Ariah's POVWhen I woke up on the couch and didn’t find Beta Lowell on the couch, I didn’t even bother to check the basement because I knew they were gone. When I eventually went down, the first smell that came to my nostrils was that of King Ethan’s scent. His scent was so strong that it gripped the whole atmosphere in the room and I loved it. For the rest of that day, I didn’t see the king or his beta, Lowell, it didn’t get me. I was excited about it, but only for a very short while. I became bored and started to feel lonely very quickly, the events of the previous night flooding into my head. It had to be the king who had carried me when I fainted during the attack. He was the only person in sight and I would never forget the look I saw in his eyes before he reached me. So vicious and determined, it was like he could have devoured anyone at that time, all for me. How did he even know I was in danger? All these thoughts made my insides curl with excitement. Even though he had prob
Ariah's POVKing Ethan drank for a while without saying anything to me. He just sat on a couch, refusing to allow me to attend to his needs, if he had any that is. I was really confused, there was a dejected look on his face. But something made me smile inwardly, if something was wrong and he came to me first, what did that mean? Was he developing an attraction for me? Or could it be trusted? That could be the case. I just sat quietly on a couch far away from him, then he dropped the half-empty bottle and said. “Come over here, Ariah.” He tapped the space next to him on the couch he sat on. “Come and sit here.”I didn’t completely trust him. I didn't trust him at all. I believed that his actions were partially influenced by the alcohol, but could I refuse his orders even if they were under alcoholic influence? I couldn’t. I stood up and sat next to him, there was still a little distance between us. “What do you think?” He asked.I stared at him blankly, I didn’t know what he was ta
Ethan's POVThe moment I heard the shrill sound of the shattered bottle, something snapped in my head and I closed my eyes. I thought I had snapped out of the influence of the alcohol but then I realized that not all my actions were completely under the influence of the alcohol. A part of me was sober and I willingly kissed Ariah.I stared at her as she jumped and got on her knees to pick up the broken pieces of the bottle. “Ariah, what are you doing?” I asked, staring down at her.“I'm so sorry I broke your expensive bottle of Whisky, King Ethan, please don’t move so that it won’t harm you. I’ll pick all the pieces up, I don’t know how I’m going to repay you for this. I have no money and no valuable properties I can trade for it. My gosh, I’m so sorry about this.” She kept talking hysterically and rapidly.When she was about to pick up another broken piece, I put my hand on hers and she froze instantly. Once again I felt that spark of the mate bond and that made me give up denying
Layla Campbell’s POVI didn’t like it.I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror when I stared at it. My cheekbones were too high, my blonde hair was too long and its brightness too sharp, my full lips were too red and my eyes weren’t large enough. All this I voiced out in frustration as my maid walked in. “Breakfast, Princess Layla.” She bowed and announced. “I don’t want breakfast, I’m not coming down today,” I replied gloomily and as she was about to protest, I dismissed her. “Leave, just leave before I get angry.”She didn’t even need to think twice, she retreated immediately and I kept staring at my reflection. I had to meet with my father today, I always found it difficult to even see him because of how busy he was. “Being the Alpha of this pack isn’t so easy, my dear. But I’ll always create time for my little precious one.” He would always say to me.I wondered why he still referred to me as his “little” precious one. I wasn’t so little anymore, I was already twenty years old
Ariah’s POVAt first, I couldn’t believe what was happening, it was like a dream come true. The first time I met King Ethan after I had been captured for trying to escape, after the bond I felt, I had always imagined a day like this. Truthfully, I never thought it would come. I thought it would just be a replay of the life I had escaped from my pack, but here I was, in his arms comfortably. I still breathed heavily because I was still weary of him. First of all, I couldn’t trust him completely for a lot of reasons. The first being that I couldn’t understand the look in his blue eyes, it was as if his emotions were hidden behind a curtain. His eyes were just plain and expressionless, but I could feel the heavy thumping of his heart and I noticed the way his lips twisted slightly at the edges. When I wriggled slightly, his grip around me loosened and his hands just dropped at his side, letting me go easily. I looked at him for a while, and realized something was wrong. “What’s the m
Ethan's POV She never listens. She still called me king. I had been thinking the whole time about the feast Lowell and I had been invited to, there was one major thing I was considering. I finally made up my mind, Ariah was coming with me to that feast, whether she got an invite or not, it didn’t matter. As long as she was with me, that was enough to make her welcome at the feast. “What did I say about calling me Ethan?” I asked.“I don’t think I can get used to it so quickly, you know.” She said, her tone impatient. “You’re leaving my curiosity hanging, Ethan.” “First of all, like I said earlier you will no longer be a prisoner after today, that means you’ll leave this house called the quiet place,” I said and thrust my hands into my pockets. Her eyes widened, “Leave? But why, king…” She paused and looked at me embarrassingly. “Why, Ethan?” I smirked, “The loneliness here was supposed to serve as some sort of punishment, I won’t ever forget that you tried to escape from my pack
Ariah's POV I was scared alright, very scared. The moment Ethan mentioned a few werewolves, the first person my mind drifted to was Alpha James. What if he was there? What if he saw me? There was no way he wouldn’t recognize the girl he had been so mean to, there was no way he wouldn’t throw a tantrum. If that kind of thing happened, it would be a complete mess, chaos in fact, it wasn’t just that Alpha James would want to take me back as his prisoner, no. That was one of but not my major worry. First, Ethan was going to discover who I truly was and if he did, he might despise me all over again for lying to him. Secondly, if Ethan found out that Alpha James had locked me up in a cell and constantly abused me, it wouldn’t be difficult anymore for him to put two and two together. As it stood he already hated the person who had raped me without even knowing who it was, I was afraid of what would happen. That could lead to a fight, a fight between a Lycan king and an alpha werewolf
Ethan’s POV I was late.That was usual, I was always late to everything and I didn’t care. I was Ethan after all, there wasn’t anyone that could question me for arriving late. That was why I wasn’t in a hurry to go down, I took my time in the shower and even when the maids set my favorite suit on the bed, I didn’t put it on immediately. I sat on my desk with only a towel, smoking a cigar and staring out of the window. Today was going to be quite a day, I just hoped I wasn’t putting Ariah in harm’s way. Well fuck that, even though there was danger, I would be there to protect her. I stubbed out my cigar and dressed up, as usual, I looked good. A three-piece suit tailored just for me was always the charm. When I told Lowell about what had happened between Ariah and me, he didn’t even act surprised. All he said was, “Really? That took way less time than I expected. And you say she’s coming with us to the feast? We'd better get a dress ready for her.” “What do you mean it took way
Ariah’s POV Two weeks later, we still had not heard anything about Layla or how she managed to escape, but then it wasn't about her anymore. The Blue Moon pack had been conquered and merged into Ethan's pack, but then that wasn't even all. The Lycans were dominating over the werewolves and Ethan was at the forefront of it all. There was going to be a rule implemented soon that would see a supreme ruler ruling over both the Lycan City and the Werewolf City. One faithful day when I was in the master bedroom of the pack house, Ethan walked in with a bright smile on his face. It was the normal time he came back from the pack office in the evening, but this time just seemed different. "Guess what?" He asked."Hmm…" I looked at the ceiling as I pretended to be in deep thought. "You're still on cloud nine after the sex we had last night?" I asked. He smirked, "Very close, but no." He laughed softly. "It's something way bigger than that. The elders want to meet with you and me in th
Ariah’s POV "Make up your mind, Ariah. We don't have the time for you to ponder." He urged quickly. I stared at Lowell, I could bet that James was going to kill him if I didn't act quickly. "One…two…it's a three count." He smirked. I set myself and kicked him between the legs with all the strength I could muster and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He let out a loud, sharp cry and the next moment, he was on the ground, groaning in pain. His forehead bulged with veins and his face turned red completely. "You fucking bitch!" He yelled.I kicked him hard in the stomach and rushed towards Lowell. He was bleeding from his nose and the edges of his lips. "Lowell! Lowell! Are you okay?" I asked hysterically as I helped him into a more comfortable and less awkward position. He groaned slightly, "I'm…I'm okay…Come on, help me up." He said in a low, breaking voice. I grabbed his arm and heaved him up with surprising strength. He staggered and then dropped to one knee.
Ariah’s POV Ethan also stopped by my side abruptly as he stared ahead. We were in the middle of the bloodiest battle I've seen in a while and we were just standing there like statues. "Either I'm blind or that's Layla standing by James's side," I said in a shaky voice.I was somewhat shocked, she still wasn't remorseful, even after what had happened, Layla still wanted to get at me. "That's her alright," Ethan said. "Now I wonder why I'm even surprised."Of course, I should have known that she was the one who told James my whereabouts from the moment Lowell walked in with that letter. What a fucking snake! James walked towards us with a wicked snarl on his face and said, "Well, well, well. I'm sure you got my letter, instead of waiting for me to come at you, you struck first. Brilliant!" He exclaimed in a loud voice. "I'd have attacked either way," Ethan said calmly.Having Ethan and James in the same place and at the same time was quite unsettling. Not for once did I envisi
Ariah's POV I was really tense by the time the next morning came. The previous night, before Lowell's interruption, I was pretty sure that Ethan and I were going to have sex. The moment was there, everything was perfect, but then, things weren't just the same anymore. I became restless after that letter, I started to see real danger for Ethan. Even though he was a Lycan and Lycans were much more dangerous than werewolves, I was still very anxious. James was cunning, I wanted him to pay for all he did to me, but I didn't want anything to happen to Ethan in the process. I heard a noise outside the window and with a thumping heart, I quickly rushed to it and peered out into the dark. My eyes took some time to adapt, but finally, I started to see and make out the figures below. I gasped.I couldn't even count them! All of a sudden, I felt an overpowering presence behind me. One that gave me comfort, one that made me feel safe. I didn't have to turn to see who it was, Ethan towered b
Ethan's POV Lowell was excited as he stormed into my study the next day with a huge smile on his face. "The war's over! The bloody war's over, Ethan! You fucking genius! You did it!" He exclaimed with excitement, he was beyond himself with joy. The edges of my lips curled into a narrow smile, then my face went serious again. "How?" "Layla's father called a meeting yesterday evening with all the Alphas of the werewolf packs and guess what? They have called off any hint of a war. Sheesh! I can finally breathe and so can you!" He replied and laughed. "Hmm."He frowned at me, "Hmm? Hmm? That's all you have to say about this? Hmm?" He asked. "What else do you expect me to say? I saw it coming." I replied imperiously and he smirked. "I have something to take care of, Lowell and I don't know if you'll come with me or not," I said and his face went serious. "Someone has been messing with Ariah in all the wrong ways and I intend to take care of that." "But I thought you had alread
Layla’s POV "You blew it."That was all my father said when we got back to our pack. The look of disappointment and visible exhaustion on his face genuinely made me feel bad for him. "You're my only daughter, Layla." He said as we walked into the living room.I trailed behind him recently, hoping he wouldn't turn to look at me as he glared up but he eventually did and I had nowhere else to turn but to look straight at him. "You had everything you needed right from when you were young. So what the hell went wrong, Layla? What? How did you turn into this?" He asked so many questions at once that I wasn't sure he wanted me to reply. "Father-” I called but he cut me off harshly. "Not a fucking word, Layla!" He roared, stunning me to silence immediately. "Why do you have that look on your face? Why do you have that look in your eyes? Where's the bloody remorse? Don't you feel bad for the people who died along the way just for you to fulfill your goals?" I swallowed my words, but I
Ariah’s POV I welcomed the idea, I needed to clear my head because everything that had happened there happened so damn fast! We got into the car and didn't say a word until the chauffeur got the engine rolling. He looked at me and suddenly his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me to him. Our faces were almost touching and the full weight of my breasts pressed against his heavy chest.I wondered if he could hear the loud thumping of my quick-beating heart. "Why didn't you tell me that was going to happen?" I asked finally. "You left me so dumbfounded!" He grinned, "I think the only person who wasn't left dumbfounded in that room was Lowell." He remarked. "I wanted it to be a surprise." "Well, heck yeah it was!" I exclaimed, still not able to come to terms with the fact that there was a future in store for me and Ethan. "I still can't believe it," I said slowly. He arched an eyebrow at me, "Believe what?" He asked, pulling me closer so that my forehead rested on his and our
Ariah’s POVI was so surprised to see him that I didn't know when I lost grip of the towel around my body. I gasped and was about to pick up the towel when his eyes stopped me. The way he looked at me set my body on fire and I wasn't sure if I wanted to cover up my nakedness anymore. His eyes traced over my body, taking their time on each of my features until they finally looked into my eyes again. That was when I snapped out of it and quickly picked up the towel and covered myself. My cheeks blotched red with embarrassment, but there was a little tickle of delight in my tummy. He blinked severally and looked away. "Uhm…try something called knocking next time?" I said mockingly as I walked to the wardrobe. "You should handle your towel better, you can't keep dropping things." He replied, his voice teasing me rather than scolding me.I hid a smile as I dressed up, although I didn't look at him, I knew his eyes were glued to me the whole time. When I slipped on a sky-blue gown that
Ethan’s POV Her entire body was trembling as she stood at the door, staring at us. This wasn't the Layla I knew, she looked hideous, and this was the first time I had ever seen her shed tears. "Ethan…" She called softly and shut her eyes tightly as the tears poured out. "Can we talk for a short while, just me and you, before you do anything else?"I exchanged glances with her father, and although I didn't want to talk to her, I still granted her this last wish. "Alright," I said huskily and her father rose slowly to his feet. He hugged and kissed her forehead on his way out and closed the door gently behind him. "There isn't much to say, Layla," I said as she walked to the chair slowly. "I know." She said, "You don't have much to say to me but you have a lot to hear, Ethan. There's no use saying I'm sorry," She sniffled. "It was all for you…and I would keep saying that the biggest regret of my life was that you didn't end up falling in love with me, even when I had gotten