"Aria!?"
He had understandably been surprised to see me, so had the girl under him who was also missing her shirt.
She was laying down on a school desk, legs wrapped around him, and I quickly averted my gaze before I saw anything else.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled. I could hear the sound of him zipping his pants back up and tugging a shirt on.
"What am I doing here?" I repeated incredulously. "You mean why am I here after you made me wait for over an hour?!"
I turned back around to face him having assumed it was safe to do so now.
"Oh shit, was that today?"
"Oh, really? You don't recall even though I literally reminded you only a few hours ago?!"
He rubbed at the back of his neck staring at the ground. At least he looked a little guilty. But it didn't matter because I was furious. Nothing he was going to be able to say would make me calm down. It was like something inside me had been triggered and I could feel
I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.My mind kept trying to justify his actions, justify how he'd treated me. Really, it was probably my fault for thinking we were closer than he felt we were. I'd realised too late that I'd built up some sort of reliance on him without even knowing.It was such a bittersweet feeling to have had something I craved so close, only for it to be taken away having never realised it was there. And the worst part was that the entire time I'd been back, I'd been telling myself not to get close to anyone again... and yet here I was, crying over a stupid teenager of all people.It had been self-indulgent of me to begin with given the circumstances. I didn't know why I felt I deserved to feel validated by him. Did I think that, if we became friends, then what I did in my past life to him would be forgiven? I still carried that burden around with me, one which still weighed heavily on my shoulders. It was something I'd comple
Within the hour, I found myself at a clothing store in town with one very over excited Myra by my side.The look of her complete unabridged joy when I'd shown up at her door to ask if she wanted to hang out, had been worth the bribe to skip out on Luna studies.I didn't particularly need clothes, nor have any desire to impress anyone, but spending time with the one positive presence I could always count on was refreshing. Seeing her flutter around looking at the different outfits while gushing about how good they'd look on was so simplistic and easy. I was able to relax and shut my mind off to everything that had gone wrong the day before.However, after we'd gone to several shops, I started to notice a trend with Myra. She seemed to love so many of the clothes she would try on, which was a fair amount of them, but every time she would leave the store without buying anything.When we had reached the fifth shop, I watched her coming out of the changing roo
A million thoughts and feelings swept through me as I scrambled to figure out what to do. Should I wave? Smile? Walk over to him? ...Pretend that I'm actually looking at the shop behind him? It was a sort of nervous energy that made my legs shuffle under me and my heart race.I had so much to say to him, yet so much I shouldn't have said to begin with.And yet the most important thing, at the forefront of my mind, was still the debate as to whether I should tell him about the future. Because I knew he had a right to know, even if I ended up sounding insane.I took a step towards him and began to hold up my hand to wave."Cai—."But I didn't get to finish my sentence as he instantly looked away, turning back down to pack his bag. All I could do was watch mutely as he got onto his motorbike and kick it into ignition, not even bothering to look at me again before he rode off.It was as if he'd just slammed a door in my face. I stood there
I stood outside the Elder's housing estate, staring up at the large black iron gates in front of me. They were intricate yet terrifying at the same time, but I knew what laid behind them would be even more nerve-wracking.The doorman saw me and recognised who I was immediately, opening the gates without needing to identify myself or even speak. I entered quietly, heading towards the fate I knew would be waiting for me just inside the lavishly large building.The Elders were a group hand-selected and were only seven in total. A majority vote of both ranked and existing Elders was required to initiate any new members into the council and the process was quite strict. They all had to be over a certain age and bring some sort of credibility or merit to contribute to the betterment of the pack's future. The only exception to this rigorous selection process was the retired ranked members who were almost always guaranteed a position if one was available... and if they were ab
"Beta? No... that's impossible."I sat staring at Elder Luke in disbelief, unsure if he really had just suggested that."...Why?" Elder Luke argued."Because I'm a female," I pointed out. "There is no such thing as a female Beta. It's not a rank we can hold.""And neither is an Alpha female, but we both know you could claim that authority if you really wanted it."He was referring to my new title of 'Saintess'. With it came the perk of overthrowing Aleric and becoming essentially an Alpha in the process. But Beta...?I paused in thought. No, it really wasn't possible. Being a leader was one thing. I knew I would be capable of making the correct choices for the pack as an 'Alpha', however, as a Beta, there would be more reliance on being able to carry out whatever those orders entailed; sometimes by means of fighting. I had never even managed to win in a fight against Cai, there was no way I would be able to hold my own in a real battle.
(AUTHOR NOTE: Just a reminder that single quotes ' are things only said in Aria's head when they appear like speech.).~~~'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
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
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