HUNTED

A deafening silence filled the basement as the three of them came to the realisation that Darren didn't know Lydia was dead. How would he know? They weren't mates. 

Aila's brows drew together as she listened to the Delta, who kept his neck bared to her, unaware of their thoughts. "I will kill her," He put more strength behind his voice, but Aila could see his hands clenched together, shaking by his sides. 

"He is a fool, maybe even a fool in love," Malia stated, "I believe him."

Aila sighed and raked her hand through her hair. She needed Damon and Finn to see what will happen next, so she had their full support in her choice. 

"Darren," Aila said quietly and waited as he raised his head. His gaze was still fixed on the ground. She hated what she had to do, but he had a right to know, even if the evil cow didn't care about him. "Look at me."

His eyes flickered to hers, and she could see the worry whirling in his dark eyes. "Lydia is dead," Aila didn't know how else to tell him the news. She watched as a bundle of emotions flickered across his features, shock and disbelief, to his world-shattering before him. His forehead and eyes scrunched up, and he covered his face while his shoulders started to shake. It was then she realised he was crying.

"So, much for killing Lydia. He's a mess," Finn stated in the mind-link.

"Finn! I never thought you'd be so brutal!" Aila turned her head at him with wide eyes. 

"I'm just saying," He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands in his pockets.

"Enough," Damon's baritone voice rang through her mind, making her stand up from her squatted position in front of Darren and walk back to her chair. Damon and Aila's gazes were locked, they didn't need to mind-link or listen to each other's thoughts to know that she had made up her mind, and he agreed with her decision. 

Aila sat in her chair again, facing the Delta, whose sobs echoed through the basement. 

"I am sorry about Lydia," She said quietly.

"No, you're not," Darren whispered back as he raised his tear-stained face and swollen eyes. His wounds were now healed, only leaving behind the dried blood of the beating he took from their Alpha earlier. 

Aila nodded her head, "You're right." He inhaled sharply. The silence between them made the seconds tick by ever so slowly as she heard her own heart pound gently against her chest. But she was not nervous. He had been truthful to her, now she would be just as brutally honest with him. 

"I am sorry for the grief you are feeling. But I am not sorry about Lydia's death. She had been given a second chance, let back into the pack after what she did to her sister. In return, she helped rogues attack the pack, causing the death of Chiara's mate and then she did it again a few days ago, in the hopes of becoming Luna of this pack. And again, she tried to kill her sister. Don't you think that's messed up?" Aila didn't wait for his answer. She could still see the pain radiating behind his eyes. "So, no. I am not sorry Lydia died." 

Darren's lips parted as shock filled his features; Aila really wondered what thoughts were running inside of that head of his. "There was never going to be a happy ending for Lydia," Aila finished and watched as the last of Darren's tears fell down his cheeks and onto his blood-stained shirt. 

He glanced down and sighed before rubbing his face with his hands and pulling back on his dark red hair. He met Aila's eyes again, "Whatever you need to do, do it."

Aila nodded her head, stood up and faced Damon, pulling him and Finn into a mind-link. "Organise a pack meeting. Finn," She looked at Finn with a small smile, "you should put something more formal on."

Finn's eyes widened at her words, and he nodded his head. "Are you sure about this?" He asked. 

"Of course," She replied as she closed the cell door behind her and walked up to him, "I want you to be my Delta."

"Pack members still might challenge you for that position. This is the first time in years that a Johnson will not be a Delta," Damon added in their mind-link as he stood by Aila's side and gave her hand a squeeze.

Finn looked between the pair, a broad smile on his face before he bared his neck to them, "Then I will show the pack I am worthy of the position. It will be my honour to serve by your side, Luna."

Aila shook her head and pulled him into a hug, shocking both Finn and Damon. "I was Aila to you before I was Luna. You deserve this position, and I trust no one else with my life."

Damon growled aloud outside the mind-link, and Aila rolled her eyes. "This isn't about you, Alpha." She jested as she stayed in Finn's embrace. Aila was surprised Damon didn't try and pull them apart, but she was thankful he didn't. 

Pulling back, she smiled at Finn and glanced back at Darren before setting off towards the stairs to the main house. With Damon following closely behind her, his hand grazing her bottom as she went, Aila already knew he wanted to do something about her hugging another male, even if it was only Finn. But she had to hand it to him, Damon was getting better with his possessiveness, or maybe it was because it is Finn. 

The pair left Finn to get ready and found themselves collapsing on the sofa together in the living room. The house was quite empty, making Aila wonder if something was wrong.

"Where is everyone?" She asked Damon while clinging to his chest and looking up into his dark silver eyes. 

Damon swept part of her hair back and smirked, "Probably getting ready. But I also ordered them away from the packhouse for a few hours."

Aila's brows drew together, "Why?"

His thumb pulled down on her lip gently before leaning down and kissing her. The next thing she knew, she was lying down on the sofa with a hot Alpha between her thighs. "Because I want you smelling of me when we go to the pack meeting," He growled after pulling away from their passionate kiss. 

Over the next few hours, Aila and Damon visited a few different surfaces in the house they could use to release their sexual energy on. By the end of it, they were panting with their sweaty bodies intertwined as they lay on the rug in the library. Aila lifted her head and looked down at her gorgeous mate, "I guess I smell more like you now than Finn?"

Damon growled in response, "Too fucking right."