Richard’s POV:‘You were right,’ came Arielle’s voice through the mind link that we shared.I paused in my writing, alone in my study and now pushed out of the work flow I had found myself in.What did she mean about that?‘Angel? What was I right about again? Other than everything else as usual, that is,’ I replied back to her.I felt a tinge of mirth and teasing through our mate bond. So it couldn’t have been something extremely serious, right?‘Your ex-lover just came into my office to warn me off you. Says she’s the future Luna and all that,’ she sounded like she was about to burst into laughter by her tone. ‘Say,’ she began to wonder, ‘Does that mean that you share a mate bond with her as well? Could you perhaps tell her to stop harassing me right now?’I snorted out loud, shaking my head ruefully.Damn Elise, at it again.That was why I had sent her off and out of the pack for the diplomatic mission. Now I was remembering exactly why I didn’t even want her back anytime soon. Unf
Richard’s POV:The way that I felt disgust at her behavior simply could not be quantified.Trying to keep my face as stoic and expressionless as possible, I raised a brow at her.“Really? You want me?” I asked Elise.Her eyes gleamed as she squeezed my arm in her grasp once more.“Yes, Richard. I want you. I want to be yours once again. I want you to be mine. This time, I don’t want just sex. I want a relationship. I want the whole pack- no, I want the whole world to know that we are together. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, Richard,” she replied to my question.I sneered down at her, tugging my arm from her hold.She gaped at me in shock.“No,” I said. “Now, get out.”Turning towards my desk to sit down at my chair, I noticed glimpses of her face turning a shade of red.Her shock wore off quickly, though, and she stomped towards my desk with anger in her eyes.“What the hell!” She exclaimed. “I pour my heart out to you and that’s all I get.”My patience was wearing thin with her and as I
Arielle’s POV:I didn’t hear anything from Richard after I had told him that morning of what his ex-lover, Elise, had come to do at my office.Now, hours had passed, and I only spared the incident of this morning a small thought as I sighed, closing the file I had finished annotating on.It had definitely been a busier day than I had expected, and that possibly had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t at the clinic the previous day, what with the mission into the forest, dealing with Leon and then spending some time with my mate.I turned my head slowly form side to side, feeling my muscles stretch. Thinking about when I would be able to go tomorrow for the training session that Lilian and I had, I was startled a bit when I heard the door open, without so much as a knock.Lilian strode in determinedly, clearly not giving a shit that she just walked in without even knocking to see if I was busy.“Hi,” I greeted my best friend, my brows furrowed as I watched her plop herself onto
Arielle’s POV:“But what?”I asked Lilian, after she began to look curiously at me after I finished my rant. She had her brows furrowed and I wondered what she wanted to say that had her looking tense still.“But why? Why don’t you want anyone to know about you being Richard’s mate yet?” She queried.I opened my mouth and closed it, unable to say a word just yet.Should I tell her, about the fact that I simply was not ready to take on such responsibility yet? I wasn’t ready for the entire pack to find out that I was RochRd’s long awaited mate. I didn’t want to have the mantle of Luna suddenly foisted up on my small shoulders, not when I was just learning to heal and to be with Richard. I still had a lot of things I had yet to do, and I simply couldn’t let my status as Richard’s mate get in the way.Richard, despite the frustration I knew he held inside, respected my wishes. But I doubted that anyone else would understand the way that he did.“I don’t know yet,” I managed to blurt out
Richard’s POV:‘Richard.’I paused in my movement, having been about to strip off my clothes to get under the shower.Why was Arielle sounding like that?My brows furrowed as I heard another, even more desperate cry.‘Richard, are you there?’ Arielle was asking.‘Yes,’ I replied earnestly. ‘What’s going on?’‘She’s here,’ her voice was shaky. ‘She knows.’That was all that I needed to hear.I put my jacket back on, striding to the door of my room, and down the hallway.‘Where are you?’ I asked my mate as I left my home, ignoring the way my guards and maids bowed when they caught sight of my presence. I didn’t hear any respinse, and it propelled me to put more speed to my steps, and I walked faster to the clinic, where I hoped I would find her, safe from Elise’s wiles and manipulation. ‘Tell me where you are,’ I reached out to her again, this time with more force behind my words.‘The clinic. My office. She’s throwing things,’ I heard before I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I put my ha
Arielle’s POV: HysteriaIt was silent in the office, and I couldn’t for once even think to move an inch. The room was, to put it simply, in a state of chaos.The scene of disarray all around myself was greatly contrasting with the absolute void in my mind. Perhaps it was a simple reflexive reaction for me, but I was simply numb, staring at the man in front of me that I was proud to call my mate.His eyes were blazing , looking at me with that intense gaze of his.Richard had also lost it, and had I not been here, he likely would have ended up doing something horrible to Elise.I wasn’t too sure if I had made the right decision in stopping him. She was likely not going to stop coming after me, after all. If I heard her hiss out loud, just before she ran out of the office she had just spent long minutes destroying it.“Well,” Lilian broke the silence, and I could just see the second that Richard’s unblinking gaze shifted to my friend’s. “I guess that’s the end of it.”I found myself sno
Richard’s POV She had been asleep for far too long. I had already managed to put her in her bed and now I was pacing the length of her room unable to sit still.Her breaths came out slowly from what I could tell of her chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm, and she didn’t seem to be in any pain and she wasn’t awake. Why wasn’t she awake?It's already been two hours. I had gone back home freshened up and came back to check on my mate only to find out that she still had not opened her eyes yet. No, I was at a loss for what to do. Why was she still sleeping or was this something else? Was there something that I wasn’t aware of?‘You’re driving me mad, angel. Wake up,’’ I said through the mind link. But just like the other times I had spoken to my mate in the past hour, she did not respond. Or perhaps it was more like she could not for the life of her, hear me.Already I had tried everything that I could to wake her. Shaking her awake didn’t seem to work, nor did calling her name. Ev
Arielle’s POV:I had interacted with this being for the past few weeks, and how I had fallen into this trance as soon as I became hysterical, and it was so difficult to come out.His expression changed from wonder and sock to curiosity. I could tell that he was finding it hard to believe. In the same way, I could understand why Richard wouldn’t believe me. After all, it seemed to sound odd coming from me, that I had been talking with the moon goddess. But it was the truth, and I knew that he could tell it from my face.“Arielle,” Richard began after I paused, wanting to catch my breath after explaining that much so far. He looked pained. “Why didn’t you tell me about all of this, before? Why did you keep silent on it?”I felt a little guilty worrying about my mate now.Richard didn’t deserve this, and I was supposed to not keep a secret this big from him.“I know I should have,” I replied in a rush. “I’m sorry. I guess, some part of me thought that I was still dreaming all of this,