(Elijah's POV)I pulled Ariel out of the water, we were both soaked and we did not have extra clothing that did not matter to me right now. I laid her on her back and began to pump her chest.She had swallowed enough water to fill a bucket, the more I pumped the more she coughed up water until she was dry heaving. Colour was returning to her cheek and that brought me relief.I tapped her chin lightly, "Emily wake up." She did not respond."How would she?" I mocked myself.I pumped her chest a few more times and she opened her eyes breathing heavily. I was worried,"It's okay," I told her while rubbing her back through her wet cloth. Her eyes darted around and she tried to find her bearing.It took a few seconds but she stopped breathing heavily and sat up properly, she looked around and wrapped her hand across her body. She was soaked and her actions did little to nothing to help her.By now more people had joined the small crowd, and the murmurings were getting louder. I looked throu
(Ariel's POV)After Elijah is done in the bathroom, I enter and clean up. My mind still pondering on the training he talked about. I was clearly confused.Let's assume he meant the kind of training I thought. Who was going to train me? Elijah was definitely too busy to do that and if he left me in the hands of his warriors, I am afraid I would be the next person on the hospital bed with a stab wound or bruises.The thought stayed on my mind all day but Elijah did not make a move to explain. It was not until the next day that I understood what his plan was.After I had gotten dressed the next day, Elijah came knocking on my door. I opened up and he walked in with Igni. I narrowed my eyes but said nothing."Igni would be training you." He dropped the bombshell on me, I gaped at him, eyes wide. Surely he did not mean that, right?"You would start today. She will be taking you to the training ground right now." He looked me over and seemed satisfied with what he saw, my mind was reeling.
(Ariel's POV)Igni took me to a spa. A freaking spa!After I followed her from the Training center, she drove us to the most famous hot springs in the central district.It was the first time I had left the palace to the central district or practically anywhere without Elijah by my side and I was a little excited about it. Something about doing this without Elijah's presence made it exciting.Upon getting into the hot springs lodge, a tall young man who I later got to know was the owner of the hot springs walked out to meet us, well meet Igni. He nodded at her and respectfully handed 2 cards to her.I admired that Igni was respected enough wherever she went. The 2 cards were a gatepass, you can call it a membership card. It gave us access to the springs facility.The hot springs was a beauty to behold. I had not been to a spa before and this sight was amazing. I looked around trying to look my fill.After Igni took the card, we headed to the showers. I was so shy to share a shower with
(Ariel's POV)I kept staring at Elijah after his outburst. I did not understand why he just had an outburst, his eyes looked cold and his face was livid. His furrowed brow and his tightly clenched fist were enough to tell me how angry he was and I did not know why?“Whose slave are you, Ariel? Who is your master?” He screamed.I flinched, my heart raced at the thought of what he could do.“Ariel, Answer the damn question.” He gritted, his eyes red with anger.When I did not make any attempt to respond, he stepped forward. I took two steps back, he moved again and before I could take another step back. He caught me by the wrist and tugged me forward.He stared into my eyes, “I will show you who your damn master is.” He pulled me with him and I tried to resist.This could not be good, I did not want to follow him and await my fate. So I dragged my feet and refused to move, he kept pulling me. Is told my ground and pushed his strong hands frantically trying to get away from him.He sudde
(Ariel's POV)After our climax, Elijah carried me into the tub and washed me, and washed himself. It surprised me that he had this gentleman in him but o was glad he did,no did not even have the strength to walk let alone wash myself.After the bath, he tucked me into my bed and went out. Immediately, I rushed to my bag and frantically looked for the birth control pills Ron had handed to me back at Moonstone.I found them and popped two pills in my mouth, I was not going to take chances. I would not allow myself to carry Elijah's child. The child of my enemy, I was a slave, despite being the supposed king's mate, I was still a slave,none with no power. I was not about to bring a child into my world.I had almost forgotten about this but after the last time he fucked me hard that I fainted, I just knew I had to take precautions. I did not want to be knocked up and Elijah doesn't seem to want to stop fucking me.Now, everything I own is at Elijah's mercy, that is if I owned anything. An
(Ariel POV)“Did he just ask me out for a drink?” I stared at him strangely. I thought I made it clear that I did not want to associate with Vincent again. Why was he pestering me now? Can't he just stay in his lane?“Please,” He pleaded, hands clasped in front of his face.I huffed, giving him the excuse that never gets old. “I am busy Vincent, please. I can't accompany you for a drink. I don't even want to drink.”“Just one drink, Ariel. One,” He holds up one finger to show me, “I just want to apologize. Let's just talk, please.”I looked away, Vincent’s pleading face was getting to me, I needed to take a breather and get my bearings straight. “Vincent is the enemy, well, he is part of them. You can't be friends with a werewolf, Ariel. Remember that.” I chanted in my head. I needed a reminder so I don't go off track.I took a deep breath, “I am sorry Vincent but it's a No, I don't think I need your apology. I will be on my way now.”I did not even take a step before he shot out his
(Ariel's POV)As soon as we got inside the bedroom, Elijah slammed me into the wall and surprisingly he did that a little gently. I felt pain but it did not feel like I had been slammed on some ton of bricks. I knew if he had slammed me with his strength, my back may have shattered, or at least left bruises that would take a while to heal.He wrapped his large hands around my throat, his hands squeezed tight, I choked. “Is this what you do now, huh? More around with men?” He breathed down on me, my airflow cut off by his hands and I struggled to get him off.“Now let me remind you that you are my mate and you cannot sleep with Vincent. Do you hear me?” Elijah thundered in my ear, his breath was fast and angry.My body trembled and I kept clawing at his hands to let go. He stared me dead in the eye, “You can't mess around with anybody, YOU ARE MY MATE!” He screamed into my ear and abruptly let me go.“My poor ear drums, my poor neck.” I cried internally. I fell to the floor and spent 2
(Ariel’s POV)I hummed to a tune as I dressed up for work. My eyebrow crinkled with a smile, I felt well rested and I was so excited to get to work.Nothing excites me as much as making research on the latest weapon design and actually designing them. I got dressed pretty quick and took a look at myself in the mirror. I looked good, if I may say so myself.I walked out and headed to the lab. With the smile still etched on my face. Maybe due to Vincent's speech, the lab seemed warmer. Some eyes still held resentment against me but most of them were just neutral. It amazed me when a threw a greeting and a few people nodded and mumbled a reply back. My smile widened.I went to my corner again and tinkered with a few materials. I was thinking of producing a new gun but one, more sophisticated and deadly. I didn't want it to look like the regular guns, I was going to make it light to carry, I wanted it to use darts or shooting knives instead of bullets.It was a tough project because I did
(Ariel's POV)I hummed a tune as I got dressed for the day. I was excited to show my marksmanship, especially to the people who had not seen me in action ever but underestimated me. The look of shock and awe on their faces would make my day.I whistled and moved my hips to the tune I was humming while I brushed looking at myself in the mirror. I felt giddy.I spat out the spittle in my mouth and gazed at myself in the mirror. “You are amazing,” I hailed myself.“You are beautiful. You are smart. You are the brightest. See the adoration in their eyes because of your awesome talent. You are powerful.” I continued to hail myself looking directly at myself through the mirror.My cheeks high, my head straight, my face stoic, and my words firm.Truly, I felt powerful. Today was my day, it felt good to do something you excelled effortlessly at. I was looking forward to the shooting round. I may not know a lot of things but I understood weapons.I knew each gun just by looking at them, I iden
(Ariel's POV)I woke up to Elijah cleaning me up tenderly, my hands were no longer bound. He was drawing soothing lines over the rope mark, washing it with soap, and willing the marks to disappear.I sighed contentedly and leaned into him as he washed me. His hands massaged my shoulders gently, I was really sore and I let out a moan.“If you keep moaning like that, I would be tempted to take you here and now,” Elijah's husky voice whispered in my ear.I stiffened, I had enjoyed the sex, allowing myself to indulge in the passion and enjoy it but I was not ready for another one. I was too sore. So I tried to contain the moan that threatened to break out of my lips. Elijah was too gentle in washing me and it was making me feel so good.I relaxed and enjoyed his care. I felt helpless against Elijah’s childish attitude towards anger. The moment he was jealous or angry he showed it by trying to mark me and dominate me with sex. I was helpless against his behavior.But I wouldn't deny that t
(Elijah's POV)It's been a few weeks since I saw Ariel. I missed her so much. Dealing with the whole assassination thing was taking up my time. Each day I had lots of work on my desk and I hadn't been able to go see her.I missed her smile, I missed her body, I missed sex with her. I was craving her touch. Tomorrow was the day of her match but I needed to see her today.So I cleared up my desk early, pushing aside the rest of the work. The Moonstone file glared at me, calling for me to attend to it but I closed it right back and left to go see her.Thoughts of her riddled me as I walked down the hallway, my wolf was excited to see her, he whistled a happy tune in my head, and my body was excited to finally see her and have a proper conversation with her. Well, I hoped I would have a proper conversation with her.Every time we attempted to have a decent conversation, we always ended up with one of us angry. I knew it was bound to happen but I hoped it would be different. A man can hope
(Ariel's POV)The postponement of the contest also gave me ample time to recuperate. I had been worried about how I would perform in casts or with limps. It did not help that I had overheard some people talking and they said the next round would be shooting practice.I hoped my leg would be properly healed before the next contest. Shooting was my forte, my knowledge of weapons gave me an advantage and so I was looking forward to this section. I did not want anything to jeopardize my winning chances.25 days later, my leg was fully healed. I could stretch it, walk without limping, run, and put the whole pressure on that foot without wincing or hissing in pain. My leg was completely healed.“I am damn excited that my leg is completely healed now,” I told Raven, flexing my ankle, my cheeks turned up very high in a smile.“I am happy for you, mi lady.” She handed me a branch of the rose flower she had plucked and curtsied while at it, we laughed together.The echoes of our laughter resoun
(Vincent's POV)“I am here to escort Ariel back to her room,” I announced the moment I entered the office. Although my gaze was intent on Ron, I could feel Ariel roll her eyes. Her antics amused me.“Your eyes would soon fall off with the amount of time you roll them,” I told her. She muttered incoherent words under her breath and I chuckled.I did not mind riling her up every once in a while, I did not get the opportunity often.I had rushed here the moment my investigation had clicked that Ron was part of the resistance. He was connected in more ways than one with the resistance.It did not surprise me, I was wary and hesitant when Elijah suggested that he bring him in as Ariel's personal physician. I did not dissuade him but I did share my reluctance with him.But Elijah wanted someone he knew and someone that Ariel could be safe with after the near-assassination experience. I believed that nobody was worth trusting or was even safe to be with at the moment. Everybody was a damn su
“What did you say you are doing here?” I asked Ron again when the initial shock wore off.He sighed. “Elijah arranged for me to be here,” he dropped another bombshell.“Elijah arranged for you to be here?” I asked in confusion, almost shrieking. That thought felt absurd, what was Elijah thinking?“Yes, due to your injury. He said he wanted you to recuperate in a quiet and comfortable environment.” He replied.The wheels of my mind began to turn, so that was why Elijah did not let me stay back in my room or go to the infirmary for this treatment. No wonder he had insisted that I get a new primary care physician.It still did not make sense to me that he chose Ron to be my primary physician. Wasn't he always jealous of Ron? What happened? What changed?Something felt suspicious and not knowing what it was kept me agitated.“Come and sit down, so I can examine the wound.” Ron patted the small bed in his office.I hesitantly climbed the bed with difficulty refusing his help, my movement a
(Ariel's POV)Ten minutes after I'd woken up, I still lay in bed with my eyes open, I was still tired. I allowed my mind wander to the conversation I had with Vincent the night before. My eyes followed every object I could see in the room but I did not sit up.Another ten minutes later and I stretched my body finally ready to step out of the bed. I sat up and looked around, adjusting my body to the new day. I was a little disoriented.My ankle throbbed and I hissed in pain, rubbing soothing circles around it. Gently, I dragged myself off the bed and into the bathroom. I took my bath, making sure water did not touch my wound and then I gently re-dressed my wound. I popped a few pain killers to get rid of the pain I woke up with.When I was done, I headed towards Raven's room to check on her. I had been in severe pain yesterday plus Vincent and Elijah did not leave my room so I was not able to check on her.I felt bad that I had not checked on her and her wound until now so I hastened m
(Ariel's POV)As soon as Vincent walked out with a heavy face, Elijah entered his face wary, glancing between me and Vincent's back curiously.“Am I missing something?” Elijah asked, looking curious.I shook my head, “Nothing.”“Why did he leave with that expression then?”“I don't know. It's nothing.”Elijah stared at me warily and then shrugged, “It did not look like nothing to me.” He muttered very lowly, I almost did not catch on.“We found your assassin's,” Elijah informed me.I perked up, “Really, did you find out who sent them?” I asked genuinely interested in knowing who must have wanted me out of the way. I was certain the killers came for me and Raven was just unfortunate to be with me at that time.Elijah frowned, “No. I was still in the process when they killed themselves,” My face scrunched up in confusion.Elijah stared into space, his face bristled with unleashed anger, “I was interrogating them when they just began to bleed to death. Turns out, they had a pill in their
(Ariel's POV)I sat frozen and unmoving, my hand trembled lightly as I pondered on Vincent's question.“I want to know about your father.”The statement kept running in my mind even in my immobile state. I refused to acknowledge the question, what did he want with my father?I was not expecting the question, what had my near death had to do with my father? I had barely survived from the ruckus earlier and here he was questioning me about a man who had since died.It kept me on edge. Why did he ask about him all of a sudden? I thought about what we had been discussing.‘Yes, we were just discussing his reasons for appearing in the palace today.’ I thought. So how did the conversation include my father?I paid him no attention, my mouth shut, as I looked around the room instead, my eyes falling everywhere but in Vincent. I felt his gaze sharply piercing, waiting for an answer.And when I could not stand it anymore, I bent under his gaze.“What do you want with him?” I managed to ask.“I