ARIEL’S POVMy heart skipped a beat when the strange semi-built guy appeared in front of us. Melvin backed away as the guy strolled into the house and those of us behind him backed away instinctively too.Was this Niko?“Who are you?” I asked him.“The name is Viktor, Milady,” his lips spread from side to side in a wide grin, “and I am here to take you with me.”So this is the infamous Viktor from Niko’s squad. I’ve heard about the ridiculous bloodlust he had from Melvin. Even if I had no prior knowledge about his bloodlust, right now, I could smell the bloodlust oozing off from his aura.“You are the main prize,” Viktor said pointing at me, then moved his finger from me to Gio, “and you are the bonus.”I didn’t want to take any chances. I know I couldn't take Viktor yet, this was Melvin’s fight. I looked at Melvin’s back. I knew I couldn’t call him by his name but we still needed to communicate. So I had to improvise.“Hey, Ski mask!”Melvin turned around to look at me. He understood
ARIEL’S POV“What was the instruction again, Vee?” Resha asked Vera without taking her eyes off me.“Well, we were asked to bring her in alive,” Vera scanned me slowly from head to toe, “but the instructions were not specific about how we brought her in.”“Right, right,” Resha snapped her fingers in rapid succession, “we need to incapacitate her before we can rope her in and they don’t tell us how we do that.”Resha’s smile widened, almost becoming a grin, “And you, Princess, you are a big fish and you are feisty. It takes a lot more energy and force to put your type down.” She stressed energy and force to make sure I understood what she was driving at.“Are you planning to talk all day or are you going to get off your ass and make a move?” I jabbed at Resha.Resha looked at Vera and they shared a short laugh, “She’s got a big mouth, Vee.”“You better shut her up then, Ree.”They had weird nicknames for one another, perfect. Just perfect!Resha looked back at me, “Well, it’s your fune
MELVIN’S POVI hopped off the remaining half of the house that I stood in and walked to where Viktor landed. He was pushing off the rubble of pieces of wood from his body.I took a glance towards the direction Ariel and the others ran off just in time to see Ariel disappear into the woods. I needed to end this with Viktor as soon as possible so I could join them. I was sure the other members of the group had planted themselves in strategic places around the area to cut off any form of escape.The woods were a perfect place for an ambush. At least one of them has got to be in there.My face tightened in a frown under the ski mask as I turned my attention back to Viktor. I couldn’t leave him to run after us. I had to put him down right here and right now.Viktor staggered to his feet, groaning, “What the hell, mate? That felt like magic.”He squinted his eyes and scanned me slowly for a few minutes. After a while, his lips curled into a smirk and his eyes widened in realization, “So yo
ARIEL’S POVI slowly made my way toward Vera, making sure I made as little noise as possible. When I got close enough to where she was, I crouched down in a nearby bush to watch her.I needed to come up with a plan to get Gio and her little siblings out of her hands.Vera was looking from left to right, trying to maintain her composure and stay alert to her surroundings.I couldn’t make any sudden movements on her because she had Gio and the little ones in her reach. If I tried to take her with any sudden move, I was sure she wouldn’t hesitate to snap the neck of any of them.Just then, Vera locked her gaze on the bush I had decided to crouch in, “Come on out, Princess. I registered your scent the minute I ran into you.”“Come on out, right now! or one of your friends drops to the ground in the next second!” She shouted in my direction.“Okay, okay,” I sighed, “I am coming out right now. Don’t hurt any of them.”I stood up and came into her view.“Hands up! Claws where I can see the
ARIEL’S POVI led my trail into town, still holding on tightly to Gio, and Melvin followed closely behind us.I could hear the paces and quick feet of two other people behind us. That was definitely Niko and Darius. We weren’t in their view but they were hot in pursuit and were not that far off behind us.“They are right behind us,” Melvin said as we were about to come out from the woods and enter the Silver Moon pack area, “The woods are what has been hiding us from them. Once we move into an open space, we will directly be in their line of sight.”“Yeah, I know, but we really don’t have a choice,” I called back to him.“The only place I know we can hide out from them is in town and we have to go there. We just have to go faster so we can lose them in town.”I ducked under a branch, “Watch your head, Gio.”Gio could only mumble back in response as she ducked under the branch behind me.We came out from the woods and houses came into view. It was already getting dark so we got no ques
MELVIN’S POV“Ikea, I don’t have your number and even if I did, I don’t have a phone.” Ariel rolled her eyes at the woman I now knew to be Ikea.Ikea pursed her lips and watched Ariel for a moment before she spoke again.“Okay, so here is what I can do for you. I can take these three off your hands." She pointed at Gio and her little siblings.“And for you two,” she pointed two fingers at Ariel and me and jammed them into each other rapidly, “For you two I will—”She abruptly stopped what she was saying and squinted at Ariel and me. She angled her head and brought her fingers like she was trying to hold on to something in the air but she couldn’t find or reach it.I turned to look at Ariel with a questioning look but she just shrugged and mumbled, “I don’t know, she’s always weird.”She moved slowly towards us until she was eventually standing right in front of us, “You two—”“Yes, what about us?” I poked my head forward in question, “What happened to us? Hey, umm, Ikea?”But she di
ARIEL’S POVWe sat in silence after Gio talked about the half-moon emblem. It was quite a very unnerving reveal for me and it could only mean one thing. Joharres had started invading the other packs.I couldn’t quite place my hand on what I was feeling but I could tell I was feeling a mix of anger, sadness, and guilt. There was another feeling eating away at my heart. This feeling…It was a betrayal. I looked up at Melvin with pain-struck eyes. There was no way he didn’t know his Father had started invading the other packs. If he knew when his Father was planning the invasion, then he definitely must have known when it would happen.So why didn’t he tell me?“Melvin,” I called slowly.He looked up at me, “Yeah?”I blinked once and swallowed the lump in my throat, “I think we should head out now.”He nodded in quick succession, “Yeah, yeah.”I stood up and Melvin followed suit. I watched him closely as he moved away from the chair towards the door. He turned around and his eyes locke
MELVIN’S POV“Yes, please. I just need you to do something for me,” Ariel said and walked across the room to Ikea.“Well, spit it out.” Ikea threw her hands out in front of her, “What can I do for you? I don’t have all night.”Ariel stopped in front of Ikea, “I need you to cancel out our scent. I don’t want them getting a whiff of us as we sneak out of Silver Moon.”That was easy. I already had mine and only she had to worry about that. I smiled as I stared at them.For some reason Ariel looked so beautiful with her messy her and flushed face. I knew she was angry about something but for some reason I couldn't stop my heart from flipping each time I caught sight of her eyes.“That isn’t a problem,” Ikea snapped her fingers three times around Ariel’s body, “miznút!”Ikea looked over Ariel’s shoulders to me, “Get over here so I can do yours too.”I smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I’m good. Mine has been canceled out for a while now.”Ikea angled her head, “I knew something was off about yo
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