ZADEMercy.That word alone makes me hit her at the back of the neck as gently as I can, rendering her unconscious. I hold her limp body, my eyes on her now sleeping face, as I breathe hard.I am scared.I almost lost her a few minutes ago, and then watched her as she almost slipped out of her mind. I stand up as I carry her bridal style to my car, where I am parked. I don’t mind the eyes on me, murmuring bout the girl who almost got run over by walking to the busy highway.I secure Ari on the seat before I get in myself and drive away.I knew something was off, from the moment I saw her mother walking out of the hotel, minutes after I had dropped ari and then the coldness that overcame me like I had been pushed in an extremely icy frozen lake.I don’t think twice, taking her to my private home, somewhere no one knows, not even my father. She is still out cold, and I start to worry that I might have hurt her. Lying her gently on the bed, I clean her up, making sure she is comfortable
ZADEShe is so beautiful.I exhale softly as I sit on the bed, watching her sleep. I can't resist reaching out with gentle fingers as I push back her hair off her face.Her hands are tucked under her chin, pressed to her chest, her body curled in as if she is feeling cold or protecting herself from something.But she isn't feeling cold; her body temperature is higher, too, which prompts me to stand up and walk over to the screen door. I slide it open, and the soft light curtains let the air in, billowing soundlessly.I had this bedroom built with a terrace garden, so it feels like someone is sleeping in a garden. I know she will love it when she wakes up.I sit on the floor, watching her as she exhales softly once cool air hits her skin.She had a massive panic attack, and I wasn’t there to help her. The first one she ever had was when she saw me kill that crush of hers –something I don’t regret, but I do regret triggering it- and she broke down in the bathroom.I knew she didn’t want
ARIIt’s weird.I woke up feeling this gut-wrenching painful reminder that I was still alive, that I am still feeling, and my mind is still as loud as before.I wasn’t ready to face myself, the world, or even reality, so I went back to sleep despite not knowing where I was. I could hear someone, a female, who would come and look after me once in a while. I should have been worried that a stranger was hovering over me.But I didn’t care. That’s how gone I was. I did manage to sleep more until I woke up again, and the tension in my temples was lessening.Someone was touching me like I was so fragile, and I could feel how gentle they were being. I knew it was Zade even before I could open my eyes.It felt better, the chatter, the exhaustion… it all lessened when he was around like this. It’s something I have come to notice, not ready to admit it yet, but it’s there.I could hear his thoughts. They were so unguarded, I wondered if he knew I could hear them, and it’s the first time I've be
ARII don’t think I have ever truly let myself think deeply about Zade, who is becoming, and his birthright. I am not one to attach my identity to the boy I am seeing or crushing on, and in this case, the boy I am mated to.But it's still heavy. I find it … sexy that he is already so mature, powerful too, and it's only going to get even better.Yes, I think I am crushing on Zade, and I can't control choking on my water once that fully hits me.“Are you okay?” he asks me as he rushes to my side, rubbing my back.“Yeah,” I wheeze out. “Guess I am a little surprised.”“Why?” he chuckles as he gets back to cooking.“The first thing someone sees when they see you is how spoiled you are.” That’s not true.The first thing I saw and felt when I first laid my eyes on him was just how magnetic and powerful he was. Yes, you could tell from miles away that he is wealthy, but it wasn’t the kind I got from the rest of the students.No, his was the quiet, generational wealth that just didn’t come fr
ARIFor a cruel day, the weather is perfect.The cold air hit my skin and I exhale, feeling the weight of my circumstances heavy on my shoulders. I have never considered this to be my home, but the view on my balcony of my bedroom is so beautiful. The vast green rolling fields before a forest line breaks it is so perfect.I sigh when I scent the pancakes that mother is making me for my eighteenth birthday. Every wolf looks forward to this day, the mark day when they will meet their mate.I hear my mother coming in and I slip in my bedroom, jumping in bed and pretending to be still asleep. I am determined to avoid any confrontation today if I can and being absent until I am off to the new school.The thought of the new school makes me nervous but I will myself to be calm when I hear my mom turning the knob to my room.“Honey, wake up. It’s a new beautiful day,” she goes straight to the window and draws the curtain and comes to sit beside me.“I know you are awake, so stop hiding from m
ARIThe limo rolls through the massive gates and a long driveway comes into view, giving into tall stone buildings that look like castles. The school is so massive, and beautiful that it puts to shame all the private top schools I went in the human world.“Do you like it?” Mr. Parker asks me and I nod, while turning to look at them. “I wanted us to stay and meet your new friends and mates but Jacob has a meeting in New York so we are leaving tonight; you don’t mind do you?” my mom asks and I shake my head.“Mom, I will be okay. I will let you know everything tonight,” I wave the gadget I am holding, “I have this thing called a phone, it allows people to communicate when they are long distance.”My parents laugh, my mom rolling her eyes at me. “Look at you, treating me like an old lady,” she cajoles, and I laugh as I look outside the window again just as the limo stops.Some students are mingling at the front and I wonder how I will be received since I am the only one who is attending
ARIStanding 6’5 foot of perfection is looking at me with … hate and murder in his eyes that I forget how to breathe.Dressed in all black, his hands are tucked in his pickets, his perfect body so evidently godly sculpted despite the layers, a sharp jaw, chiselled cheeks, and piercing blue eyes. His hair cropped short leaving the front a little longer, he is so magnificent, insanely beautiful it should be a crime.“If you are done ogling-““I am just wondering why you have declared war on me. I just got here.”The lanky guy who is behind me chokes and I wonder what his deal is.“Don’t ever interrupt me when I am speaking again.”I have imagined my first time meeting the prince so many times and it always involved us wearing formal clothes, and acting cordial even though the only thing that connects us is our parents. I never thought it would be this harsh and unwelcoming.He comes near me, his alpha energy palpable that the lanky guy starts to choke. I try to hold my own but I feel i
ZADEI never expected her actually to come here.She must have been so stupid or deluded because when I saw her getting out of the limo with my father and her mom looking like a perfect family, I knew she had just signed her death warranty.I haven’t seen her physically before, but I have kept my eyes on her all these years since they came to my home. Ever since my father mated another woman and forgot about my mom like she never existed in the first place.Nothing pained me more than when he assumed to be perfect and began being an actual father to her and a loving doting mate to the whore of the mate who then proceeded to come into the house, my mom’s house, and get the title, Luna; the title my mom was proud of.I hated them.My thoughts are cut short when I see her walking towards the ballroom from the balcony I am standing on. I didn’t think she would attend, but she is; walking and looking like she belongs here. I want to show her how much she doesn’t and make sure she regrets i
ARII don’t think I have ever truly let myself think deeply about Zade, who is becoming, and his birthright. I am not one to attach my identity to the boy I am seeing or crushing on, and in this case, the boy I am mated to.But it's still heavy. I find it … sexy that he is already so mature, powerful too, and it's only going to get even better.Yes, I think I am crushing on Zade, and I can't control choking on my water once that fully hits me.“Are you okay?” he asks me as he rushes to my side, rubbing my back.“Yeah,” I wheeze out. “Guess I am a little surprised.”“Why?” he chuckles as he gets back to cooking.“The first thing someone sees when they see you is how spoiled you are.” That’s not true.The first thing I saw and felt when I first laid my eyes on him was just how magnetic and powerful he was. Yes, you could tell from miles away that he is wealthy, but it wasn’t the kind I got from the rest of the students.No, his was the quiet, generational wealth that just didn’t come fr
ARIIt’s weird.I woke up feeling this gut-wrenching painful reminder that I was still alive, that I am still feeling, and my mind is still as loud as before.I wasn’t ready to face myself, the world, or even reality, so I went back to sleep despite not knowing where I was. I could hear someone, a female, who would come and look after me once in a while. I should have been worried that a stranger was hovering over me.But I didn’t care. That’s how gone I was. I did manage to sleep more until I woke up again, and the tension in my temples was lessening.Someone was touching me like I was so fragile, and I could feel how gentle they were being. I knew it was Zade even before I could open my eyes.It felt better, the chatter, the exhaustion… it all lessened when he was around like this. It’s something I have come to notice, not ready to admit it yet, but it’s there.I could hear his thoughts. They were so unguarded, I wondered if he knew I could hear them, and it’s the first time I've be
ZADEShe is so beautiful.I exhale softly as I sit on the bed, watching her sleep. I can't resist reaching out with gentle fingers as I push back her hair off her face.Her hands are tucked under her chin, pressed to her chest, her body curled in as if she is feeling cold or protecting herself from something.But she isn't feeling cold; her body temperature is higher, too, which prompts me to stand up and walk over to the screen door. I slide it open, and the soft light curtains let the air in, billowing soundlessly.I had this bedroom built with a terrace garden, so it feels like someone is sleeping in a garden. I know she will love it when she wakes up.I sit on the floor, watching her as she exhales softly once cool air hits her skin.She had a massive panic attack, and I wasn’t there to help her. The first one she ever had was when she saw me kill that crush of hers –something I don’t regret, but I do regret triggering it- and she broke down in the bathroom.I knew she didn’t want
ZADEMercy.That word alone makes me hit her at the back of the neck as gently as I can, rendering her unconscious. I hold her limp body, my eyes on her now sleeping face, as I breathe hard.I am scared.I almost lost her a few minutes ago, and then watched her as she almost slipped out of her mind. I stand up as I carry her bridal style to my car, where I am parked. I don’t mind the eyes on me, murmuring bout the girl who almost got run over by walking to the busy highway.I secure Ari on the seat before I get in myself and drive away.I knew something was off, from the moment I saw her mother walking out of the hotel, minutes after I had dropped ari and then the coldness that overcame me like I had been pushed in an extremely icy frozen lake.I don’t think twice, taking her to my private home, somewhere no one knows, not even my father. She is still out cold, and I start to worry that I might have hurt her. Lying her gently on the bed, I clean her up, making sure she is comfortable
ARISomething is breaking inside me.I can’t feel my touch, even as I touch my chest. I have gone numb, nothing truly registering as I sit on the floor, remaining in a state of static as she has left me.What you are doing is not worth it.Not worth it.Nothing is worth it.What do I do now?A murderer. A misguided child. Doing things that I shouldn’t, wrecking her life.A broken wail escapes my lips as I hunch down, feeling like I am taking my first breath.This is not how it was supposed to go. How can this happen? I killed someone, but I don’t know why. I don’t know why I keep getting angry, like I am in a cage, and when I am let out, I lash out at the first person closest.I wish I could stop, remember myself, and stop getting so angry, to stop my actions before they are thrown back at me, like I am going crazy and need to be put down.Everything I am doing feels wrong. Everyone keeps telling me that I am doing the wrong thing the wrong way.I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’
ARIMy phone starts to vibrate incessantly, but I choose to ignore it.Everything is overwhelming. From this car ride, to the boy sitting next to me. I just want to be alone, maybe stare at the wall in silence for hours until I feel like I am coming back to myself.But it won't stop, now starting to ring nonstop. I sigh, picking it up and seeing that my mother has sent me a bunch of texts, starting calm, asking if she can talk to me until they all progress, calm evolving to anger.“Stop calling me,” I say as soon as I answer the tenth call.“Where are you?”“Why?”“I need to speak to you,” she sounds like she is out of breath.For a second, I thought the bad guys who had been chasing us had come back, and she was in danger.“Are you okay?” I sit up, alert. “Are you in danger?”“No, but we need to talk immediately. If not, I will go to your dorm and then we can talk there, but I am sure you don't want people to eavesdrop on this conversation.”My heart is hammering, and I can feel the
ZADEI don’t think twice, swerving the car by the side of the road and killing the engine. It happens all too fast, and Ari is heaving fast, palm pressed on her chest as she looks at me like I have lost my mind.Maybe I have, but I can't have this conversation while driving.“Why did you stop? Let’s get going, I need to get my car back and go on about my day.”“I am sorry.” It comes out in a whisper, where I bow my head, forehead pressed on the wheel.“Call it even, I left you for dead anyway,” she says, sitting back.“I am sorry,” I repeat, this time a little louder. When she doesn’t say anything, I turn my head to her. She is looking anywhere but at me.She knows what I mean, it’s the very thing that has been hanging above us, the thing that has been suffocating us both. The unspoken thing.“I don’t know what you are apologizing for.” She can't even look at me.“I am sorry for rejecting you, Ari.”The silence that stretches between us is deafening.Until she breaks it with a word th
ZADE“I think we should be honest with each other.”“I have been honest with you from the get-go.”“No, no, you haven’t been,” I exhale, as I clench my fingers around the wheel. “We haven’t both been honest. At least one of you is going to hate me, let it be when you and I have no miscommunication or misunderstandings between us.”Ari only shakes her head, arms crossing. “I don’t know what you are getting at.”“I will go first.” I want us to have at least a less explosive relationship. Bickering every time and throwing each other glares and snide comments whenever we are together is starting to get old for me.Because I am starting to wonder if she will ever look at me with anything but hate, disdain when we are outside the bed. If she ever smiles at me genuinely, and if we ever are in silence, even hold hands without wanting to kill each other.I am starting to wonder how it would feel for Ari silvers to smile at me. How her eyes crinkle, of they do when she is smiling, what her laug
ARI“You thought I would forgive you after you reported me to my father that I am not a good mate?”I almost choke on the cake, and I have to glare at him. “I don’t care what you think, but I didn’t go to your father to complain about our lack of a good relationship.”He sits back as he crosses his arms and those damn muscled arms that I remember touching … holding onto …I clear my throat, shrugging. “Are you mad at me for your father approaching you, or are you just being petty?”“I am not going to forget about you paying for the damages if that’s what you are hoping for, Silvers.” He leans forward as he stands up, our faces so close that his breath fans on my face. “But I can be petty too, and you know it.”“How can I forget one of your redeeming qualities?” I ask, raising my eyebrows and closing the distance between us, and I don’t miss the way his nose flares in surprise.“If you are not by the parking lot after your last class, I will hunt you down, and it won't be pretty. You w