Shadows Of The Pack (Aria and Knox)

Chapter Eleven: Beneath the surface

The sun streamed through the large windows of the spacious dining room, casting a warm glow over

the room.The tantalizing aroma of freshly cooked food filled the air, making everyone's stomachs

rumble in anticipation.

Aria sat quietly at the corner of the table playing with her necklace as she watched the pack members

around her. Everyone sat, gathered in their smaller cliques as they chatted, their laughter mingling with

the clinking of cutlery and the occasional howls of excitement from the younger wolves.

As she listened to the conversations around her, Aria caught snippets of stories, jokes, and plans for

the day. The dining hall was alive with energy and a sense of belonging.

Unfortunately, she didn't feel like a part of it.

Shana was parading around in her wolf form since Knox had banned her from leaving the territory in

the meantime.

Lydia was busy attending to the pups of the pack with a beautiful smile on her face and she hadn't seen

Melody all day.

She still hadn't gotten around asking the three she wolves which of them placed the necklace on her

dressing table.

The air in the room shifted as Knox entered.

Ryder and Jacob were not behind him which was weird.

He sat down at the head table next to Sophia who threw him a smile pushing her chest up.

Aria kissed her teeth in irritation, underneath it, jealousy brewed within her.

The fact that Knox had been intimate with her annoyed Aria more than it should.

Knox cleared his throat and the chatter immediately died down.

"It is no news that Nikolai has laid a claim to the territory."

His eyes flickered in Aria's direction briefly, "And as suggested by one of us, yesterday I visited the

Moonlight Pack."

There was silence as everyone awaited his next words.

"Alpha Randy has agreed for our packs to align and just like I said before, he too agreed that he would

not be a part of an unprovoked attack."

A female wolf holding a pup that couldn't be more than six months old spoke, "But while we sit here

waiting, Nikolai is probably plotting and planning to attack."

Knox nodded at her before speaking, "And if he does. We will be ready. Ryder and Jacob are preparing

our defenses. Starting today, the sentinels will start training in preparation for the attack. Anyone that

wants to fight can join in."

"I know some of you are scared." He looked around the room to convey the message that he

understood, "Some of you have not lived long enough to experience war."

A flash of memories from years back ran through his memory but he closed his eyes trying to suppress

them.

"But know this. As your Alpha, I will protect every single pack member or I will die trying."

No one said anything as they all tried to process and digest the information.

Tyler stood up, "I will join the training. I want to fight for the pack."

An older female that had a striking resemblance to him pulled him back down.

She laughed nervously looking at Knox, "Forgive my brother Alpha. He doesn't know what he is

saying."

Tyler tried to speak again but his sister dug her claws into his arms, a silent warning.

Knox watched them for a few minutes and then he turned back to address the room.

"Would anyone like to make a contribution or are there any questions?"

The room fell silent.

"Very well then. You may all continue with your breakfast."

Sophia's irritating voice sounded in his ear as soon as he picked up his fork.

"How did you sleep Knox?"

He glared at her and she immediately corrected herself, "I apologize. I meant to say, "How did you

sleep, Alpha?"

"Fine."

She tried to speak again but he shut her up with a single call of her name.

His wolf too was irritated by the female beside him. Wolves were sexual creatures.

He had given into his urge and Sophia had been there. She had always been there, pushing her

cleavage in his face, the flirty glances and one night he had finally given her what she wanted.

That night he made his first mistake, sleeping with a member of the pack and then unfortunately he

kept on making the mistake over and over.

Enough for Sophia to think that she had a chance at becoming Luna.

No female had ever called out to his wolf the way Aria did.

Even though Rebecca was his mate and his wolf had a fondness for her, the pull he felt with Aria was

unexplainable.

His eyes traveled to where she sat, in the corner of the room, her fingers toying with her necklace. The

food in front of her untouched.

Before he could stop himself he called her out, "Aria."

Aria blinked, turning to him. She was fine with being ignored. Invisible to the pack but now with Knox's

focus on her, all the eyes in the room turned to face her.

She blinked unsure, why were they all staring at her like that and then it hit her, the Alpha of the pack

had called her.

"Yes?"

Knox's lips turned up, "Eat your food."

He felt Sophia's glare from the side of the table but it had no effect on him nor did it have on his wolf

who had relaxed having gotten the attention of the female he craved.

Aria stood up angrily, "If you would excuse me Alpha."

She bowed before walking out.

Aria stomped out of the dining hall.

Knox had to be the most annoying wolf she had ever met and she grew up with Seraphina.

First he decided to sit down and condemn her to death then now he was ordering her around like he

owned her.

Knox was driving her mad and she was even more upset that her wolf refused to see it instead she

purred and rolled eager to get to him whenever he was within her scent.

She stepped outside to take a breath of morning air, as a comforting familiarity amidst her rising

frustration.

She moved further into the pack ground.

There were a number of wolves moving around. Their steps were fluid and calculated, sentinels.

A part of her wanted to go to them, offer her claws as part of the upcoming battle but she heard

Sophia's voice in her head.

Maybe every wolf in the park did resent her for being there. For crashing into their territory and bringing Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

trouble to their lives.

Leaning against a sturdy tree, Aria pressed her palms against its rough bark, grounding herself in its

solid presence. She let out a long exhale, releasing the tension that had built up within her.

Her father had told her once that whenever she felt like it was getting too much, she should find a place

and just breathe.

Life couldn't be that hard if you were just capable of simply breathing.

She closed her eyes, taking in breaths. She focused on the sensation of the breeze caressing her skin,

the gentle sway of the leaves above her and tried to let the calm wash over.

She was not only mad at Knox, she was mad at herself too for wanting him after everything.

Whenever he pierced her with his gaze she fought the urge to tighten her legs together hoping that with

his heightened senses, he wouldn't smell her arousal.

A tree branch cracked behind her. She froze sensing a presence behind her.

A low growl sounded and then she braced herself ready to fight. As soon as she turned around the wolf

lunged at her and she fell backwards with Shana falling on top of her laughing.

"Shana!!!!."

Aria pushed the she wolf off her, "That wasn't funny."

Shana held her stomach still laughing, "Yes it was. You should have seen your face. You looked like

you wanted to cry and fight at the same time."

Aria folded her arms, faking anger, "You are the worst Shana."

Shana grinned, "That's exactly what Melody says but deep down we know what she really means."

Shana stood up, her nakedness on display. She carried herself with so much confidence.

As shifters, wolves spent most of their time they way they were born without clothes which was why

they kept clothes at different areas of the ground.

Shana looked down at Aria still sitting on the floor making Aria blush. She had been staring at Shana's

body. She had an athletic figure with a few scars on her body. Her long blond hair fell in waves down

her back and her blue eyes always glinted with mischief.

Overall Shana was beautiful and she carried herself as such.

Unlike most wolves, Aria wasn't comfortable with her nakedness. Another downside of not being able

to shift.

Shana finally walked behind a tree, reemerging fully clothed.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be eating breakfast with the pack?"

Aria stood up dusting the leaves off her, "I wasn't really hungry."

Shana folded her arms, "Is it Sophia? Did she say anything again because I'm going to match in there

right now and give that bitch a taste of my claws."

Aria smiled. It felt really nice having someone so eager to defend her.

"Unfortunately no. Sophia didn't say anything to me. Knox on the other hand."

Shana burst out laughing. Aria stared at her confused, "What is so funny?"

Shana pointed at her chest still laughing, "Those are what are so funny."

Aria looked down at her chest and realized her nipples were tightened and poking through the top of

her dress.

"Knox is really attractive. I think the moon goddess took extra time in molding him. He has always had

this effect on female wolves. One look in your direction and the next minute you climb into his bed. If he

was any other wolf I would have said just put yourself out of the misery and fuck. We are wolves, we

live to fuck."

Aria blushed.

Shana studied her, "You have fucked before haven't you?"

"Yes. Liam and I made love a lot of times."

"What the hell is made love? We are wolves, we like it rough and hard."

"Liam wasn't really like that. He was gentle and caring which was why I fell in love with him in the first

place."

"At least tell me you two did it in the woods. You know that intense feeling where he just wants to be

inside you so badly and you want the same so you two rip off each other's clothes and he simply just

takes you against the trees."

"Ummm no. We mostly-"

Shana raised her hand to stop Aria, "Please stop it. You might make me reconsider our friendship at

this moment if you continue with that sentence. What the fuck have you been doing with your life?

What a relief he rejected you, you would have been stuck with a boring dick all through your life."

Aria laughed. One thing she has come to learn about Shana was that she said it as she thought it. She

had no filter and that was a nice change.

Shana shook her head in disbelief, still staring at her.

"Unfortunately I cannot help rectify your problem right now. Fucking a pack member carries the same

reason why Knox is off limits but it's a good thing that we are forming the alliance. We can find you a

wolf to bend you over and fuck you until she forget the sound of your own name."

Her body responded to Shana's words and Aria squeezed her legs.

Deciding to change the conversation before she got any wetter and her juices started leaking down her

thigh, she asked Shana, "Have you seen Melody? She wasn't in the dining hall for breakfast."

Shana shrugged, "She is probably somewhere reading a book or gathering flowers. Melody had a thing

for nature."

"Okay. That reminds me, were you the one that kept this necklace on my dressing table?"

"Necklace?"

Aria pulled the necklace from underneath her dress.

"No."

"It must have been Melody or Lydia. I just want to know so I could thank the person.

Shana studied the necklace for a minute, she couldn't place her finger on it but it just gave off all the

wrong energy.

"Aria could you take it off for a moment. I want to have a closer look."

Aria reached behind her neck to unhook it but it refused to come off.

She tried again, still the necklace stayed put.

"What's wrong?"

Aria pulled at the necklace, "It won't come off. Why won't it come off?"

Shana reached for the necklace. As soon as she wrapped her hands around it, it shocked her, sending

a wave of energy that had her flying backwards.

Aria rushed to her.

Shana groaned as her bones adjusted.

She looked at Aria then the necklace, "Aria I think we have a really big problem."

"What?"

Aria pulled at the necklace again, suddenly it felt so constricting.

"You are wearing the Shadowbane Crystal. You can never take it off. It will consume you, taking away

your sanity. The wolves would have no choice but to kill you, that is if it doesn't kill you first."