Two Worlds Apart

Ari

I locked my front door and jogged down the flight of stairs, taking two at a time. My adrenaline spiked the closer as I came to the ground floor, a grin plastered on my face as I burst outside and jogged towards the mountainside.

This Saturday morning was crisp and despite it being late summer, the sky was light grey with patches of stormy grey in between. I could feel the storm coming. My body sensed the storm approaching as well and once I was away from the apartments and the suburbs, I sprinted to the wild forest that framed the town’s perimeter. Once I was in the safety of the wild forest, I followed my nose to the trail that led to Alessandro’s private lodge in this wilderness. Soon enough, the 5-metre-high, electric wall came in my view and I passed through the armed gate, flashing my ID card at the intercom. A buzz and the gate slipped open enough for me to slip through then shut behind me, the electric charge coming alive on the gate once again. I turned towards the denser forestry and began running.

“You’re here early, Ari.” Someone called and I turned my head, jumping to avoid an unturned log. Kitty ran up next to me, matching my stride with a smooth transition. “Boss call you in?”

“Morning Kitty.” I smirked and shot her a wink before vaulting over a boulder. “Still slower than me?”

“Ha, you wish.” Kitty snorted and we raced till we got to the lodge, me winning of course. “Cheater.” She hissed when she came a second after me, baring her teeth at me.

“If you want, I could always give you some lessons.” I shot her an uncovered sly grin and she didn’t bother hiding her smirk.

“Cute, but no thank you.” She laughed and swished her blonde bob, strutting inside but shooting me a kiss over her shoulder.

I chuckled softly and ran a hand through my hair, enjoying the feeling of adrenaline coursing through my veins. I calmed down my breathing before walking into the lodge, my senses checking my surroundings as I came in as an old habit. I relaxed until I smelt a new scent intermingling with the others. Someone new? I frowned and was about to breathe in deeply to start dissecting the scent to figure out who was there when a hugely muscled guy with tattoos all over his arms came out of Alessandro’s office.

“Boss wants to talk to us.” He said in such a way it sounded like he was threatening me, but I shot him a raised eyebrow and walked into the doorway, catching Alessandro reading something on his laptop. He didn’t look up when I came in and gestured that I sit in one of the leather armchairs in front of his large dark desk, the giant leaning his back against the wall with his eyes on the door.

“Good morning, Ari. I hope you slept well.” Alessandro spoke softly, his eyes not coming up to even look at me.

“Morning, Boss,” I squashed down my irritation at not being greeted eye to eye, it just emphasised that he was above me. “I smell a new scent. Have the scouts returned with new reinforcements?”

“The new scent is a different matter altogether. We will discuss it later.” Alessandro’s eyes came up at the topic of the new scent and I smirked, knowing that this was important to Alessandro. My primal side smirked and I stored this titbit of information to use against Alessandro later. “I have called you here to hear what has been happening with your targets.” He closed his laptop and focused his attention on me.

“Selene is distraught most of all over Miut’s disappearance. She hasn’t eaten since yesterday and stays inside the house most of the time. She also cries at night when everyone is asleep. Seems like typical behaviour for a shock victim.” I shrugged and my eyes roamed around the office.

“I expected as much,” Alessandro sat back in his chair, a smirk touching his features. “What about our young Alpha?”

“Finn? He’s definitely suffering.” I smirked as I recalled the stake out. “Can’t handle that his mate is in a position like this. But he is truly set against Miut. This morning he set out scouts to find Miut, they are nearly by our border.”

“That could definitely be a problem,” Alessandro frowned and scratched his chin. “We’ll have to move up the plan then. She’s going to school on Tuesday, Jason. You and Kitty will start her training today.” Alessandro spoke to Jason who looked at him and gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

“Her?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Miut Feles.”

“She’s here? How? How did she even know we were here? I was informed that she didn’t even know the truth about herself.”

“We brought her here.” Alessandro opened his laptop and I clenched my jaw, wanting to growl at how he’s ignoring the obvious question. The laptop made a short beep. “Escort yourselves out. Oh and please come to meet me here later, Jason, and bring Ginger too. I have jobs for you two. ”

I bristled at the dismissal, but got up smoothly and followed Jason, after he gave a grunt of recognition, out the room. I closed the door behind me and headed to the kitchen, my agitation grew and I growled audibly in the passage.

“Calm down Ari,” Jason grumbled and opened the fridge, pulling out some eggs and bacon. “I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Miut’s my target, and he doesn’t even tell me that she’s here.” I clenched my fists and sat down by the island. Jason rolled his eyes.

“Ginger, how’s Miut?” Jason turned on the pan and a short girl jogged in, her smile big and her eyes shining brightly.

“She’s asleep but seems to be settling in. She either doesn’t remember what happened Friday morning or accepted it.” Ginger shrugged and smiled at me before heading to Jason. My gaze followed her, approving the athletic figure with a smirk.

Jason caught my eyes and bared his teeth at me, hissing and pulling Ginger close to his side. I chuckled, amused with Jason’s attitude and rolled my eyes, enjoying the effect of pushing his buttons. He marked Ginger as his female and it always amused me to show my interest in her. Ginger blushed when Jason kissed her, his eyes boring into mine until I looked away with a small amount of awkwardness.

Unlike the wolves, we aren’t destined for each other from birth for the ideal soulmate that would make us complete. We were more primal, almost as primal as werewolves. We only mated to increase out numbers, and couples don’t tend to stay together long after the girl gets her cubs. Males don’t tend to get emotionally attached much, it was more of a one night stand for us. And genetically it doesn’t matter if we mated with a feline or human, the feline gene would be dominant and this would lead to the offspring being a feline anyway.

“Why she here anyway?” I coughed once those two finally broke apart, grinding my teeth together. A sense of loneliness settled and I tensed, shoving the thought away and focusing on getting information about Miut.

“You don’t know what happened Friday?” Ginger shot me a quizzical look. “Aren’t you assigned to her?”

“Boss got me checking out her best friend and the Alpha instead.”

“Then I guess you should know what went down.” Ginger began chopping some fresh fruit, frowned up at me as she manoeuvred the large chopping knife over the fruit as thought she was watching them herself.

“Boss assigned Hamid to watch her when he gave you Selene and Alpha.” Jason said grimly and my eyebrows both raised. Hamid was one of our most dangerous, restricted mainly for getting information from threats through torture. “Anyway, Hamid got her out the house. But left a big mess.”

“And the step dad?” I asked, intrigued at this new information.

“What do you think the mess was?” Jason smirked, flipping the bacon smoothly.

“Serves him right for hitting one of us.” I snorted at the idea of a low life human abusing one of us. They should be worshipping us, I growled internally.

“I heard that boss himself was there.” Ginger whispered and I felt a chill run down my spine. “That Hamid didn’t kill him.” 

“I don’t think Boss would get his paws dirty.” I said, but it sounded hollow.

“Maybe Alessandro would get his paws dirty once in a while.” Ginger whispered under her breath and I felt myself agree with her.