It was the fourth alpha who came to visit him, and he was tall and handsome like the previous ones who came to woo him.
They were all the same, Ari noticed.
Similar in ways they don't even realize they were similar in. Of course, they all had their different personalities and way of speaking, but they all fell back into the same method of trying to impress him. He couldn't exactly pin point exactly how they were similar; they just were.
Or maybe Ari just wasn't interested that they all became one and the same to him.
"Hel-" The alpha cleared his throat when his breath got caught in it the moment his eyes fell on Ari, and he tried again with a charming smile. "Hello, Aurelius."
Polite as ever, Ari smiled back holding a small box in his hands.
"Would you like to go anywhere in particular?"
The alpha was already smitten, and he didn't hide the fact that he was staring as he stood there watching Ari think about where he wanted to go. Ari already knew where he wanted to go, he just liked the effect that he had on the men who came to him.
So easy to sway.
"Perhaps you'd like to join me somewhere more private?" Ari stepped away from the door and walked down the stairs with the alpha's gaze following him the whole time. "I know a very quiet place in the woods."
"Yeah, sure. Perfect." The alpha agreed eagerly, and he surprised Ari by placing a hand on his shoulder making him tense up in alarm. "Lead the way."
"Okay."
There's something he didn't like about the way the alpha's hand sat comfortably on his shoulder, but when he ignored it, he found it to become more relaxed as it trailed down further the more they went until it rested on the small of his back. Ari's hands held the box in his hands tightly, but he made sure it wasn't tight enough to break it.
He did not like this at all.
"Your hand." Something in Ari quivered, he felt sick. "Take it off."
But the hand didn't come off, instead it slithered into his waist and it gripped it pulling him closer. A low voice deep voice whispered in his ear, and it did nothing but make him breath in an intake of air. "Don't be shy, Aurelius. Let's get to know each other better."
He couldn't help the worried whine that escaped him.
An omega taking an alpha somewhere secluded will never not be stupid. This was clearly taken as an invitation for something else, and Ari had no choice but to play along it seems.
"We're here." He almost breathed out in relief, and he tugged the hand off of him with his free hand, and before the alpha could protest, he pulled him towards the log where Cassie sat a few days ago. "Sit, please."
Thankfully, the alpha obliged that request and sat down without much trouble. He looked at Ari with curious anticipating eyes and was delighted when the omega sat down next to him looking down at his box with apparent shyness.
"What's in the box?" He asked curiously, leaning too close for comfort.
Too close.
Ari knew this was a date, but none of the previous alphas were this forward or bold.
"Cookies." He answered him with some reluctance, but he thought he should at least open the box and show it to his company. "I baked them myself."
The alpha's eyes softened at him. "You bake? That's cute."
"Would you like some?" Ari offered and the alpha could not deny the beauty in front of him.
Ari watched as he took a sizeable bite and let out a sound born out of pleasure. "They're probably the best thing I ever ate." The alpha told him exaggerating a bit because he wanted to make Ari like him, and it seemed to be working since he saw Ari's smile grow. "Truly amazing."
The alpha sounded appreciative of Ari's skills in baking, and he couldn't take his eyes away from how stunning the sight of Ari's reddening cheeks is. It was a miracle how this omega stayed unclaimed this long just for him, and the genuine smile that was slowly appearing on Ari's face rendered him unable to breathe.
This omega was his, he decided.
"I wonder," Ari said putting the box away and moving a loose strand of hair away from his face as if he couldn't get any prettier. The alpha found himself dealing with butterflies in his stomach as his heart clenched at the sight, he still couldn't breathe properly. Completely captivated. "How long will it take for them to find your dead body?"
A sudden sinister silence befell the place, and it was only broken by the softest of laughs.
The alpha realized he really couldn't breathe.
The cookie he was eating dropped to his side as he gasped desperately for air, and all that came out of him were painful wheezes as he felt like there were hands tightening around his throat. His airways felt blocked, they burned, and with teary eyes he looked up at the most deceptively gentle and beautiful person he had ever seen, and he was not looking at him.
The warmth of the smile he had on his face wasn't for him.
He was looking somewhere behind the wriggling struggling dying alpha.
Enrage and betrayed, the alpha lunged with a clawed hand at him with whatever little vitality he still had, but something forceful pushed him on the ground knocking the already little air out of him. Pain shot through him as he found himself helplessly pinned on the ground, slowly suffocating.
"This explains the last body I found here." Constantine muttered slightly bewildered as he kept the man pinned to the ground with his foot. "You've been busy."
Ari felt warm all over. "You've been coming here?"
"Occasionally. Why are you killing these men?"
Ari didn't flinch when he heard the bones of the alpha under Constantine's foot cracking.
"Because they were supposed to take me away and give alpha Hawthorne ease of mind." He told him honestly not hiding the displeasure in his voice as he closed the box. He didn't want any wild animals eating his cookies and dying as well. "Hopefully these missing alphas will stir something and give him a headache."
"Hm, little cookie killer." Constantine's lip twitched up in amusement as he walked up to him leaving the dead man behind. "Is that why you left?"
The blush that appeared on Ari's face was delicious as Constantine pulled him up and tilted his head so it was looking up at him. "Did you want me to stay?"
"Obviously I wouldn't have minded if you did."
Ari let out a soft gasp and found himself unable to speak when Constantine leaned down to bite his lip.
It's always these small but significant things that were different about Constantine. Perhaps he doesn't realize he's doing it, or maybe he does, but his words and action always gave Ari something he isn't given very often, a choice.
Everything that happened so far up until the point where it brought them here had been Ari's choice, and although he could be forced into many things that were expected of him, for some reason Constantine was letting him just do as he pleases.
His words were enough evidence of that. He wouldn't have minded if Ari stayed, but he didn't actually have to. Ironically it only made him want to stay even more.
"You're always changing places." Ari told him accepting the kiss he was given and pushed himself on his toes chasing its warmth when it went away.
"Does it bother you?"
"I don't think I'd always want to be on the move." Ari admitted finding himself relaxing into the hand holding him by the small of his back. Identical to the way the – now dead – alpha did to him earlier, but felt very much different. "Don't think I want to be a part of a pack, either."
The hand went lower, and its slowly pulled up his shirt. Ari let it without any resistance on his part. "What do you want, then?"
The bruises on his stomach were clear as day ranging from a gross yellow to painful purples. There was no emotion in Constantine's face when he looked at them, he was only confirming a suspicion.
"I want to be away and alone."
Constantine let out an amused breath. "May I come visit in your lonely castle?"
"Please do."
"Want me to take you now?"
Ari hesitated even though he knew he'd go anywhere with him, but there are still things that needed to be addressed. "I am not leaving until my mother is dead." He told Constantine looking up at him with a bit of reluctance that still remained before he finally asked. "But before that, who are you?"
Not expecting the question, Constantine gave him a confused look. "I don't follow."
"What's your past? Where are you from? Do you even belong to any pack?"
"You use me, then you wanna know me." Constantine hummed amusedly. "So, do you want me to deal with your mother?"
Ari huffed at how his questions were avoided. "Yes, please."
"Then it's better you come with me now." Constantine told him pulling him towards the opposite way of town, and Ari unquestioningly let himself be pulled away not missing the life he was leaving behind whatsoever.
Instead, he found himself smiling. "Okay."
"Constantine Dietrich, by the way." Constantine told him, shocking him, before adding. "Deceased."
The fact that he was a Dietrich was shocking, but that wasn't what left Ari speechless. It was the hurtful words his mother once said a very long time ago, and they kept echoing in his head in this moment.
"Why don't you try your luck at the Dietrich's pack? I know they have an alpha son. Maybe you'll be worth something if he's your mate."
Somehow, her words always became true. It was almost eerie.