The Unwanted Wolf
The Hunted Wolf – Chapter 72

MARK

I had a weird feeling as Jori spoke. I knew he was Jori again, but it felt like the man I knew was a broken shell of himself. He lacked the overwhelming confidence I had looked up to all of my life. He had lost his passion, and it felt like he was simply going through the motions of life.

“I can’t be an alpha anymore,” Jori admitted. Despite his lack of confidence, he was confident in his statement.

“What do you mean?” Adira asked. Her heart was racing, which told me she knew exactly what Jori meant, but she didn’t want to believe it.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to believe it either. Jori had stopped being my friend because he felt his alpha position was threatened. All this man wanted to do was be the alpha of the pack and be a strong leader everyone could look up to.

“There has been too much damage done to the pack because of me, well Xavier, but still me. I don’t deserve to be the Alpha of Pack Sallow anymore. They deserve a leader who can protect them and stay strong in the face of adversity.” Jori curled his fingers and then uncurled them, giving his eyes somewhere to linger for just a moment longer.

Adira reached out and placed her hand on Jori’s shoulder. She tried to make eye contact with him, but he continued avoiding her gaze. “That wasn’t your fault. With time, you can fix things.”

Jori curled his fingers one more time and looked up at me. “Maybe, but I need to fix myself right now. I don’t have the confidence necessary to be a leader, and my pack deserves better than that. I thought about the best way of going about this. Percy would make a good leader, but he’s not an alpha. Mark, you were born to be the alpha of a wolf pack. It runs in your b***d. Your grandfather used to be in charge of my wolf pack, and I think it’s only right that you get that title back.”

I stayed quiet for a moment. I knew deep down this was what Jori was getting at, but actually hearing the words from his mouth was a completely different story. I had looked up to Jori all of my life, until I felt betrayed by him and his entire family. There was still a sense of joy that I felt knowing Jori actually trusted me to take over his pack.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” I asked. I would be able to combine the packs, which would strengthen the wolf pack and make everything easier. It would be tricky to figure out how to handle the transfer exactly, but I knew we could make it work. I wasn’t about to jump on the opportunity, though, not until I knew Jori was one hundred percent sure of his decision.

Jori nodded. “I need to get away from all of this for a while, clear my head, and replace myself again. It would be an honor to leave you in charge of my people. And don’t worry, I won’t come back trying to take control back. I don’t deserve that.”

“I’ll need you to tell the pack the decision you made. It won’t go over as well if I’m the one who announces it.” I knew there would be a lot of pack members more than willing to join my pack, but I was confident there would be some resistance, too. Too many lies had been told about me. People liked Adira, though, which would make the transition easier.

“Of course. I’ll stick around to help with the transition. Then I’ll leave town for a while, or maybe forever. We’ll see what happens.” Jori shrugged to emphasize his indifference to the situation.

I wanted to say something else, but I was at a loss for words. Thankfully, Adira stepped up and saved the day.

She wrapped her arms around Jori. “If this is what you need, we’ll happily take over. If there’s anything else we can do for you, don’t be afraid to hold out.”

I was constantly impressed with Adira’s caring nature. A man wearing Jori’s face tried to kill her and take everything away from her, and she was still here, hugging the man and showing him compassion. One day, I hoped I could replace that same compassion. As I looked at Jori, I wished him the best, but there was also a lot of pain between us, pain that I wasn’t sure would ever disappear.

Jori gave a quick smile and glanced between the two of us once Adira released him from her grasp. “I should let you two get back to celebrating. We’ll figure out the details later.” Jori waved and then slipped away into the crowd.

I watched him walk away, and everything felt surreal. If I was to take care of Pack Sallow and absorb them into our pack, the size of the pack would over quadruple in size. I was a good alpha for our small pack, so I hoped I would be able to bring that same energy to a larger pack.

Adira intertwined her fingers between mine and rested her head on my shoulder. “We’ll be able to handle it. We have a lot of strong leaders on our side. With Darian, Percy, Scythe, Rie, and Mason, we will be able to delegate where needed. I believe in you.”

I turned and looked into Adira’s eyes. She was glowing with happiness, which burned a smile into my face. I hadn’t seen her smile enough recently, so seeing her swimming with confidence and joy was a breath of fresh air. With her by my side, I knew I could handle whatever was to come.

“I believe in us.” I leaned forward and kissed her plump, sweet lips. I lingered longer than I should have in public, but Adira tasted so sweet, and I loved that she was all mine now. There was no question as to where she belonged.

I pulled away, and there were stars in Adira’s eyes. I knew her mind was where mine was at, and it was taking all of my willpower to not ditch the party and take Adira to the bedroom. Scythe worked too hard on the party for us to disappear. Although, would we really be missed for a half hour?

Mark, Adira, we’re all set up. It’s time to start the dancing, Scythe linked. It was like he knew what I was debating, and his superpower was to interrupt it.

Adira was beaming. “I heard him,” she whispered. She was in awe of being able to link with the pack. It had only been her and I linking for a while, so she hadn’t experienced a group link, at least not in the time I knew her. She was buzzing with joy.

We’ll be right there, Adira linked back, her smile threatening to split her face in two.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd, buzzing with joy. I swore at that moment to do whatever I could to make sure Adira had the night of her life. She had been through too much, and she was still replaceing a reason to smile. She deserved one night without any stress or worry.

–

ADIRA

Scythe announced Mark and I as Luna and Alpha of the pack and encouraged us to go on the dance floor. It made it feel like a wedding reception in some ways, but Scythe insisted it was the Alpha and Luna’s job to get the party started. Soft violin music started playing accompanied by a beautiful voice, singing a ballad. Mark held out his hand to me, and I grabbed it quickly. He led me onto the dance floor, and then he placed his hand on my h*p, holding my other hand in the air. I placed my free hand on his shoulder.

The last time Mark and I had danced like this was at my birthday party. That felt like years ago at this point, even though it was only months. Mark started moving to the music, and he was more confident in his steps than I remembered.

“Have you been practicing?” I asked, giving him a surprised smile.

“Maybe.” Mark winked at me before lifting up his arm and spinning me around.

I could feel all eyes on us, but for once, I didn’t care. I relished this moment, knowing everyone here was to celebrate me. I giggled as Mark spun me back into him. He wrapped his arm around my waist and reverted to swaying me side to side. Tonight, everything felt perfect for the first time in a long time. There were a million things to worry about, but they could wait until the morning. For now, I was just going to live in the moment.

“Are you happy?” Mark asked out of no where.

I squinted my eyes at him. “Of course I am. Why would you ask that?”

Mark dipped me suddenly, and the crowd cheered. “Because I want to do whatever I can to make sure you are happy. If you weren’t happy, I would figure out what I needed to do to change that.”

I hummed for a moment as he pulled me back up. “Well, if that’s the case, you know what would make me happier?”

Mark gave me a questioning look. “And what might that be, my luna?”

“I want dessert.” My mouth watered as I craved a sweet treat.

“As you wish, my love.” Mark turned to the crowd and motioned for everyone to start dancing. As the dance floor began to fill up with couples, Mark led me off to the side where the food was set up.

The table was set up with a wide variety of snacks and treats, and my eyes immediately went to the chocolate fountain. I felt like a little kid at the sight. It felt extravagant and simple all at the same time. I grabbed a strawberry and dipped it in the fountain. I twisted it to stop the chocolate from falling, and then I turned back to Mark. I motioned for him to open his mouth, and I held the leaves of the strawberry as he bit into the sweet and decadent treat.

Chocolate dripped on my hand, and I pulled my hand away to clean it off, but Mark quickly caught my hand and pulled it back to his mouth. He licked the chocolate off my fingers while making direct eye contact. My core tensed and pooled with desire. With actions like that, he was making it nearly impossible to resist him.

Mark leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “I like the way you taste.” It was something he could have simply linked me, but there was something about his breath in my ear that made my legs quiver.

We were reaching dangerous territory, but I didn’t care. I was having fun flirting with Mark. I grabbed a pretzel and dipped it in the chocolate. When I brought it to my mouth, I licked the chocolate off the pretzel and then bit into the crunchy treat. “This tastes amazing.”

Mark bit his lower l*p and looked me up and down. I loved the way he made me feel when he looked at me like that.

Do you think anyone would miss us if we left right now? Mark linked.

I looked around the party, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Rie was dancing with Mason, and she looked like she was shining with happiness. Scythe was forcing Percy to dance with him, and Percy looked like an awkward robot, but he was still having fun. Everyone else was eating or dancing.

I looked back at Mark and smirked. I grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards our room.