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 POVI left Ikea’s place at the crack of dawn. I didn’t bother announcing to her that I was leaving already but I had a feeling she knew when I left because the door creaked open by itself for me to leave just like it had done when I arrived yesterday.I headed back to Jada’s cabin. I knew Jada must have been worried sick since I did not tell her or Melvin where I was going —not like I cared what Melvin thought.I started running as fast as my legs could carry me through the forest. I made sure to avoid border patrol and move toward the isolated edges until I got to Jada's place.I got to Jada’s cabin and knocked heavily on the door. Jada was a deep sleeper and if I wanted to wake her from out here, I would need to hit the door as hard as I could. I made to hit the door again but to my surprise, Melvin opened the door.I frowned at him, “why are you here?"His expression melted into a mix of shock and surprise as his eyes cleared up.I pushed past him and entered the cabin, “wh
MELVIN’S POVI got home feeling elated and settled. My heart felt light knowing that Ariel was safe and still very much out of the clutches of Father. I was in such a light mood that I strolled into the castle whistling.I decided not to go in through the throne room. I was in a good mood and I didn’t want Father to ruin it for me. He was definitely still sulking about yesterday.I was walking across the yard when Mother’s voice startled me.“You spent the night out, Melvin?”I jumped a little before looking up to see where her voice came from. I used my hand to shield my eyes from the sun so I could see Mother, who was standing on the verandah. She was smiling down at me.“Mother, you startled me,” I called back to her.“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” She waved at me, “come up, come to me.”I went in through the entrance that led to the yard and made my way up to the verandah to meet her.“Good morning, Mother,” I greeted as I got to her side.She turned to me, her lips still curled
MELVIN’S POVI was still mulling over what Mother had said when I saw Niko and his squad walking toward the throne room. From the look on their faces, I could tell something wasn't right.What was it this time?This had to be about something. I hurriedly hopped off the verandah and went after them.Father rarely had an entire squad called into the throne room. He only did so when he wanted to give them direct orders —real dangerous ones. And now, he had summoned Niko and his squad?They were the minions he dispatched for most of his dirty work. They were the ones he called and banked on whenever he wanted a bloodbath or wanted someone to disappear which was why he rarely invited them in broad daylight.Something was definitely afoot. I just needed to ensure this wasn’t about me or Ariel. If I didn't find out now, my mind wouldn't be settled. I carefully made my way toward the throne room. I didn’t want to get too close because any of them could easily hear my breath or my heartbeat
ARIEL’S POV“What the hell are you on about, Melvin?” I groaned, pushing my head against the door, “Silver Moon? What are we going there to do? You told me to stay out of there.”“I know, I know, but right now, we have to go. There’s trouble,” Melvin pointed his hand in the direction of Silver Moon.I grumbled and turned away from him to go back into the cabin. He followed right behind me.“Did you not hear what I just said, Ariel?”“Buzz off, Melvin, my head is banging. I need sleep,” I sighed as I walked through the cabin’s passageway.“If we don’t go right now, someone is gonna die and it’s going to be because of you!” Melvin shouted.I stopped and turned to him. His words were starting to get through my sleepy head. I could see tears of frustration welling up in his eyes.“If we don’t go right now, Ariel, I—” his voice cracked, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”I took quick steps forward before stopping just a few feet away from him, “What happened, Melvin? What will happen in t
MELVIN’S POVI went after Ariel.“So you know a shortcut that will get us to that house faster?” I asked her as I got outside.“Yeah, but we have to go now," she replied.“Okay, but hold on a second. I have to get something." I put my hands up and backed away from Ariel.“Hurry! Or I will leave without you!” Ariel yelled at me as I ran back into the cabin.“Jada! Hey, Jada!” I shouted into the cabin.Jada came out from her room, “You are still here?”I walked into the cabin’s passageway towards her, “I need something from you before I leave.”“What do you need? Speak up, man.”“Do you still have those ski masks?”She nodded, “Yeah, what’s up?”“We need to borrow them. So we can hide our faces in case we run into Niko and his squad.”Jada nodded in rapid succession agreeing with me, “Yeah, yeah, that is true,” she ran back into her room, “hold on, let me get them.”She came out of her room again a few seconds later holding two ski masks in her hands; a brown and a black one. She tossed
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