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
Ariel's POV We had all settled into our new lives and the past had long become a thing of history, left to be shared with our children and their children after us.Fiona returned to her father's pack and she had grown strong as a leader and as a banshee. Seeing how much of a help she had been, her people had no choice but to reinstate her as their ruler.Selene was elevated as my right-hand person just after Melvin and she performed her duties with more than just loyalty. The war had made us closer than ever. She became that family I had sorted out for."My Queen?" A soft voice called out to me and I snapped out of my reverie to see who it was.A smile immediately covered my face as my eyes settled on her."Gio, you shouldn't work so hard with that bump," I said and she rolled her eyes."Ikea and David have refused to return from their honeymoon, someone is supposed to keep things running in here!" She mumbled as she wobbled toward me.She and Igor had been mated for a few moons now.
ARIEL’S POVIt had been three weeks since the whole debacle and like they say, the show must go on. The council of the court of the Alpha King had arrived in Silver Moon to officiate my coronation ceremony and officially crown me as the Luna Queen of the entire kingdom.The council had wanted this ceremony to be done two weeks ago as soon as we got back from the uncharted lands because they felt the throne had been vacant for way too long but I delayed it. Melvin was still mourning and I too mourned along with him.The ceremony was meant to crown me as Luna Queen and also crown Melvin as my Prince Consort. In truth, the ceremony would also serve as our official mating ceremony. So it didn’t feel right to hold it when each of us was still trying to come to terms with their loss.I wanted to delay the ceremony even longer to give Melvin enough time to heal but he came to me himself and told me not to delay it.“It is okay, Ariel,” He had said to me a few nights ago, “I am more than rea
ARIEL’S POVI instantly made the moon crest cast a bright glow toward Joharres, blinding his vision, so he wouldn’t see Melvin coming with another attack.Melvin ran through the bright light at Joharres and before he could see Melvin coming from within the light, it was already too late.Melvin punched Joharres in his guts making his upper body fall forward towards Melvin and he landed a more powerful punch across his face that sent him tumbling in the air before he fell to the ground with a loud grunt.I made the moon crest return to its normal dim light and quickly sped to where Joharres lay sprawled on the floor still dazed from Melvin’s punch.I lifted him, with his back to me, and held his arms out, spreading them apart, but I kept him on his knees. Melvin stopped in front of us.Joharres started to wake up from his daze but was still relatively weak. His strength was yet to fully return. Seeing the position I had locked him in and Melvin standing in front of him, he started to g
ARIEL’S POVMelvin nodded at me and we started walking to where his Father had landed when Melvin dealt him a blow earlier.However, he wasn’t there but neither of us was surprised. Joharres wasn't a common werewolf like the others that would stay down from one measly punch. We looked around the area searching for where he might be.“I guess you are looking for me, right?” I heard Joharres’ hoarse voice say behind me. Melvin and I spun around immediately to face him.Our faces were straight and focused and our fists were already firmly formed. We came ready for him. We came to put an end to all of this madness and violence.Joharres let his fur coat slowly slide down his body to reveal his large bulky build that was concealed under his large coat.“You know, you had me stunned for a while,” Joharres said with a chuckle, “but then I realized that Melvin must have made all this plan. Disrupt and attack. Divide and conquer. Create chaos and then triumph.”Joharres paused and laughed at
ARIEL’S POVI never back down from a challenge so I was ready to give him the pleasure of losing woefully to me. I leaned forward to caress the side of the Rinitor to calm it down.“Easy boy,” I said to the Rinitor as I stroked it under the chin, “why don’t you let me handle this?”As I continued to slowly stroke the scales of the animal, its camouflage came undone and its scales began to vibrate. I thought it was starting to cave into my petting and was becoming calmer as I asked it to. I was so wrong.The Rinitor roared aggressively at Darius and along with its roar came fire. I jumped backward with shock at the release of the bright yellow flames and stumbled off the animal, falling to the ground.I looked up just in time to see the flames from the Rinitor’s mouth engulf Darius completely. By the time the animal stopped breathing its yellow flames, Darius’ upper body had been burned to a crisp. He dropped down to his knees and fell face-first into the ground with a thud.I slowly s
ARIEL’S POVImmediately I heard Melvin’s command, I gave him a nod and sprang to my feet. I bolted past the surrounding soldiers who were surprised by my sudden movements and couldn’t think fast enough about what to do.As I ran in the direction of the uncharted lands, I took a glance behind me and saw that Jada and Selene were hot on their heels too.We got to the barrier of the uncharted lands in no time and rather than run through it, we all instinctively just jumped through it.“Alright, we need to focus and call as many Rinitors as we can,” I said to Jada and Selene as soon as we landed in the uncharted lands and they nodded back at me.Selene and Jada closed their eyes and stretched out their hands and I did the same. First, we had to make a reconnection with the uncharted lands before we could reach out to the Rinitors.I started to feel some sort of tingle all over my body. It felt like something was rapidly welling up inside me and it continued to build until it got to a cre
MELVIN’S POV“How do we bring the uncharted lands to them? It is not like we can move the thing,” Selene’s face squeezed with confusion as she reacted to what I had just said.I chuckled a little at their cluelessness. “You are all taking my words literally. Just calm down and listen to me for a second. We have three navigators of the uncharted lands at our disposal and we also have a land full of mythical creatures that could wipe out an army in the blink of an eye.”I looked over at the Blood Moon army, “They currently have the upper hand with their numbers. That is an army of about a thousand soldiers and we are barely up to a hundred and fifty. Since we are outnumbered,” I looked back at the group in front of me, “I say we level the playing field and even out the odds in our favor.”“Balance our numbers out with some mythical friends from the uncharted lands. With three navigators, I bet we can invite just enough of our friends to this party,” I straightened myself with pride and
MELVIN’S POVI gritted my teeth as I struggled to find the exact harsh words I wanted to use to describe him. No words could qualify how angry and frustrated I was at the moment.“You think you are a big bad wolf meanwhile you are just a sad little man inside who just craves to make the whole world feel the same shitty way he does too. I see now that nothing will deter you from doing what you want. Fine!”I took a step closer to him, stomping my feet on the hard ground, “But I will also be doing what I want, whatever I like, and with whomever I choose. You don’t tell me what to do!”I turned around and started walking away from him towards the camp I had chosen as the one for me. The camp that had my heart and my home with it."You are my son and as much as I hate to say it out loud, I have the right to stop you from making a grave mistake!" He yelled but my counter was ready.“You lost that right a long time ago.”After walking a few meters away from Father, I stopped. “And as for Mo
MELVIN’S POVI was able to get Ariel back to our camp. It was good I was able to get to her on time and held her down before she let loose and did something drastic.I completely understood how she was feeling but I couldn't let her attack... Not yet.I saw Niko rip Ralph’s head off his neck. It was gruesome. A grotesque sight to behold. Anger welled up in me too but I believe not as much as Ariel must have felt it. Afterall, she was closer to Ralph than I was.After getting back to our camp and a few words of consolation, Ariel was able to calm her anger and the color of the moon crest went back to being blue.Falling to her knees, Ariel broke down into tears almost immediately. I went down to her to pull her into my arms and offer a consoling embrace.“Ra—Ralph… h—he is dead,” She sobbed, “J—Just like that… and… and there was nothing… nothing I could do…to save him.”I pulled her into me, tightly wrapping my arms around her. “I am sorry, Ariel. This is mostly all my fault. I am trul