MELVIN’S POVI returned to the castle downcast and defeated. I was broken in more ways than a fight with my father would have caused me.I stayed holed up in my quarters for a couple of days without coming out or showing my face to anyone.I felt ashamed. I felt stupid. I felt broken.Mother came to my door a few times to talk to me but I never responded to all of her incessant knockings. I couldn’t show my face to her, especially. After all, she taught me, I tried to do the right thing and see what that got me.I took the few days I stayed holed up in quarters to come to terms with what had happened. Ariel had played me, that much was clear now. She played a beautiful game and now it was my turn to play my hand.I finally came out of my quarters with my mind set on what I wanted to do. I made my way to the throne room where I knew Father would definitely be at this time of the day.I got to the throne room and Father was seated on his throne addressing Niko and his squad. Niko sto
ARIEL’S POVA few days went by before I got back to my pack and I knew I needed to put a plan in place as soon as possible.Joharres was most likely already plotting his next assault right now, especially, since I slipped through his fingers again.My mind drifted to Melvin. I could tell just how angry he must be feeling right now because of how I left him. Maybe he would understand when it all became clear to him later or maybe not.All I knew was that I made the right call for him. For me. For us. Now that I was away from him, my heart just continued to ache and long for his presence and touch.I discreetly made my way to Ikea’s home with a hood over my head. As usual, her door creaked open as I got to her porch.I walked into Ikea’s house and she was already seated and waiting for me as I got in. I removed the hood from my head and dropped it behind my head.“Welcome back home, Princess,” Ikea smiled at me, “You didn’t come back with your boy this time?”I shook my head, “He cou
ARIEL’S POVMy eyes were focused in the distance and my ears could pick out every single sound around me.I could hear the chirping sounds of the birds in the tall trees above me trying to make out whether to run or wait to watch the show that was inevitably going to happen.Not just that, my ears also picked out the rhythm of beating hearts around me. My soldiers.Despite the wetness of the bushes, each of us was pumping with adrenaline. We couldn't wait to complete and win another mission.I crouched down in a bush waiting for Gio’s signal to go up in the air to notify me and other members of our group that she had found where the people were being held.It had been four years and within those years, Joharres had infiltrated and subdued most of the other packs. His strength had grown ridiculously in numbers.But now, I was about to start striking back. First, by liberating this pack, The Shadow Moon pack, from Joharres’ grip and control.They had been under his wicked iron fists fo
Ariel's POVI knew Gio would want to stay back and help me but I needed to do this alone.I have waited long enough for this moment. A time when I would be able to show the world that the true heir to the throne was alive and there was nothing that could stand in my way.Killing my parents was the worst decision Joharres had ever made and I was going to make sure he lived to regret it.“How? Let me stay back and help,” Gio asked. Her brows were joined together with worry but as I glared at her she tried to mask her concern with bravery.“No,” I turned away from her, “I need to do this alone. Go with them and watch their backs.”"Ariel, I—" she started to say but I raised my hand and stopped the next word from leaving her lips.Gio lingered for a moment, not planning to obey my words.“Go!” I hissed at her. "It's an order." Her shoulders slumped and she looked down at her feet. "Yes, my Queen," she said before she turned around to follow the others reluctantly.I felt a slight shift i
MELVIN’S POVI stepped out of the bathroom with a mildly dry body and my towel hanging across my neck. I walked towards the only mirror in the room that hung on the wall across my bed.I ran the towel across my face, drying off the droplets of water that still lingered on it. I stared into the mirror and allowed my hand to brush over the beards I had allowed to grow over the past few months.The beards highlighted the edges of my face and made me look a little older than I was.The knock on the door snapped me out of my little infatuation with my beards.“Who the hell is that?” I roared at the door.“Apologies, My Prince,” The voice shrieked behind the door, “but the King has requested your immediate presence in the throne room.”“What has happened? Why has the King requested my presence so suddenly?” I inquired the unknown person sternly.“I—I don’t really know the details, sir, but it… uh… seems Lieutenant Adonis…has made an… abrupt return from his mission...” the unknown person stu
ARIEL’S POVI was lost in thoughts as we walked back to Silver Moon with members of the Shadow Moon pack that we had just rescued.I stayed behind the group with Gio to safeguard our back but I wasn’t doing much safeguarding —she did most of the work. I was just caught up in my thoughts reminiscing about what could potentially happen next, especially with Melvin.Melvin...Just thinking about him was torture for me. It was torture to my heart and my soul. My wolf went numb whenever his name was mentioned and as much as I told myself that everything I felt for him was gone —I was only putting away the inevitable.I have heard the news of what Melvin had been perpetuating with his Father and his Father’s army. Most of the packs they have overthrown and absorbed as part of the Blood Moon pack in the past four years, I heard Melvin led the raid and he was always successful.Melvin was that strong and I could already guess why he was doing what he was doing. He wanted to get back at me. H
Ariel's POV “Is that the last of them?” I asked Gio after making the sign on the head of one more person.“Yeah, that’s all of them,” she nodded at me.“Phew!” I heaved a sigh of relief, “This is harder than I thought it would be.”“Well, it’s the burden of being Luna,” Gio rested on me playfully as we started walking after the group. "What is it like?""What?" I asked, feigning not to know what she asked about."Being a Luna," she replied with a knowing smile on her face.“You don’t even want to know,” I chuckled at her. She knew that I didn't like talking about it, yet she enjoyed taunting me about it.My journey hadn't even started, how could I tell what it was like when I was only still a princess and not the Queen that I was born to be?“Home at last!” I exclaimed with a wide smile as we walked through the dome and the Silver Moon came into view.I threw my hands into the air and hugged myself, “I missed the air here!”“Of course you do,” Gio sneered at me as she walked towards
ARIEL’S POVI was mostly grumpy on the days leading to the day of the meeting in the capital with the court of the Alpha King.They were also annoyingly slow too. I couldn’t wait for the day to arrive sooner. I wanted to know what the so-called meeting was going to be about.The day finally arrived and I set out with my squad. Ikea also tagged along with us. Mostly at her insistence for the need to be present to be able to protect me, although I strongly believed I would fare just fine on my own.But I couldn’t turn her down when she also mentioned that she had a good friend on the council. Apparently, this friend of hers just got his appointment to the court less than a year ago.I couldn’t care less about the time of his appointment though but I now understood the importance and necessity for alliances more than I did four years ago and so Ikea having a friend on the council worked out well in my favor. It would do me good to have a trusted and loyal ally in that court.The journey
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