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103 | AUTUMN
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2020-08-07 03:06:33I found myself thinking about everything but the notes in front of me as we drove to the meeting point. I missed my truck; Samyak’s car was too sleek, too comfortable. I realised that made no sense, but I stuck my nose into the air as I thought it. Yes, his car was too comfortable.
I settled myself back on the too-comfortable seat and stared resolutely out the window. The trees were thick with orange leaves, save for the evergreens rocking gently in the light breeze behind them. The curved edge of the road was littered with a myriad of brightly coloured leaves, in bold reds, ochre yellows, and wilted browns, that had been discarded by the gnarled branches above. Some of them looked damp and crumpled, sodden where they had been trampled into the tarmac.
Samyak had not spoken a word to me all morning. There was an uncomfortable tension in the air, and it existed within our mate bond, too. I was not used to feeling nothing from h
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The Beta's Daughter 104 | WHISPERS
With my hand on the car door, I turned to Samyak. His eyes looked withered, and unnaturally old before their time. There were wrinkles lining his forehead, and dark bruises were stamped beneath his eyes onto his usually flawless brown skin.“Samyak?”“Yeah?” He sounded hopeful, and I smiled at him softly.“I love you.”“I love you too, Ari. Be safe.”I closed the car door quietly. I held my small notepad in my fingers, and the starchy paper rubbed against my palms. There was no sound as I stepped into the forest, save for the crunch of twigs beneath my feet. There were no warbling birds, no scurrying footsteps of small creatures, and no hum of insects. It was eerie, and the arching boughs of the trees surrounded me. I swallowed thickly, suddenly finding that my mouth was parched. My bone-dry tongue ran across the back of my bo
Last Updated : 2020-08-07The Beta's Daughter 105 | ALPHA
Despite my fear, I stuck my chin out as far as I could. “I have already given you information which you did not previously possess. Agree to my truce, Gedeon.”He sneered down at me, the curiosity of his dark blue eyes undercut by his arrogance and building fury. The forest seemed to grow behind him, arching up and over my head. I felt small, incompetent.Then I had an idea.I did not want anyone to possess such otherworldly magick, such raw, heady power. But I needed him to agree to my terms, and we were stronger united. I had to hope that Gedeon would see that.“They – they control how much power they give you.” It was a guess, but I held my resolve as I stared into his eyes. Power seemed to be the only way to get through to him, and as his eyes crinkled I felt a smug sense of satisfaction. I’d guessed correctly.“Yes,” he p
Last Updated : 2020-08-08The Beta's Daughter 106 | LUNA
Gedeon’s face turned pale. His eyes, so confident before, searched the mist and the trees for answers. Finding none, he turned his rigid gaze to meet mine.“You’re lying.”“I’m not, Gedeon. The magick they’ve promised you – the magick they’ve already given you a taste of. It’s not a human power. The dead members of your pack? They were taken by the hunters, experimented on. It’s only a matter of time before they come for you.”“No,” he snarled. His hands curled into fists, his nails dark and claw-like. “Yes!” I roared back. “It’s all here.” I shook the notepad in his face. “Look! Everything you need to know. It’s all in here. And it’s the truth. You cannot think me foolish enough to meet with you without facts, without words steeped in honesty. You know it, too. That’s why you’re repulsed. There is no gift offered for free in life, no power extended without exchange. It must have a source. A sacrifice must be made, and the greater the power, the greater the sacrifice. I do not doubt f
Last Updated : 2020-08-08The Beta's Daughter 107 | DREAMS
Samyak was waiting for me anxiously as I approached the car. He leapt out of his seat and jogged over to me, relief making his bottom lip quiver. The cold vial of serum I clutched in my hand burned, as though it was liquid fire rather than an ordinary plastic syringe.“Thank the Goddess,” he murmured, and then I was wrapped in his arms. His warmth encompassed me, and golden light flooded from his soul into mine. Our argument – if it could even be called that – was forgotten, for now at least.I buried my head against his chest, and felt a sob latch itself onto my throat. His soothing hands were in my hair, on my face, and then suddenly the anger was back. It rose up like a flame, scorching my skin as I pushed against his chest. The syringe was still latched in my hand, and I curled my fingers into a fist around it. My knuckles pressed into his pectorals, and his lips parted mournfully.&ldqu
Last Updated : 2020-08-09The Beta's Daughter 108 | MIST
“Ari? Ari! Wake up!”I blinked, my vision a blur of hazy, streaming sunlight and grey mist. What had happened? Had I fallen asleep?“Oh, Ari,” Samyak breathed. I’d been angry with him, I thought. But I’d not felt truly angry, not inside. Looking at him now, I felt nothing but relief as I fell forwards, my gaze lost in his warm brown eyes.“Hi,” I croaked. I pulled myself upright. I was in his car – yes. That was where I’d been before.“Careful,” he said, worried hands reaching for me. “You blacked out. I think you hit your head pretty hard.”I suddenly felt scared to move. I imagined blood pouring from the back of my head, and my hands tightened into fists.“Is it – does it look okay?” I ground out, my teeth clenched.“F
Last Updated : 2020-08-11The Beta's Daughter 109 | PLANS
Alpha Felix’s office felt smaller and more crowded than usual. We were tightly packed within the space. Outside, the pale grey clouds outside loomed. I felt as though they were pressed up close against the glass of the windows, as squashed together out there as we were in here.Of course, there were no more people present than normal. There were, in fact, less. Upon our return, Samyak and I had been called upstairs to discuss the events of the morning’s meeting with Alpha Felix and Luna Carla. Though there were only four of us present, the walls closed in on us as I spoke, slowly pressing the air out of the room.My head throbbed, and though I knew it had not been cut, I could feel the phantom blood creeping down the back of my neck. Its trickle made my shoulder blades squeeze together unconsciously, giving me the appearance of being compressed, and even smaller in stature than I usually looked.Samyak’s nervous energy bounding through the mate bond was not helping matters. I could fee
Last Updated : 2020-08-11The Beta's Daughter 110 | THE SILENCE OF GRAVES
“Before we get to Ace, there’s something I need to tell you.” Samyak said, and he hesitated, one foot slightly raised from the grass. I let my own stride come to a clumsy halt.It felt as though the summer had come to an abrupt end. The sky was white and dull, colourless save for the dapples where two clouds overlapped, pale grey and contorted. Once we’d left the pack house, I’d felt a bitter chill in the air; the kind that stung your fingertips, and made you want to shove them deep into pockets or pull them up into your sleeves.My hand, however, was in Samyak’s. It had been like ice before, during the meeting, cracking through my veins and freezing my skin. Presently, it was like fire: sweaty across my palm and burning up towards my wrist.I looked up at his face. It was red and flustered, his brown skin rosy with a high blush that crept along his cheekbones and swallowed his n
Last Updated : 2020-08-12The Beta's Daughter 111 | VIOLET
I couldn’t peel my eyes away from Violet’s grave as Samyak spoke. Everything felt hyper-realistic: the rustling trees, the stark white of the sky, the feel of his hot hands wrapped up in mine.“You really tried?” I breathed. His behaviour had led me to this conclusion before, but hearing him admit to it, out loud, made my throat close up and my blood run cold.“Yes. I – I’m ashamed of it now. But at the time it felt… logical. Like it was my only choice, my only option. I’d always been her responsible big brother. I looked after her, always. This was just my way – the only way I could see – of continuing to do that. It was my fault that she had… died,” he said, stumbling over the word. “It was my job, my responsibility, to bring her back again.”I nodded, my heart numb in my chest. I could just barely feel it beating, just barely f
Last Updated : 2020-08-12
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The Beta's Daughter 122 | EPILOGUE
I tugged nervously at my dress. Nami and Rosa were behind me, weaving flowers and plaits into my long, brown hair. It waved neatly, having been blow dried and oiled by my entourage. “Are you sure you don’t want any lipstick?” Rosa asked, fiddling with a daisy. She glanced at me in the mirror, her sharply plucked eyebrows raised.“I’m sure,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. They sparkled in the bright light, wide beneath the swathe of brown and gold eye shadow on my lids.“I think you look good without it, anyway,” Nami shrugged. She wound a small, black band around the end of the braid she’d woven into my hair, and then stepped back. “You’re all done, Ari.”“Thanks,” I smiled, turning from side to side to admire myself in the mirror. The dress was simple: I was draped in gold, tightly fitting and hugging the curve of my waist. It had a squared off sweetheart neckline, and I wore a shimmer of glittering highlight across my collarbones. My sun necklace, given to me by my parents, so very
The Beta's Daughter 121 | AIRINI
“It seems,” Alpha Gedeon smirked, “that an accord will have to be negotiated. Young Jacob is to be Alpha of your pack one day, if I am not mistaken. Airini will make a fine Luna; of that, I am sure.”But nobody was paying Gedeon so much as an ounce of attention, not even the wolves of his own pack. All eyes were fixed on Jacob and Airini.She, like Jacob, was covered in the mud and gore of battle. There was a deep, purple bruise blossoming along the side of her face, which stood out starkly against her white skin. Her hair was fine, golden gossamer that floated down to her shoulders. She was easily as tall as he was, but lightly boned and lithely muscled. She looked delicate, but sharp, like an ivory blade.I grabbed Samyak’s hand excitedly, and in that moment I knew that Jacob and I had never been meant to be. My love for Jacob poured out of me now, an expression of friendship and joy for h
The Beta's Daughter 120 | NIGHT
Death was easy. There was no pain in darkness, no anguish. There was no regret, no suffering. But there was no joy either; no elation, no sense of wonder. The darkness was all consuming, but it was not fulfilling. There was something missing, something niggling at the very farthest point of my mind.Then the darkness began to lift, and, though my bleary eyes stayed shut, a bright, golden light shone upon my face. I wondered if I would be opening my eyes into the afterlife, this first blurry vision of gold my eternal resting place.“Arienne?” Samyak murmured. “Arienne – please, open your eyes.” Then I heard him turn, shuffling despairingly to someone, anyone for help. “Why won’t it work?” He asked, his voice heartbroken, confused, like that of a child.This didn’t seem like death. Death was a painless, eternal nothingness. Samyak was crying, and I could see him w
The Beta's Daughter 119 | BATTLE
Alpha Brius was shadowed on either side by his family. His hair, red as blazing fire, stood out even in the darkness. The glow of the sun shone on it, blood dousing flame, and it rippled like water as he stepped forward beside his mate. I could just make out Luna Lucille’s classical features in the dim morning light, though her hair, darker than Brius’s, was obscured.“We said we would stand beside you,” he called. “No matter the task. You saved our son, and the White Elm pack is in your debt, Lapis Moon. We have come to fight at your side.”Luna Carla beamed, and walked down the slope to greet them, Alpha Felix at her side. “You came,” she breathed.“We did, Luna,” said Alpha Brius, bowing his head to her. It was a gesture of respect, and one that was not necessary under such circumstances. “You called, so we came.”I beamed dow
The Beta's Daughter 118 | THE DARKNESS OF THE DAWN
The sun was rising, the first glimpses of orange light tickling the purple sky of the dawn. I stared straight ahead, my flask of coffee going cold between my hands.They were coming, and we were ready.We’d been sent to bed halfway through the night. I’d struggled to sleep, but had fallen into its warmth an hour before I had to wake up again. The broken pattern of napping had made me more tired than I had been before, but my steely focus and determination was keeping me awake now.Samyak had excitedly filled his parents in on his gift, but when they had asked me about mine I’d had very little to say. Ryna’s aura, if that was what it had been, gave me hardly anything to go on. Samyak’s gift was real, palpable; we had both witnessed its effects first-hand. Seeing one maybe-aura was not much to brag about; besides, even if it had been real, I didn’t know what it meant.&nb
The Beta's Daughter 117 | AURAS
I felt my face pale. I clung to Samyak, my hands scrabbling at him like the terrified claws of a prey animal. The moon’s light glittered in my eyes, spinning slowly like a distorted, monocolour kaleidoscope.“Arienne?” Samyak asked, his voice whipping like static against my ears. “What is it? What’s wrong?”Black spots pulsed through my vision, but I shook myself, determined to find out more.Gedeon? What time tomorrow? I sent back, my mind scrambling to find his. But no reply came, and I felt myself falling.Before I hit the bottom, however, I yanked myself back up to the surface. The tidal wave was coming, but we had time. We were prepared, and we could be ready. We would be ready.I pulled back, and my gaze met Samyak’s. He looked soft, his lips plump and his eyes tender. They furrowed in confusion when he saw my own exp
The Beta's Daughter 116 | ORB
The next few days passed us by quickly, running together and blurring into one. Rosa and the other warrior wolves arrived, and we spent her first evening sat together in her family’s guest cabin, catching up and gossiping about Joshua, Jacob, and Samyak.The sunlight had slanted in through the window, warming the sides of our faces as we’d grinned. I’d caught sight of Ryna stalking past outside, and had watched her disappear into the woods with a grim feeling settling in my chest.Though I wanted to talk to Samyak, I found the days were slipping by without a moment for us to be alone together. The only part of the day we had to ourselves was at night, as we climbed into bed, and we were both so exhausted from the days of training that we fell asleep quickly, with little more than a hurried “Goodnight,” and a chaste, sleepy kiss.Our days were filled with training, both mental and physical. A
The Beta's Daughter 115 | BLOOD
“Blood?” Samyak frowned, a crinkle appearing between his eyebrows. “How will blood help us?”“It’s all in here,” I said, gesturing to the small, purple book.Luna Carla’s eyes widened, and she cocked her head to one side. We were upstairs in the pack house; all of the highest ranking wolves from both the Lapis Moon and Silver Crescent packs were in attendance, cramped together in the seating area by Alpha Felix and Luna Carla’s offices. The last vestiges of the sun’s rays were slanting through the windows, burnished gold warming our faces and brushing highlights into our hair. Speckles of dust span through the light, floating upwards and spinning slowly as they rose.“What’s this old book going to tell us?” Ryna asked, sliding one hand onto her hip. Her slim, blonde eyebrows raised slightly, and I sighed.&ld
The Beta's Daughter 114 | SILVER CRESCENT
“Mum! Dad!” I shouted, a wide grin spreading across my face. Then I was wrapped in their arms, and I was finally home. I felt complete; whole, though I hadn’t realised that I’d been missing anything until now. They towered over my head, and I felt safe, secure.Then they released me, and another set of arms tackled me from the side. I pulled back, and stared up into familiar, warm sea-blue eyes. His short dark hair was tousled, more so than usual, and stood up at irregular angles, falling in waves across his forehead.“Jake,” I breathed, smiling. I felt dizzy, overwhelmed, as he pulled me flush against his toned body.“Ari,” he whispered, and the hole inside me filled a little more. I’d missed him; not the person he’d been when I’d last visited Silver Crescent, but the best friend that I’d known for years, before mates and relationships and sto
