ARABELLA POV “Wait, wait, wait…” I said urgently. My brain needed to catch up with what he was saying. “Tell Alpha Rhys? Why do you have to tell him anything?” Simon’s breathing sounded harsh on the phone like he was running somewhere. It sounded like he called me while he was in the middle of an urgent task. “What are you doing, Simon?” I asked. “I’m halfway to the palace. I’m going to meet the Alpha—” “Are you crazy? Stop right there!” He stopped, stunned at the commanding sound of my voice. “It’s stupid to just barge in there with your claims,” I said to him, trying to control my rising heartbeat. “You only have the information, not the evidence. Besides, even if you only have the information, how sure are you that it’s true?” Simon kept quiet, his breathing reducing to a steady rhythm. I dropped the glass of water in my hand lest I broke it into shards. “Listen, Simon, I know you’re desperate and you want to clear your name—” “It’s more than that,” Simon interrupted. “He
ARABELLA POVWe looked at each other for long moments. Jack must have seen the disappointed look on my face because he immediately rushed to cover his sentences.“That’s not what I mean… I’m sorry, that just came out of my mouth. I shouldn’t have said that at all.”I shook my head and signaled that he stopped talking. It wasn’t his fault, nor was it Lily’s. Everyone who knew about my history with Rhys always threw the bomb of me loving him again, which truly hurts. But then again, they could have had little fate in me.“So how do you want to do this?’ Jack asked urgently. “You need my help, right? What do you need me to do?”I shook my head at him. “You don’t have to help if you’re not interested in it.”“Arabella, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m truly sorry, honestly. I’m just worried for you.”“That’s why I said you should not bother.”He came around the table and stood next to me. “There’s no way I won’t be worried or bothered when it comes to you, Arabella. Just tell me what the p
ARABELLA POV I gripped Jack’s shoulder, wanting to offer him comfort but not sure where his problem was coming from. He groaned as he pressed his knee to the ground, his hand tightening around his neck. I would have said he was the one choking himself if I didn’t see the tiny veins making its way to his chin from his neck.“How do you feel?” I asked in a full blown panic. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. Do something, please.”“My wolf… my wolf is caged and restless,” he managed to say.I peered at him carefully this time. his body twitched this way and that way occasionally, as if his wolf was struggling to get out but the witch’s power was holding him back.“Do something…” I muttered, tears clouding my eyes.“I can’t…” he whispered.Soon we heard chanting. I turned and saw the wolf approaching us, her hand filled with what looked like black sand as she chanted her incantations. Her whole focus was on Jack;’ I suppose as an Alpha he was more of a threat to her than I was.“Stop it!” I y
RHYS POVArabella looked shocked. I mean, I was shocked too, but the way she looked was abnormal. It was almost like she didn’t want any of us to be there. The doctor looked at me, and then to her, scared that we might be in shock.“We need a blood transfusion,” he repeated. “Dr. Emma, you can do a cross examination on the kid and make your own analysis, if you want?”Arabella nodded several times and patted the arms of the doctor. “Thank you, Daniel. Just give me your tab and let me take over. You probably have other patients to attend to.”The doctor smiled patronizingly. “I know this one might be family, so I would not recommend—”“You can clearly see that it’s the Alpha son and that I came here with him. Let me take over from where you stopped, Daniel.”The doctor looked at me and then handed his tab to her. I was left in a confused state, seeing the interactions before me but not completely understanding it. All I thought of was why my son would need a blood transfusion. Had Mia
ARABELLA POV What annoyed me wasn’t that Rhys discovered I was Arabella a long time ago and kept it a secret, but that he thought I was lying because I wanted him to get rid of Mia. Of all things, it was the wildest thing I’d heard—and the most annoying too.He thought I was a silly girl who’d come back to this pack just for him to abandon Mia and focus on me. I would have cried in frustration, but laughter erupted out of me, surprising the both of us. He was quite taken aback by the burst of laughter, and so were a few passersby. His anger had attracted them, but my laughter kept them.He moved back a little, twitching his lips as he continued to watch me. When my laughter reduced to a light chuckle, the people around decided it was nothing and decided to move on. I hummed when the last of my frustration was gone with the laughter.“Are you done now?” Rhys asked, a bit frustrated.“No, I’m just getting started,” I replied. “First of all, I don’t want you nor do I want you to leave
RHYS POVI’ve never been so disappointed and pained in my entire life. The pain I felt came with deep seated shame and embarrassment. I was embarrassed for a lot of things—firstly the fact that it was Arabella who helped me to uncover this secret. Now I don’t particularly feel grateful to her; she could have her own scheme after all. If she was able to come back to this pack and uncover this secret all alone, it really put me to shame for someone who’d been living with Mia for years.What was she thinking?No, what were they thinking? The both of them… Mia and Craig. My wife and my beta. No matter how I think about it, it made me wild and mad with fury. It wasn’t necessarily a matter of love, but betrayal. For someone who was so controlling about the kind of women that came around me, she really had the tenacity to cheat on me for years. Years, and no less with my Beta.I laughed. It was a slow, bitter laugh. I felt the tears gather around my eyes long after they were gone. I stood o
ARABELLA POV Rhys was gone by the time I came back to the ward. I felt pity for him; pain and pity. Somehow his agony echoed within me, stretching the thin walls of my sanity. It was almost as if I could feel exactly what he was feeling, only faint. I didn’t find him anywhere in the ward and Bruno was still sleeping. I checked around and even the windows (I know, absurd), but I still didn’t see him. The only logical thing that came to my mind was that he’d be at home.When I didn’t see him check in the next day, I became worried. It was unlike him to go so still, especially when a big event like this was happening.“Is Rhys here yet?” Mia asked.I shook my head no. Here she was, acting all sweet and innocent as if she just didn’t lie to him for years. She had been beside Bruno for hours, refusing to go home and telling anyone who was willing to here that he was her precious baby. She’d send Craig out several times so that Rhys won’t see him when he comes in yet Rhys never showed up.
RHYS POVA loud scream pierced the air. I turned around immediately, pushing the man before me to the side, my hand still around me. The first thought that came to my mind was that a pack member had seen me with a Rogue and was now ready to spread the news. Imagine my surprise when I turned, ready to explain, only to see that it was Arabella. She somehow fell to the ground as she screamed, looking at me with such hate, such wild look. I instinctively stepped towards her, then stopped. I looked back at the Rogue; leaving him here to attend to her would set him off and make him run. While my body and soul ached to meet Arabella, beachside her screams and increasing tears were piercing my heart and soul, I still could not leave. This was the one prisoner that I needed to integrate into the pack once more. He was the person I’d already decided that he would help me and find the actual person who killed my dad, so I couldn’t let him go.A rant memory suddenly enveloped me then. It was yea