With Titan gone from the room and a lingering sensation coursing through her, all Ayla had left were the words she'd spoken to him.
"They want you."
Orion knew she was coming with Stella and Rhae, and the next-in-line Alpha mentioned it was easy to convince Julius to join them.
She replayed the evening in her mind, realizing it had to have been a trap all along, because Orion knew she would come for Julius.
Was it all just a trick to lure her to the pack?
He assured her they had no intention of hunting or capturing her, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that he was lying.
If so, she fell for the trap this time, though deep down, she had always known it was one.
One she was waiting for.
Of course, there were other things she hadn't expected.
There were distractions like Titan and the witches, but she felt she'd managed them well.
Or so she believed.
Titan had done it on purpose, getting her all riled up, yet she still couldn't figure out what part he played in it all.
He filled her head with silly ideas just to get her thoughts spinning.
Had he planned to keep her from sleeping just to get back at her, to keep her distracted from her mission?
Now, she was fuming as she rolled out of bed and headed to the room just two doors down to give him a piece of her mind.
She picked up on his smugness, realizing he knew she was coming.
Ayla burst in without knocking or giving any warning.
There he was, wearing that familiar look of irritating, cocky arrogance, sitting up in bed as if he'd been expecting her, certain she wouldn't be able to resist confronting him.
Just as he suspected, her words came out without a filter.
"Why would you do that? You filled my head with all sorts of thoughts I didn't need when I was trying to fall asleep. You knew exactly what you were doing."
Titan shook his head slowly and deliberately.
"No, I'd never do that," he said with a smirk.
"I just wanted to talk while it was still just the two of us, to warn you. We hardly had any time like that before we got here, and who knows when we'll get another chance."
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't believe you. Remember, I can sense what you're feeling. You seem excited. Is it because I'm upset?"
"I'll never be happy or excited about you being upset. I just needed you to understand you were in danger here. But you being in my room… that's a different matter. Let me help you relax. No funny business, I promise. You've made it clear you don't want to have sex with me, and on the Moon Goddess, I'll behave."
Ayla sensed that he was genuinely sincere, at least to some extent.
She raised her hand with her pinky extended and said, "Pinky promise."
He glanced at her, uncertain of what she was doing, but gave a nod and agreed.
Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his hand and hooked her pinky with his.
"This is a pinky promise. It means you swear to keep it, and if you break it, I get to break your pinky... or maybe your whole hand," she said, her face twisted into a sarcastic smirk.
"Alright, now turn around and have a seat. Remember, no funny business. I can't be responsible for what happens if you try anything, though."
Ayla gave him a sideways glance before doing what he asked.
Titan started massaging her shoulders, arms, and lower back, exactly what she needed, and it was the first time anyone had ever done that for her.
He could feel the tension draining from her instantly.
Then, as she began to relax, he started to pepper the nape of her neck and down her shoulder with kisses.
Ayla glanced at him, one eyebrow raised, before her eyes shifted down to his hand.
He quickly raised his hands in retreat.
"Totally innocent... I just like kissing your skin. It's so soft and feels amazing."
"Right, keep your lips to yourself."
After that, Titan kept massaging her until she was completely at ease.
"You deserve a moment of peace for once, before you go charging back into the wolves' den."
Somehow, he had a feeling she was going to stir up some trouble in the day ahead, though he wasn't quite sure what it would be.
She was so at ease by then that she gently leaned back against him as he went on, eventually drifting off to sleep on his chest.
With gentle ease, he helped her lie down, then nestled in behind her, wrapping her in a cuddle until he drifted off to sleep as well.
After he drifted off with Ayla in his arms, the rest of the night passed in a blur.
To him, she felt like home, and to her, he was just the same.
No matter how much she resisted it.
The bite seemed to intensify it, binding them like an invisible thread, drawing them closer, making it almost impossible for her to hold back.
If Ayla was anything, she was stubborn in the best way.
That's why, while everyone else was asleep, Titan included, she managed to wake up.
As she did, she slipped out of his embrace and quietly left the room, feeling a sense of pride in her fox-like cunning.
She glanced back once to make sure the new member of the group was still fast asleep.
Standing at the door watching him, she suddenly became aware of a strong bond between them she hadn't noticed before.
It worked in her favor, as she could tell he was in a deep sleep.
Turning quietly, she made her way down the hall toward the back door, silent as a mouse.
Once there, she tapped into her wolf's heightened senses, listening intently for any sound.
Any type of movement, breathing, talking, anything at all.
After a short while, in the dead silence of the early morning, she thought it might be safe to slowly and quietly open the door.
Clearly, they didn't expect any of them to be bold or daring enough to slip out the back door, let alone so soon after arriving, since it wasn't guarded at all, at least as far as Ayla could tell.
Either that, or they figured someone on the inside would stop them from going out through that door.
Now that Ayla had successfully escaped the willing prison, it was time to uncover what was happening within the Moonlight Shifter pack and find Julius.
But where was Julius, and could she actually track him down?
This wasn't going to be easy.
She had no idea how the territory was laid out or where to even begin, but something told her she'd be fine if she stuck to the cover of darkness, found the largest dwelling, and started there.
With that, she stayed close to the buildings, almost invisible in the darkness of the early morning, and made her way toward what she thought was the center of the village.
It was the opposite direction from where they had come, leading her further into their territory, making it a solid place to begin.
All the scents so far were pretty similar, each carrying Stella's fragrance with just slight variations.
That was until she stumbled upon a small tunnel entrance that appeared to go nowhere.
From the outside, it looked like it vanished straight into the mountainside.
Clever wolves.
Tucking away the best spots deep within nature.
The smell was oddly familiar, as if she had encountered it before, so she chose to follow it.
As she stepped into the tunnel and shut the gate behind her, Alexander woke up and decided to check on everyone to ensure they had all made it through the night.
Stella and Phoenix, the first couple, were giggling and full of life, so he decided to leave them be.
Choosing to skip Ayla's room, he checked on the second couple, who finally answered after three rounds of knocking.
When he got to Ayla's room, he knocked five times before opening the door and finding it empty.
The bed was a mess, but Ayla was gone, and what he feared most was coming to life: that she might be in his room.
He searched the house, hoping he was mistaken, but realizing there were only two places Ayla could be left: Titan's room or gone.
If he showed up at Titan's door asking about Ayla, it would seem like he was jealous again, even though he was actually both jealous and worried that she was missing.
He knew the pattern better than anyone else in the house.
Pacing outside Titans door, he thought of how he could approach the situation without coming across the wrong way, his wolf on edge.
Since meeting her, his only goal has been protecting his precious Ayla.
Finally, it hit him, "KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK."
"Yeah, just a minute," Titan called from the other side of the door.
"Just checking in to make sure everyone made it through the night. Stella, Phoenix, Rhae, Raphael, and I are all accounted for, so it's just you and Ayla left."
Suddenly, the sound of loud footsteps echoed on the wooden floor, and just two seconds later, his door burst open.
"What do you mean. Ayla isn't accounted for?"
Titan glanced down the hall toward her room, then back at Alexander, before heading to her room himself.
"What are you up to, Alexander? She should be in her room, the kitchen, the bathroom, or somewhere like that."
Alexander knew something was off, or Ayla was off on one of her solo missions in the least ideal places.
"No Titan. If she isn't in your room, then she either pulled an Ayla, or someone has taken her while we were sleeping."
"What do you mean, pulled an Ayla?"
Alexander smiled.
"She tends to run off on her own and take care of things without our help. Have fun with that," he smirked, beginning to sniff the air to see if he could catch anything unusual.
Unfortunately, the whole house reeked of an even stronger version of Stella.
"Well, they didn't take her; they'd never do that. The last thing they want is to make her mad. She must have 'pulled an Ayla.' But where would she go, and why would she do it?"
Alexander glanced back at Titan.
"You seem to know them pretty well, what they would or wouldn't do, and even what they want. That's interesting. So, whose side are you on?"
Titan bristled at the insinuation.
"I'm on my side, my pack's side, Ayla's side. I can't explain it to you right now, but betraying Ayla just isn't possible for me."
Phoenix stepped out of his room with a sly smirk.
"You CAN'T betray her, can you?"
"No, I can't," he said firmly, doing his best not to encourage the antics.
Raphael walked over to join the group.
"Leave him alone, Alexander. For now, he's with us. He can help us find Ayla, and that's all you need to know."
"What! You two just want to roll over because he says some pretty words. I don't think so."
Raphael placed a steady hand on his shoulder to calm him.
"It's more than that. All you need to know is he can't betray her right now. Okay? Let's focus on getting through this and finding Ayla and Julius."
Alexander had a feeling the guys were keeping something from him, but he chose to stay relaxed and let it slide for now.
"Fine. I'm watching you, though."
"Whatever makes you happy. Since the pack knows me and Ayla seems to have run off, I'll see what I can do to track her down before they realize what she's done."
With that, Titan headed toward the front door, leaving the others behind.
Alexander and the others were stuck in a house on foreign soil, while Titan got the chance to head out and save the day.
Phoenix and Raphael could tell their comrade was uneasy, but they didn't have much of a choice as they listened to Titan greet the wolves outside the door like old friends before it shut behind him.
At the very least, it would give Ayla some time to keep doing whatever she was up to, or at least give her a head start.
That was, assuming he was truly on their side.
Now, all the others could do was sit quietly, keeping a low profile to give her a bit more time in their own way.
If they were the quiet little wolves, pretending to be perfect, willing captives, then Orion would take his time coming back to them.
In that moment, Raphael really wished Dominic were around to offer some guidance.
Dominic would know exactly what to do.
He would have known how to handle the night at camp, or at least how to avoid this whole mess, not to mention the fact that Ayla would have taken off while they were sleeping, and had someone guarding the doors.
Their former General would have known just how to quiet the inner wolves and soothe the unease they felt in that moment.
Unfortunately, he was caught up in his own problems back in Scarlet Crest.
After the first day, things weren't turning out quite as smoothly as he had hoped.
After Lucus returned, things between him and Rollo seemed to take a turn for the worse.
Lucus had been wandering the city the day before, but that morning, even Deva seemed to carry a different kind of energy when she came to visit.
Her typically chatty nature felt a little more reserved.
For some reason, he couldn't quite understand; she appeared to be holding back
Deva leaned over his shoulder to check the monitors, taking in everything he was watching, and seemed to sniff slightly.
She brushed it off, claiming she felt a slight cold coming on, but something didn't seem right.
Rollo successfully steered clear of him all day, never once stopping by to see him.
After the morning visit, Deva headed to the restaurant, then managed to avoid the cameras for the rest of the evening.
Strangely enough, Rollo couldn't be seen either.
Dominic sensed something was off, but he'd have to count on Lucus to figure out what it was.
They had somehow managed to blind him despite all the surveillance at his disposal.
The next morning, when Deva stopped by to see him, she brought along both her reports and Rollo's.
She apologized on his behalf, explaining he was tied up with some personal matters and asked her to deliver them for him.
Dominic could tell something was going on, but he had no way to check it out himself.
He could only hope that Ayla and the team were handling their mission better than he was.
Somehow, he just knew Ayla was in her element, doing what she did best.
If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that Ayla was a lone wolf who thrived when working alone.
In a sense, he realized it was the only chance his son had to make it back home to him.
"Ayla, wherever you are right now, I hope you're safe. Please find my son and bring the others home with him."
Deep in the tunnel, she was suddenly overcome by a powerful wave of hope.
Somehow, she just knew where it had come from.
Only one person had ever truly longed for them to find Julius so deeply.
In that instant, she realized it was the scent she'd been chasing.
A faint salty aroma threaded through the sweetness, and her wolf picked up on it before she could make sense of it.
She had finally found the one she'd been searching for, her needle in a haystack, if only she could reach him.
Before long, the tunnel opened into a dungeon at the base of a pack house nestled within the mountain.
It was impossible to say exactly how big it was, but it was definitely not small.
She glanced around the small room crowded with doors and noticed a hallway branching off, lined with even more of them.
It was obvious the rooms were occupied, and the mix of scents that greeted her came from several different packs.
Wolves that might have wandered into the territory or gone after members of the pack.
It wasn't her place to decide who had a good reason to be there or not.
There was one wolf who wasn't around for the right reasons, and she was set on tracking him down.
With her nose in the air, she set off to track down Alexander's brother.
The air was musty, carrying the unmistakable scent of neglect and unfriendly service.
After passing about twenty doors, she finally reached a spot where the scent of Julius was unmistakable.
"Julius?"
In the dark, desolate dungeon, the only sound that lingered was the buzzing of flies echoing through the long, candlelit hallways.
The silence was almost unsettling.
"Julius, are you here?"
"Ayla? What are you doing here? You need to leave, NOW!"
"Julius! I found you. Come on. I'm getting you out of here."
Ayla stood at the door, fiddling with the lock, pouring most of her extra wolf essence from biting Titan into repeated attempts to break it.
"The stupid lock won't break," she growled.
She wasn't backing down.
"Grrr," she growled, channeling all her strength into a powerful kick at the lock.
Finally, she spotted a long piece of metal near his cell, thin enough to slip into the lock.
She slid it in, kicked the bar with all her strength, and at last, it cracked just enough for her to squeeze it between her hands and force it open.
"Ayla," he said, pulling her into a hug as the door swung open, "I'm so glad to see you, but you need to get out of here. They brought you here to find Orion's brother. It's a trap. They knew you'd come for me. Hurry, we have to leave now."