ARIEL'S POV My heart was thumping hard with determination but my limbs were scared. Yet I walked into the dark room with no idea what awaited me there.As soon as I stepped into it, I felt like I was back in the snow. Only this place was dark.Darker than I anticipated. Darker than my brain could take.I could almost feel the darkness threatening to push into me. It didn't just feel like a state of having no light. It felt like an entity, something that I could feel caving in on me, percolating into my organs and squeezing out my brain.My lungs started taking in more air and the sound of my breathing almost tore through my ears. It was much louder than when I was outside.I turned around expecting to see the comforting sight of light just a few steps ahead but there was none.I tried to walk out, to see the light once again but I found myself circling in the impending darkness. I couldn't get out.I started panting as fear now joined the thousands of emotions battling within me. Una
ARIEL'S POV With a heavy heart, I left my brother's arms and completely submerged myself in the light. I could still make out his shadow in the dark but the more I stayed in the light, the less I saw him.I felt less burdened and more determined with each passing second. As soon as he vanished in front of me, I wiped off the last of my tears and headed to the next room."Congratulations," the echoing voice of the goddess reached my ears as I stepped into the bright light of the room. Unlike the first time, it didn't get blindingly brighter, it just maintained a uniform glow and welcomed me inside.She emerged from the light and this time, I could make out the silver dress she wore as she walked toward me. I was no longer afraid of death because I had been with it."Despite what you did, your kind heart and pure soul have proved you worthy, Ariel." There was a smile in her voice, even though I couldn't see the traces on her face.Her hands moved towards me, they were empty at first bu
MELVIN’S POVI could hear words slowly sip into my subconscious. It was completely dark at first and I didn’t remember how I had gotten myself into this darkness in the first place.But a familiar voice kept calling out to me and the darkness started to give way for some light. The light started to dimly fill the dark space at first before it proceeded to completely envelop the area.I felt my body slowly slip off another body as they set me on the ground. As my eyes started to open, I realized that the light coming in was just my eyes opening up and letting in some light removing the darkness behind my closed lids.“Melvin, wake up…please…”The familiar voice called out to me again and this time I was starting to register whose voice it was and whose blurry image was fizzing over my head and in front of me.“Ariel….” I called out half awake and half asleep.I could see the wide smile that spread out on her lips as I called out her name.“Several thanks to the goddess, you are alive!”
ARIEL’S POV“Melvin, are you going to answer my questions or not?” I corked my head as I called out to him again.He shook his head as if he was trying to knock off the thoughts that were distracting him and swarming in his head.“Well, you already know why I am here, Ariel,” He said with a straight face, “I am here for the same thing you came here for. I came for the moon crest.”“Hmm,” I gave a single nod to his answer, “and how did you know it was here in the uncharted lands? You don’t have the map.”“We figured it out another way,” He took a step toward me, “We are not as dumb as you think we are, Ariel.”I turned around and started walking away from him, “So you came out here to die getting the moon crest? Is that it?”Melvin followed behind me as I continued towards the pile of bushes Adam separated earlier to reveal the aisle of the cliff.“Not exactly. I didn’t come here to die—”"—but you almost did,” I interjected, interrupting his words.Melvin sighed at me and I could gues
MELVIN’S POVIt wasn’t long before night fell on the camp. Weather, time, and the sunlight worked differently in the different regions of the uncharted but the forest area where we were currently in seemed to be the only place to work similar to what we were used to. It didn’t follow the same rules but it was close.I was glad nightfall came as fast as it did too. I was starting to get tired and frustrated by the Silver Moon soldiers that kept hovering over and mocking us.Ariel wanted me to lie when her squad member asked me what I was doing there, it was almost like I could hear her thoughts in my head.I also knew that the best and easiest way out of the predicament was to lie but after everything that had happened between us, up until this moment, the easy way out wouldn’t solve things thoroughly like the way I wanted it solved.Especially given how I was currently feeling. Ariel was about a hundred feet away from me and my body was just aching to be with her. My hands were itchin
MELVIN’S POVWe walked in circles maintaining the distance between us as we exchanged words. Ariel had already changed into a black nightgown. It was short and skimpy almost completely see-through. I bit my lower lip at the thought of how sexy and divine she looked in the nightgown.“What makes you think I am here to kill you and steal the moon crest?”Ariel threw her hand up in the air sarcastically, “Oh, I don’t know, the fact that you said so yourself? That is what you came to the uncharted lands for, no?”I rolled my eyes at her. “There is always more than meets the eye, Ariel, I thought you of all people would understand that.”“So what are you here for?!” Ariel exclaimed at me as she swiftly closed the distance between us. She swung her fists rapidly at me with such tremendous force that I was so sure if they landed on me, they would break a bone or two on impact.I dodged her first punch and caught her hand by the wrist as she threw the second punch. I immediately held on to th
ARIEL’S POVThe next morning, I was already on the porch of the castle knocking on the door so I could speak with Adam.Adam responded to me from inside the house that he would be down in a minute. So I just stood on the porch waiting for him to tend to me.As I stood on the porch, images of the time I and Melvin shared flashed through my mind. The pictures of the moment that flashed through my mind were so vivid that they were enough to send chills down my spine and wet my panties as my legs quivered.We went at it like young pups until way past midnight and even after we had tired ourselves out exploring each other’s bodies, we still didn’t fall asleep.We lay there, snuggling and lying with our naked and sweaty bodies. We talked too. Soft conversations that we should have had with one another long ago.“I am sorry, I left and did that to you,” I said to Melvin as I stroked the arm he had around me.“I am sorry, I didn’t calm down enough to understand why you did what you did. I was
ARIEL’S POVI hugged him and hurriedly made my way out of the house and towards my tent. Melvin was already dressed and he was checking himself out in the mirror when I entered the tent.Last night we spoke about a lot and one of them was becoming a united front. So today I was going to introduce him to my loyal pack members and my betas as my significant other and my fated mate.There was no reason to delay or hide this from them. I wanted to be a transparent leader. One who took accountability and was truly responsible for my people. I also truly believed that there was nothing to hide.“Are you ready?” I said to him as I wrapped my arms around him from behind.Melvin grabbed onto my hands and interlocked our fingers as he turned his head backward to kiss me.“I was born ready,” he said to me before he planted his lips on mine.In almost no time, the front of my tent filled up with everyone in the tent safe from the members of Melvin’s squad that were still bundled up.We were going