166- When the Alarm Howls
POV Aldren Valmorin:
Near the central area of the village, beside the grocery store, I tried to understand why a female longed so deeply for my help. Tired, but ever vigilant, I sat on one of the benches beneath the pines.
Dealing with my pack’s family conflicts reminded me of the essence of being an alpha at any cost: protect, teach, and lead.
“Tell our alpha, son!” the mother urged, a certain anger in her features and voice.
“Sir Aldren, I…” The child with fair skin and blond hair, sitting on my lap, tried to speak.
“Tell me, little pup,” I used a gentle tone of voice—one only the little ones had the satisfaction of receiving.
He looked down, hiding his sky-blue eyes from me, before continuing.
“My little friend invited me to the lake and…”
“That little brat tried to sneak off to Alpha Edric’s village!”
The mother shouted rudely.
“Be quiet, ma’am. If you want to teach your son manners, start by being polite enough not to interrupt him while he speaks.” The order disguised as advice made her pupils double in size before she shrank back, taking a step away.
“Of course, sir. Forgive me…” she whispered, and then I touched the chin of the boy called Tôren so he would look at me.
“Pup, a question. If it were your mother crossing the territorial limits without my authorization, could you tell me what would happen to her?”
“Y-yes…” he confirmed he knew, his short lips trembling.
“Ah, of course you know. Right now, you’d be an orphan. But look—today we can keep this secret between us.” I winked, and the poor thing nodded several times, as if afraid I might change my mind. “However, if there is a next time, the one who will pay for your disobedience will be your beloved mother. Can I count on your obedience?”
“Yes! Y-yes!” he stammered, eyes wet.
“How wonderful. We have a deal.” I kissed his forehead and set him down on the ground before I stood.
I turned my back on the woman who thanked me over and over; my duty was done. I went to the right, between the trees, hoping no one else would intercept me on my way home.
And then something worse than a simple nuisance happened.
My primary alarm went off, cutting through my plan to take a hot bath and have a hearty meal. At once, every instinct in me flared—like the tall flames of a bonfire.
Though there was a chance it was a false alarm, a whim of the wind like on other occasions, every fiber of my being warned me to prepare for the worst; always.
Danger always lurked for the careless.
Fueled by a double portion of my own strength, I ran as fast as I could through the trees and over the damp ground to reach the area of my laboratory. Under the cold wind, I wasn’t the only one running—each passing second, more of my men joined me from every side of the forest.
“Sir Aldren, it must be a mistake again!” one of the guards shouted, running at my right.
“It had better be, so there won’t be bloodshed,” I replied, closing in on the wall.
Meters from the entrance, the scent I caught told me a stranger had been there. That aroma belonged to no one in my pack. When I stopped in front of the glass door, I was absolutely certain it hadn’t been another false alarm.
The intruder had left their trail in the air.
The guard I saw on post wasn’t the one actually scheduled for that shift. Instead of Mikonos’s pair of gray-blue eyes, I found Savian’s black eyes.
“Where is Mikonos?” I demanded, crossing the entrance with my men, who followed me.
“I still don’t know, sir. Iulian and Bratvo are looking for him!”
“What happened here, fuck?” I stopped just inside the tower’s entrance, the smell even stronger now… of some bitch.
A female.
One who was not part of my pack, nor any of the other four in Romania. My nose never lied.
“Three of ours are in the forest, sir. We still don’t know. Unbelievable.”
What secrets or promises had dragged this intruder into my restricted area? Because to not fear death, she had most certainly been given an important mission.
My men couldn’t kill her before I got answers.
“Go with them and tell them I want the bitch alive!” Savian nodded to me and retreated.
“Bitch?” one of the guards asked.
“Can’t you smell this shitty stench? Some intrusive bitch has been here.”
It definitely wasn’t an unpleasant scent, but no one needed to know that. Only Kehin—the friend I considered a brother, and an alpha in training—confirmed he’d noticed it, a smile tugging at the corner of his thin lips.
“What do you want me to do, Aldren?” he asked, uncrossing his arms and sweeping a lock of dark-blond hair off his forehead.
“Go. Help Iulian and Bratvo find Mikon—” I cut myself off the moment my men crossed the walls holding the irresponsible one, along with a newly admitted she-wolf in my pack. “Well, well, well,” I drawled when I noticed Tara’s half-nakedness; she reeked of heat and wore only the omega’s black shirt.
Mikonos was bare-chested, and his gray-blue eyes had darkened to navy. The insolent bastard snarled at my guard as if he still had any right.
“Let her go!” he demanded of Bratvo, ignoring my presence.
The uniformed man with heavy black hair falling over his shoulders tightened his grip on Tara’s arm and looked at me for an order.
“No, you will not let that female go,” I ordered, and only then did the heat-slave look me in the eyes. “Where were you when the alarm sounded?” Coming to his senses about what awaited him, he tried to soften his expression and swallowed hard. “And who do you think you are, giving orders to one of my guards?”
I went down the small staircase and took threatening steps toward him—steps that sounded like a funeral march for his inevitable end. The offender hunched his shoulders, frightened.
“I just…” His voice came out like the hiss of a small cat.
I flared my nostrils and sniffed him as if he were a pig, grimacing.
“What went through that empty sack of mush you call a brain?” I lowered my eyes, aiming at his pants with the zipper open, and laughed with scorn. “One moment…” I raised my index finger close to his face, and his chin started to tremble. “I understand everything. You didn’t use the head on top to think—not for a second—that you could fuck the filthy mutt any time, just not during your shift.”
“Sir Aldren, it was very quick—no one ever tried to break in in all these decades I’ve work—”
“Shut up! You’ve been here for more than fifty years and you know my laws.”
Mikonos dropped to his knees, ready to beg for mercy, one arm lifted, still held firmly by Iulian. His lover let out a cry, and the moment I looked at her, she hurried to cover her mouth with her free hand.