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 POVMy eyes pleaded with my stepfather as I struggled to breathe. "Please, Father, the antidote. I need it. I don't want to die." My voice was barely a whisper, and my body was trembling with each cough.His gaze remained fixed on his painting, his brushstrokes steady and calm. "I don't care if you die now, Violet. It won't affect my pack." His words were cold as usual.My hand clutched my chest, and my coughing was growing more intense. I felt my strength fading. I was in this condition because of my stepsister, Jackie, who was suffering from unbearable pain.I had the power to absorb and heal others' pain, but each time I used my power, it weakened me because my wolf wasn’t out fully. This time I had tried to heal her, but I got infected instead. The healer had made an antidote, but my stepfather refused to give it to me. He didn't care that I was suffering or that my life force was dwindling, as long as his daughter was okay. "I'll do anything, Father—anything," I begged
Violet’s POVThis man standing in front of me was my mate. I never for once imagined I would be mated to a middle-aged man, but if that is all it takes to save me from the misery of life, I wouldn’t care. His hands on my skin made my heart race even more, but then I noticed the look on his face; he never said a word to me. Was he not feeling the mate bond? Why hasn’t he said anything to me? I asked myself, lost in my own thoughts. I had waited all these years to finally meet my mate. I just turned 19 and was scared that I wouldn’t find him. But now he was in front of me, completely mute. Was he ashamed of me? “What’s going on here? What did you do to Alpha Ares?” I heard Jackie’s voice as she shoved me to the side, attending to him. “You incompetent fool! Why did you spill the wine on him? Can’t you do something properly for once in your life?” She yelled.“I didn’t mean to. Someone tried to touch me.” I didn’t even complete my statement when I felt a heavy slap on my face. Jackie
Violet’s POVAlpha Ares eyebrow shot up, his gaze fixed on me. “Sign the document?” He repeated his voice, laced with curiosity. “What do you mean?” My eyes welled up with tears as I scrambled to cover myself with my robe, my hand shaking. I gently got down from the bed, my knees hitting the cold floor with a soft thud. "Please, Alpha Ares,” I begged. "My father will sell me if you don't sign it. Please, I'm begging you." My tears flowed freely now, dripping onto the cold floor. He walked to the table where the file was. He opened the file, his eyes scanning the contents. My heart raced, and my breath was short and ragged. I knew I was doomed. “Get out!” Alpha Ares's growl was low and menacing. I cowered, my eyes fixed on the floor. "Please," I whispered, wishing this time he would change his mind, but Alpha Ares's patience had worn thin. "Get the fuck out now!!!" he yelled, his voice shaking the walls. I got up to my feet immediately, my legs trembling beneath me. I didn’t dare
Violet’s POVAs Alpha Ares pulled me out of the room, I couldn’t help but feel happy. Finally, someone was standing up for me; finally, I was going to leave this hell of a life. I didn’t care about the documents or terms.All I knew was that I was leaving with one person who truly cared about me. As we got to his room, Ares' gaze softened, and his eyes filled with concern. He gently held my face, his warm touch sending shivers down my spine. "Are you okay, Violet?" he asked, his voice low and soothing. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I looked up at him, my heart overflowing with gratitude. "I'm okay," I whispered, even when I knew I wasn't.But just standing there and looking straight into his eyes, I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. "Thanks to you, I'm finally free." He let out a soft smile. "You're safe now, Violet," he whispered back, cleaning my tears. In that moment, I felt a deep connection to this man, this stranger who had become my saviour. “He really hurt you ba
Alpha Ares’ POV“Where has she gone?” I asked the guards, but they shivered, unable to give me a response. I had gathered all of them in the courtyard.It turned out that one of the guards was passing through the cell where she had been kept, but she was nowhere to be found. “Alpha, Violet…” Colton, my beta, said, running into the room, panting. I closed my eyes, trying not to show my frustration at their incompetence. “I heard what happened to her already. Any news that might interest me?” I asked him, with my eyebrows raised. He had tried maintaining eye contact with me, but I knew that it was one thing that none of them could do. “Yes,” he nodded, hesitating. “Then what are you waiting for?!” He flinched immediately.“There was a woman taking her out of the palace gates.” I froze, running my hands through my hair. Whoever took her was from the palace.“Take me to where she had been kept,” I commanded Colton, and he led me to the fence where he had seen the woman with Violet in he
Violet’s POV“I’m sorry?” I asked, hoping I had heard properly.“You heard me properly,” he said, rolling his eyes and sighing like he was tired of me already.“Then where will you sleep? I really don’t want to inconvenience you.”“It’s my palace.” With that, he was out of the room.Okay, he was rude. But it didn’t really matter to me. It was honestly none of my business.I looked around, trying to take in the décor of the room. Everything was in black and white. Simple, but obviously expensive. I headed to the bathroom, eager to get some water on my skin after all these days. I allowed the hot water to touch every part, ignoring how it stung the whip marks on my back. I found the soap that Ares uses. It smelt exactly like him. I used it, hoping he wouldn’t mind.By the time I was done, there was a dress on the bed. It was nothing expensive, but it looked and smelt clean. I quickly put it on, ignoring the fact that it was nothing like my size. It was too big, and the shoulders were
Alpha Ares’ POVI was sitting by the window, taking a sip of my whiskey. That was the only thing that seemed to keep me at peace. Violet was safely locked in the dungeon. It was better than letting her out and allowing her to roam the palace with her eyes that made me want to pity her. Or the fact that it reminded me of the last person I wanted to think about.Like it wasn’t already funny that someone young enough to be my daughter was my mate. The priestess’ voice was still ringing in my head. She didn’t mention anything about looking for another person of the same blood. As far as we knew, Violet was the last descendant with that kind of blood. I was half furious that I had signed a contract to bring back someone that useless. I tried to look at the bright side of it. I now had a personal maid that I had almost had sex with once. A small knock came at the door, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Come in,” I said, not even paying attention. Suddenly, the same scent that had mixed w
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