ARIEL'S POVResha had no reply to give Melvin. She dropped her head in shame as their actions loomed above their heads.The hand which I was using to hold Melvin, tightened as I wanted to give him the support he desperately needed. He was right. My people were easier to understand but not his.They grew up knowing only how to exert pain and cruelty on others for no good reason. Now that they were given a choice to pick a side they truly wanted to fight for, they were faced with a dilemma."Ariel here, is not just the goddess's chosen leader," Melvin's voice beamed, sending shards of emotions to my core. As if on cue, we both turned to stare at each other and he smiled, his eyes glowing with pride and another feeling I couldn't place a finger on yet."Ariel is my mate and I accept to rule by her side until the goddess thinks it's right to take me..."My wolf purred in excitement at the open declaration. It was one thing to make love in the cover of darkness and let our primal needs tak
ARIEL'S POVLeon had left and I was finishing the last of my sketches when Melvin stepped into the tent. As usual, I had perceived him while he was still a good distance away."You are done playing with the Rinitor?" I asked without raising my head from the papers.Rather than reply, he continued walking till he was leaning into my neck. His breath was hot on my neck, tickling the tiny hairs there."One of these days you will have to tell me how you can detect me so well..." He mumbled against my skin.His actions awakened the feverish desires I had tried so hard to suppress."Melvin... I —I am trying to work," I said hoping to push him away.His breath was getting hotter against my skin and my toes were beginning to curl underneath the table.He moved away and for a second I thought I was free from the clutches of his passion but I felt his lips suddenly brush over my ear and it took every portion of my willpower to not melt out of the chair."I found a very beautiful waterfall in th
ARIEL'S POV"Melvin I am the navigator, I should probably lead," I chuckled as we turned around the same cave twice.Melvin hissed and I could tell he was slowly getting frustrated. "But you don't know where it is. I saw it..." He hissed and continued matching ahead of me with the food basket held tight in his hands.We left the camp about ten minutes ago and the waterfall he had spoken so much about seemed to have suddenly disappeared where he thought it was.His reddened look was a mixture of embarrassment and anger. Yet, I found it cute."Admit it, Melvin, we are lost. Let me help," I said trying —but failing to hide the Snickers from my voice.He stopped walking and turned to glare at me. "It's not funny Ariel. The waterfall was just here!"The tone of his voice reminded me of the moments we used to spend in the forest just behind Jada's cabin. Those times were the best times of our lives.To see someone who was always confident suddenly become helpless was not a thing that happen
ARIEL'S POVWhen we returned to the camp, everyone had retired to their tents and I was most grateful to the goddess for that because my hair was a mess and my wet bra didn't help either. My entire chest region was wet and despite the darkness of the night, anyone who looked closely enough would see through it.We held hands sniffling our laughter like young children who had gone on a forbidden trip.We could only let out our laughter once again the moment we were secured inside my tent and the flap was let down.After reminiscing about the wonderful day we had, we finished up the last of our food, and then the heat between my legs started to return as time to sleep drew closer.Unlike me, Melvin was very comfortable. He took off his clothes and once again remained in his birthday suit as he curled himself into my bed."Do you always sleep naked or this is a new thing?" I asked, glaring at him.The first night we had shared, I figured it was because we had sex that was why he slept n
MELVIN’S POVThe second Ariel’s eyes found her drawer empty, her face went blank immediately, and as soon as her expression changed, I knew something was wrong.I was standing a few feet away from her but I was watching her every move. I easily saw the slip in her mood. Ariel was frozen at first, not believing what her eyes were seeing.“Hey,” I called out to her immediately, “are you okay? Is something wrong? Your countenance suddenly changed.”As if I snapped her out of her trance-like incognito mode, her eyes drifted from the drawer to me and then back to the drawer in almost an instant.Ariel began to move frantically, digging her hand into the drawer as if searching for hidden treasures within the empty drawer.I moved closer to her immediately, my first line of thought being to calm her down. “Ariel?! What is wrong?! Talk to me!” I called out to her again as she didn’t answer me the first time. My voice increased in pitch with care and concern as I darted across the room toward
MELVIN’S POVIn a split second, Ariel appeared beside me and grabbed onto my arm which was tightening its grip around Resha’s neck.“Melvin, please let go!” Ariel said to me persuasively. “Please!”“Why should I not kill her right here, right now?! She stole the moon crest from you and I just know she was taking it back to Joharres!” I yelled out, responding to Ariel but not turning my attention to her at all.“She couldn’t make it out of the uncharted lands and so she has returned to beg like the dog she is, isn’t that so?” I chuckled softly with disgust.Resha shook her head at my question as she still struggled against my grip on her neck.“I really should just snap your neck right now!”“Melvin, don’t! Please…” Ariel tightened her hands around my forearms, “…please, let go of her.”I finally turned my eyes away from Resha and looked at Ariel. Deep within her eyes was the soothing my anger needed to yield and calm down.I sighed as I freed my hands from Resha’s neck. Resha dropped
ARIEL’s POVWhile the whole camp continued to give loud cheers of joy and happiness, Melvin moved closer to where I was.“You are better than me,” he said, leaning close to me so he could whisper into my ears, “If not for you, she would have died for sure and justice wouldn’t have been tempered with mercy.”I immediately knew he was referring to how he almost killed Resha earlier. I was grateful to the goddess for this too. Getting there on time; Stopping Melvin; It was all the goddess.Because if there was anything I wanted, to be the order of the day in my regime, it was the end of the cycle of violence. I strongly believed that there was always a choice and another way out rather than simply just blood and death.I held in high esteem our ability to be able to forgive and learn to forgive the unforgivable. It was what we mostly needed right at that point to heal all our people and to bring about unity.I wrapped my arm around Melvin’s neck and pulled him closer to me so I could wh
ARIEL’s POVI scoffed in disbelief at his assertion. “How come we don’t know anything or have any records of this heir?!”“Well, sadly, Ares had a daughter, and many at the time considered female leadership to be absurd. In their perspective, they had allowed the abomination of Queen Idara sitting on the throne but they didn’t want a repetition and so they denied Ares’ only heir her birthright.”Adam reached to the small table in between us and picked up the small brown hard-covered book that was lying on it.“My great great grandmother, Queen Idara,” Adam started slowly as he began to flip open the pages of the book, “and her son, my great-grandfather, tried to keep a logbook that contained our family tree for as long as they could.”He got to a page and he stopped flipping. He used his palms to smoothen out the pages so they could be visible before passing them across to me.“Here,” He said, shifting to the edge of his seat and handing the book to me, “Her name was Isabela. Ares’s d