Alpha Aria

Chapter 9 Mate

DIEGO

My door burst open and I shot up in bed, instantly awake. My father stood in the door frame. "Diego." He stated plainly, as though he hadn't just busted into my room in the middle of the night.

"What is it, sir?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

"Get dressed. You will probably want to go to the hospital. Aria is there again." Without telling me any more details, he turned and left.

It took me all of two seconds to process what he'd said and I leapt out of bed. I grabbed a pair of shorts and a tee and glanced at the clock as I hurriedly put them on. It was shortly after 11pm so I hadn't been asleep for long.

Questions whizzed through my brain as I bounded down the stairs, almost running into my mom. She was wearing a lightweight nightdress and holding a mug of freshly brewed tea. I didn't see my father anywhere.

"What happened?" I asked her as I headed to the front door and slipped on my running shoes.

"No sé." She replied, shaking her head sadly.
Her eyes were worried. She loved Aria as much as most of the pack did, so I'm sure she was concerned, too.

"I will link you when I know anything." I reassured her, and left the house. I ran all the way to the hospital and rushed into the main entrance.

"Aria Campbell." I said to the registrar. The young man at the desk immediately replied.
"Room 107, young Beta."

The title caught me off guard, as most in the pack didn't use formalities with me. Remembering that the Alpha Summit was tomorrow I figured it was probably something Alpha Brian was encouraging to present a more professional appearance to the visiting packs.

"Thank you." I nodded my head to him and quickly moved down the hall to the right of the desk where I knew that room would be, grateful that it wasn't in intensive care. That was a relief, at least. Still, I held my breath until I came up to her room and knocked lightly on the door before opening it, not waiting for a response. I was beside myself with worry and needed to see her, to know what happened.

As it opened the most enticing scent of green grass and sandalwood hit me, and Dante was spinning in circles with excitement in my head. Mate! Mate! Mate! He yelped.

Standing next to the hospital bed stood a beautiful young woman. She was definitely not from our pack or I would remember her. She was tall, with slender arms and legs, light skin and short, spiky hair in the most vibrant violet shade. She wore black high top converse with bright purple shoelaces, army green cargo pants and a black tank top with thin straps. There was a tattoo on her right shoulder that I couldn't make out the design on from the doorframe where I stood. She had a leather bracelet on her wrist, a nose ring and her earlobes were gauged. She was almost completely opposite of Aria in every way but she was breathtaking to me.

She glanced up at me and her clear blue eyes scanned over me, her face curious about the person who had just barged in.

I made myself break my gaze from her and saw there was another person in the room that I didn't recognize, along with my father. They were talking quietly in the corner of the room.

That was when I realized the mystery girl was holding Aria's hand, almost discreetly, as though she didn’t want the other two to see. When she saw me looking at it, she quickly pulled her hand away, as though it had burned her.

I was so mesmerized by this beautiful stranger and the butterflies from the mate bond swirling in my stomach, I almost forgot why I was there. My thoughts were jerked back to reality as Dante whimpered, reminding me of Aria. Even though he was thrilled to find our mate, we still loved Aria and he was worried about her, too. My eyes darted to her, searching for any obvious signs of injury but I couldn't see any. She was attached to an IV and had a pulse oxygen monitor on her finger.