LeviMy wolf immediately comes out, fiercer and angrier than ever before. I can feel its power invading my body, filling me with much needed energy.My body starts to expand, fur growing out of my skin as my face elongates into a snout. My mouth gets filled with big pointy teeth while razor-sharp nails pop out of my now curled hands. A long howl escapes my lips, and with that, I see Arthur shifting into his Lycan too.His Lycan is bigger than a wolf, with a magnificent silver coat that shines like a pool of coins in the light of the day. He joins my cry for battle, and even though Owen is trying to get away from both of us, he still pushes against him and tries to topple him off the hill that were on.Meanwhile, the scarred Rogue is also trying to shift, but before he can do that, I lunge at him and pin him down.I burrow my nails into his chest, drawing blood. The Rogue screams into my face, filling my nose with the rancid smell of his breath. "You will never get out of this," he t
LeviI stay frozen in place, looking at Lauren who’s staring at me with a strange expression. For some reason, there is a hint of something warm in her gaze, like she’s seeing something in me that she finds welcoming.This is confusing enough to pin me down in my place, but she keeps the spell on me anyway. I have nowhere else to look at but her. She stares into my eyes for an uncomfortable stretch of time, not saying anything at all. Soon enough, a couple of Rogues appear from behind her, these ones bigger and more muscular perhaps than Owen and the scarred Rogue combined.These new Rogues get behind me and Arthur, plastering strange metal shackles around our wrists. As soon as the lock is in place, I feel my energy getting sapped out. I sink into my knees, free from the spell.The immediate reaction from my head even though I feel weak is shifting back to my wolf form to deal with Lauren and the Rogues, but I feel a zap of electricity going up my arm the moment I even think about sh
Arthur’s POVThe Rogue guards flanking me toss me right inside what feels like a tight room, slamming me right onto the fall. Thankfully, even with my hands bound by the shackles, I manage to break my fall and roll on the ground before breaking anything.Someone reaches out and snatches the bag around my head roughly, taking some of my hair with it. Then, I’m able to see that I am indeed in a tight space. A cell in a dungeon to be exact.Of course, I think to myself dryly. This is what I get for coming here. Getting captured.I don’t blame Levi at all. In fact, I am pretty glad that I came here with him. Imagine if we all just entrusted him to the care of things with one companion, which is Owen. I witnessed myself how that turned out, and needless to say, it wasn’t very pretty.If I weren’t here, Levi would probably be dead.The Rogue guard shoots me one last evil look before turning around and leaving, slamming the door. But not even seconds after the door closes, someone comes in.
Arthur My heart stops beating in my chest. I freeze in my spot, the guards still blocking my view even as I watch Levi going into his own corner. "What is he doing in here?" I ask, a complete disregard for discretion on my part. I didn't mean to say it, but now I have to stick by it because they're looking at me with a strange expression that's bordering on suspicion. "Owen . . . is he going to fight too? Who are these fucking people?" I fully expected the guards to not say anything and leave me rambling there, but to my utter surprise, they just look behind them as though to check what I was talking about. "Owen will not be fighting," he says. "The others who will be fighting here are criminals like you are. They're here to get a chance to leave too." I keep quiet. I wait there, listening to the sounds of chaos from outside, particularly from above. There are so many people now, it seems. There are chants going on now too. The sound is echoing in my actual chest, and all I can d
AryaI pat the space beside me as though Arthur would just suddenly show up and it would all be alright, but of course, he's not there. I can't feel him. The space on the bed where I know he laid before we fell asleep is cold, which means he's been out of here for a long time now.For some reason, even though I knew that he was going to leave, I still feel a strange sense of bereavement, as though he just left and never told me about it. We made love last night and everything. I can safely say that we have spent enough time for me to feel secure about him leaving, but it doesn't feel enough. I want him by my side right now.I wish he and Levi didn't have to go, but at the same time, I can't blame them for both going."They will be fine," Ivory says in my head. "They're both strong men and they would do their best to come back to you, and everything will be okay."I shake my head. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely comforting to hear her assure me like that, but I still would feel as
ArthurKill or die. That's the only thing on my mind now. I know that I shouldn't be participating in this game. I know that I'm not some sort of pawn that these fuckers can just watch die for their entertainment. But my god, Levi is making that hard to internalize right now.I charge right at him, shaking my head at the fact that I know I tried to avoid this first. But of course, trust him to make that difficult.On the other side of the field, he takes a javelin from his weapon stash. He holds it up, ready to shoot it straight at me just as I raise my spear to meet his.And like an absolute joke, we both throw our weapons at the same time.I tuck and roll out of the way, landing with one knee planted on the ground. Meanwhile, Levi just narrowly avoided my hit. He ducks, but he loses balance and ends up falling forward. If it wasn't for the timely prompting of his arms, he would have broken his entire face.He gets up, and with that, he looks at me. There's something in his expressi
ArthurBig cracks appear on the ground, breaking into big chunks that fall right into the underground floor below. But of course, it doesn’t stop there. Even the underground level gives way, sliding down on the wet clay of the mountain slope and tumbling right down to whatever is waiting below.It’s chaos. It seems that the Rogues realized too late what’s happening, because they have barely any time to get out of the benches. They all scream, scrambling to get out into safety, but the benches are already crumbling beneath their feet, and they suffer the same fate as the floor, tumbling right into the darkness below.I look at the royal box and see that Connor and Lauren are no longer there.Dust and debris are raining everywhere. I dodge and leap at the sliding elements, but I’m not safe from gravity.And neither is Levi.In the end, we both are sent cascading down the mountain just like everyone else.Perhaps it’s pure luck, or maybe the gods and goddesses looked down at me today and
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
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