my chair, and I sit next to him. It feels strange sitting across the table from my parents instead of with them. I smile at mom, and she smiles back. I hope she does not start crying.

Alpha Sebastian gets up to announce that Aria will be the next Alpha. I scan the crowd again, looking for Katherine. Where is she?