HUNTED

Aila crawled back out of bed and walked lazily to the bathroom. Ignoring the pull, she seemed to feel from getting further away from Damon. Turning the tap on the sink, she splashed water on her face to calm her racing thoughts and heart. As she looked back up to the mirror, Aila found her eyes glowing again. 

"Malia?" She called her wolf in her mind. 

"It's not me. Maybe it's the bond?" Malia replied.

Aila shook her head from the tingling sensation her body felt and dabbed her face with a towel. When she looked back up, she dropped the towel and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Damon's reflection in the mirror, standing behind her. She turned around to face him, and he looked down at her intently, his own eyes glowing. He caressed her cheek, and their eyes flickered back to normal as a small electrical current surged through the pair. 

"Come on, we can either rest up or let Darius and Malia go for a run," Damon said in his deep voice; his eyes flickered darkly at the mention of running. Both of their wolves seemed eager and were close to the forefront of their minds again.

Aila fidgeted on her feet; although her body was tired, she could feel how restless Malia was becoming. Her wolf was also staying quiet without interrupting her thought process, meaning she really wanted to go, especially if it meant running with their mate. She couldn't blame her; not only had she not spent time with Darius, but she also hadn't been out to let off some steam unless punching Lydia in the face counted.

Malia snickered at that.

Damon continued to watch her patiently, playing with a strand of her hair; his cologne and scent cocooned her delicately, making her decision process take a lot longer than it should have. But she couldn't help it from how close their bodies were; the buzzing feeling of being near him and the intoxicating way he was looking at her right now made her bite her lip-

"Aila, stop looking at me like that," He said huskily; she released her lip and could see he was also becoming affected by their proximity and from her lip biting. Glancing to the side, she wondered if it would always be like this or if it was like a 'honeymoon period'.

Aila cleared her throat, "I'm tired, but I know Malia needs a release. Especially after what nearly happened.." She breathed, daring to look into his eyes and being captivated by not only their colour but his long dark lashes surrounding them. 

She instantly snapped out of his alluring pull and turned back around to face the mirror. He dropped his hand from her hair and stood taller again, watching her as he spoke, "With Malia taking the reins, you can rest."

Aila had leaned forwards, observing the two tiny white wounds below her collarbone from where Damon accidentally began marking her. They didn't stand out; they looked like two small scars from how they shined. But if anyone was looking to see if she was marked, then it was noticeable. 

"Sounds good to me!" She smiled at him in the mirror, then tensed slightly after he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought his head down next to hers, only to let his stubble and hair tickle her before leaving a long kiss on her neck just below her ear. She almost closed her eyes and let herself melt into his touch, but she stopped herself and tapped his hands around her. Aila was still only wearing her lingerie, which could easily lead them to do more than just a simple kiss to the neck.

Damon chuckled and released her from his hold and gaze in the mirror. Aila walked back to their room and threw on one of his shirts that dropped past her bum to mid-thigh. She decided to remove her underwear, and her bra underneath the top with her back turned, dropping them to the floor. They would only get wrecked if Aila shifted in them and did not fancy stripping in the woods. She heard a groan from behind her.

"Are you trying to kill me.." Damon spoke huskily from behind her and began striding towards her again, him the big bad wolf and her his prey, little red riding hood. 

Although she didn't retreat, standing her ground and smirked at him, "Death by blue balls.. that's a new one."

He went to grab her, but Aila ducked and dashed for the door as a giggle left her lips. She sprinted down the hallway at full speed after hearing his thunderous steps behind her; she felt exhilarated by the chase. One glance over her shoulder as she descended the stairs, and she could see he was enjoying the chase just as much as her.

Oh my…

She nearly missed a step after checking him out again. He was chasing her in just his boxers now after stripping his jeans off at some point. 

"You know, you will slip on your drool.." Malia smirked.

Aila turned her head facing forwards again and giggled again as she made it to the last step of the stairs, instantly crashing into a brick wall. She blinked and looked up; Damon grabbed her roughly by the waist. "I've got you now," His voice was low and deadly.

Aila looked into his darkening eyes and replied just as low, "What do you plan on doing with me, Alpha?"

"All sorts of things," He said with a low growl rumbling through his chest; he put his nose next to her neck, inhaling her scent as his hands caressed her bottom "but," he released her with a sigh, "we need to let our wolves out."

Aila pouted but decided she enjoyed the chase too much for the game to be over; she slipped past him and opened the front door before running off and going to the back of the mansion towards the woods. 

"Do you mind if the shirt rips into pieces?" She asked as she heard him catch up to her. 

He grunted as a response, meaning he didn't care. So when they made it to the woods, she decided to tease him a little instead; she threw the top off while she continued to run forwards and smirked when his figure went missing from the corner of her eyesight. 

"Aila!" Malia moaned.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

Before Aila could even hand the reins over to Malia, she seemed to snatch it from her and immediately ripped through and shifted into the white wolf as she continued to run forwards. Aila was content with Malia taking the lead. Malia let loose and was releasing her pent-up energy; after an hour of running, she finally slowed down for Darius, who continued to chase her through and around the woods. 

That was something Aila did not expect; they were faster than the Alpha and slowed down so he could catch up. She knew he would never let her get away for too long, and his occasional mind-links asking for her to slow down confirmed that she was quicker.

"You're very quick," His deep, majestic voice boomed through the mind-link when he nudged into her. 

Was Darius complimenting her? Whaaaat?

Malia laughed at Aila's response, still listening to her thoughts. Instead of replying to either of them, she rubbed against Darius, earning a low, appreciative growl and a lick on the nose.

Aila continued to watch Malia and Darius behind the scenes and was intrigued with how they were interacting. They chased each other, played and even tumbled around a little, each time ending with Malia submitting to Darius. She also watched while they spoke lovingly to each other, as though they had been together years.

It seemed their wolves were very much in sync with each other, unlike their human counterparts. Aila loved seeing her wolf happy, but she couldn't just follow her basic animalistic needs and accept the mate bond immediately, unlike Malia. Of course, she could feel the pull of it, and this day made her feel lighter when she was near Damon and even began to feel the need to always be with him. 

It was such a strange feeling, one she never felt with her past relationships. When they ended, she had never been upset, and she put it down to herself that something was wrong with her. They never seemed to have that 'spark', and within minutes of meeting Damon on her day of escape, those men seemed minuscule in comparison; she immediately felt better in Damon's presence. Even with her doubts about the pack, she felt safe with him, and there was obviously her heavy attraction towards him. 

But she was brought up as a human and was used to dating and getting to know the other person first before committing to a man, well, werewolf for the rest of her life. That was a huge deal. It was like a marriage contract. When she was back to her human self and had the reins again, maybe she should suggest a date where they could get to know each other without trying to rip each other's clothes off. 

After a few hours of watching her wolf roaming freely with her mate, Aila became sleepy. 

"Aila, you should sleep. You can while we go hunt. It will probably be another few hours anyway.." Malia said in a hushed voice, keeping her voice low as Aila was very tired.

"O-okay.." Aila replied with a yawn. She was quick to fall asleep to the sound of her paws pounding on the ground below, and darkness seeped in.

Aila fluttered her eyelashes open after the early morning light and the sounds of birds singing and echoing through the forest as the wind blew through trees rustling the leaves, making the woods come to life. Lifting her head up, she found herself naked, lying on the damp earth, slightly dirty with blood covering some of her hands and parts of her body. 

Her heart sped up when she saw a tree trunk of an arm wrapped around her waist and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw Damon facing down with his bare bottom on show. She bit her lip, feeling an overwhelming need to bite that sculpted ass. But she didn't cave in to her needs as she assessed the rest of him.

He too, was covered in blood and mud. Frowning, Aila sat up and looked at their surroundings, feeling quite dizzy and disorientated. To their side was a carcass of a deer; she believed this must have been what Malia and Darius hunted.

Aila was about to speak to Malia when she realised her wolf was now sleeping and completely conked out. There was almost a calmness to her mind as though she was never there. But she could still feel her presence which made her smile to herself.

"Good morning," A gruff voice from behind her spoke. She turned her head to see Damon stirring and snaked his hands around her waist, pulling her back down to the ground.

"Damon!" She squealed after he turned her around, so they lay there facing each other. 

Aila brought her arms up to cover her upper body, although it was quite useless by now. 

"Stop hiding yourself from me," He growled, "you have a stunning body." His hands on her waist tightened as he pulled her closer to him. Their bodies were so close together that their legs became intertwined, her hands on his chest. 

Aila felt content in this position but then tensed and looked up into his dark silver eyes, "Did we.. what happened last night?"

Panic began to settle in as she couldn't recollect any of Malia's memories from the night before. The last thing she remembered was her wolf telling her to go to sleep, and they were going hunting. 

Damon's brows drew together as his eyes hardened, jaw ticking before he replied, "You let Malia take complete control."

Aila blinked back at him with a confused expression on her face, "Yes? I know. I let her do that sometimes, so do you?"

Damon shook his head, "Aila, we hardly ever go to sleep while our wolf is out. It is extremely dangerous for both of you."