102. A stubborn boyfriendIt took everything in Aria to not slam the door angrily as she came walking back into the bakery."What happened? You look very stressed and... Infuriated." Harry blocked her path and gave her a look that indicated he was on her side if she needed help."I'm okay. Thanks for asking." Aria forced out with a grin and darted toward the door behind the counter to resume her baking classes.She was mad and having someone to listen to her rants would have made her feel good. Harry was not the person though. He was cute and adorable. But not her confidante. He could never be even if he gave her positive vibes.Aria entered the baking room again. She was about to take her position behind the slab she was working on when her ears rang with Jake's voice. Indignation rolled through her. She was being nice because she cared about his public image and the rules and regulations of this bakery.However, she could not suppress her rising turmoil when Jake was being ridiculous
103. Father's interruption Aria was awestruck seeing her father in the house, "Surprise!" He exclaimed and opened his arms for her. She dropped the food bags by the door and threw herself in his arms. Warmth cocooned her-- Just what she needed at the moment. She wrapped her hands tightly around his waist and pressed her face in his chest. "I missed you so much, dad." She said. Zavier smiled and caressed her hair, "I missed you too, baby. I couldn't focus at all. I kept thinking about you." Aria smiled from ear to ear as she looked up at her father. Traitor tears formed in her eyes and she pouted. She had never missed him this badly before. Well... Maybe because they didn't share the close daughter and father's bond they shared now. "Aww, did you really miss me so much that you'd cry over my arrival now, Aria?" She didn't answer and hid her face in his chest. She had two reasons behind her crying. One was that she didn't want to talk about. Forget about talking about it! She didn
104. I need helpJake checked his watch and blocked the destructive thought of barging inside the house again. It would only make that asshole of a Hunter get more mad and find a reason to separate him from Aria. But Jake wanted anything but.He sighed angrily and slapped a hand on the hood of his car, "Bloody son of a bitch!"He closed his eyes and performed deep breathing. At this moment, he felt completely helpless. Even after being the son to the strongest wolf in the pack— In fact, the whole state, he couldn't do anything more than growling and waiting.The girl he has the hots for belonged to an overbearing Hunter— a man who didn't respect his alpha father, let alone him. And now that he had recognized her as his beloved daughter, Jake had to think with his head. One wrong move and he could lose Aria forever.'Aria, I know you are not busy at all. Come out now.' He connected with her on the mind link.This was his seventh time. Or maybe eighth. Maybe ninth. Who knows! Ever since
105. Aria's PunishmentAria was sitting on the sofa put before the wall under the window that overlooked the front porch. She had the hem of the curtain in her clutch, and slightly lifted, so she could look outside under the dark night at Jake.Sending the food down her dry throat was a herculean task. She didn't feel like eating, knowing that Jake was waiting outside to see her. She wanted to go out, too, had it not been for her adamantly egoistic father.Her fight with Jake gave him an impending right to keep them apart. He didn't want her to meet Jake at any cost. Zavier also crossed the line of privacy Aria had presumed he would respect and called his father."Your son is scaring my daughter with his stalking skills, Ragnar. If you do not want to mourn the death of your only son in my hands, you better come here and take him away. He's done testing my patience." She had heard him snap on a phone call.That had brought tears to her eyes. Aria had promised herself that no matter wha
106. Being watched? Aria's mouth formed an o and her face became hot. She couldn't believe she heard that from him.Was that her punishment? Leaving her in need for more... Rough sex?He purposefully disappeared after making slow love to her?Why would he do that? And possibly what kind of satisfaction did it give to him?Aria clenched her jaw and pinched his thigh, "What the! Why'd you do that?""Why'd you vanish and worry me, Jake Ragnar?"Another smirk dominated his lips. Aria wished to wipe that off any way she could."I told you that was your punishment for ignoring me and for keeping me away from your body."She opened her mouth to rant but then looked away. The next station was approaching. Getting up, Aria walked to the front and got down. She could feel Jake behind her."This is not your destination. Why'd you get down here?" He asked and Aria continued to walk away.She felt tingles splaying along her arms. She was glad that he was back but at the same time something feral
107. A shadow Aria and Jake began to spend more time together with each other and less with their friends as the notice of forthcoming final exams came through. The teachers had finished their syllabus and thus all the lectures were provided for self-studying and revision. Although they occasionally met their friends, they didn't separate from each other. Studying together was nice. Even better. Aria felt like she could study well with Jake around her. She hadn't noticed it before but he was pretty good in studies. He was not like she thought he was. "You know you could be a topper if you took exams seriously." Aria once joked, poking a finger in his cheek as he was studying with a serious face in her house. To this Jake had rolled his eyes and said, "I am anyway going to be an Alpha and take over my father's responsibility and business. No need to waste my life on studies." He helped her with math and some problems she thought only their teacher would be able to help her w
108. A meeting Aria arrived at the old age home with Daisy. She was made to stand near the battered wooden fence around a massive two story bungalow while Daisy had gone to park the car. Her heart pinched because the bungalow was in a very bad condition. It seemed like any time the roof would come down. The paint on the walls was chipping and the windows were all broken and decaying. To the left side on the roof was a chimney with big holes. She watched a bird fly out of it, indicating that the chimney was blocked and the only use of it was for the birds. Aria's eyes started scanning the surroundings. The street was running lonely. In the neighborhood were remains of ruined houses, lawns full of long grasses as though it was a small jungle. There were wandering newspapers on the ground with waste of snack packages and what not. Aria cringed, noticing a heap of trash collected under a tree not far away to her right. It was a lot. The thick trunk of the tree was encircled by big bla
109. Noah wants his mate Something akin to disgust filled her to the neck as her eyebrows knit together."What the hell are you doing here?" She asked in a pissed undertone as she looked at him with disdain.Aria took a step back as her wolf turned restless. She was unknowingly feeling perturbed. Not to mention there rose no tingles on Aria's skin nor any butterflies moved in her belly when he stealthily closed in on her. She felt no pull of the mate bond and it somewhere agitated her.'I can't feel his wolf, Aria. What's wrong with him? Do you feel any mate pull towards him because I don't.' Melody spoke in her mind. She appraised Noah's features. He was dressed in one of those tight t-shirts she admired on him, one which accentuated his hot body. His shoulders were slumped as if he was exhausted and an unreadable look was settled on his face. What stunned Aria was the emptiness in his eyes. "I asked you something. Are you deaf?" Aria clenched her jaw. She didn't feel right in thi
123Jake's POV The last time I felt humiliated in my life was when— I clearly remember that day like it happened yesterday— I was an eight year old child and in a summer camp. My father had accompanied me as it was a condition of the camp to have at least one parent coming with their child.Mom was usually committed to pre-scheduled parties with other Lunas and was too stubborn to cancel them for a camp which she stated would be too boring for her. But I wanted to go as all my friends were going. That's when dad canceled some of his meetings, which as an alpha he shouldn't have, and came with me.The part where I felt utterly humiliated was when I was reciting the poem I've written for my father. It was a task given to all the children. We were asked to write either an essay or a poem for our parents. I wanted to outshine other kids and show that I was a future alpha, and hence, I chose to write a rhyming poem while everyone else stuck with writing an essay.And as I was extremely eag
122. "My father only loves his reputation and power. Don't worry about him. He would hardly feel bad if I left." I remarked with no expression. "But he's your father. How could you—" "You can't convince me to stay, Harry. I've made up my mind. I'm going to take them down, no matter what it costs." "Uncle Zavier will not appreciate this. I don't think he would like it if he knows you're joining the war he himself is staying away from." Harry shook his head clearly indicating that he wasn't going to take me along. It made my anger worse. I seethed and grabbed the front of his shirt. "I'm not a child anymore. I'm a warrior and this is my fight. Don't try to take that away from me, Harry. If dad wants to stay away then it is his choice. I can't leave my family to thrive alone when I know I have the ability to and I can help them win."Harry remained firm on his words but the need to get away from this pack and its people made me try harder to convince him. "You don't know what it's
121The addition she made regarding Jake made my eyes burn. I felt my limbs quivering. That all-encompassing feeling of pain washed over me again and I found myself staring at Harry, who was watching me have a battle with my wolf. "It's okay if you don't believe me, Aria. But maybe this will help you know I am not making up stories." He said as he passed his phone to me. I took it with shaking hands and played the video that was on pause. A corrosive pain shot up my spine and burst forth in my entire body. My knees gave way, and I fell on the floor. My agonized sobs bounced off the walls as I cried my heart out. I desperately wished it wasn’t true, but like every other cruel reality I’ve faced, the video was undeniably real.Jake was talking about me in the video with Kai and Neil. They were teasing him by taking my name and he rolled his eyes. They asked if it was genuine this time but Jake laughed out loud and said he wouldn't be tolerating me if I wasn't my father's daughter.I
120"Let me start from the start, Aria. That way you'll get a better idea of what I'm trying to tell you... Actually, our grandfather used to be one of the greatest and strongest Alphas of his time. He had a huge flourishing pack named Berrywood Pack. All of us were happy in our lives, and then, one day your father came to visit our pack to help us.""Rogues have always been a problem, Aria. They were a little more daring in the past than they are now. In the past, they would just pick up any she-wolf or girl child they liked and had their way with them. Or worse, pick an entire pack and threaten them to send a woman on a daily basis to them. And if their conditions weren't agreed with, they would declare war. That's why your father was invited by our grandfather to kill these rampant rogues and finish their terror forever."Harry's eyes gleamed as he went on, "None of us knew that your father would find his mate in our pack, and that it would be none other than the Alpha's Daughter,
119Aria's POVMy fingers twitched and my forearms numbed from the onset of overwhelming emotions that surged through my body. My face was tingling and my jaw had become stiff. I couldn't move my jaw, much less part it and breathe.I was desperately struggling to regain control but I felt as though I was pushed, head deep, in freezing water. And no matter how much I struggled to come back on the surface, it was futile.A point came when I fell on my side and ended up curling myself into a ball. I covered my head with my hands, my entire body buzzing with a tingling sensation.Was this death? Is this how it felt when your soul left your body?I won't know whether or not it was death because the moment I willingly closed my eyes to accept the end of my life— which I thought it was— I sensed warm arms lifting me up.My body teetered as someone held me close to a warm chest and began to walk. The foul smell of garbage began to drift away, indicating that I was being carried away to a bette
118Aria's POVAfter leaving my house and Kai and Daisy in it, I rushed into a dark alley to cry my heart out. I was in pain I couldn't narrate. My heart was hurting from Jake's ignorance while my body vibrated from the after-effects of my mate's force used on me. My life went from bright to dark overnight. I was made to pay for a mistake I didn't even commit. My wolf was howling for respite. We both needed some rest. All these hours we tolerated since the morning has taken a toll on her. However, we refused to relax. Not now. Not when our eyes were blazing with the fire of revenge. Melody and I have vowed to not sit quiet until we settled scores with Noah Rhodes. That bastard caught us off guard. He attacked me when I was not prepared. But now my veins were fueled with aggression, my limbs aching to fight back. My mind was compelling me to use all the tricks I have learned from my father through intense training. I moved in the darkness as I made my way to Noah's house in search o
117"How dare you play such a trick on me?" Noah's voice bounced off the walls. He picked up Aria from over the broken bed and clutched her hair tightly, making her wail. He pulled them in a merciless joke as his canines surfaced. His muscles convulsed in fury as he brought his face closer to Aria, "It was Jake's idea, wasn't it? He asked you to do this to trouble me.""Aah!" Aria's body was a huge ball of pain. She tapped on his wrist so he would let go. Alas, enraged like an uncontrollable bull, Noah tossed her across the room again. Aria fell on her weak study table, crushing it under her. She hissed with thick tears streaming out of her eyes as a pointed piece of wood pierce her inner thigh. Noah didn't show any pity as he raised her by her hair again. Her scalp ached as a thousands brightly blinking stars burst across her vision. "I detest Moon goddess for mating me with a gold digging whóre like you. You are despicable and..." His words faded out as Aria's senses spun into
116Aria walked on the quiet road on light feet. She was feeling cold and had to wrap her arms around herself. The winds were piercing into her skin and the dust it carried swirled around her. She shuffled her feet ahead with teary eyes as she wondered where to go.She just returned from the club she heard the girls mention in the library. It turned out that Jake left an hour before she reached there. Then she went to his home, the alpha mansion. Unfortunately, there were a dozen expensive cars lining outside the mansion. The alpha probably had visitors, and thus she couldn't gather up the courage to walk into that house while powerful people occupied it.There could be one, if not all, disliking her father. She was too frightened to appear in front of any such person who could take a dig at her to humiliate the most feared hunter in the pack. That being said, she left without meeting Jake.Now as she started her walk to nowhere, she reminiscenced the times she spent with Jake. He had
115. Truth out in front of Daisy "I hate her for hurting Lana, Kai. I will never forgive her."She banded her hands around his waist stiffly and wailed. "She not only cheated on Jake and my sister but on me too. I trusted and loved her just like Lana. Why did she have to do that? She was very well versed with the fact that Noah was dating my sister. But she still kissed him." Kai chewed the inside of his cheek agitatedly. He wished to tell her about Noah and Aria being each other's mate but he bit it down. It wasn't his place to tell her. But he definitely needed to make her see some sense and not entirely blame Aria for the kiss. "Do you realize this wouldn't have happened if Aria didn't go to the old age home with you?" "What are you insinuating, Kai Sinclair? Do you want to say that I influenced Aria to do that." Daisy's voice hardened ruthlessly. "All I'm saying is that Aria isn't the only one who you should condemn. Noah is equally—" "What's wrong with you, Kai?" Daisy pus