Richard’s POV:It went silent quickly after Elise left, and I could practically see the curiosity seeping off of Arielle in waves. Esme shot me a look that said ‘you better tell Arielle’ before she turned to my mate in question.“Sorry about that, dear. I heard the commotion from my room and came to check,” she gave Arielle a bright, reassuring smile, which Arielle only returned with a confused, wan smile.There was unease roiling in my gut at the look on her face. I knew for sure that once Aunt Esme left, I would be facing the questions from her.Damn it, I thought, clenching my hands into fists at the memory of seeing that girl once again returned to the pack. I hadn’t remembered about Elise, truly.In all the commotion of having to deal with the Rogue, trying my best to build my relationship with Arielle, and also appeasing the Elders among other things, I had pushed the thought of Elise Evans returning to the pack. I had, after all, done what I could to send her out of the pack -
Arielle’s POV:Richard was silent for too long, in my opinion.He had seemed stumped after I asked the questions pertaining to whether or not he had any clue that Elise had been in love with him even when to him, it was just sex.But after a few moments, he had finally spoken.“Arielle, I don’t know what else to tell you. Elise had probably been under the assumption that I would be with her someday. But I swear to you that I never liked her or told her that I did. I would have also not reacted this way towards her if she had let things go when I ended our… situation. But she went behind my back,” his voice was tighter now, as if he was concealing some rage within him. “She acted erratically, and would often threaten other women who I was with in passing. She kept telling people around that I was dating her, and that she was going to be the Luna someday.”I gaped at him.Was he serious?Was she really that unhinged?My brows furrowed as I considered what I had witnessed only minutes ag
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