Three.

Aria's POV

Flashback - Three months ago.

Charlotte White, the Beta’s daughter, appeared after chemistry class. Rounding the corner, I walk straight into her. It wasn’t intentional and honestly, I would give anything not to be near Charlotte. Even though I was the daughter of the Alpha, it didn’t stop her harassing me.

Today, Charlotte had her ash blonde hair slicked back and pulled up in a high ponytail. She had been busy talking on the phone when I walked into her. The moment she sees that it is me, an evil grin appears. The phone slips from her hand, the screen shattering as it hits the floor.

“You bitch, do you know how much that costs?” her arms fold over her chest as she scowls at me.

“Of course you wouldn’t, you don’t even have a phone, wait until my father hears about this!” Anyone would think that Charlotte was the Alpha’s child by the way she acted.

Charlotte’s father was my father’s Beta. I knew I would get into trouble. Charlotte would spin some lie about me, and I would have to do extra chores for the next year to make up for it. It wouldn’t be the first time, Charlotte was always trying to get me in trouble, like she thrived off of my downfall.

“I’m sorry Charlotte, it was an accident.” I felt bad, I really did, though I shouldn’t. At least if I apologise, my father might go easier on me.

“Yeah right, you worthless piece of shit”, Charlotte pokes me in the chest with her long talons. 

“Bad shit always happens when you are around”. People had gathered around now to see what was going on as I fought back the tears. Wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole.

“Screw you Charlotte White!” Bea, my best and closest friend. She hurries down the hallway, forcing people out of her way, she slips her arm through mine. Holding me locked in place, forcing me to stand up to the bitch of the academy.

“Need your ‘friend’ to stick up for you now”, Charlotte chuckles as she flicks her ponytail over her shoulder, beckoning her friends to join her.  The whole thing made me feel small as people close in on us.

“Watch that mouth of yours Charlotte.” Ryan was walking down through the hallway. Many of the girls gasped, he was truly gorgeous with his jet black hair, his chiselled jaw and those amber eyes of his. His looks made him unique and today he was dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. The top buttons open so you could see the top of his muscly chest.

“Look who it is! The guy that's not even part of the pack. Why don’t you just fuck off and go back to where you came from,” Charlotte snarls at him.

“I may not be from your pack but I will always defend my girl!” he shoots a wink at me and I feel the heat in my cheeks. It was rare to hear Ryan call me his girl, but when he did it always sent a blush to my cheeks.

“This has nothing to do with you, but the bitch who broke my phone!” Charlotte rolls her eyes and starts checking out her manicured nails. Out of nowhere she throws a punch directly at my jaw. Her hand didn’t even get to make contact as Ryan caught her fist.

I watch as his hand squeezes hers and everyone around us gasps. I beg him to let go, knowing that this was going to cause more problems, but he doesn’t stop until everyone hears several cracks and Charlotte squeals out in pain. 

It’s only when Charlotte starts begging that Ryan lets her go. Charlotte shakes out her bent fingers and rushes out of the school, quickly followed by a couple of her friends. 

“Ryan, you are going to get in so much trouble” Bea whispers, her eyes wide.

“She got what was coming to her and besides, she is eighteen, she will heal” Ryan didn’t appear fussed. 

Over the next few days, the news of his actions travelled quickly, and pack members began demanding that Ryan be brought to trial for treason.

“Maybe it’s best that he returns to Crimson pack” my father suggests, knowing the pack were getting riled up about Ryan still not being trialled.

“After everything he has done for us?” I attempt to plead with my father. I wasn’t talking about what Ryan had done for the family, I was talking about myself. Ryan had changed my outlook on life. I hated being the youngest daughter and the weakest link. Yet Ryan always promised me that my time would come and no matter what, he would always be there for me.

Ryan wanders into the kitchen and grabs an apple.

“It’s fine Aria, I am more than happy to accept the trial” he crunches through the apple, making me smile. 

I had just turned fifteen when I found Ryan, he was fighting for his life at the edge of the pack lands. I had been on my way home from an after school club when I stumbled upon his bruised and bloodied body.

At the time he had told me to leave, but I couldn’t. My head was telling me that the man was a stranger and yet my heart was begging me to help him. Somehow I managed to get him home, moving him over a mile. To this day I don't know where I found the strength, he was much larger than my tiny frame.

When I had fallen in through the door, it had been my brother Kyle that had helped us. Seren completely ignored what was happening and refused to come out of her room. Kyle helped to clean up the strange man as he berated me for bringing home a stranger and putting the pack in danger. Which was made worse when father arrived home.

The Alpha had sent me to my room so that he could question the man but I never made it, instead I hid on the stairs, listening to the conversation. 

When Ryan revealed who he was, the Alpha agreed to let him stay. He could stay on one condition and that was if Ryan pledged allegiance. Which he did without a single hesitation. Now it has come to this.

“It’s fine Aria, I promise”, Ryan leans down, kissing me on the cheek, making me blush. We had known each other for a couple of years by this point. Our friendship had blossomed into something else. Though we had never made it official, everyone knew that we were together.  

Ryan tells the Alpha that he is confident in standing trial because he believed he was right in his actions, he was defending me. The Alpha agreed with Ryan, but it had come with a price.

As the trial began, the pack listened to everyone’s point of views, but they all came to the same conclusion.. They decided that he should be expelled from the pack.

The tears fell thick and fast as Ryan’s amber eyes found mine, we both knew what was coming, we were going to be separated and there was nothing that could be done.

“Wait,” I call out over the people, “What if he takes another oath?”

“Aria, the decision has been made, go and say your goodbyes,” my father looks into my green eyes. He was overwhelmed with sadness for me. He knew we were happy together, he knew he was about to break my happiness, a happiness that had not been present until I got to know Ryan.

“What if he takes a Blood oath?”