Belladonna’s POVI dropped the plate off in the kitchen as the head maid thanked me as they all returned to their duty post. I was so happy that I accomplished my mission, but not without having a second thought. I was scared that I might get caught by the Alpha and the penalty might result in death. I had a second thought, my wolf was totally against my plan. I had to get rid of Violet for good. I allowed her into the Palace in the first place because I thought she could save the man I loved so dearly. “It's so bad I have to get back to the kitchen. Searching for her meal would be quite a difficult task to do.” I whispered, rolling my eyes. I got into the kitchen, as I playfully spoke to the chief maid for information. “I don’t really know, but I heard that the Alpha wants to take his mate on a date. He ordered us to prepare his specials. Isn't that wonderful?” She said, displaying dreamy eyes. “It is.” I replied. “What do you want me to do Ma'am?” She asked with a bow. “Nothi
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;
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
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 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' 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 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 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 POVI blinked twice as he told me. Was that supposed to affect me in any way? Even his mother looked shocked. I looked back at Adrian, and his eyes were dancing around my face, like he was looking for at least the twitch of an eyelid. I didn’t give him that satisfaction. I looked back at Luna. Why didn’t she tell me? She could at least have told me that the siblings were getting married together. Was I now a streak of bad luck?“You didn’t tell me about it,” I told her, but she still had her eyes on Adrian. I didn’t know if she wanted to slap him for telling me their top secret or if she was getting angry because there was no such thing. Her expression was unreadable for the first time since I have known him. She took in a deep breath before she finally looked at me. “He never told me anything either.”Then what was his deal? I wanted to ask him out loud. It was the first time that I was seeing his mother genuinely sad. “Who are you getting married to?” his mother asked, an
Violet’s POV“No, not that one,” I whined. “The wine-coloured dress behind the blue one.” Ares was trying so hard to pack my clothes. And trust me, I was not making any part of it easy for him. The only part I agreed to pack for myself was my undies. I wanted him to pack them. And I was making it difficult for him with the description of the colours. He was thinking I was in so much pain, so he did not complain.“That’s the last one,” he finally announced as he pushed one of my gowns into the bag. The car was ready, and he led me downstairs. The people at the pack were now bowing down to greet Ares again. I could see the pride on his face as they did that. “Where are you guys going?” Belladonna asked, blocking the exit for the both of us. I wanted to complain, but talking to her was the last thing I wanted to do. As far as I could remember, her business was always with Ares. “Can you just move out of the way?” Ares asked, but she still had her eyes locked on me. I couldn’t help b
Violet’s POVDid I seem freer? Or was I imagining things? I was smiling everywhere after that kiss with Ares. I had honestly hoped for him to push me away. But he didn’t. He genuinely kissed me. I didn’t want to believe that he was acting with me. He wasn’t. I wanted to believe and hope that he wasn’t playing with me again. I tried to get rid of the thought that he was just playing another game with me as I walked with him through the garden. “You said you wanted to talk?” I asked him, and he nodded.“I think the Elders would prefer to talk to you first.” I nodded, looking at how my hand fit in his perfectly. I blinked. I didn’t want to imagine any more things that weren’t meant to be. That was the one thing I didn’t want to do. I was doing perfectly well without my imaginations. “Just don’t get angry at whatever they might ask of you, because I will be asking you just the same thing.”I wanted to ask what more he was going to say or what the elders were going to say, because he de
Ares’ POVViolet was being nice. Too nice for my liking. Even when she was trying to be nice, she was never as nice as that. I hoped to hell that she was not pretending. Because if she was pretending, I could as well just go to hell. She was being nice, fine. But she was quite overdoing it. The Elders wanted to have a meeting with her as regards the mating ceremony. I already knew what her response was going to be. And I had already fucked up by bringing the meeting while I was just five minutes into being nice with her. She was at least smart enough to put two and two together. And it wouldn’t take her as much time as it would take a normal person. If she hadn’t already tried understanding everything herself.Maybe there was just no need to pretend with her. I could just go straight up and tell her what she needed to do. If she was ever going to agree with me, of course.She was still staring at me when a knock came at the door. I groaned internally for not locking the door when I
Violet’s POVI hurried back to the room, crawling on the steps before Ares could even come out and see me. That was a close call.At some point, I felt bad. All nice and cosy since he said he wanted to take care of me. But that was what he said before, right? That was the one thing he promised to do.All I had to do was go on a date, get poisoned by someone in the pack, and he changed totally. He could not tolerate my ugly face for even a day before he sent me out. Well, my face was okay now, and my back was not. Was he going to send me back because of my ugly back too? Ares saying he wants to take care of me is the one thing I would not believe. He had promised the same thing before. And if he goes to dump me at Alpha Kyros, I don’t think I would be shocked either. It wasn’t the first time, was it?All I wanted to see was~~~~I had woken up, and the room was empty. I didn’t have that much hope to even see him there. But I could swear I felt his kiss on my forehead, but I didn’t kn
Ares’ POV I watched how tiny she looked on the bed. How had she grown so much confidence? It was hot as fuck, even if it was stupid of her to start an argument with the Alpha of her pack. It made me remember someone. The last person I wanted to remember that day. Even as she spoke, it felt like it wasn't her. Her collarbones were prominent, and I was sure I could definitely count her ribs underneath her dress.I placed my hands on them, and she flinched. She was sleeping for fuck's sake, and she could still feel the pain in her back. I pretended like I didn't see the scar when I went to pick her up. Or the red marks on her face that were definitely from slapping. Even Belladonna had added to that. Or the splinters of wood that were still on her face. She was not lying down on them. I wanted to be angry, but I couldn't. My hands felt too weak to even form any kind of fists. She was extremely weak. And she wasn't healing quickly. Was it all me? Was she that weak because she had trie
Violet’sPOV I did not bother to open my mouth to say anything. It would be totally useless to throw my legs either. I was a little excited to see him. But now, that feeling is gone. There was no need to be excited at the sight of the person that had tried to hurt me in the least moment I had expected. My ass and my back were on fire. I wanted to cry, but definitely not in front of him.“Why didn't you fight back?” He asked. Was that anger in his voice? “You and I know that you could have easily pushed them away if you wanted. But you just decided to be weak. Today of all days. Today when you were supposed to show me how you really are, you decided to fuck up.” I looked up. “Why would I show you anything?!” I fired back. “After everything you have done to me? After everything I've been through in your hands? After everything I've been through because of the people that you have hurt in the past?”He stopped in his tracks. I held my breath as I waited for him to apologise to me. He
Violet’s POVFinally, I was going to see them. I couldn’t ignore the gut feeling that was telling me to pretend that I wasn’t feeling okay. Would that somehow save me? Before I could try to fake a stomach ache, I was already dragged outside by my hair. I turned back to see if Eric was following. He was walking slowly behind us. His eyes were sad, and he could barely look at me. I wanted to ask him what happened. Was he sad because he was remembering everything that happened the night before? Or was he sad because he had remembered what Ares had done to him? Or worse, was he sad and scared for me? I didn’t want to think that far. Everything was going to be fine. The weather was still gloomy, just the way I was feeling. Eric’s voice was ever present in my head, telling me all the things that Ares had done to him. I still couldn't comprehend everything I heard. “Move!” one of the men said, shoving me by the shoulder so hard that I fell to the ground. He grabbed me up by my hair agai
Ares’s POV I could barely sleep a wink as I waited for the sun to rise. Someone has said they had information as to where Violet might be. It was six o'clock on the dot when I got up and headed out of the palace. I could have easily disobeyed the person that passed the information. I tried not to think about the fact that I had given orders while I was drunk. The fact that I didn't remember doing all those things was alarming. But I couldn't argue with them. It was shameful enough that I was drunk. The whole pack had heard about it. If there was any atom of respect left for me from the pack members after I had asked Colton to take Violet away, it was gone at the news of me asking people to abduct Violet while I was drunk. I could never really comprehend the issue. Or how it managed to spread round the whole pack to the extent that even the Omegas knew about it. I didn't miss their snickering whenever they walked past. Even if Violet returned, what was the assurance that she was