-Aria- Prisca walked into the room and sulked into a chair without a word to me. I shook my head at her questioningly but got no response."Okay, what is it?" I asked her."Why am I so unlucky?" She said, looking up with a sad face. "Ever since I was a child, life and love have been so unfair to me, and I never get what I want. I have no man to call my own even by this age. Is this fair?""Prisca is that the reason why you are sad?" I was already laughing till I noticed the tears falling from her eyes and I realised it was more serious than I had thought. I thought it was one of those playful bawls about men.I stood up from the bed and walked towards her."Oh Prisca, don't you cry," I consoled, placing a hand gently on her. "It's going to be fine and you will find the man who will love and adore you.""For how long do I have to wait before I find that man?" She cried. "I am not getting any younger."I suspected something must have happened to trigger these thoughts from her and was
-Aria-I raised my brow at him in bewilderment. That was unexpected. I mean, how soon could he have gotten a woman already?"That's..." I started and lost my words. "Wow," was the only thing I could muster under my breath. Aria get it together. "That's amazing. Well, who is the Lucky woman?"I was already feeling sorry for Prisca, genuinely this time. She does not deserve this. Maybe I was really hoping they might work out. I would have been happy if they did. But this...Zafa walked towards me and stood in front of me, so close that I had to take a few steps back."I am only sad that this woman I am in love with, I cannot get," he said in a low voice that made my lips go dry."Who..."I have spent thousands of years under the world only to see the woman I had fallen in love with when I was in the world in the first life, but the circumstances surrounding me being with her have caged me out of her life. Moreso I cannot even imagine a life with her."I swallowed hard, my throat dry. Wh
-Prisca- Ever since Aria had agreed to talk to Zafa into having a relationship with me, she has refused to tell me what the outcome was and would deliberately avoid having to talk about it. I kept wondering what the problem was but she wouldn't tell me.I have also observed that something was wrong between the two because they began acting weird around each other. Perhaps I was just overthinking, I told myself. But I knew deep within that it was true what I thought and every incident I witness keep confirming my suspicions.The other day, a dramatic incident occured during a dinner party. I caught Zafa staring at her from time to time and sometimes, her eyes would meet his and she would quickly turn away."Could you, please pass me the salt," she had said once and because she did not specify who should, Adonai and Zafa reached for it at the same time. There was a brief silence for a moment and I was sure every other person on that table who had seen that took a meaning to it. Zafa wo
-Aria-I noticed Prisca began to keep some distance from me and I needed no one to tell me it was because of Zafa. She kept asking me what he said when I went to meet him but I did not know what to tell her. How could I tell her that he said he was interested in me instead?Another problem I had to deal with was him. Ever since he confessed his feelings for me it has been hard around him. He became so visibly attached that it was difficult to hide what was going on. I feared someone might suspect, or even Adonai.I need to talk him out of this whole madness. It is too much to deal with. Someone snapped his finger in front of my face, and I jumped slightly."What keeps you so engrossed in your thoughts?" It was Adonai. I almost forgot about his existence."It's nothing," I managed a small smile at him and he grunted."Are you sure? You just zoomed off.""There's nothing in my mind, really," I said as I moved the stubborn strand of hair dangling on my face.I was in his room, sitting on
-Dante- This was what I wanted and my plan worked perfectly well. Let's see how they are going to get out of this. I could see the jealousy and disappointment on Adonai's face."Aria what is this?" He turned to her and asked."Adonai, I got a message from Zafa saying he wanted to see me for something important, only for me to come here and discover he got the same message from me. I did not write him any and he did not write to me," she said."I think you should try cooking something different," I stepped in. "Because this does not sound plausible enough.""It is the truth," Zafa defended and I snorted."What you are trying to tell us is you both got a message from each other which was not written by you? Perhaps there are spirits around then who did it.""I have no reason to lie," Aria said confidently. She snatched the paper Zafa was holding and walked to me. She shoved it to my face. "It was the thing we were both wondering about.""You don't expect me to believe it.""Well, I'm s
-Aria- After the incident, Zafa became distant, and it was quite a relief to me, even though I worried about what might be going through his head. He became reserved and quiet, especially around me, as if he did not know me. All that was to keep away from the rumours and suspects, and I appreciated it. When he did, Prisca began to come around and it seemed everything was getting better. "You know, I feared that I might have loosed you to a man," I told Prisca playfully when we were sorting out some clothes in my room. "Well, I realised there was no need to beat myself over a man who doesn't care about me," she replied with a shrug. "Perhaps you should give it some time; who knows if there'd be a connection sometime later?" I suggested and she shook her head. "Forget it. And I am not interested anymore. I want to hold on to the fact that I can get my own man without having to stress about it," she said, and I smiled at her. "I am so happy for you." A moment of silence p
-Adonai-I was in a serious state of distress and waited impatiently for the doctor to say something."Well?" I could not wait any longer. He was taking forever to examine her."Alpha please calm down," he said. "Everything will be fine.'"That is not what I want to hear for now. What the hell happened to my wife?" I wanted to know. Dan sighed before he replied."From what I can see here, it seems she was poisoned," he told me, and my heart stopped working for a second or two."What did you just say?" I asked."She was poisoned," he repeated, slowly this time."How, when, where? By who?" I asked questions the doctor had no answer to. I turned to Prisca who looked back at me frightened."Did you hear that?" I asked sternly."I did and I am surprised as well. I don't know anything about this," she began to shake even before I asked if she knew anything about it."You have been with my wife all day, so you had better know something before I take your head," I yelled, and she trembled."P
-Dante- Mission successful. I have finally been able to put Zafa in a fix, and with this, I can get him out of the way and out of this pack. I had planned to take two birds with one stone and that was getting at it perfectly.It's been three days now, and Aria was still in coma and not responding to treatment, just what I wanted. I loved Adonai's agitation while I pretended to worry and care, offering my comfort as well."What are you going to do now?" I had asked once in his room while he was pacing around restlessly."If Aria does not get better by sunset tomorrow, I am going to have no choice but to have the head of that bastard who put her in this condition," he swore."Well," I cleared my throat. "I warned you about him but you did not listen. Trusted him a bit early and now this."Adonai did not reply. I had said that intentionally to prick him more. He should have listened to me. Wait until Aria dies; perhaps he will learn to listen to his brother more and not trust a total st
- Prisca-"You...you followed me?" I stuttered. He stood up from the bed and walked towards me slowly. I moved back instinctively."Yes I did," he said casually. "I came to your house, but you were nowhere to be found, so I sat and waited for you. Where have you been?"For a brief moment, life left my body. I thought he followed me to the hideout and knew everything.Oh shit...I let out a deep breath of relief. Thank goodness."Uh...uhm," I swallowed hard. "I was just around, you know. The pack. I needed some fresh air so I went for a stroll.""So why didn't you return to the palace?" He asked further and I quickly thought of what I could say."Well," I chuckled nervously. "Just trying to escape from the tension in the palace. I mean, so much has happened in just one day so..."Adonai grunted and his eyes scrutinised me, perhaps trying to see if he could believe me or not."I had to come here because we needed to talk," he finally said. "About what's happened earlier. We are married b
-Prisca- "Who are they?" I asked them, trying hard to keep calm."We don't know Prisca," one shrugged. "But they did not look anything like us. They looked different. Maybe werewolves from another pack."What business does Aria have with other werewolves that they came for her? Or has she been having contact outside our pack all this while? That bitch, I cursed under my breath. She always manages to escape my hands.Gosh, I hit my fist against my palm. And I was this close to getting rid of her this time. I hissed and made for the door when the men called my attention."What do we do now?" They asked and I scowled at them."Get your failure asses back home. What else is left to be done when you have lost her?""Then what about our payment?"I turned round in disbelief to face them. Had they the nerve to ask me that?"What payment?" I scoffed."For the work we did for you. You haven't paid us.""You bunch of losers are expecting payment?" I asked."We had a deal. You cannot just send
-Prisca- Yes! My plan has finally worked. I am going to exchange marital vows with Adonai and legally be his wife.It does not count that I am impersonating Aria. He is not going to be tied to Aria in reality but to me.I sat beside him, before the crowd with my face veiled and a sly smile across my face which no one could see.A few people had suggested I take off the veil so they could behold my face but Adonai politely declined. No one pushed it, and I successfully got tied to Adonai.I had feared that Dante would have wanted to expose me because he didn't seem pleased with the plan, but he didn't.I was led to Adonai's room while the party continued in the hall. There I took off my veil and sat comfortably on his bed.He was not here yet, for he was still having some drinks with his visitors. I chuckled happily. Alas, my dream has come to pass.The door opened and I quickly adjusted. I hissed when I saw it was Ariel."What are you doing here?" I asked sharply. She did not reply b
-Adonai-It took a while before what she said registered in my head."Are you insane?" I retorted, placing a finger on the side of my head."No, I am not," she responded confidently."How then can you say such a thing?""I am only trying to help you, alpha," she said. "Think of what the people at the table will say when you return there without a bride.""And have you thought about what it would be when they also realize that you are not Aria?""They wouldn't have to know. A bride can be veiled. You are not under any law to reveal your face to anyone. I believe that they might think that is what you want and they will respect it."I hesitated, trying hard to think about what Prisca had said. She was right. I would be seen as a fool if I returned to the people with the news of Aria eloping with another man and there would be no wedding.It would be the second time I gathered people and something ruined the ceremony."You know what, you are right. But this is just for the ceremony. You
-Adonai- I took in a deep breath to steady myself when Maria approached me, her face strained with worry and told me Aria was nowhere to be found.I had asked her to go get her since the ceremony was about to start."What do you mean by she is nowhere to be found," I asked, my voice in a low whisper so the people at my table would not hear."Even I don't understand myself," Maria said. "But she is not in her room and no one seems to have seen her."No, this cannot be happening now. I braced myself and tried to remain calm."Uhm, gentlemen, I will be right back," I addressed the men at my table."Is everything fine?" Dominick asked as I excused myself and I told him all was well. All was not well at all. A few minutes to the start of my wedding the bride is nowhere to be found.I walked with long strides towards Aria's room with Maria following steadily behind me."I was wondering if she had to quickly do something outside the palace because it doesn't seem like she..." Maria trailed
-Aria- I groaned in pain as I opened my eyes. I tried to move but discovered I couldn't, I was tied firmly to something I could not see, a pole or something.What's going on? I tried to think. The last thing I remembered was being prepared for my wedding and then strange faces appeared in my room.I looked up sharply when I realised what had happened. I was in an empty room that was void of anything normal in a location I could not fathom.I recognised the faces in the room as the ones who had walked in on me."Who are you and why did you kidnap me?" My throat was dry, as well as my voice. None of them bothered to give me an answer."Hey, say something. Who sent you?" I pushed."Keep it down Aria," a very familiar voice said. "This is not the palace where you speak anyhow you like and everyone is answerable to you.""Prisca?" I muttered under my breath but she heard."Tis me, yes," she stretched her hands out in a show of dignity. "Flesh and blood."I looked on in shock. Is this a dr
-Aria- I was being dressed by the maids for the wedding when Adonai walked in, and they all trooped out to give us a moment."Is anything the matter?" I asked, searching his face."Not really," he replied with a small smile on his face. "I just wanted to see you."I rolled my eyes at him."You see me every day," I pointed out."Yeah," he replied with a sigh as he walked to a stool and sat in front of me, his eyes watched me tenderly."What?" I shook my head with a chuckle."You know, there is this old story we heard while growing up," he said."Okay?""That you become too excited and overwhelmed about someone or something because you are about to lose it.""Hmm." I breathed out. "Never heard about that before. But why are you talking about that? Are you thinking I might leave you?""No. I am relating it to how excited I am about getting married to you," he said and took my hand in his. "Are you ready to become Mrs. Adonai and Luna of this pack?""You think I am ready?" I threw back a
-Adonai- Today is the day I officially get married to Aria. I was sure my face radiated the joy I felt within. I could not hide it.I walked around the building, watching as the maids and guards ran around to put things in order. It is going to be a very big ceremony. Invites have been sent far and near, and all the provinces and clans, big and small packs, would be gathered for the wedding.Werewolves coming from far distances had arrived the night before. Dante approached me with a grimace on his face."So you are finally getting married to Aria," he commented."So am I," I said with the same energy."Well, how does that make you feel?" He wanted to know and I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to discern his reason for asking."Complete, I guess. A man with a family.""Mmm," Dante hummed and nodded. "True.""And after this, you also have to settle down as well. You have a fiancé already, so that wouldn't be hard, I guess?"He chuckled."Well then, after you."While we spoke, alpha Do
-Aria- My heart skipped a beat when I lifted my eyes to the door and saw Adonai. He walked in with a blank expression on his face, approaching us slowly."Adonai, Zafa here was just telling me that he was leaving the pack. It was what we were discussing before you walked in," I jumped in to explain hurriedly when he had not asked me anything.Adonai did not respond. I tried to read his expression, but he hid it well. He stood beside me and faced Zafa, who looked back boldly as if Adonai had not walked in on us almost about to kiss."Is that so?" Adonai finally spoke, addressing Zafa."It is indeed so," Zafa confirmed, unshaken."But you did not tell me," Adonai said dryly. "You came to my wife to tell her but I am not aware of what is going on.""She was the one that sent for me first," Zafa replied. "And I did plan to tell you, though, she is the reason why I came to this pack. Either way, you would have known anyway."I was worried about the way the two were going. I wouldn't want