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Chapter Thirty-Three
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2022-03-31 20:13:12(AUTHOR NOTE: Just a reminder that single quotes ' are things only said in Aria's head when they appear like speech.)
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'Stop them,' my mind hissed at me as I watched the children laugh and jump all over Aleric.
He had scooped a few up and was playing happily with them. They ran around him, tugging at his clothes while he pretended to be a scary monster. Every time he would roar, they would all squeal and run a few steps away, having the time of their life.
'He is a murderer,' my mind reminded me. 'He is dangerous. Don't let him touch them.'
But the scene in front of me was baffling, freezing me in place. I had never seen Aleric around children before and so his affectionate behaviour towards them was shocking, to say the least. Would he have been like this in the past had he been given a child of his own? ...If my body had been capable of such a thing?
As the
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Despite my resolve, it still took another two months before I finally worked up the courage to begin the difficult journey of becoming Beta.The rest of Myra's charity event had gone well that day and I didn't see Aleric for the remainder of the fundraiser, which was perfectly fine by me. I could tell Myra was a bit worried about me though and I had to palm it off as no big deal. I didn’t want to worry her. It was her first time seeing me so scared by anything and I could only imagine what might have been going through her mind.In the two months that had passed, I somehow had reached my fifteenth birthday. I requested that it be kept a quiet affair and so we ended up celebrating it with just my parents and Myra. There were minimal gifts, also per my request, and we all sat and had a nice dinner at my house. Really, I was just happy to be amongst all the people who genuinely cared about me. I’d spent too many birthdays in the past being almost completely al
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I could feel the tears begin to fall down my face and I shook my head."No... I can't," I said, gritting my teeth.I could see it all again so clearly. The cells, my father, the trial ground, the sword... and Aleric. I realised then that, a part of the reason I hadn't told anyone about my past before now, wasn't only because I needed to keep myself safe, but because I physically couldn'ttalk about it before. It was too painful. It felt like if I said the words aloud then it would be making it real....…And if it was real, then there would be no way I could even remotely say that maybe, just maybe, my past life had been just a bad dream."Aria, you need to be honest and upfront with me now if I'm going to be backing you here. The journey for you to become a Beta will be hard enough as it is.""It's not that simple," I said, still shaking my head in denial. "You need to trust me when I say I can't become Luna, that becoming Beta
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Alpha Tytus smiled between Alexander and I, clearly eager for whatever was about to ensue. In response, I couldn't help but squirm a little under his gaze.Naturally, my father had to leave me to sit by Tytus given his rank. I watched him go and tried to not outwardly express just how nervous I was about him leaving me. But he needed to show that he was unbiased in this decision, and I needed to show that I didn't require my father to fight my battles for me."Okay, Aria," Tytus started. "Why don't you begin by telling us why you're here today?"It was clear by those selected to attend that they all knew already what I was about to say, and yet he wanted to hear it from me anyway. Once again, I found myself having to tread carefully, stuck in the game I knew Tytus was laying out for me. I knew he wanted me to become Luna but I didn't know yet what he thought of my desire to be Beta. Would it be enough for him to feel I was contained and not a threat? Or did he s
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We stood in front of the Alpha in silence as he glanced between Alexander and I. "Thank you for waiting, Alexander... Aria," he started. I still couldn't read his face, his expression not giving me any hints to the results. "The council and I have discussed this at long length and the result was... a tie." My mouth opened in shock as I stared at Tytus. A tie? What did that even mean for us then? "It appears we were completely split in half, five to five. And so, Alexander...." "Yes, Alpha?" my cousin replied, straightening his back as his name was called. "You may continue with your training for Beta...." "Yes!" my uncle yelled out, ecstatic with the victory. I almost couldn't believe he had spoken so childishly in front of the entire council. But my heart sank at Tytus' words. Had I really failed? In my head, I instantly began to think of ways I could overturn the decision and have someone change their deciding vote.
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It had Alpha Tytus written all over it.He had 'coincidentally' chosen a night my father was out of town and my mother was shifted to work at the hospital. This meant it would be just me... and Aleric.It seemed I had assumed incorrectly that Tytus was done trying to play matchmaker with us. When I had been accepted as a probationary Beta heir, naturally I had thought the surprise dates would come to an end. Did he think I was going to fail in my endeavour to best Alexander? Or was his idea that I could be persuaded to drop out of the running for the title if I fell for Aleric?Putting all of that aside, I now found myself with less than seven hours to get the entire house ready.To have the Alpha or Alpha heir come for dinner was considered a high enough honour already, but hosting Aleric would just make things more difficult. I'd never found him an easy person to please in my past.I worked tirelessly, from the moment I found out he was coming, t
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"Miss?" a voice called out to me.My vision had slowly faded after the shocking realisation of what was happening, and I looked up to see Lucy leaning over me."Aria?" she called again, worried enough to drop the honorifics.I blinked several times, coming back to reality, but I could still feel my entire body shaking.'I was going to kill Aleric.'The thought kept repeating itself in my head and I didn't know what to do. In the past, my visions had shown me things caused by others that I needed to stop. But this time... this time it was me causing harm. How could things become so bad between us... that I ended up wanting to kill him?"Aria?" Lucy called again."Lucy... sorry," was all I could say, letting her know I was fine."Miss, you scared me!"She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. It was nice to know that even after all the hell and extra duties I gave her, she still seemed to care about me.
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The conversation with my parents hadn't really ended up being much of a conversation. There wasn't much they could do when the Alpha was personally ordering it. My father did give me a look of concern though, which I reciprocated with a nod of encouragement. I didn't like it either, but I'd told myself I was going to be okay.Within the week, I was packed and waiting outside for when my lift would arrive.I had been told to be ready by six in the morning because it would take all day to arrive at the Golden Blade pack. I wasn't looking forward to the long drive but I was outside waiting in the cold morning nonetheless.Finally, a black car pulled up and I opened the boot, throwing my suitcase in. Normally someone would have come out to do it for me, but it wasn't exactly like Ineededanyone to do it. I was perfectly capable of doing it... it was just odd.I walked over to get in but, when I went to sit in the back seat, suddenly the do
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"What do you want?" Aleric yelled out to them.They either didn't hear or had no desire to answer because they approached us slowly without hesitation.It was clear what their intention was."Aleric?" I called out nervously. "What's wrong with them?"I could see from here that something was off.Wrong. Their clothes were dishevelled and they looked like they hadn't seen a proper bath in years. But not just that, they were also giving off some sort of weird vibe. Like they were sick......And dangerous."They look like rogues," Aleric said, moving closer to my side to get into a defensive position. "You need to get out of here.""You're joking, right?" I snapped. "I can handle myself in a fight, Aleric. What do you think I've been doing all these months?"But his explanation made sense given their appearance. Normally, anyone who left a pack could be accepted into another after due process and screening. So, this m
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“I… Rheyna Knight… of the once lost Silver Mist Pack,” I started, my voice barely louder than a whisper. “Hereby reject y—.” …But I wasn’t able to finish the sentence. Because I’d been wrong… so wrong. I could see that now. I didn’t recall that prior timeline memory to prepare myself for the pain I’d feel upon completing the rejection. No… I’d seen it as a reminder. A reminder of why I shouldn’t go ahead with it. And as his lips came crashing down against mine, immediately cutting off my words, this newfound realisation seemed so obvious. Why hadn’t I seen it sooner? It was as if something inside completely broke down the second he reached for me. Now all that was left was this connection drawing me to him. It was so incredibly strong, almost impossibly so. Like this was something I was meant to be doing. I didn’t have the resolve to resist him, instantly kissing him back. There was an urgency in my response as if I’d been starving for this. To just feel the sparks and desir
