Three and a Half Months Later

The day was beautiful, the sun lighting up the sky with an assortment of blue hues, allowing for Aston to get lost in the ocean that was the atmosphere. He stared out of the darkly tinted window that blocked his view of the sky, his mind getting lost in thought. His and Nicolai’s relationship had changed since their talk under the stars of the night sky, they had become even closer yet their feelings had still remained just above the clothes. Aston had told his mate that he was still working through personal feelings about his new role in the clan, their relationship, and not rushing it to avoid jumping the gun. Nicolai had been understanding of his feelings towards the matter, the lion reassuring him that he would respect his boundaries and he had been willing to be patient with Aston. He had smiled at the memory, Nicolai’s words replaying in his head telling him that he was valid about his feelings, sometimes even wondering if his mate was even real. 

The tiger felt a slight squeeze of his hand reminding him of the presence of his mate next to him, his eyes pulled themselves from the car window looking towards Nicolai, seeing that the lion was looking at him lovingly. The look made him squirm like it always did, the feelings of guilt and happiness surging through him as he looked into Nicolai’s golden orbs. Aston smiled at his mate, squeezing the taller males hand to show that the feeling was mutual, even with his troubling thoughts. He had still yet to come clean about the memories that still seemed to plague him, feeling as if he were still betraying his lover with the warm chocolate eyes that haunted him. Every time he had felt those memories of that masculine face creep back into his mind’s eye, his mate had miraculously known, seeming to come to the rescue with the sweet distractions of words or acts of love. 

“I would hate to intrude in on this love fest, but guys we are almost about to arrive at the pack house” Rhea’s voice broke them out of their trance. 

Aston looked forward towards his friend seeing that River had turned onto the street at which the house resided on, the sight of the house getting closer and closer. 

“Are you ready?” Nicolai asked, gaining his attention from his two friends.

“As ready as I can be” Aston replied, knowing that the situation that was The Gathering was becoming very real, very quickly, “We were going to have to face them eventually, if not now then when either of them decided to come to visit on the spur of the moment.”

“They visit you?” 

“Occasionally, they are my friends after all. Plus they come to schmooze with the elders to make sure that our treaty relations stay in good standing.”

“I’m surprised they never visited after me and my pride arrived, did they not want to meet us?” Nicolai seemed skeptical, looking at this mate confused. 

“It was probably because this year The Gathering is at the pack house and Ransom needed to make sure everything was in order before all of us showed up. Wolves, surprisingly, care about how other animals and the vampires view them” Aston explained, hoping to put the lion’s worries to rest. 

“That makes sense. So what are wolves like? We have rarely interacted with them. I’ve heard stories about them, Viktor says they are kind of eccentric especially with their pack rules and hierarchies. I wouldn’t think that they were that different from us.” 

River chuckled, “Eccentric is putting that lightly, they are more…… Traditional. And that’s putting that nicely, believe me you think our elders are bad, wait till you meet the wolf council. Now those ancients are a pain in the ass.”

“Are they really that bad?” Nicolai wondered.

“Let’s just say that if I see that bitch, Catherine” Rhea cracked her knuckles, “Her face is getting reunited with my fist.”

“Babe, you know what happened the last time you cracked her in the jaw” River sighed, seeing Rhea grin evilly at the memory.

“I will say this now, and I won’t say this again” Rhea stated matter-of-factly “It’s on sight when I see her, honey.”

River rolled his eyes at the blond before looking back at the road, knowing that there was no reason to argue with the woman he loved anymore, she had set her mind to something. 

“Who’s Catherine?” Nicolai whispered, leaning into Aston knowing that the two could hear them.  

“She’s a part of the wolf council, she tends to have a big mouth when it comes to the matter of tiger clan and wolf pack relations.” the tiger replied. 

“Is she not a fan?” 

“Let’s just say that she views us as a lesser species to the wolves, but not lower than the vampires. Last time, Rhea and her got into it and it resulted in Rhea knocking her out because the wolf pissed her off.”

Nicolai chuckled, earning a side smirk from Rhea, “Rhea I knew you were my favorite for a reason.”

“Hey you didn’t have to deal with the other testy council members, they weren’t happy that a member of my personal guard had knocked out a ‘respected member’. Rhea was glad that Ransom loves her just as much as you do, Nic” Aston grumbled. 

“So, where does Bianca fit into all this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where does she fit into the dynamic with you and Ransom?” 

“Oh. Bianca is not someone to underestimate, she tends to be pretty respectful and a sweetheart.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there somewhere” 

“But she will rip you to pieces. There was a group of wolves and tigers last year that were talking shit about her, they also had the audacity to mock her to her face about the vampires being lesser. By the time Ransom and I got there, we had to call a cleaning crew to get the pieces of flesh out of the furniture, she showed them no mercy.” Aston zoned out, remembering the memory of his men being spread to every corner of a meeting room. 

“Oh wow, she sounds vicious. I had never encountered vampires out in my travels, are the legends true about them? Are they cold and lifeless? A lot of alpha’s from what I’ve seen share a lot of hatred towards them.” Nicolai questioned his mate, sounding genuinely curious. 

“I’ll let you determine that for yourself, Nic. All of these people are an experience, an experience that you’re going to have to witness if you’re going to be a part of this treaty through our mating” It was Aston’s turn to chuckle, “I’m going to get a kick out of watching you meet my friends.”

“Not even a little info, Kitten” Nicolai feigned offense, causing Aston to roll his eyes, “Throw me a bone here.”

The tiger huffed knowing that he needed to somewhat defend Biana, “No, they aren’t lifeless. Their body temperature is naturally lower than us, but when they feed they definitely are warmer to the touch. Also they are about as human as we are, and we’re animals, so there aren’t really any differences between us.”

Nicolai looked at his mate, he looked glad that Aston had at least shared some info with him so that he wasn’t going in blind. Aston felt a little relieved that his words were able to sate the interest that the lion had for the two leaders that they were going to meet with. The tiger decided that he would keep quiet about any lesser leaders that decided to turn up this year.

The car came to a stop, breaking the two from carrying on their conversation, “We’re here!” Rhea sang. 

Aston looked towards the pack house as he and his mate exited the black suv, seeing the wonder that was the massive home where the wolf alpha resided. It could be classified as a mansion, the abode being abundant with rooms and space for the pack to use for recreation. The home stood tall only having two floors, the stones of the outer walls an assortment of colors giving it character and age, the large windows allowing for it to have that open and homey feeling. A round balcony rested upon stone pillars, the massive iron doors hiding in the shadows of the cover above, giving it that elegant royal feel. 

The tiger watched his mate stare at the wonder in awe, seeing Nicolai’s light up in amazement in the home that obviously screamed one very loud word; Rich. The couple looked as the help tended to the scenery outside the home, their hands working meticulously making sure that anything and everything looked perfect. 

Aston walked up to his mate, who still gawked at the sight before him, “You know that this whole gated community is composed entirely of wolves, all the homes that we passed by on the way here all belong to the pack. They live in the most northern part of the city, the alphas house sitting at the back of the community because his back porch opens to the same forest that the clan house is connected to.”

“Really? How come we didn’t run into them on our runs through the forest?” Nicolai wondered, finally looking at his hazel-eyed mate. 

“It's a big forest, Nic” Aston answered, looking back at the pack house that he knew so well, “Both of our scouts make sure to steer clear of each other to make sure that there is no confusion.” 

He watched as the gears moved in Nicolai’s head, Aston knew that the information he was providing was all new to the lion, waiting till The Gathering probably being the worst place to overwhelm the lion alpha. River and Rhea stood behind them waiting to see their next move, both of them watching along with Aston as Nicolai did his best to absorb the information given to him. 

“Mi Gatito, you have arrived!” A deep masculine voice spoke out from the doorway. 

Aston’s head snapped forward seeing that the doors had opened to reveal the wolf alpha, the smile on the man’s face only meant for him and him alone. Ransom De La Rosa walked towards the felines, power and presence radiating off of the alpha as he approached them. He stood tall at 6’7, his olive skin glowing underneath the warm sun, his physical appeal enough to make anyone weak in the knees. His brown curly locks were bundled tightly into a bun at the top of his head, his beard neatly trimmed and shaped to match the rest of his profile. 

Ransom was devastatingly handsome.

He wore a tight black shirt that hugged his massively broad chest, his clothing stretching with the flexing of his muscles as he moved towards the couple. He wore matching black dress pants that hugged his powerful thighs, his dark leather loafers adding to his look of sophistication. 

“Hey there to you too, Ransom” Aston softly smiled, becoming suddenly engulfed in a bear hug from the taller man. 

Ransom buried his face into the tigers neck, his senses getting overwhelmed with the scent that was Aston, the delicious taste of honey and roses. Aston looked over the wolf’s shoulder towards his mate, seeing Nicolai stare at the bigger man with visible shock at the alpha’s boldness. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see his bodyguards looking at the scene before them with awkwardness, their faces trying to maintain their neutrality as their eyes flicked towards the lion alpha. He had warned Nicolai.

“It’s so good to see you again, Aston” Ransom sighed, his body naturally relaxing around the tiger, “It has been way too long.” 

The wolf pulled away from him, slightly dazzling him with his sky blue eyes, reminding him of the ride to the pack house, “It has been a while hasn’t it? A lot of things have happened since we last saw each other, wolf man.” 

The wolf alpha grinned at the sound of his nickname, his mood visibly lightening up from the stresses of the preparations of the event. 

“And what things would that be?” 

Before Aston could answer, his mate was suddenly by his side taking his hand within his own, figuratively claiming him in front of the much larger man. Ransom’s eyes suddenly turned hard at the sight, his hairs on his body standing to attention as his body tensed. 

“He met me” Nicolai firmly answered, his golden eyes slightly glowed from his need to claim what was his. 

“Oh?” The wolf growled, looking towards Aston for answers.

Aston’s eyes filled with a softness that seemed to bother the wolf, “Let me introduce you to my mate, Ransom. This is Nicolai Cross….. The alpha of the new lion pride of Falcon Haven.” 

Ransom looked between them in bewilderment, his shock keeping him from uttering a response to Aston’s proclamation. The wolf’s eyes visibly darkened in rage, his muscles tensing his hands into closed fists before releasing them suddenly. 

“Now this is a turn of events, Mi Gatito. Seems like you have some explaining to do” The pack alpha then turned his attention to Nicolai, “As do you Lion.”

“Not really much to explain, wolfie. It happened when we were introduced at the meeting with the elders, not like we could stop it” Nicolai bit out. 

Ransom’s eyes narrowed, “When was this?”

“6 months ago” Aston spoke up.

“Does Bianca know?”

“Not yet, we were planning on revealing it at The Gathering. We had to make sure that everyone was present so that no one would be in the dark, or see it as an act of war.” 

“You know how Bianca is going to react to this..”

“Much like your own, I’m guessing” Aston then smirked knowing that he had struck a chord with the wolf, “You can’t stop destiny, wolf man” 

Ransom looked at the tiger not liking his words, he knew about the wolf’s feelings towards him and the fact that Aston had felt some sort of connection to the alpha that he could not explain. The tiger's thoughts also wandered to Bianca in that moment, wondering if the news would hurt her the same way that it had the man before him. Lastly out of the corner of his eyes he could see his mate glaring holes into Ransom, it was very evident to him that Nicolai did not like his first experience with the wolf, the low possessive growling another obvious indicator. 

“That is a low blow, Mi Gatito” Ransom sighed, ignoring Nicolai’s growling.

‘Not as bad as it's going to be when Bianca gets here and finds out’ Aston thought, his hand squeezing his mates’ hoping to calm him down before he started a fight with the wolf alpha. 

“Not as bad as the blow that I’m going to get from Bianca” Aston stated, suddenly becoming aware of the help watching his mate with glowing eyes as they worked.

‘Maybe I should have started a war’