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 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' 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
ARES’ POVThe party was over as soon as Violet walked out of the party. All eyes were on me, and my cheeks still burnt from the slap that Luna had given me.“The party is over,” someone shouted, and the other guards had started asking everyone to leave. It felt like the slap had brought me out of the trance that I was in. My head was no longer light, and my feet seemed like it was rooted to the ground. “Are you okay?” Jackie asked immediately. I was noticing every single thing. Her mascara was running down her face like she had been crying. But why? “Just leave me alone,” I said, feeling angry for no reason. I started walking away, but she grabbed me by my arm.“You can't ignore me that way, Ares!” she screamed. “Are you going to be just like other men? Get your way and then abandon the girl because she genuinely loved you?”“What do you mean by get my way?” I asked. It was the second time that she was saying something like that. Without even hesitating.She opened her mouth to spea
Violet’s POVThere wasn’t anybody in the world that would be able to give me a reasonable explanation for Colton being at Alpha Kyros’ pack. My heart skipped a beat, hoping to the Goddess that Ares had sent him to meet me. The sad look on his face told me otherwise, but that didn’t stop me from walking towards him. “What do you want?” I asked, and he frowned.“I get that you’re angry with Ares. But I’m Colton for goodness sake.”“Did he send you to come here?” I asked, and he shook his head.“I’m sorry about how he had been treating you. The whole pack knows everything now. He might just be coming back to pick you up any second.” Every person around me had been telling me the same thing. I bit my lip, trying hard not to tell him that I was going to be making my way to the palace that evening.I shook my head anyway. “If Ares wanted to pick me up, he would have.” Colton sighed. “I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but he hasn’t been okay since the priestess died. He might just be genui
ARES’ POVI walked into the priestess’ lair. She was casting a few spells and poring over a few books at the same time. It brought tears to my eyes. Was I ever going to get used to the old priestess not being there? The tears dripped down my cheeks, and I caught myself. Why was I crying? Since when did I become so soft? “You are here, Alpha,” she said, noting my presence. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. She paused as she stood up. “Are you crying?” I faked a cough. “Your lair is pretty dirty. You have to keep it clean at all times. Your predecessor would have done a better job.” She was practically shivering. I understood that she was a young girl. Fortunate enough to learn so many spells that she could curse every single person on earth at the same time.By the time I was done speaking, it sounded like I was snapping at her. It was her own turn to cry. She gently wiped her tears with the sleeve of the long gown she was putting on.“What’s wrong?” I asked softly, taking gen
Violet’s POVA piece of wood hitting my head was enough to wake me up. I cried out in pain. I could feel liquid dripping down my face. It was definitely my blood. The metallic taste filled my mouth. I tried to move my arms, but they felt too heavy. I tried the same with my legs, but I couldn’t move. Fuck, I was tied up. I opened my mouth to breathe, and I breathed in dust. That was more than enough for me to cough. I bent forward as I coughed, but even my stomach was tied to the chair. I heard heavy footsteps in the room.“She’s finally awake,” a deep voice said with a hint of amusement. “Is someone there?” I asked. “Please let me go. You can even cover your faces; I won't tell a soul. Please.” A small laughter went round the room. I could clearly hear about three men laughing. “Little girls like her are the definition of kiss and tell.”I shook my head in the darkness and continued pleading with them. “We should go and tell them that she’s awake.” One of them said, and the other g
ARES' POVI didn’t know how long it was going to take, but I knew that I was going to be standing at Violet’s door for a long time. There was nothing I could even do about it. but it finally felt nice to finally fight for her. To do something for her. I was yearning for her attention too badly. She had to answer me.I hated the fact that she had to see me weak. That she had to see me speechless for the first time. It was insulting. But I knew I wouldn’t mind if it was just in front of those men. I was already planning a little surprise party for her when the guards had called my attention that those men had come to see me. I was shocked that they were back. Them, telling me that they had brought evidence. I didn’t even want to see them there. I didn’t want to have them around when Violet was having her own important day. She had just had her coronation. I knew that no one had planned a party for her just yet. I was to be the first person. She had practically let me hold her hand t
VIOLET’S POVI held my gown in my hands as I headed upstairs. My heart was beating fast, against my rib cage. I was nervous, and curious at the same time. Ares, Alpha of RavenClaw was definitely not going to be the end of me. I searched the terrace for him. But he was nowhere to be found. “Ares?” I called out, hoping that he hadn’t collapsed just yet. Even if he did, I hoped that he would be able to moan out at least, for me to know exactly where he was.There wasn’t a single sound. I couldn’t stop my heart beat. It was becoming even more painful. My hand was pressed against my chest, trying to subdue the pain. It did nothing to help. It was extremely annoying that I couldn’t heal my own pain. Worse that it was feeling almost the same way as Ares said he was feeling. Could it be that I had absorbed too much of his illness? The thought was out of my mind before I could even think about it too much. I held on to the banister of the stairs as I continued looking for Ares. I finally go
VIOLET’S POVI swallowed hard. What was she doing with hallucinations? Was she making any of us hallucinate? I badly wanted to inform Ares about everything, but something told me that this girl was too knowing. There were so many things she was aware of. Things she wasn’t even supposed to know. And how long was it going to take until she took over every single thing?The pack members had gone from staring at her to clapping. The only people that seemed immune to these things were me, Ares, Alpha Kyros, Jackie, and Belladonna. The five of us were staring at each other. Even Alpha Damien, Luna, Lynn and Adrian were busy clapping like no man’s business. Ares had looked at me. I knew that he was about to say something. I looked at Mira, and her eyes were on the both of us again. I gently squeezed Ares’s hands that were still in mine. That was a sign to tell him not to speak. I was relieved when he nodded at me, showing that he understood everything. I let out a small sigh of relief. W
VIOLET'S POV I looked back one more time as I slipped into the priestess’ lair. I knew that everyone was going to be looking for me. It was supposed to be my crowning as a Luna that evening, but I was nowhere to be found. I should have been dressing up for the ceremony already. I hated the kind of energy that the lair was giving. But I still needed to meet with Mira. Luckily, she was still in that chair that she always was. Poring over a book. How was someone as young as she was so skilled? Her eyebrows cocked up, and he frowned. I couldn't help but wonder what was in the book that made her smile. She suddenly looked up, and the smile on her face was cleared in a second. She shut the book immediately and got up from her chair. “Luna, you're here.” She said calmly. I noticed that the excitement she had on her face the first time she saw me was gone. Was it because of everything that happened the first time I got there? “Yes”, I said, plastering a fake smile on my face. “I'm here
ARES’ POVBy the time I had woken up, I had no idea what time it was. But I definitely felt better. It was like most of the pain had been taken away from my body. I moved my limbs to make sure they were still working. The presence of the little being beside me gave me some sort of peace that I didn’t know ever existed. I ran my hands through her hair. She had let me into her room. I knew that she wouldn’t have let me remain outside. There was a certain joy that came with marking all her things. There was no way she was going to sleep in this room without remembering that I was there with her on this day. There was no way she was going to stay in the room without remembering my scent.I was glad to be out of the torturous dreams that included her. I had screamed her name so much in my dreams that even my throat was sore. I wrapped my hands around Violet, resisting the urge to pull her closer. I didn’t want to wake her up. And I wasn’t sure she wanted to see me when she was awake ei
VIOLET’S POVAres was the last person I was expecting at my door that morning. Lynn had told me that he was carried to his room by Jackie and her father. None of the pack members were willing to even touch him. He had lost every form of power over them. I had no idea how he was going to meet up with things or redeem himself, but it was definitely going to take him a lot. More than 90 per cent of the pack were with me. The remaining ten percent were too scared to do anything. I wanted to hold him as he practically crumpled to the ground. I was almost touched by the fact that he struggled to come to my room, even when he was obviously in pain. But I didn’t ask him to come, did I? And the way Jackie and Alpha Damien carried him to his room was funny when Lynn was describing it. I couldn’t help but laugh. Even if the laugh was definitely fake. It wasn’t from my mind. I wanted to kick his feet away from the way. I wanted to slam the door and leave him there until he woke up. I badly w
ARES' POV“You betrayed me one more time,” Violet said, as the tears streamed down her face. “How many more chances do you want me to give you? I get tired too. I can cheat if I want as well.”I tried to reach out to her, but she continuously pushed me away. I wanted to hold her so bad. I wanted to tell her that she didn't have to cry. I wanted to tell her that she didn't have to be sad because of me. I wanted to tell her that she had the freedom to leave, even if it will crumble me and the pack. I reached for her one more time, and she had turned into thin air immediately after my fingertips brushed against her skin. The whole room was pitch black, and the only thing I could hear was her sniffling. I could barely even feel my own self. My limbs had turned numb and were lying by my sides, feeling more useless than they have in a long time.I tried to raise them one more time in the darkness, and I felt myself being thrown from a high building. I opened my mouth to scream, but no wor
ARES' POVI stared at Jackie in shock. I could feel every single eye on me. What did she mean by saying she was carrying my child? That was not possible. I had barely even touched her. Ever in my life.The room was incredibly silent. Compared to the shouting I was actually expecting from them. They were probably waiting for me to say something, but the words refused to leave my mouth.What did I want to say to begin with? I stared down at the tiny hand that was still in mine. Violet looked up at me expectantly. I wanted to assure her so badly. I had opened my mouth to speak. Even if it was a simple nod. But I couldn't even give that much to her. It felt like the only things I could move on my own body were my eyes. I knew that I was looking guiltier than I have in a thousand years.I saw her face swiftly change from expectant to disgusted. She removed my hand from hers immediately. “Is it true?” She asked a little too calmly. Why wasn't she screaming? I felt my heart turn at the sou
VIOLET’S POVThe way I was having Ares was definitely something to worry about. And so was the way I was craving him. It was becoming addictive. He was becoming a drug I felt like I could never have enough of. I was getting ready for my own mating ceremony. And the makeup artist was doing whatever magic she was performing on my face. But there I was, sitting on the chair in front of the mirror, pressing my thighs together at the thought of how he might look in a suit. I shook my head at my own self. It was finally my own mating ceremony. The day that was going to be the happiest of my life. There were so many things that I was planning on doing after the wedding, and I was finally going to. Ares had brought out a part of me that I never thought I had. He had brought out a kind of hunger that felt like it couldn’t be satiated. He had really kept to his word on me not touching him. And all I wanted to do was touch him as much as I wanted to. “You are really pretty, Luna,” one of th