“What makes you think there is a better choice, Ransom?” Aston spoke out, his voice cutting into the stare down. 

“It is obvious who the better choice is Aston, hell, I wouldn’t even mind losing you to Bianca. Mostly due to the fact that she would be okay with sharing you with me” Ransom replied, not breaking eye contact with Nicolai. 

Nicolai’s beast had not liked Ransom’s words, power suddenly flooding into the room surrounding the men in a thick blanket, the hair of the two alphas before him standing on end. Aston’s own awe at the words of the wolf alpha left him in confused anger, why had Ransom suddenly become willing to risk their friendship for this? What had made the wolf so brave with a hint of desperation compared to the past?

“Alpha”

Aston stared as his mate and the wolf continued to stare each other down, the vibration of Nicolai’s growls bouncing off of the walls becoming louder and louder. Bright crimson eyes meeting a fiery blaze of golden eyes, mockery and pride screaming from behind them towards the lion.

“Alpha” 

The tiger did his best to assess the situation at hand, trying to figure out the best way to stop the measuring contest before it got out of control, worried because Ransom had yet to release his power to counter Nicolais’. Unconsciously he took a step forward in order to get in between the two alphas, knowing that he needed this to end and end now. 

“ALPHA!”

Aston froze mid gait at the sound of masuline voice that roared from behind him, when had someone entered the room with them? How had they not noticed the presence of another person?

“What Aston?!” Ransom’s voice growled out, his glaring red eyes turning to acknowledge him instead of his mate. 

Aston stared at him in confusion before slowly shaking his head to indicate that it had not been him who had spoken out. He looked slightly behind him to spot a man standing near him, sandy brown hair filling his vision as a pair of dull grey eyes came into view. The tiger recognized the name as Ransom’s beta, Adam Olsen, standing but feet from him staring at his alpha with an unamused expression. 

“It was I that addressed you, Ransom” Adam answered, shocking Aston as the male wolf spoke earnestly, “I have been standing here for quite some time watching the three of you be fools, were you not aware that you all could be heard from outside of the doors pretty clearly.”

Aston looked at the beta with embarrassment, his face slightly becoming flush from the knowledge that any passersby could have heard the commotion from the office. Nicolai’s growls still filled the room as his beast was still focused on the wolf alpha, who was no longer giving him attention like he was not a threat even in that moment. 

“Adam, what is the meaning of this interruption? We are in the middle of something” Ransom barked, acting as if he had not heard the subtle insult that his beta had hurled at him. 

Adam’s eye twitched, his gaze burning itself into his alpha, “Sorry for the intrusion Alpha, but I thought you would have liked to know that Bianca has arrived for The Gathering. She arrived via the tunnel in the midst of all the ‘excitement’.” 

Aston gulped at the sound of the announcement and the sarcasm that had been laced in Adam’s answer, the tiger being surprised at the tension between the alpha and beta also knowing that the wolf was always dealing with Ransom. Bianca, on the other hand, had arrived through the secret tunnel that Ransom had built for her to travel to the packhouse safely during the daytime. There had also been one built underneath the compound that Aston realized he had neglected to tell his mate about, he knew that be the recipient of the lion’s anger at a later time. 

“Tell her that we will be with her once we have settled this affair” Ransom said dismissing his beta. 

Aston knew that Ransom was in a mood at that moment as the alpha turned his gaze back to the angry lion alpha, he never spoke to any member of his pack in such a manner, but the two alpha’s had gotten under his skin. 

“But Alph-”

“I didn’t know that I was so easy to dismiss, or did I come at a bad time, wolfman?” a cold voice reverberated with presence from the doorway of the office. 

Aston noticed as Ransom’s breath hitched, his eyes slightly widening at the figure that stood behind him, the slight smell of fear hitting the tiger's nose from the wolf. The tiger alpha turned around to face the woman that stood before the group with her arms folded across her chest in question. 

“Bianca” Aston breathed just slightly above a whisper.

Bianca was a sight to behold to the group, she stood in an elegantly statuesque fashion, her body looking as if it had been crafted by the gods, each and every curve and piece of flesh just perfect. Her olive skin glowed from the lights of the hallway outside of the room, life radiating from her complexion compared to the usual paleness of vampires. Aston’s eyes travelled to her face, her intimidatingly chiseled features looking as if they had been crafted from the finest clay, leaving Aston breathless like it did the first time. Lastly his hazel eyes came into contact with the ferociously icy blue stare that was Bianca’s eyes, his body freezing in place. 

The vampire’s attention turned towards him, a purr erupting from her lips, “Well hey there my kitty cat, it's been a while.”

Before Aston could reply he was engulfed in a strong embrace, his body tensing from the vampire that appeared around him in the blink of an eye. Instinctively his arms wrapped around the gorgeous body that had latched onto him, burying his face within the warm brown hair flowed wildly around Bianca’s face. 

“Hey there Bianca” Aston chuckled nervously, his eyes still wide open. 

“I’ve missed you” the vampire squealed, giving the tiger a soft squeeze. 

Aston never got to answer. 

He was suddenly pulled from the arms of his undead friend, the large body of his mate coming into his vision, a blast of power flooding the room like a tidal wave. Nicolai now stood between the tiger and the vampire queen, his eyes ablaze and teeth bared ready to attack. 

“MINE!” Nicolai’s deep voice snarled, his beast very present in that moment. 

Aston watched on like a deer in headlights as Bianca stared at the lion alpha with a raised brow and dead expression, Ransom muttering the background that his mate was now a dead man. 

“Now, who is this Aston?” Bianca coldly asked, her eyes analyzing the man before her. 

Aston was speechless. 

“That, my dear Bianca, is Aston’s mate” Ransom spoke out with a smile, Aston’s heart going into his throat nervously, “That is the new Lion Alpha, Nicolai.” 

Bianca’s eyes turned into stone with the ferocity of her icy glare, her eyes staring deeply into the gold eyes of Nicolai, before tilting her head to the side to focus her menacing glare at Aston. The tiger felt, for the first time, the fear of uncertainty amongst his friends, a feeling that he never knew that he would ever feel in his time with them. The weight of her glare feeling like the laws of gravity had gone in reverse in regards to him, the pressure from her eyes heavily pressing into him with such an accusatory gaze. Then she spoke.

“Destiny must have a sense of humor, Aston, because this trash is not worthy of being your mate” Bianca’s words caused the air to leave the room.

The bodies within the room held their breath, Nicolai’s features suddenly becoming animalistic as his hands were replaced with claws, his teeth becoming that of a lions’. His mate was suddenly on the brink of transforming as Bianca’s gaze bore into him, making him feel as if needed to react and react quickly.

Only one thing went through his mind, ‘well shit fuck’