Violet’s POVBy the time I opened my eyes in the morning, the door to my room was open. Belladonna was standing right in front of me again. I almost rolled my eyes at the sight of her.“The Alpha has asked me not to do any work for anybody else,” I said immediately, not even listening to whatever she wanted to say. She shook her head like I was the most stupid person in the world. She looked around the room, running her hands through the things that were in place. She was purposely scattering them, knowing that I couldn’t do anything.“He really put things into place for you,” she said, sitting on the bed beside me. “At least before he uses you.” She was the second person I was hearing it from.“What do you guys mean by using me?”“You will still be used for the sacrifice? Why do you think I was being wicked to you? I was mad that he was pretending when he could have ended the whole thing a long time ago.”“He was still going to sacrifice me to the Goddess?” I asked, finding it hard
Violet’s POVI opened my eyes, trying to take in my surroundings. I could swear that I had never seen the place before. My head was throbbing, and my hands immediately went to my head to massage it.Memories came flooding back immediately. I had made it past the gate and into the woods. There were strange sounds, and thorns had kept finding their way into my feet, but that didn’t stop me from going. It felt like I could feel Ares breathing down on my neck. There was a man that went on a walk with his men. They had instantly stopped at the sight of me running towards them and asked me what the problem was. I didn’t tell them much, but the man’s kind eyes and playful smile made me tell him my name. That was the last thing I remembered before I collapsed into his arms.My whole body ached as I managed to get up. I groaned in pain. “Are you finally awake?” the same voice asked. I turned my neck to his side immediately. That playful smile was still on his lips. Only smaller this time. A
Violet’s POVSomeone please tell me that I was dreaming. Was Alpha Ares really standing in the room? He wasn’t moving, and the look on his face told me that he was getting angrier.I started to move to the furthest part of the bed. He moved closer to me too, with his eyes on me like his newest and juiciest prey. “Please don’t hurt me,” I begged, and he froze in the spot that he was.“What do you mean by that?” he asked, falling back on his heels as he stayed in a kneeling position. His eyes had softened. “Nothing,” I said, straightening myself as I crawled towards him. He used that as his opportunity to grab me. In one swift move, he grabbed my arm, flipped over, and hauled me on his shoulder. Whatever sound came out of my mouth during that time was in between a giggle and a scream.“Let me down!” I screamed, writhing in his arms as he wrapped his strong arm around my thighs that were now on display as my gown rode up. “Scream again, and I’ll slap your ass,” he said in a deep, deadly
Violet’s POVI woke up with my legs wrapped around a pillow. The sunlight was set directly on my eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder who had kept the blinds open. I groaned as I managed to turn over and sit up only to meet the beautiful sight of Ares staring at me with his legs crossed in front of him, sipping a cup of what I knew would be black coffee, no sugar.“Good morning,” I murmured, as everything that happened the night before came flooding back. The kiss, and him beside me as I fell asleep. I couldn’t stop my hands from flying up to my lips where his lips had been.I looked up at him and watched his eyes darken.“Morning,” he replied, stretching the cup out to me. I crawled over to the edge of the bed and took the cup from him and took a sip of the liquid. Black coffee, no sugar.I mentally patted myself on the back for knowing what he liked. His eyes were on me, watching if I was going to spit the bitter liquid out of my mouth. I didn’t, swallowing hard and dropping the cu
Violet’s POVIt had been a week since I had seen Alpha Ares. I was still staying in the dungeon. The doors were only opened when I was to be given food, allowed outside to have my bath, and once when the priestess came to teach me the things I was to do at the ceremony. I don’t know why Alpha Ares behave like that towards me. One moment he’s sweet and the next moment he’s hard on me. I thought he would have gotten me out of the dungeon by now, but I was still here.Maybe he had forgotten about me. Nobody came to visit me, and it was peaceful. Or so I thought; I felt empty, staring at the dripping ceiling the whole time. The doors opened that morning, shocking me as a huge shadow covered my face.“Violet,” the thick voice called out, making me jump. I didn’t know how much I had craved to hear that voice.“Alpha Ares,” I called out, turning to face him. He looked better than he had looked the last time I saw him. There wasn’t a smile on his face, just like always.“Come out,” he ordere
Violet’s POVThe water crystallised, still maintaining the reflection of the moon on the clear side, and my blood mixed with water on the side of the crystal ball. Gasps went around, and I wondered if it had never happened before. Even the priestess had her hand to her mouth. That told me everything I needed to know. This was new.Even Ares maintained the frown that had been on his face all day. Except it was deeper this time. I froze, staring at all the faces in front of me. “Child,” the priestess said, bringing me down from the high place immediately. She looked at me differently. There was something there… fear.“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, and she shook her head. “That’s enough. The ritual is over, and the goddess is pleased with the ritual.” She announced, and claps and howls filled the room. I stood awkwardly at the centre of the hall as people continued their drinking and socialising, still keeping their eyes on me like I might morph into something.Luna was beside m
Alpha Ares’ POVThe sunlight was directly shining into my eyes. I frowned as I managed to move my limbs. I couldn’t. I moved my head, groaning at the headache I was having. It was just like someone was hitting my head with a hammer constantly. “Alpha Ares!” Violet said in a hushed voice as she rushed to where I was lying down. “Priestess, he’s awake.”The priestess hurried to where I was, with a frown on her face. She opened my eyes wider and checked my pulse. She shook her head in fear.“What is wrong with him?” Violet asked. “There isn’t much time left.” She said, not sparing any of us a glance before stalking out of the room. Violet still didn’t leave my side.“How are you feeling?” she asked, touching around me. “I didn’t ask you to care for me. I noticed the way she had dark circles under her eyes and she had eye bags. I didn’t care, and I didn’t ask her to come and care for me either. She hadn’t changed from the clothes that she was wearing earlier. I moved my hand that she wa
Violet's POVLuna dragged me down to my chamber, where she hurriedly packed my stuff. “I don't think we can just leave without informing him.”“Ares is going to get so mad, believe me, and I'm not ready to be tortured against Luna. I tried running off and got punished for my bad behaviour. I'm not doing that again.” I pleaded, taking the bag away from her. I should shake my head in disagreement as she gave me pleading eyes. “I don't think you should be afraid; my mate is going to take care of that. He would listen to him, of course.“ She assured me, with a smile on her face. “I'm sorry, Luna. I can't leave him here; moreover, he is still recovering. The pack might create a side gossip that I left my mate to wander freely around the city.“ I said. “Okay then, but that wouldn't stop me from scolding the hell out of him.“ She cooed, rolling her eyes. She ran down the hallway; I ran after her as I stopped to catch my breath. How is she this fast? “Ares!“ She called out; I felt my hear
Ares' POV“Are you okay?” Jackie asked as soon as I came out of the room. I wanted to stay back and peep. I wanted to see what he was doing to her. How he was treating her that made her want to be so close to him all of a sudden. “I'm fine,” I mumbled as I headed back to the party. Kyros and Luna were there already, socialising with other people. If I didn't know how they were, I would have blamed them for asking their son to do whatever he was doing now. After all, Luna was always overprotective of Violet. They both smiled at me and approached me without hesitation. “How are you enjoying the party?” Luna asked, smiling more than she usually did. “It's been going as well as it possibly could.” She nodded, taking a sip of the drink in her hand. “Any plans to make the pack more secure?” Kyros asked, and I nodded. I was lying. There wasn't really any plan in place. The first thing I wanted to do was recruit the soldiers. They were the front liners. There was no way we were going to
Violet's POV I held my breath after I spoke. I wasn't planning on speaking. In fact, that was never the plan between Lynn and me. I looked over at her, and she didn't seem disappointed. Alpha Ares turned to look at me immediately. I didn't look away. I needed him to see that he actually hurt me. By hosting this party and not telling me anything about it. Ares did not look okay. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he missed a button. Something that hadn't happened since I had known him. I almost walked up to him and asked him what was wrong. I almost asked if he needed me to make any kind of soup for him. Lynn's hands were firmly in mine like she could read my thoughts. I locked eyes with her, and she shook her head. Every single person in the room was looking at me. I could tell that some of them recognised me from the last party. And for the ones that didn't, they were obviously getting the gist already. My eyes drifted down to the place where his hands were intertwined
Ares' POVI woke up in bed alone. I didn't remember taking my clothes off. But I was naked underneath the sheets. My head was banging. Belladonna walked in at just the same time, like she had been waiting for me to wake up.There was an unreadable expression on her face. “Some lemon water, Alpha.” She wasn't calling me Ares. Was it that she didn't just want to rest me? Or had she finally backed away? It was possible that she had now found a new mate. I didn't want to take the water from her, but I seemed helpless. I took it from her, taking small sips. “What happened yesterday?” I asked, and she looked at me with a different kind of look. “I have no idea, Alpha. But I do remember that Jackie had just left the room.”“Jackie was here last night?” I found myself asking, and she shook her head. “You obviously had too much to drink. We would love you to come downstairs and pick the exact designs you would like us to use for the event.”I frowned. Colton was usually the one handling thin
Violet's POVAdrian's lips touched mine softly. I felt my back start to fold, and I gently pushed him away. “I don't want this, Adrian,” I said, trying my best to smile. “I don't want to ruin the friendship that we have.” He could barely look at me. He was nodding his head and shaking it at the same time with his eyes firmly on my thighs. “We are not ruining anything,” he murmured softly. “Alpha Ares does not deserve you. And you know that. You don't have to be with an old man like him. I'm the future Alpha of my pack as well.”“You could be my actual Luna. And not Alpha Ares' fuck mate.” I wanted to be mad at him, but I wasn't. I turned my neck to the side for him to see. “I'm not his fuck buddy. Nor has he mated with me yet.”“That's because he knows how good and worthy you are. He knows what having you in the pack would do for him.”“If he knew, then he wouldn't have chased me away like that.” He bit his lip, not saying anything else, and I knew that I was right. His jaw was tens
Ares' POVI hurried to the backyard, where the Delta was leading me. What the hell did he mean by the priestess being dead? She just told me that she was going to find the cure for Violet's sickness about an hour ago. How could she be dead? I refused to believe it. I was already making plans on how I was going to punish the Delta. He finally stopped right in front of a row of bushes, with his eyes wide as he looked back at me. I looked at what was in front of him. It was a body. The body had the exact same build as the priestess. And the body was wearing the same clothes that the priestess had on. Just that this body was headless.There was blood everywhere. “The priestess, Your Highness,” the Delta said in a shaky voice. I knew that they hadn't ever seen anything like that in the pack. It was new. To even me. The main question was how it happened. Did someone know that she was going to find the cure for Violet's sickness? Did that person kill her to prevent that? I looked at the D
Violet's POVI stared at Colton as we got into the car. He had refused to tell me anything else. After telling me that every single person in the pack knew about my sores. He promised to tell me about it when I got into Kyros’ pack. “Are you finally going to tell me?” I asked, looking up at him. He ran his hands through his hair. “Can I drive at least?” he asked, and I shrugged. All I wanted was the information on who spread the information about my sores. He got into the car, exhaling from time to time. I was losing patience faster than I was letting on. “Can you just tell me everything already?”“Violet, I really do not want to hurt you. But since you are insisting, I should tell you.” I held my breath, waiting for him to tell me that it was Belladonna. I already swore that if it was, I was going to ask Colton to turn back, and I was going to tell Alpha Ares everything. And I wasn't going to relax until he actually hurt Belladonna. She was doing so much, and all of it was being
Ares’ POV“How soon is she leaving?” The priestess asked. I felt my hands balling into fists. The last thing I wanted was having Violet away from me. “In an hour,” I said, looking outside. The priestess smiled. “You have to know how important this is. To her, the pack, people that care about her, and to you. If you actually care about her.”I cared about Violet. And every single person knew that. Asking Colton to drop her off was the best decision. I could feel how much she wanted me to take her, myself. Or even spend the vacation at Kyros’ place as we had both planned… before other things happened. Luna was the only one that would have been able to take care of her. “Isn't there a solution?” I asked one more time. It was the umpteenth time I was asking the question within the past few days. “There's nothing, Alpha. Keeping her away is the best solution.” I finally nodded. Violet didn't even get to know that I didn't sleep on the same bed with her.The priestess bit her lip, toyi
Violet’s POVAres held onto me the whole night. If anybody told me that he was going to care about me that much, considering where we had started from, I would have refused it right away. By the time I woke up, he wasn’t there anymore. I managed to pull myself out of bed and head to the bathroom. The water was hot against my skin, and it felt like my skin was falling off. I tried not to cry out. Healing me totally would have killed Ares. If he didn’t know how dangerous that was, I didn’t know what else to tell him. He could have even died trying to save me. And there was another thing I knew that he didn’t.He wasn’t fully healed. I didn’t know if he was just lying that he wasn’t feeling any pain. Or if he didn’t even want me to know at all. There was so much happening in the palace. A few people had died. Ares didn’t want me to know much, but I knew as much as I needed to. I finally brought myself to turn the shower off. Just as I felt, there were sores all over my body. I barely
Luna's POV"What do you mean she is in the hospital? Why didn't you inform me earlier?” "Don't tell me she got hurt by Ares. I swear I'm going to kill him myself if anything happens to her." I yelled, walking out of my chambers. He ran after me down the hallway."It isn't Ares, baby. She took something poisonous, a wolfsbane." He said, I paused for a while, trying to process what I heard. "Wolfsbane?" I strutted."Yes, a wolfsbane. The maids were all thrown in the dungeon for this. They all disagreed that they had no idea about the wolfsbane in the food.”“Nevertheless, I'm sure that there is absolutely no way those maids could have gained access to the green garden where the wolfsbane was planted." He said."Are you trying to say it's an outsider? An outsider can't just get into the palace. The guards are always on alert. Has Ares looked into this matter?" I asked.''He doesn't want to know about that right now; all he wants is for his mate to feel safe. He doesn't want her to die;