AryaThe moment Levi puts the strange little book in the little cubbyhole where it came from, the entire forest seems to react.There's a loud boom that shakes up the whole place, making the ground vibrate under my shoes. My heart starts to pound fast, almost like it's trying to get out of my chest. My hands are cold and numb, and as I take a deep breath to steady myself, something strange happens.The leaves overhead start to rustle like they're going to fall off. And then, dark shadows start to appear, rushing through the branches and speeding towards us.I want to scream, but the sound is stuck in my throat. I stumble beside Levi as he grabs my arm and starts to drag me away."Let's go!" he yells, holding my hand and lifting me out of the pit.I follow him, running as fast as we can as we track our path back to the side of the forest. We almost trip over the protruding roots and rocks on the forest floor. We both almost get hit on the face and on the head by low hung branches.I kn
Levi"How did you know that?" Arya asks. "Did you follow her all the way there?""No," King Samuel says, shaking his head. "These are all just reports, you know. We cannot be certain for sure. And . . . well, it's the Rogues who told us what they saw. We cannot trust them completely, but unfortunately for now it's the only lead we have."He pauses and looks at me, as though waiting for me to say something about what he just said. I'm from the Shadow Moon Pack and I know that he wants me to say something about it, but I can't.I don't know what to say.Is it possible that the culprit they're talking about is someone from my own pack?And it's a woman too.A woman who's possibly from my pack or lurking inside of it. And based from what we just saw from the pit in the forest, that person has to have witch blood.Who is the only person I know who has witch blood and is from my pack?Lauren.Could it be that the possible that the book in the forest belonged to her? Could it be that the ini
Levi“Sure!” Lauren answers eagerly, and before I can say anything more, she takes my hand in hers and leads me to her bedroom upstairs.She pushes me inside, smiling and giggling, like we’re out here sharing some kind of a joke. But the truth is, I’m just here because I want to see something that might link her to what Arya and I encountered at the forest.I force a smile as she pushes me inside, locking the door behind her and putting a finger to her lips as though to shush me.“Are you alright?” I ask her as she gently leads me to her bed. I see the gleam in her eyes and I instantly know what she’s up to. “Hey, you promised me you won’t do anything naughty.”“I know,” she says, but she starts to unbutton my shirt anyway. “It’s just going to be a massage.”Before I can protest, she pushes me down on her bed and starts to kiss me, her hands roaming under my shirt and going over my chest and abdomen. I shiver involuntarily, not because I’m enjoying it, but because of what she makes me
LeviLauren opens her mouth and makes a move to bite the spot on my neck that would indicate that I am marked, and a jolt of fear immediately rakes through my body and makes me stand up without pushing her off me.She falls to the carpeted floor with a muffled thud, and immediately I get horrified of what I just did. She looks up at me with a scared expression, and my heart constricts.“I’m sorry,” I whisper, reaching out to help her up. I carry her in my arms and gently put her back on her bed. “I just . . . I don’t want to mate. At least not yet.”I sigh, then I look up. Something catches my eye on the side of her bed.A jar full of herbs and branches.Just like the one we found in the pit, the thing that is bound by hair. The one in her room now doesn’t have hair, but I can say for sure that it has the same exact stuff as the one we found in the pit.LW is Lauren Wisteria. She’s the one responsible for the disappearances. She’s the one that the Rogues were talking about in their re
LeviThis has got to be the riskiest thing I would ever do in my entire life.I’m currently in the cabin in the forest, which my dad used to stay in a lot to have enough peace and quiet to start working on things he needed to do. When he first took me here, he told the that once I become Alpha, I would have much use for this place too.And he’s right. Just not in the way he expects to be.I have the bed here all set up. I have some candles and some flowers. It makes me nauseous just looking at these things. I feel so fake and so wrong, but at the same time cornered. This is the only chance I have in getting a confession out of Lauren without hurting her.I have to trick her into thinking that we could be mated, without teasing her just enough to cross the line and mate me for real.It’s dangerous. It’s probably stupid. But given how Lauren is somehow driven by the mere thought of being my mate, this might just work.I look at the clock and see that it’s already nine in the evening. Sh
LeviMy whole world turns black for a second when I see Arya getting dragged inside the room by Connor. I can feel myself breathing, but my chest is hard and my ears are ringing.“What did you do?” I whisper. “What did you do to her?”Connor just smirks, lifting Arya from the floor a couple of inches by her hair and letting her fall by his feet. “I just brought her over here for the party. Is that so wrong, my friend?”Anger rushes inside me like a big tidal wave, filling my entire body with heat and the strong hunger for carnage. As I look at Connor, someone I have considered my friend the entire time I was down on my luck, I can’t help think of what his head would feel like when I twist it and snap his neck.This is the person I have confided to many times. This is the person I have considered my brother. I chose to live with his little family over coming back to my parents, because I truly thought he understood me better than them.But he’s a criminal. He’s an evil man.“She did no
LeviMy eyes go wide. My heart stops beating for what seems like an entire minute. Everything that seemed to happen so fast just earlier are now sputtering to a slow-motion version of events that’s making sure I get to see everything that happens.It’s like a play by play recount of events. One moment, I was preparing to get hit by a silver bullet. But then, Arya comes out of nowhere and blocks the shot from me. I see the small ball of metal leave the muzzle of the gun and zip right toward her, hitting her squarely in the chest and throwing her back against me.I catch her and she looks at me, her eyes watering. There’s a single spot of red in her chest, a bloodstain on her uniform. It’s getting bigger and bigger by the moment as she starts to bleed out, and I just go numb inside.She tries to speak but the effort seems to be too much.However, I hear her in my head.“Ask him where the girls are,” she says. “Get the answer out of him no matter what. Don’t worry about me.”I understand
LeviI hold Arya closer to me as I keep running as fast as I can, my heart beating so fast with fear that it feels almost frozen inside my ribs. I look at her, her face pale and her lips almost purple, waiting for her chest to rise and fall.But it doesn’t do that.Her body stays perfectly still, her face not showing any signs of life. I don't think I can even feel her breathing. There's no air coming from her nose or her parted lips. Her skin seems to be getting colder and colder by the moment.Fear starts to wash over me in great waves like an ocean under a storm. I’m so close to getting into the neighborhood area of the pack, but for some reason everything just feels too far away.Seeing her now in this state . . . I just don’t know what to do. I’m losing my mind.I cradle her face in my hands. “Arya? Arya, please. . . .”No response, not even through mind-link. She’s not breathing. No air is exiting her nose or her mouth. I can feel her blood soaking through my shirt, warm and sti
LeviI tighten my hands around Lauren’s throat, feeling it pulse under my touch. There’s the level of satisfaction to that that I can’t explain.It's dark and it's something that I don't even want to acknowledge, but I would be lying if I say that it doesn't feel good.As I watch her eyes grow bigger with alarm, I feel more and more determined to end it this way. With her right under my hands, trying to fight off the force of my strength around her neck.I hate her, I realize as I try my best to finish her off and get this over with forever. She might just be an accomplice to her shitty brother, but she knows what she's doing.And if tonight is proof, I would say that she's not as innocent as she pretends to be. She's perfectly capable of making choices that would fuck other people up even more. She knows what she's doing.I still want to know so many things, like how she got to copy the scent of Arya and why she needed it anyway, when I can just tell completely that she's not my mate
LeviMy heart nearly gets stuck inside my throat. I want to scream, but I find that I can’t. The pain in my chest is still much too great for that, and I hate that I’m not even sure I’m seeing the right thing.Is Lauren really here, or am I just manifesting the stupid dreams and thinking that I am seeing her?I blink rapidly to see if she is indeed there, and to my horror, the image of her smiling in the corner doesn’t vanish. She’s walking close to the bed I’m lying on, but Gammie doesn’t even move. She doesn’t even flinch. I know for a fact that she’s a very sensible old woman who can practically feel everything, so this worries me.I look at Lauren again and see that she's getting closer and closer, and as though to confuse me further, she touches the side of Gammie's shoulder.And the woman doesn't flinch.Is Lauren real right now? Because I can hear her footsteps. I can smell her scent. I can tell that she's getting closer to me and she feels very much solid right now.Could this
LeviI was locked in a constant state of dreams and uncomfortable thoughts when they were operating on me.Part of me was conscious, but a bigger part of me just wasn’t. It was constantly floating in a state of blankness and anxiety, just a mish mash of things that shouldn’t go together. Sometimes I find myself dreaming of my parents and my childhood. Sometimes I find myself dreaming of my teenage years and my short days as an Alpha.But most of the time, I was dreaming of Arya.However, when I was about to wake up, I was dreaming of something else entirely. Something that resonated with my fear, the reason why I thought about bringing down the whole arena instead of participating in the fight that Connor and Lauren wanted to see.* * *In my dream, it was nighttime, and the lights in the arena are almost blinding me. My heart is pounding so fast that I feel like it's going to give out any moment. There are so many people around us. Too many, in my opinion. And they're all looking at
Arya“Arthur,” I mutter, his name leaving my lips like a plea as I shift around in his bed. I know perfectly well that I’m sleeping, but I also know that even in this state, Arthur is still the one in my mind. My Lycan, my mate, my love. Even though I know consciously that our relationship is in jeopardy because of his choices, I still want him, and he’s still the face I long to see in my dreams.And in my dream, I see him getting dragged away by the Rogues.“No!” I yell, but in this dream world, I’m voiceless. I’m powerless. All I can do is stand there while my mate gets clawed at by the dirty outcasts. All I can do is watch while he screams for me.“Help me, Arya!” His voice rings out in the darkness of our background. “Don’t let them take me!”He holds out his hand to reach for me. I extend my arm to get him. However, he’s already too far. He’s already too close to the mouth of the dark tunnel they’re taking him to. One of the Rogues, seeing that he has his hand outstretched, kick
AryaMy mouth goes dry at the sight of Arthur.He closes the distance between us, getting on top of me and taking both of my hands before putting them over my head.His lips are urgent on mine, intent on devouring. I can feel his hardness against my thighs. His hungry mouth travels down to my neck and on my collar bones, lower down to my breasts. When his warm mouth closes over my nipple, I almost explode. He sucks it, his tongue sweeping over it until I feel feverish. I close my eyes, not even aware that he let go of my hands until he starts to squeeze my other breast.He pulls his head away from my nipple and begins to suck the other. My hips are moving on their own. I'm so wet I can feel myself dripping on the sheets.I bury my hand in his hair, moaning loudly. But he's not done with me, cause before I knew it, his lips are traveling lower again. Until his face is between my legs. Lucien grabs my thighs and pries them apart. Then he leans forward, sweeping his tongue on my wet core
AryaLike an idiot, I turn to Arthur and ask, “About what?”He laughs softly, but the humor doesn’t reach his eyes. There’s a certain hint of sadness there, combined with another emotion that I can’t really place. Either way, seeing it in his eyes is throwing me a little off balance. I want to come with him and get to the bottom of it, but at the same time, I feel like he’s so serious that I don’t want to find out what he wants to say.“Just come with me,” he says gently. “Please?”“Well, of course,” I say, glancing back at Levi who is now sleeping soundly. “Who will be watching him? He can’t stay here alone, can he?”"I'm right here," Nancy says all of a sudden, appearing seemingly out of thin air. She wedges herself into the room and immediately comes to look at Levi, adjusting something on the IV that he's connected to. "I will be watching over him for the night. You two go talk, okay?""Thank you, Nancy," Arthur says, then he turns to me with that very same smile that doesn't reac
AryaMy heart leaps with joy. It’s something that I haven’t felt in what seems like forever, and I can feel it spreading all over me like a warm ray of sunshine. A smile appears on my face, and I look at Arthur.“He’s awake,” I whisper, and even I have to notice the sheer relief in my voice. “He’s alright. He made it. . . .”Arthur smiles at me and leans over to kiss my forehead. “I know, and I’m happy. Now go talk to him okay?”I nod, and with that I go with Nancy, who suits me up with a protective layer of clothing before we go inside.They have converted the infirmary room into a real hospital room. There are machines beeping everywhere, and there are also potions emitting sweet smelling steam somewhere in the room. There are some tools laying around, but the only thing that catches my attention is Levi lying down on the bed, his pillows fluffed up to prop him up into a sitting position.His face is pale, and his hair is slicked back over his handsome face with sweat. I can tell th
Arya“What is it?” I ask Nancy with my voice shaking immensely. I get up from my seat but I feel like the ground is lurching under my feet and I feel like I’m going to fall over if I don’t have something to cling onto. Thankfully, Arthur gets up and offers his arm to me. “What’s the problem?”Nancy hesitates, and I honestly hate how angry I became just in that moment. I want to scream at her and tell her that I am not playing games around here, that if something is up, then I must know immediately because I’ve been waiting for a long time to hear about him. Besides, the only person he has right now is me. His parents are not here and the others are back at the pack. I am the only one he has. . . .“Please,” I just say in a strained voice, looking at her and wanting to get on my knees and beg and corner her at the same time. Emotions are just running high inside my chest and I want nothing more but to know. “Please, what is happening? Is Levi okay? Will he make it?”“The truth is, I do
Arthur My blood goes cold. I swallow hard, thinking of what to say, but my mouth is completely dry and my throat is closing up. I want to assure Levi that I won’t leave him here, but he’s looking at me like he’s daring me to say those words just so he could reject them completely. So instead of talking it through with him and risking any rejection, I lift him up to his knees and very carefully start to chip away at the piece of rock lodged inside his body. Thankfully, the rock is easy to chip off, as it seems to be made of hardened mud instead of actual stone. I manage to clip it down close to his body so it won’t move or damage anything inside him. He kept groaning and screaming the entire time, and I just had to close my hearing so that I wouldn’t hear it and experience the pain of seeing him go through it. When I’m done, I take him into my arms, not caring about how weird it could look or what he has to say, and it seems that he still has a lot to say. As though to prove my poi