Ryan’s POVMy head hurt like a bitch as I rub the back of it. First I see Seren, a huge chunk torn out of her throat and then I see them. Aria has Elijah pinned down. She is also in her wolf form. A midnight blue wolf. The rarest wolf of all.Pleading with her not to do anything stupid. She turns her head in my direction. Her eyes running over me before they settle on my eyes, but as she stares into mine. I feel my own heart skip a beat, followed by a longing to protect her.“Aria, this isn’t what you want?”“How do you know?” I’m surprised to hear her voice in my head. The only time she had linked me before was to ask for my help and I had thought that was a fluke.“I know you Aria. You wouldn’t hurt anybody!”Her eyes shift to Seren’s lifeless body. “I killed her!”How was I supposed to answer that? Her first kill had been her own sister. Not only that but she didn’t seem phased by what she had done. She moves a foot so that it is pressed against Elijah’s neck. He doesn’t even fig
Alpha Elijah’s POV“You think you know where she is?” I ask Ryan as we make our way through the forest.“I don’t think, I know!” I snap back at him.“Did you mark her? Is that how you know?” If he had, I would be ready to kill him.“No.”Could I trust that he was telling me the truth? He had no reason to lie to me and we were both searching for the same person. Though this was my forest and I knew it like the back of my hand. It still felt like I was the one kept in the dark.“Where is she going?” I was hating the fact that I was having to rely on him. I couldn’t sense her in the same way that Ryan was describing. It was like I had marked her for no reason at all.“Home!”“This is her home!” I was growing more and more agitated as we moved, his short answers were the last thing that I needed.“No, there is only one place that she has ever called home.”I could already tell we were heading towards the river. The gushing of the water as it hit the surrounding rocks brought back memories
Aria’s POVI couldn’t link Elijah. I knew he and Ryan had followed me to the river. But that was as far as I wanted them to come. I tried to remember what Elijah had told me about linking someone but it was no use. It just didn’t work.Ryan, I could try with him I guess. It had worked when I almost died.“Don’t come after me. I need space.” I whisper through the link. “You and Elijah need to stay away.”I needed time alone. I needed the time to think properly. I was still coming to terms with the idea of me being used. How my life had been for one simple thing. My father had made Ryan promise to protect me, but I couldn’t shake the past. He had done some cruel things to me. He had made me suffer all for his own gain. If he had never left, things might have been different.On all fours, I charge towards my old home. Moon Bay still sat in the middle of the grounds, like it hadn’t been touched with evil.Padding towards the house. A female steps outside, bowing to me. Her eyes remind me
Aria’s POVRunning as fast as I could. My body darts between the trees, trying to move as quickly as I could. I was fast, faster than the average wolf but it seemed that she was just as quick. Her hands grasping at me and pulling out tufts of my fur.She screeches at me as we race through the forest.“I will make sure you die this time!”Trying not to look back, I keep moving. Her long fingers seemed to be getting closer and closer to my skin each time. I dare not turn around. I can’t risk biting her again, not after what happened last time.The more I run, the more I realise that I am losing my bearings. Was I running towards the river or was I going in circles? The chase was confusing my mind and I was finding it hard to remember everything.“I will make your kind pay!”Her voice is ear splitting. How Ryan had ever managed to put up with her, I do not know.I just needed a minute, I just needed time to think, to get myself back on track.There was only one option that I could think
Ryan’s POV“You don’t want me?” Her pink lips part as she stares at me. Her green eyes wide with shock at my declaration.“I never said that Aria.”“Then what do you mean?” She mumbles, keeping her eyes on me.I was confused, I had done everything that would push her away. She should hate me and yet she was sat here staring at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. Unafraid!“Aria, you have two mates. A mate for each of your halves but you shouldn’t be with me. That’s why I am not fighting for you anymore.”Her brow dips into a frown, her eyes cast downwards."You still want me?""i will never stop loving you Aria, but you are better off with him."“Elijah can’t hear me!” Her mind was working hard to put the pieces together.“I know.”“Then why did you ask why I called to you?”“Because I wanted to know if you had chosen me, but you still called for him first, didn’t you!”“I….”“It’s fine Aria, but you should know, his mark is gone. Your neck is bare, like it was never there.”She ru
Aria’s POVThis is what they wore right? Females that just want to chill?I stare at myself in the mirror. The hotel was pretty run down, but it had the basics. A bed, running water and a door that locks.The blue dress barely came to my thighs, any slight bend in my hips would have me showing more than what I wanted. Scratch that, I was already showing more than I wanted. Messing around with my hair, I ignore the tugging at my heart. The tugging that told me that I was too far away from my mate.It had been growing the further I moved away from my old pack. For a while it stopped before starting again with more intensity. I had no idea if it was Ryan or Elijah or maybe even both.My head was all over the place, I didn’t know what I was feeling. I just knew I couldn’t be with the man who killed my parents, but I also couldn’t be with the man that I didn’t trust.Messing with my hair, I decide to leave it down, it had developed its own soft curls and I quite liked it.“I can do this,”
Alpha Elijah’s POVThere was chaos in my pack. I don’t know when it happened, or if it was because I had taken my eye off the ball, but my pack. They were now calling me cursed. ‘The cursed Alpha’.They had waited for a long time for me to find my Luna. My pack had been thriving, but it all relied on me finding my mate. Finding and losing her was more than my pack could handle.“They are getting out of control,” Simon snaps at me.“What do you want me to do? I can’t change how they feel,” I watch out of my window at the groups of wolves that were forming. I could already tell what was happening. They were building up the courage to stand up against me, plotting my downfall.“You are about to lose your pack Elijah. Everything that we have worked hard to achieve. Just find her and bring her home.”“What don’t you understand? I cannot scent her anymore, I can’t link her. By making sure Alwin wasn’t able to kill her, I have been punished.”“Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You were a grea
Aria’s POVI had been here for a few days and I actually rarely saw Mel. She mostly left me to myself. Sometimes checking in, but it was mostly her butler person. I thought it was strange, I was always taught that you kept a guest company.Ringing Elijah had been a mistake. I didn’t know what I wanted from him, but his phone number was the only one I had memorised. I had never needed to bother with Ryan because he had always been there, well, right up until he decided to abandon my fathers pack. I didn’t want to link Ryan either. I already knew how he felt.Making my way down the staircase, the front door suddenly opens. Mel is standing in the hallway, hanging off of some guy. Her eyes flash up to me and there is a hint of a smirk tugging at her lips.“Dinner is here,” she sings as she pushes the guy towards me. A human, hair darker than night, his blue eyes hazy but he still tries to hug me as he stumbles towards me.Mel was dressed in the same leather outfit from the night I first
“You won’t, you will never do it!” Athena screams as I drag her across the ground. “Shut your fucking mouth.” I yell over her whimperings.“Then just kill me. I can't bare to see you fuck us over.”“No Athena. You will see what happens. You will watch as I take over the entire world and you will hear all of it.”“Please, just let me die.”“No fucking chance.” I threw her body into the dungeon where Aria had been locked away. Athena’s body hits the stone floor as she rolls across the ground.“Please, Atlas, please just let me…”“Alpha Atlas.” I mutter. She was a traitor, she wasn’t anything other than that.“Alpha Atlas, please just let me die.” She continues to beg.“No chance.”I slam the door of the dungeons shut. Slipping the key into the lock. She would never get to see any of the pack again. All she would ever get is the information of how the world was changing. How I was becoming the King that no one could stop. How I would be unstoppable,I walk down to the gates, waiting for
Atlas’s POVI couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could Simon be mated to Athena? It didn’t seem possible. After all, he was gay. He had been married to a man.A man that he met at my ball! Ryan mutters. He sounded almost annoyed. “I can’t help it, Simon. The Moon Goddess obviously paired us together for a reason. It's not my fault.""There could have been a chance, but I can't protect you now!""You're not even going to try?"“Shut up. Just shut up you stupid woman!” Simon growls at her, obviously having enough of her shit.“I’m sorry that I am not what you wanted. Let me guess, you wanted someone with a dick!” Athena snaps back. "Well, I'm sorry about that, so suck it up!"“Whatever is going to happen between us doesn’t matter if Atlas kills you.”The sentence was perfect timing. Stepping into the small room. I see Athena sitting on the edge of a sofa. Her face in her hands. Her chocolate brown hair draped down over her. Simon had his back to me. His hands on his hips. A red t
Atlas’s POVSimon bursts into the room. I hadn’t even realised he had followed me. He stops in front of the empty crib. “Where is he, Atlas?” I couldn’t speak. I was in shock. How had I not felt it? How had I not known that he was in trouble?“ATLAS? Where the hell is he?”“She has him. She has taken my son.” I growl“FIND ATHENA!” I yell through a link to every single wolf and Lycan in the pack. “DO NOT LET HER OUT OF YOUR SIGHT. SHE HAS MY SON!”“I can help.” Simon offers.“How? How can someone like you help.”“He is okay. Hunter is okay. That’s why you couldn’t sense him being taken. His Aunty has him. If he feels danger. You will know. You will feel it”“How can you be certain? He is the first Lycan child.”“Because you feel it when he cries. You feel it in your heart when he is upset. Whatever Athena has done. She is keeping him safe and he trusts her. The question is, what does she want in return.”“I know what she wants. She wants Bethany dead.”“Me?” A small voice cries behin
Atlas’s POVAesha drops her head, keeping herself from looking at me. I wasn’t mad at her. I already had my suspicions. The way Athena looked at Bethany. The spite in her words. I had never known someone so jealous over a child.“Thank you, Aesha.”“You’re not mad at me?”“I’m not mad with you, no! You did the right thing.” I mull over her words. Frustrated that I couldn't get a break.“I told you Aesha. It was better to tell him than not.” Simon mumbles and nods at her, giving her a smile. I wondered how long this had been bugging her. Not once had we been alone today for her to tell me. Athena was always there, hovering or Bethany was at my side. Had Athena known Aesha had overheard her?“Did she know, Aesha? Did she know that you were listening in?”“I don’t… I don’t think so.”That sounds like a yes. If Athena had picked up her scent, then it would be obvious. It’s why Athena probably hovered at the funeral.“Things are getting more and more fucked up!” Simon mutters“Why are you
Atlas’s POVGetting Aria ready for her funeral hit me hard. It made me realise just how much I missed her. She had put me through my paces, testing my patience but at the end of the day, she was mine.I'm not ready.'I know, but it is time.'Just like Bethany had said, Aria looked as though she was sleeping. Her fresh clothes hid her fatal wound. Aesha was busy putting some sort of make up on Aria, giving her a bit of colour. She keeps her mouth shut, knowing that it was best not to speak.It had been a long time since I had sent someone back to the Moon Goddess and I wasn’t ready for this. I reach out to touch her cold skin. Hoping that by some miracle, she would wake up. That this was all just some nightmare.“Everyone’s ready.” Athena mutters. I see how she glances at Bethany, but she doesn’t say anything and Bethany is oblivious to it.I nod and she leaves, taking Aesha with her. Bethany remains behind with me. She had stayed with me ever since we went to the orphanage earlier. Sh
Atlas’s POVOver the course of the next few days, it was almost impossible to get anymore information out of Bethany. The moment she felt threatened, she would clam up. Hiding herself away, never leaving the house and refusing to speak to anyone. The only thing that would coax her out of her hiding spot was hot food. Today, it seemed like the smell of food wasn’t even working. I would have to go and find her when I was done.“Some great idea of yours.” I mutter as Aesha sits at the breakfast table with Athena and I.Athena cocks an eyebrow at me. She didn’t have a clue what I was talking about, but her gaze hit me hard. I had allowed Athena and Aesha to stay in the packhouse. In some ways it helped me feel close to Aria. Yet, it always seemed like they were watching my every move.“Is this about the funeral, Atlas? Because you can’t keep putting it off forever. Aria isn’t coming back.” I heard the undertone in her voice. She was trying to be assertive but she was grieving like the res
Atlas’s POVThe small girl remains asleep for hours. Whether it was shock or tiredness that was causing her to sleep so heavily, I couldn’t tell. Her blonde hair was dirty. There were blood stains around her finger nails. Her blood splattered clothes were too small for her, torn in places too. Her feet were bare and didn’t look like they had been cleaned in days, maybe weeks.Hunter stirs in my arms, making little noises and I watch as the girl's face screws up. Like my son's sounds were causing her some distress. Calling for Aesha, she comes into my office and takes Hunter from me, casting a glance over the young girl.“Still not woken?” She asks and I shake my head.“I think she might have needed it.”“Sleep? She was with humans, surely they were looking after her, she is just a kid. At least you haven't killed her. Does that mean you are going ahead with what I suggested?"I don't respond. But I had investigated the girls feet. The hardened skin, the old scars, the clothes that wer
Atlas’s POVEveryone stayed out of my way except for one. He never spoke but it wasn’t like I could get rid of him either. His constant looks of disapproval and tutting were starting to grind on me.‘Ryan, if you don’t start keeping your disapproving looks to yourself, I will take that concoction that I made for Aria and block you altogether.’You’re losing it!‘Fuck off!’You need to talk about her!‘Will you shut the fuck up!’No. I loved her too and now, now you are just shutting down. Do you even care how I feel!‘You didn't love her, not like I did.’ There, I had said it. The overwhelming ache of my heart was almost too much. ‘But you got what you wanted, didn’t you, Ryan?’He is quiet again, because he knew exactly what I was referring to. The day he attacked her family. The plan he had made with Aria's sister, Seren. He had got what he wanted all along. A child with the woman he was mated too.It’s not like that. I made a mistake. He mutters at me, but I could feel that I had h
Atlas’s POVHuman after human, I tear them apart. Promising myself that I would get my revenge for what happened to my mate.The scent of blood swirled in the air as the humans screamed begging for their lives. They should not have come to war if they were not prepared to dieYou have to stop. This isn’t going to bring her back! Ryan pleads with me.But this is what they came for. They came for us and I had no intention of letting them leave.Humans tried to run, trying to escape their deaths and yet the Lycans and wolves seemed to have a whole new reason to kill. They wanted revenge for Aria’s death as much as I did.As the remnants of the humans laid scattered across the grounds, I instructed my men to check that no one was hiding amongst them. The last thing I needed was a human that could escape to tell the tale.Shifting back to my human form, I go back to Aria’s lifeless body. Pain exploded through my chest all over again as I held her close. She had been taken away from me, fr