*ARIANNA’S POV*I felt ashamed now. “I’m sorry Estell” I get up and wrap her in a hug and she doesn’t hug me back at first but gives in eventually. “It’s fine Arianna. Now, you need to get dressed. Breakfast will run out by the time you get to the kitchen.” I notice for the first time that she did not bring up my breakfast. “I can’t eat here?” I ask “Don’t be silly, of course you can. But, I don’t have to wait on you anymore. You are free to get your own food. I mean you do eat at night don’t you? I don’t bring you dinner at night do I?” Oh she had no idea I snuck into the kitchen after the kitchen staff had closed for the day. “I usually wait for the kitchen staff to leave then I eat whatever is left in the fridge.” she looks surprised “I guess people have been treating you like scum. Alpha Luciano sure hasn’t helped either. You live here they have to feed you, free or not. Get dressed I’ll go with you today. We can figure the rest out after
*LUCIANO’S POV*I was tired of watching Dave’s smug face. He thought I set her free because he kept appealing to my humanity. Maybe it was part of the reason, a very small part. Except Dave had found a way to make me think he was my late wife then no, he had very little to do with it. I had a meeting to run. I needed to concentrate. I have to admit she looked very happy this morning. I guess not being owned by an Alpha would bring out thie joy in anybody. This meeting was starting to drag on. The Apalachian wolves are not going to stop picking up hickers and mounteneerers. The Alpha insisted a few missing tourists in a year was good for the lore. He was right but ten in a year was more than a few. He probably lost his grip on the youngstars for a while. Considering the killings had abruptly stoped something this year I would say he had his house in order now. But no Alpha would be caught dead admitting to losing his grip, especially when it resulted
*LUCIANO’S POV*Archery was fun. It became even more fun when people started putting money on it. A few Alphas lost to some Zetas and Betas and the other Alphas laughed about it up till the dinner table. Collin was red in the face from laughing so hard. Pairing wine with dinner probably fueled the laughs. Over all it was a good day. I had no pressing issue to tend to for the rest of the day so I decide to take a stroll in the garden. My walks in the garden had been helping with the anger in my heart. An anger I had held on to since my mate died. She loved this garden and I felt closer to her here. Her presence here made me set the Omega free. Definetly not whatever Dave has been spouting about humanity these past months. The night was very still, the moon was a glowing crescent in the sky. I made a mental note to talk to the gardners about how the garden was fairing. It looked decently kept, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was missing som
*LUCIANO’S POV*I take a quick look around the kitchen. There are herbs and bottles of different shapes and sizes laying around. I pick up a herb that has a purple hue on it, just to keep my hands busy. It smells like lavender so it probably is. The kitchen looks like she had been working for quite some time. “How are you up so early? Did you get any sleep?” I ask her. She smirks at me as if to say pot calling kettle black and I smile back. I drop the piece of lavender back on the table. “How long have you been having trouble sleeping?” she asks. “I honestly can’t remember a time when I slept through the night, Becky. It’s become normal and I can’t say when it started.” She sets her motar aside and proceeds to put the kettle on the stove. She gets two mugs out of the cupboard and places them on the kitchen table. I don’t know how the mugs fit considering the table is covered with bottles and herbs. If I didn’t know for sure she
*ARIANNA’S POV*I wake up to a lot of noise in the house. It had been like that the past few days. With so many wolves around a quiet house would have been an anomaly. I’m in the shower when I hear Estell call from the room. She said she didn’t have to wait and tend to me anymore so why was she here so early? I rush my shower, wrap a towel around my body and step into the room. “Good morning, Estell.” I say as I step into the room. She is sitting on the edge of my bed waiting for me. It’s strange, she didn’t come in with an obviously silly dress and shoes for me to wear, she didn’t bring up my breakfast, nothing. “You look well, are you ready for today?” she asks. “I don’t know” I shrug “I guess we’ll see. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll run away and live alone in the forest” I chuckle as I say this to mask the fear of it really happening. “You’ll do fine” with that she gets off my bed and walks to me. “I know you and Alpha Lucia
*ARIANNA’S POV*I walk around the compound for over twenty minutes looking for Andrew. I had no idea why they called this a compound. It was a fucking estate. In the mystic moon, we all lived close to each other but not in the same compound. This was a giant estate with multiple houses housing different families and wolves. It was nice, they felt more like a community than the mystic moon. They may have felt like a community but I felt like one of the visiting wolves. Nobody liked me and I didn’t know anybody. After almost thirty minutes of aimlessly wandering, I make my way to the lounge. Maybe he is a day drinker, who knew? I shrugged. I all but ran to the lounge. I do not want to be here longer than I have to be. I shudder even thinking about being marked just a few days ago. I get there and find Dave talking to Andrew. What the hell was happening? “You knew he was here?” I ask, confused and upset. “No, I saw him walk in here on my w
*ARIANNA’S POV*“What the fuck happened here?” I hear Luciano’s voice from the kitchen and he sounds pissed. He must have been the one on the phone with Dave. I grab the trash bag I came for and rush into the living room.“Don’t shout boy” I hear Becy say and it takes me by shock. I mean I knew she was his Aunt but I had never heard anybody put Luciano in his place. He collects himself immediately and walks to her. “Are you okay Aunt Becky?” He asks her softly. All the anger from two seconds ago suddenly gone. For the first time since he bought me he wasn’t some Alpha barking orders and tormenting my life. He actually looked concerned.“All this fuss over me, I wasn’t even here” She says this as she gets up from her chair and we all head into the kitchen. “Were you able to catch any scents?” Lucianno asks“No, nothing. Whoever came in here knew what they were doing” Dave says.“Maybe, I mean they were smart, but not that smart.” Becky said and
*LUCIANO’S POV*I walk out of Becky’s with a nagging feeling. Whoever did this can’t be stupid enough to keep heavy scented potions on them. They would need to stash it somewhere and wash off the scent from their bodies. Even with a good scrub it'll take at least a day before they could blend in with the rest of the compound undetected. “What am I missing?” I start walking towards my house with this in mind. I needed to think. I was about a minute away from my front door when it hit me. I immediately turned around and took off towards the back fence in a sprint. How did I miss it? “Fuck!”I reach the back fence and leap over it without stopping. Now outside the compound, I stop and look around. I put my nose up in the air and try to catch a scent. I can smell them a lot out here so I try to focus. I pick up a faint smell of monkshood and I follow it quietly. I’m walking for a few minutes before I realize that the smell is leading towards