Ariah's POVThe bell rang.“Ugh! The bell always rings.” I exclaimed aloud in frustration.Although I had lived almost every day of my life waking up to hear that particular sound or rather being woken up by the sound, I still hated it each time it sounded. I was on the top bunk of one of the dozen bunks in the room, or rather should I call it a large space with a rusty, old iron door that shielded us from the corridor. I haven’t always fancied living in the Pack’s orphanage but what other choice did I have?I never did normal things, we at the orphanage only went to school for five hours and we were immediately called back by the head of the orphanage, who we refer to as the grumpy Miss Sheldon. She didn’t have a liking for me or most of the girls my age and she never bothered to hide it. She was a huge woman in her huge fifties, with giant breasts that never seemed to fit into any of her clothes. She looked like a man, she had a hard, square chin and brown bead like eyes that always
Ariah's POVI couldn’t sleep all night and Nina kept me company, I was so excited for what the next day was going to bring. We chatted all night about this and that, and although I had tried to bring up the topic that had been bothering me all day about the Royal Packhouse and the Alpha of our pack, Nina dismissed it and changed the topic. But that didn’t make me less enthusiastic about finding my mate, I had no other choice, it was the only way I could get out of here and finally say, ‘To hell with you Mrs. Sheldon, you sound like a man!’Miss Sheldon knew everyone’s birthday, but none was ever celebrated. In her words, “Why should I celebrate the day my miseries started?” Nina revealed to me that she never had a mate and all her life, she had been bound to the Pack's orphanage. “That’s probably why she’s this mean and grumpy all the time,” Nina suggested.“True, but common Nina, be frank with me. If the Moon goddess gave you Miss Sheldon as a mate, wouldn’t you rather be mate-les
Ariah's POVThe orphanage was like a prison, with Miss Sheldon as its warden, but it was nothing compared to the dungeon I had been thrown into. Each night, I froze and the cold squeezed into my body relentlessly. The grey walls of the square-shaped cage were cold and smelt of cement, there was no window, hence the light from the sun never penetrated the room. My biggest dream had turned into a nightmare in less than ten minutes, but that was only the beginning of my tragedy.I was fed only once a day, with an iron tray where a small portion of whatever was served was placed. For days I lived like that and I cried bitterly each day, this wasn’t what I had been expecting. Nina had been right about what she said and I had been a fool for not believing her. I had heard conversations of the guards, the dungeon was as silent as a graveyard so every word said within thirty meters traveled clearly.“Will that one get out?” A guard asked on the fourth day of my imprisonment.“Can you ever tel
Ariah's POVThe next couple of days were filled with a series of events that were to shape my future, for better or for worse, I wasn’t sure. I had to plan my escape from the Blue Moons pack to perfection, if I were to be caught, I couldn’t even imagine the doom that would spell for me. At first, I hadn’t taken an interest in the routine of the guards at the dungeon, but as I started plotting my escape, I found some loopholes, it was as though they never thought anyone would even think of escaping. The guards were changed at midnight. For the first two days, I observed their movements and when I was completely sure, I thought of my next move. That was easy enough, Alpha James always had a spare key to all the cells in the dungeon, all I had to do was wait for the day I would be summoned to be raped. Crazy isn’t it? That I would be in anticipation of such a day, well it came and I was anxious and scared, but I gritted my mind. After Alpha James was through with me that night, he fell
Ariah's POVHe struggled to keep his face impassive as he averted his eyes from me and let me go. I could still see a trace of realization on his face, there were deep lines on that handsome face that was in disbelief. I was thrilled, I was thrilled but I didn’t forget what happened the last time I felt this sensation, I could never. What had happened in the previous pack, the last time I claimed to have found my mate. I tried to brush it off my mind, saying it was just another silly sensation and attraction towards a brutal beast in a human body, but this one was too strong. The mate bond was tugging at everything in me, it was intoxicating, choking in fact. He took a few steps back and looked up at the ceiling. I couldn’t help but ask, “Did you feel that?” I didn’t know what to address him as.He wasn’t my king, he wasn’t my alpha either, I wasn’t a member of his pack, I was just a captive. A prisoner that they found wandering around when she was not supposed to. My life was a co
Ethan’s POV I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit, what I felt for the prisoner was just so strange, so weird, and unacceptable. I knew what that feeling was, my parents had told me about it so many times while I was growing up and I still remembered it just like it was yesterday. “Ethan dear, are you sure you do not want to hear the story of how your dad found out that I was his mate?” My mother would always say when I came down for dinner. “Mom!” I groaned, I didn’t want to listen to this again for probably the one-thousandth time. “I’m sixteen, you’ve been telling this same story since I was able to understand what you were saying.” My mom would always frown at this point and a hurt look would come over her eyes, “That means you do not want to hear the story, dear?” My mother always had a manipulative way of getting what she wanted from either me or my father. Seeing how sad she looked, I would always give in with a frustrated look. “Alright Mom, I’m all ears.” I woul
Ethan's POV “ Hey, Ethan.” The man looked at the guards standing, then at the one kneeling. “What’s going on?”“Not too much to worry about, Lowell,” I replied then waved the guards away. “I’ll like to see how you pull this off,” I said to the guard that was going to be imprisoned and he swallowed hard. “What was that all about? Looks like you just pumped the fear of the fucking devil into his body.” Lowell, my beta said. “The guard that was in charge when an escape occurred, a complete numb nut.” I snarled.“Oh yeah! I heard of that stuff, I heard he almost got away too. Which of the men was it? I know a couple have tried to escape a few times, but never really got far. This one got farther than most of them I heard.” He said. “Yes, you heard that part right. But what you didn’t hear completely correctly is that it wasn’t one of the men, it was one of the female prisoners.” I said and Lowell’s hazel eyes widened in disbelief. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Ethan.” He laug
Ariah's POV“Are you going to kill me? Is that what the quiet place is for?” I asked the guard beside me.I had the little confidence to speak now because he wasn’t handling me roughly, his face wasn’t so stoned and he allowed me some breathing space. Despite all this, I still felt like a sheep being led to its slaughter. I thought he wasn’t even going to bother answering, but he did. He shook his head and said, “No, the quiet place isn’t a place of death, it’s just a place.” Just a place? How was that supposed to help me clear my doubts? We were under what seemed like a gigantic tunnel but I didn’t see the light at the end of it yet, if I was going to see it at all, that is. We walked on for another five minutes and out of nowhere, we burst into an opening of fantastic greenery. The grass was so green and well-trimmed, I could lie on it and feel more comfortable than in any place I’d rested my head over the past few days. There was a wooden…house? It looked like a house but also l
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