ELARIAN Blair led me over to one of the long benches in the park, where she stopped in front of a funny-looking man dressed in flashy clothes. He had all sorts of paintings on his face, along with some other men present or walking around the park.“Hey Blair, who do you have here?” he asked with a cheerful smile. He had dark hair and eyes that held such depth to them that you could find yourself staring into them for a long time.“Are you interested in joining the carnival?” He looked up at me with a twinkle in his eyes, and I raised a brow in response.“Carnival?”“Yeah…look around you; there’s a carnival going on at the moment.” He stopped talking and stared at me for a while. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before. Are you by any chance new to the area?”“Yes, she is. I just found her over there,” Blair turned around to point at the spot where we had met, “and she seemed to be in need of a place to crash for a few days.”“Well…she’s in luck. I ne
AEROS “What the hell do you mean by you dropped her off at the border!” I yelled as I slammed my fist on the table.The timid-looking maid in front of me trembled in fear, nervously shuffling on her feet with her head down and her hands behind her back.“I am so sorry, Alpha Aeros, but she insisted I leave her there. I had no choice but to—”“Leave her in the wild for the rogues to feed on?” I roared, cutting her off rudely. I took a deep breath when I realized all my yelling wouldn’t get me anywhere. Calm and collected, I eased back into my seat and pinned her with a stare.“Your orders were to take her somewhere safe, an accommodation, or anything else she would be comfortable with, not a danger zone like the border. That was what the money was for, you know.” I snapped back with an angry look on my face.“She outrightly rejected the money, Alpha Aeros. In fact, she looked like she was offended by it.”I sighed deeply again and massaged my brows.Elarian had never been the type to
ELARIAN I was stunned at how things had changed so rapidly. The napkin I used to hide my mark from the public was gone, and Blair was staring at me with a look in her eyes that hadn’t been there a while ago. It was as if she could see right through me and suddenly knew that everything she thought she knew about me was a lie.“What’s your real name?” she asked with a strict tone that left me staring at her in disbelief, unable to recover quickly from the incident.“And what could have possibly made that mark on your neck?” She took a step closer, and that sudden movement snapped me out of my trance so quickly that I immediately stepped away from her and wrapped the napkin back around my neck.“It’s nothing,” I responded with a dismissive tone, but she clearly wasn’t willing to settle for an excuse like that.Although it was clear she still had a lot on her mind, she stayed quiet for a few seconds, maintaining eye contact. When she finally looked away, her eyes slowly dropped from mine
ELARIAN “What did he mean by that!” a voice yelled inside my head, making the pain intensify. The light throbbing in my head worsened, and I was forced to make a sound—a low grunt that didn’t slip past the doctor’s notice. His attention turned to me almost immediately, and Blair followed his gaze. Even though my vision was still blurry and my entire body felt like it had just been hit by a truck, I could still make out their expressions.As soon as my eyes took in my surroundings properly, I realized Tom was the owner of the familiar voice I had heard—he was the doctor.“Oh… you’re awake,” Blair said, smiling down at me as she gently stroked my hand, as if the doctor hadn’t just told her that I was pregnant.“I was so scared back there. Thought you had an attack or something, but it turns out you’re just pregnant,” she added, and the excited tone at the end of her voice didn’t slip past my notice.“What!”“I know, right? I was shocked too, but we have enough time to find out the baby
AEROS “How much longer do we have to wait?” I asked Jonathan as I paced the length of the open field where we were told to wait for the nerdy-looking rogue leader who had gone on a mission to retrieve Elarian from the human world.“I don’t know,” Jonathan replied, a worried expression on his face. He had a faraway look in his eyes as he stared at the horizon, searching for any sign of their approach, but there was nothing to see.“Their message said they would be here before our arrival, and if they weren’t, they’d arrive shortly after,” he added.I noticed how on edge Jonathan was, likely contemplating the possibility of an attack from the rogues. He slowly turned around to glance at the strategic location of the guards he had brought along.“Relax. They can’t do anything to us, not while I’m here with you. They might be rogues, but they know better than to attempt to cross paths with us,” I said, tapping his shoulder reassuringly.“I can tell you’re also worried, you know.”“I’m no
ELARIAN I kept running deep into the woods with no idea where I was headed. I didn’t stop to breathe, nor did I stop to pull the thorns poking at me through the holes in my dress because I was desperate to get away from them.I overheard one of the men talking about using me to get to Aeros, which didn’t make sense because they had claimed to have saved me on his orders. That was when I realized they weren’t on my side and decided to escape.Security wasn’t tight, and the house was too old and rickety to hold someone hostage without proper surveillance, so I easily slipped past the guards and made a run for it.I didn’t know how long I had been running, but it was beginning to get dark. My legs ached, and my entire body felt like it had been run over by a truck. I wished for nothing more than to crawl up somewhere and sleep, so I finally stopped to catch my breath. After making sure no one was after me, I cleared a spot under a tree and sat down.I questioned myself: Was it really a
ELARIAN Was I ready to do this? I asked myself that question over and over again as I paced the length of the hallway, occasionally stopping in front of the room where Vienna was. She was in there with the woman who assured me she could help me get rid of the pregnancy without complications.My heart pounded so fast it felt like it might rip out of my chest at any moment.Suddenly, the door creaked open, and Vienna poked her head out, "Come on in, she’s ready for you now."She held the door wide open, and I walked in, struggling to keep myself together. When I heard her turn the lock behind me, I spun around sharply."Just for privacy," she reassured me, noticing the concerned and petrified look on my face.An unexpectedly young woman sat on a couch-like bed at the far end of the room. On the small table beside her were six tablets and a sparkling glass of water."The pills should be enough to get the job done, but if the father is an Alpha, you might need more than a few pills to ge
AEROS Three Months Later,Three whole months had passed, and I still had not found her. I had searched every single pack in the neighboring areas and beyond, and there was no sign of her. It was as if she had disappeared into the wind, leaving no traces behind.The rogues had not been able to find her after she escaped from them, and even after I threatened to kill them—after brutally torturing their leader for a month—they still could not provide anything about her whereabouts. In the end, I had to let them go.“This is your fifth bottle this morning. Come on, Aeros, get yourself together,” Jonathan snapped as he grabbed the bottle and yanked it away from me forcefully, just before I could take another swig.“What’s wrong with you? You can’t keep living like this, Aeros. You can’t find her with your head in a bottle. You need to get yourself together and attend to what needs to be done,” he added.I scoffed at his words and burst out laughing in an odd manner.“Haven’t we tried? Thr
ELARIAN I'll never forget the sound of Aero's voice, low and menacing, as he growled, "Let. Her. Go." I was tied to a chair, helpless, as Xavier held me hostage right in front of him with his claws aimed directly at my throat. His heartbeat reeked of blood and death, causing my stomach to turn in disgust and fear. His claws trailed my bare skin, and my body trembled in fear.Aero rushed forward with such speed that I had never seen before or thought possible, his eyes blazing with fury. Xavier sneered, baring his razor-sharp canine teeth. Aero's gaze locked onto mine, and for a fleeting moment, I saw a glimmer of reassurance.He was here to save me."Save Liam!" I tried to yell out for him to hear, but my words were muffled, and I was certain he could not understand them. So I just sat there, fighting as hard as I could against the ropes I was tied down with, even though it was useless, as the tears poured down my face.I didn't want to lose my husband and son like this. I just wante
AEROS Jonathan advised that we did not go in immediately, and I actually agreed with him because I had told Elyse to call me the moment she noticed anyone or anything move in that region. So I had a feeling that Tyler would reach out to Xavier, and Xavier would in turn reach out to whoever was holding Liam and Elarian. There would definitely be a movement that would catch Elyse's attention—all we had to do was wait for it.We didn't exactly leave, but we stayed close enough and at the same time far enough to not be under their gaze. After waiting for a couple of hours and hearing nothing from Elyse, we decided to make a stop at Xavier's mansion. His territory was a bit farther away from Tyler's, but the drive would probably give us enough time to contemplate what had happened at Tyler's place. So we headed out as soon as we had agreed on what to do next.Jonathan kept insisting that he would like to speak with Xavier instead of me, but I told him it was best I handled Xavier because
AEROS "You should have told me that a long time ago then I wouldn't have been against this so much. But what if Tyler and Xavier had nothing to do with this in the first place? What if this was all some wild goose chase and they had nothing to do with the disappearance of your wife and son, and at the end of the day, this only led to war? What's going to happen then?" Jonathan asked with that same skepticism in his tone."At least I would know who is behind all this, and we could finally put an end to whatever madness is going on here.""I trust you, and if this is what you want to do, then you have my full support. But just understand that if you're going to go in there, then you're going to talk to them as respectfully as you possibly can because war is not an option right now. I know you're not going to listen to me, and at the end of the day, you do what you want to do. But please, for the sake of your son and Elarian, just think about what a war could cause and focus on finding
AEROS "They couldn't have gone far," I began. "After the explosion happened, it didn't take long at all for Jonathan and I to get back into the mansion, and they were already missing by that time. So I feel they have definitely not taken them far away from the pack house because the time frame it was carried out in is just too little to pull off something long distance from here. So I believe we should send out a search party and lead one to vigorously search the entire area," I added, and the elders of the council all mumbled their agreement."The Alpha is right. There is no way they could have moved the Luna and Liam so far away from the pack house within such a short period of time, so we need to keep our guard up and keep an eye on every single movement in the area. I am certain that we would find them if we just know where to look," Jonathan joined in the conversation."You're both forgetting one serious detail, and that is, Blair was also kidnapped," Elyse spoke up next."I dou
ELARIAN “What the hell is going on? Where is my son? Liam! Aeros! Jonathan! Elyse!”I called out every single name that I knew one by one, and there was not a single response. I was shrouded in darkness and could barely see a thing, nor could I hear any sound at all. I knew something had been wrapped around my eyes because I could feel its pressure against my vision, and my sense of smell picked up that there were people around, but for some reason, I could not hear a single sound.My heartbeat increased, and I was so scared because I had been just about to head up to take care of Liam when the explosion happened, and that was the last thing I remembered. I didn’t recall anything afterwards, and I was beginning to panic because Liam had been in the bedroom when it happened. Although I wasn’t exactly sure where the explosion had come from, I was just worried that something had happened to my baby.“Somebody please help! Is anyone out there?!” I cried out, but there was still no respon
AEROS The sound of Kaiden screaming out loud in pain and the smell of his blood filled the air as Jonathan's claws kept going deeper and deeper inside of him to a point where he could no longer take it. He was so close to passing out before Jonathan pulled away and took a step back.“Now, I think we should try this again,” I said, struggling so hard to keep my wolf at bay as I approached Kaiden. The urge to rip his face to shreds was so overpowering, and the thought that he had even dared to harm my son and Elarian was so infuriating that seeing him alive irked me. But then, I had to admit that I needed him alive if I wanted to find the both of them.“I am going to ask you one last time before your head is severed from your body—who is responsible for the explosion and the disappearance of Liam and Elarian? Tell me every single thing you know and do not hold back a single detail,” I added as I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me.He winced in pain as he struggled to catch h
AEROS “Who do you think is responsible for this? I'm not asking you who you suspect. I am asking you to think about who could be behind this because I am certain whoever is doing this is already expecting us to jump to conclusions about who it could possibly be. But I feel we should look beyond that and understand what is actually going on here so we'll be able to save the Luna and your son as soon as we can,” Elyse pointed out.With everything that was going on, she seemed to be quite wise and smart, and even though I badly wanted to think like her, I could not possibly think straight knowing that my son and Elarian could be in trouble.“I think I know who we should talk to about this,” I stated confidently as I shot sharply to my feet.“You really think we should be talking to him without having any clue what is really going on and coming up with a plan? That is exactly what they want us to do. Go running to him to find the solution so he would be able to put whatever nonsense is i
AEROS The loud bang that came from upstairs the moment Kaiden said those words made my heart skip a beat. Jonathan immediately broke into a run, and I rushed after him, tossing Kaiden aside. I was certain he had slammed his back against the wall or something because I heard something crack.We rushed outside and made it back into the mansion, but it was already a disaster in there. The maids and guards were rushing around, trying to put out a fire or something, and I didn’t exactly know what it was, but I knew there was smoke everywhere. Everyone was coughing so badly that I couldn’t actually listen to anything, so I had to block out the noise and listen to my wolf’s instincts.The fire was coming from the dining area that we had just vacated, and the moment I realized that, the first thing I thought about was Elarian. She was still at the table when we left, so I was so scared that I ran into the fire, regardless of how the flames were burning high enough to the ceiling and looking
AEROS I had no idea what Kaiden wanted, but I knew one thing for sure and I was certain he was going to ask me for something I would definitely not be able to willingly give him. So, I decided to speak with him in his cell after the ritual with Blair was successful and she was able to return to her normal activities.Blair insisted he would like to speak to me himself, so after we had finished eating at the table, I headed down to the dungeons with Jonathan by my side to speak with him. Although it was obvious that Elarian was confused about what was going on, she clearly wanted to ask me about it but refrained from doing so because she had to attend to Liam, and I promised her that I would join her in the bedroom as soon as possible.“What do you think he is going to ask for?” Jonathan asked me as we stepped into the dungeons, and I shrugged.“I don't know, I can't say for sure. But for him to willingly return here to help Blair and give up his freedom to stay in this dungeon withou