ARIEL’S POVIt was barely daylight when I heard a knock on the door. I knew it was Melvin knocking as soon his scent filled my nose.Why the hell do I know how he smelt?Jada was a deep sleeper. The knock wasn’t enough to bring her back to the land of the living. I dragged myself off the bed and made to go open the door myself. I heard Jada’s snoring as I walked past her room. My lips broke into a small smile as I shook my head.“What do you want?” I groaned at Melvin as I opened the door.“You didn’t even ask who was knocking before you opened the door?” He gritted his teeth as he pushed himself past me and into the cabin.I rolled my eyes as I closed the door. “I can perceive your horrible scent from like a mile away.”He turned around to look at me with surprise in his eyes. “My scent? You know my scent?”I pinched myself on my lap for letting that embarrassing information slip from me.I shrugged, trying to look as indifferent as possible, “So what? I have a very good nose, I didn
ARIEL’S POVI bent over sweating and huffing. My eyes became blurry with tiredness. I had exhausted my stamina. I looked up at Adonis. He had barely broken a sweat.“You need to build up your stamina first.” He walked over to me and offered me a hand.I took his hand and he helped me straighten up. I opened my mouth to say something to him but I was still so out of breath that it resulted in me taking rapid short breaths.I bent down again and allowed my body to fall to the ground this time. Adonis chuckled as he watched me.Placing a hand on my belly and the other on my head, I stayed still for a few minutes taking in long deep breaths and breathing out slowly to catch my breath and calm my racing heart.“You should at least know that you did better than most beginners.”I winced as I sat up on the floor.“Really?” I squinted at Adonis.He nodded, “Yeah, we’ve been going for well over four hours now,” he paused and looked up, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, “it’s well
MELVIN’S POVI knew she would be upset by the news. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her after all. I should have waited a little longer to see what Father would do next before I told her about it.But wouldn’t that be too late?I had to tell her. She needed to know what was happening. I couldn't hope to gain her trust if I withheld information from her —That wouldn't cut it at all.I strolled to the only bench that was in the yard and sat down to watch the garden for a while.Adonis walked into the yard a few minutes later. He had his signature leather jacket on. It was hard to tell if he had just one pair or if he had several pairs of the same jacket. I threw him a finger salute and he nodded in response walking over to where I sat.“We are about to roll out, you coming?”He was still a few meters away from me but the yard was practically empty except for the two of us so I heard him clearly.“Coming where?”He stopped in front of me with arms akimbo, “We’re headed to the south border of
MELVIN’S POVI walked over to where Niko’s vehicle was parked. From a distance, I could already see the four people who stood around the vehicle. Resha, Darius, Vera, and Viktor. They were part of Niko’s team and I knew all four of them. Niko was a killing machine and he had successfully put together a deadly killing formula with his team.The entire pack was very wary of Niko and his four horsemen of death that followed him. They looked innocent but I knew what each of them was capable of.I waved at them to get their attention. They all bowed and chorused, “Your highness.”I cleared my throat becoming slightly uncomfortable by their gesture. I acknowledged them quickly so they could straighten up.“Where is Niko?” I finally asked after they had regained their composure.“He is getting ready in his quarters,” Resha replied, pointing towards the workers' wing of the castle.“Okay.”“Do you need something, your highness? We could help you with it,” Resha chipped in, and the others nod
MELVIN’S POVWe got to the Silver Moon pack a little over an hour later. The day was well into the evening by this time.Niko parked the vehicle in a hidden spot when we got close to the border.“We will continue into the enemy's territory on foot. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves,” Niko said as he turned off the ignition.I found it a little funny when he referred to Silver Moon territory as enemy territory considering that they didn’t make us their enemy, we did. It was ironic.I hopped out of the passenger seat and walked towards the boot where Niko was. He was rummaging through the items in the boot, looking for something.As I came into his view, he tossed a black knife holster to me which I caught instinctively.“Put that on.”I scoffed, “I don’t need this, Niko,” I stretched out my hand and popped out my claws, “I’ve got this.”Niko sighed, closing the boot, “It’s just a signature look thing,” he gestured to the others who were standing a few feet away from the veh
MELVIN’S POVNiko hopped through the stairs immediately and I forced my body to follow him. If it was Ariel I had to get there on time and I would think of what to do next after I had seen her.I hope I could save her. Goddess, tender mercy!“Darius, where are you?!” Niko called out, stopping abruptly at the top of the first flight of stairs.“Top floor, Niko!” Darius’ voice rang back.Niko started up the stairs again. He was always alert. We got to the top floor in no time and I could already hear the hearts beating rapidly. One, two, three, four. I counted three different heartbeats, including Darius’ own, two especially beating very fast.I could tell Niko was listening to the heartbeats too because we didn’t know the exact room they were in when we got to the top floor but he knew where to go just like I did.We got to the room and Darius’ back was what we first saw. I looked down and noticed that he was standing over someone because of the clamped legs that poked out between his
MELVIN’S POVAs usual, Father was beyond angry when we got back to the pack. He sent all his betas away in anger.“Where the hell is she?!” Father bellowed panting across the throne room like a captured gorilla.I wasn’t bothered about him. I was more worried that I was back to zero with no leads as to where Ariel might be.“You are being too hasty,” I sighed, “you should calm down.”Father shot me a glare with anger-stricken eyes before he stormed out of the throne room.I scoffed. Father rarely ignored my antics. He always had a response for me. I could tell he was at his wit's end.It was already late at night but I still had to reach Jada’s cabin. Maybe Ariel already found her way back. I moved out of the castle and found my way to Jada's place.Jada was still awake and very much worried when I got to her cabin.“You still don’t know where she is?” She asked as soon as she opened the door for me.“I don’t. I was hoping she would be back here already,” I sighed as I walked into the
ARIEL’S POVEighteen Hours Earlier...The minute Melvin told me what his father was about to do to the other packs, I knew I needed to do something. I couldn't focus solely on just training while Joharres went ahead to obtain more power.Everything was falling apart at the very beginning. Ridiculous!I needed to do something to give me certainty or at least help me keep a cool head so I could think properly. Then it popped into my head, I could get clairvoyance.However, getting one would mean going to get a reading from Ikea, my pack’s witch. Melvin had sounded it severally into my ears that my pack was the last place I should think of going to right now because his Father had his betas scouring the nook and cranny of my pack. But I couldn’t care less at the moment. This was the only thing I could think of and I needed this.So rather than head to Jada’s cabin after my training session with Adonis, I went back to my pack instead. I knew it was dangerous but I have been in constant
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