AEROS “At least try and talk to her. It can not be that bad, Aeros. What you did was wrong, so you must make the first move and sort this out for your child and for the woman you almost went insane for.”Jonathan’s words kept ringing inside my head as I made my way towards Elarian’s room. I knew she probably wouldn’t respond because she was clearly very angry at me, but I didn’t have a choice.I desperately wanted to sort things out, to let her know that I sincerely wished to make our relationship better and stronger—for us and for our child—but she was shutting me out.Back at Xavier’s pack, after the healer rushed Xavier out, I was certain something transpired between them. I knew she didn’t just change her mind about coming with me. Something must have forced her to change her mind, but I wanted to believe she made that decision on her own.Even though she came with me willingly, Elarian continued to shut me out and made it so difficult to hold a proper conversation without arguin
Author’s POV.Blair stood outside the pack house in the darkness, a grin spreading across her face as she recognized the signal the maid had given. Elarian should have already drunk the water, and the pain should have kicked in by now. This was her cue to end everything.When Blair had left Aeros, casting a powerful spell to keep her true face hidden, she never expected him to take a liking to someone else so suddenly. She had kept her eyes on him all these years, watching him wallow in self-pity and pain, which was exactly what she wanted him to feel.After all, Aeros had imprisoned the man she truly loved. When she heard that he had brought another woman home, she was enraged. She did everything she could to stir guilt inside him, manipulating small things to push him into driving Elarian away.And he had done exactly that, after a few carefully planned nudges in the right direction."The bastard thought he could sweep me under the carpet that easily?" she scoffed into the darkness.
AEROS "You need to calm down," Jonathan said to me as I paced the length of my study, teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown, unable to think straight. My heart raced uncontrollably, and with each passing second, the pressure became almost unbearable. Fear gripped me, and I couldn’t escape the crushing weight of it.I was terrified of losing her."She asked me to brace myself for the worst, Jonathan. Do you even understand what that means? It means she could die!" I shouted in panic, my voice filled with desperation. Jonathan sighed heavily and rose to his feet, coming to stand by my side."It breaks my heart to see you like this, Aeros. And yes, the thought of losing your pup just when you found out about them is gut-wrenching, but this is beyond us. You need to stay strong for whatever comes next. You’re the Alpha, and you need to—""I don’t need to hear this, Jonathan!" I snapped, cutting him off. "I don’t need you to tell me to stay strong. What I need is a solution. A way
AEROS “Are you really going to do this? Seek help from dark magic? That could make things so much worse, and I hope you know that,” Jonathan asked for the umpteenth time as we headed to the room where Elarian was. The man I had just freed from his prison walked behind us, two guards keeping him in line with a heavy chain around his neck.“I don’t have a choice, Jonathan. I am not about to let my Luna and child die when I can get him to do whatever I want.”“Letting him out of his cell was a bad decision, Aeros,” Jonathan continued to complain. It was obvious he wasn’t at ease with any of this. I wasn’t either, but I had no other option.“He could be playing you. This could be his plan—to escape and do something much worse than before.”“Calm down, Jonathan. Look behind you—the man is in chains. What could he possibly do in such heavy chains with guards around him?” I asked, trying to pacify him. Although it worked temporarily, he was still visibly agitated.I was the first to walk in
Author’s POV.“Beta Jonathan and a few guards were going with him. I had no idea where they were heading, but I just knew they would be leaving together. I overheard them in the room,” the young maid said to Blair as she paced the length of the maid’s room in the servants’ quarters.She had been unable to leave the mansion since the accident had happened because Aeros had tightened the security and refused to let anyone leave or enter the mansion.Trying to leave then would have meant risking being caught by the guards, especially since she was too weak to cast any spell to keep herself hidden. She had to rely on the maid to hide her in her quarters and bide her time.As expected, Aeros had hurried down to her lover, and just as she had planned, he had let him step out of where he had locked him up all those years. There was no better time to strike than that moment.So, she quietly got dressed as a maid and followed the young maid out of the room. No one noticed because everyone was
AEROS “We just found the healer in the garage. She was knocked out cold and almost naked,” one of the guards reported to me, and I stood up sharply from my position beside Elarian on her bed.Her condition still had not changed, she was still unconscious and as the seconds ticked by without any sign of Jonathan, I grew restless. I had sent one of the guards to keep watch and inform me as soon as they were in sight.But hearing that they had found the healer unconscious in the garage left me confused. Did that mean Jonathan had left without her? But why knock her out? He could have just said he didn’t want her to go with them.I trusted Jonathan, and I knew he would never do something like that without my permission. So, either there was a misunderstanding, or something was wrong.I rose to my feet and was about to turn to face the guard in the room when a sharp pain shot through my head. I hissed in pain, dropping a hand onto the bed to steady myself.“Aeros, Aeros, there is… Help!”
Author’s POV.As soon as the car hit the water, Kaiden lost his ability to keep the shield up, and Blair slammed her head hard against the window, causing her to pass out on the spot. The car sank faster than it should have, and before Kaiden realized what was happening, he was almost out of breath and completely submerged.Quickly, he forced a door open with his magic and swam out of the car, but he had barely gone far when he remembered that Blair was still lying unconscious in the sinking vehicle.He turned around and began swimming back toward her, but he heard movement and glanced up to see Jonathan dive into the water in search of them. He stopped swimming toward the car immediately and instead started looking around for a way to escape, to get as far away from Jonathan as possible.He knew what was going to happen if they found her, but he didn’t care. He had sacrificed more than enough for Blair. She had left him to rot in Aeros’s dungeons, and he could not afford to be locked
AEROS Blair.It was really Blair.How? When did she…? How did she…?"She is not the Blair you know," Jonathan’s words echoed in my mind. I was confused and I couldn’t understand what he meant. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, she was right here in front of me and it was clear I wasn’t the only one who could see her.Kaiden was the one who had killed Blair or so I thought. So what Jonathan was saying couldn’t possibly be true.“I don’t know what’s going on either. I almost drowned… I had no idea Kaiden was in the car. I was only trying to get back to you,” she said, her voice cracking. She looked so pale that I assumed she might collapse any moment.“Get a room ready and call the healer,” I called out, and one of the guards rushed forward to follow my orders. I lifted her into my arms and started to follow, but Jonathan stepped in front of me, blocking my path.“Are you kidding me right now?” he yelled angrily. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? She’s not the Blair we know! Think, no
AEROS“What are you going to do about Blair now?” Jonathan asked as we made our way into the dining hall to get some food for dinner.Guests had been trooping inside the mansion non-stop since Elarian gave birth, and we had been so busy trying to make them comfortable that we barely had any time for ourselves. The servants worked just as much as we did, and even though it was just one child, there was always something to do in the mansion.“Letting her go would probably be a mistake, so I think I should just let nature take its course. Elyse said she would most likely pass if the ritual is not done soon, so maybe…”“You and I know you cannot just turn a blind eye to Blair losing her life. I know you well enough to know that about you, so maybe you could make Elyse look for a way to help her,” he suggested, and I shrugged as I slipped into a seat at the table and the maid dropped a plate in front of me.“I doubt that Elyse would want to do that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she
AEROSAs soon as I was alone with her, I squatted down right in front of her and gripped her chin.“When you were gone, there were voices inside my head. I had nightmares a lot and could barely sleep. Everywhere in my head was filled with thoughts of you. The blood was everywhere that day, and I couldn’t get the sight of it out of my head. So, if you were not dead, then why did those things happen to me?"Why fake your own death and make it look so realistic if…if…”“You would have moved on easily if I didn’t do that,” she interrupted me with a smile on her face. “It was all dark magic. I used it to keep you under control and make you feel so guilty for my death.”“And why would you do that, Blair? Why show up now, after everything is over?”“You think everything is over?” she scoffed out loud. “I made this all happen. I made Elarian the way she was because I knew you would run to him for help, regardless of how much you despised dark magic, and you did exactly that.”“What?!”“Kaiden
ELARIAN Jonathan was nervous about going to her. He kept running his hand over his face and acting like, if given the opportunity, he wouldn’t be doing it.“You know you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” I said softly to him as I placed a hand on his shoulder. Elyse had excused herself to get some things in order, so we were waiting for her.“It’s not about me wanting to, Elarian. I just… with Blair, there’s this feeling of helplessness, like I can’t fight against her, and I would do anything she wants me to,” he replied with an expression on his face that I couldn’t quite read.“What you feel is what matters the most, so if you don’t want to do this, then all you have to do is…”“I am ready,” Elyse cut me off as she walked up to us and announced that we should all head to our positions.My task was to keep Aeros busy so he wouldn’t walk in on her and Jonathan. It was something I didn’t want to do either. I wasn’t sure I wanted to face him, but I had no choice but to agree w
ELARIAN “I heard what happened,” Jonathan’s voice came from behind me, and I turned around sharply to find him standing there with a glass of water in hand.“I thought you would need something to drink,” he added as he came to stand by my side and handed over the glass to me. I took it from him with a thin smile on my face.Still struggling to catch my breath after what I had just seen, I tried not to make it obvious that my entire world was crumbling inside of me. When I heard him shut the door, I thought he wanted to give me space, and I went after him to tell him that I didn’t want any space, I just wanted him but he was gone before I could catch up to him.For some reason, I had a feeling that he was with Blair, and it took everything inside of me not to crumble to the ground when I saw him like that with her. He had his back to me, but I could see just how much he wanted her. It was obvious in the way he—“Blair and I was a mistake,” Jonathan suddenly spoke up, pulling me out of
AEROSI continuously paced the length of my study, unsure of how I was supposed to face Elarian after what had happened at the breakfast table. It was almost dark, and yet I was still locked up in my study after instructing the guards that I did not want to be disturbed by anyone.I had no idea Blair was going to rope me in like that. I had no idea why I did not open my mouth to say anything. Maybe it was because a part of me knew what she said was true, and that made me feel so… stupid and terrible.A soft knock interrupted my thoughts, and I suddenly stopped pacing. I knew no one else would dare knock after I had told the guards I wanted to be left alone, except for Elyse, who I had sent to check on Elarian.Or was it Elarian? My heart began to race. What was I supposed to say to her? I saw the look in her eyes, she wanted me to say something, to do something, but I didn’t. I just stood there, unable to say anything.The door creaked open, and Elyse walked into the room. I sighed in
ELARIAN I had no idea when I drifted off to sleep, but I knew I had been too weak to do anything else. All I could do was ease into my bed and close my eyes after Elyse left the room. She had returned to drop off my dinner with a maid, and that was the last thing I remembered.When I opened my eyes again, I felt something or someone beside me on the bed. When I tried to move, Aeros' familiar scent overwhelmed my senses. He was lying next to me, his arms wrapped around my waist.When did he even get back? I wondered as I soaked in his relaxing scent and the comforting feel of him beside me. I stayed like that until morning, drifting in and out of sleep. Despite his presence, I found myself waking up countless times, restless for reasons I couldn’t quite place.As the first rays of sunlight began to creep across the horizon, Aeros stirred beside me. The first thing he did was plant a kiss on my cheek.“You’re up early,” he remarked, and I smiled at him softly.Something was bothering m
ELARIAN Blair.That was definitely Blair, though her hair was no longer golden as it had been when I met her in the human world. The wolf who had taken me from the hospital that day had told me she had sold me out to the humans, and I knew it was because of the mark she had seen on my neck.But Blair had been human when I met her in the human world, so why was she here? And how had her hair become a deep shade of black?“Blair? How are you here?” I asked, and Aeros stepped forward.“I told you she suddenly turned up after we lost a prisoner with Jonathan. I have no idea how it happened either, but it just happened,” he explained as my eyes darted from him to Blair.I wasn’t sure he had any clue what he was talking about.“Is this your Blair?” I asked, raising a brow, my face stunned. I could have sworn she was the woman I had met when I first arrived in the human world, so how could she be his Blair?“I thought she was dead too, but when she showed up… the whole thing just became a t
ELARIAN “A lot has happened in your absence, Luna Elarian.” The healer’s words echoed in the back of my mind, and the sadness in her eyes as she said them lingered in my thoughts.“You have to stay in bed. Both you and the baby need as much rest as possible. Plus, Alpha Aeros clearly instructed that we keep you here until he returns,” Elyse’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and made me aware of my surroundings.“But you just said Jonathan has been… I need to go to him,” I said as I tried to push myself up from the bed. A sharp pain shot through my head, making me scream out loud and collapse back.“Your body is still too weak. It will take time to regain your strength,” Elyse pointed out, stepping forward. “I know you want to be with your husband right now, but for the sake of your baby, Luna Elarian, you need to stay right here,” she added firmly.I sighed heavily and eased back into the bed in defeat. Elyse and the healer excused themselves to check on Aeros after a maid rushed
ELARIAN“Thank the goddess, Elarian. You have no idea how worried I was. You have no idea how scared I was. I thought I had lost you, and when the healer said you were…” His words trailed off as if there was something on the tip of his tongue he couldn’t bring himself to say.“Alpha Aeros, we agreed to let her get enough rest. And please, get something for her to eat. It must have been one hell of an ordeal,” the woman I hadn’t noticed was in the room said. I turned to see a much younger woman standing beside the healer, hovering over me.“Of course,” Aeros mumbled grudgingly as he reluctantly pulled himself away from me and headed outside. For some reason, I was extremely weak, too weak to even speak or move, and the young woman beside me noticed that. She leaned forward and urged me to relax into the bed.“You must be really weak. Please just stay back and wait for him. Within a few hours, you should feel much better,” she said calmly. I stared at her for a few seconds before glanci