"You were not terrible." He said. "Most of them who trained with Flash broke their hands or legs during their first training."
My heart almost fell apart. I smiled at him and looked away to admire the vividly beautiful shapes the clouds made in the sky.
"I expect more out of you though." That was all he said before walking away with Flash. He stopped for a second to tell me to go home as he would see me at Lunch after dropping Flash to the training academy to her lavish cage she was gifted by the alpha for her outstanding work. I saw him leave and a heavy feeling slithered my chest.
'That was the best compliment you received from him so far, Aria. Well done!' I smiled serenely at my wolf's attempt at elevating my mood.
"Melody, I am so glad I met you." Was my reply.
I am truly grateful to have her. Because she is there to praise me and pick me up from the mo
58. Revenge on mate "Yeah, right." His shoulders stiffened and he let out that deep heave that he releases only when he is being honest with me despite our feverish relationship, and him being icy-cold to me. "I am happy you found your wolf but... I still feel like you're caught in a problem when you come home late post your training." I smiled and dropped my eyes to the lobster. Dad allows me to stay out for a while after my training sessions. During this time I wander about the pack and try to clear my head of all the stress I put on it during my labor and ease my body. This reminds me of my meeting with Noah. It was our first meeting after finding my wolf. Melody was so crazy at him that she compelled me to punch him in the nose and call him a pup. Noah had hissed and tried to get a hold of me but this time it was my reflex that made me throw him against a wall and show him a middle finger. He left me that day like a cruel step-mother that doesn't want a daughter to the gree
59. Not your old Aria!"You look...." Aria held her breaths as well as her heart as she waited for her father's honest review regarding her new makeover. "... better than the old Aria."He assessed her again. The gray off-shoulder top with spaghetti strings and the high-waist loose pants were looking great on her. Aria has done her hair in a high ponytail with pink gloss and some mascara on her face. He's never seen her in makeup before, but now as he absorbed her grandiose features, it dawned on him that his daughter was actually very good looking. His gaze lingered on the gold locket around her neck, making her graze it with her fingers. He noticed Aria has done her nails in a nude shade too. She appeared like a perfect young lady. He admired her for taking interest in jewelry and makeup as other girls. For the first time Zavier noticed that she was so beautiful. (Aria's new look) "You look pretty." He finally admitted. Aria gave a big toothy grin and looked away in shyness. Th
60. First LectureAria was not looking straight as the images of her dad blessing her with a fatherly kiss dominated her thoughts. As a result of which, she collided with someone. Both her and the person she bumped with fell on the ground."Ouch!" She heard as she went about picking her phone from the ground."Can't you look straight?" Aria observed a girl was dusting a hand at her elbow.Sunrise gold, straight, and waist length long hair tumbled over her shoulders. She was smooth brown with thick eyebrows and thin lips. A girl relatively a couple of inches shorter in height than Aria. She looked new."I am sorry. I didn't see you." Aria delivered in her soft tone."That I perceived by the force of the collision." The girl said, her voice edged with irritation."I am extremely sorry. It's my first day after a long leave so I intended to not be late for the first class."Aria helpe
61. A Lifetime Reminder! "Such a nasty wh*re!" Aria gritted her teeth as she tried not to look in that particular corner where Jake was sitting with Veronica.The bitch was sitting behind him. Her high heel sandal was abandoned under the desk as she rubbed her foot up and down his legs from under the desk, giving it light caresses. Jake didn't seem to care as he focused in the class.The start was full of tremors but once the Principal cleared the misunderstandings as to how she was mistakenly detained and all the other things as spiced up rumors, she was relieved to see a welcoming light in the eyes of her classmate.They didn't bother her or looked at her with itching curiosity when she took a seat in the back of the class behind an empty desk. Her father left her with a small smile as if saying 'Good luck' with the Principal. After that it merely took fifteen minutes to settle in.The professor was behaving neutrally. The students were being themselves as some paid attention in
62. It's not over yet.Lana stuck closer to Noah, who seemed to have lost his wits. They witnessed Aria giving a kick in Veronica's side of the waist. "Don't you dare mess with me again." She flared her hair in Jake's frozen face not before giving Noah a deathly look.While everyone in the classroom clenched their teeth in agony at the scraped flesh of the Butt of Veronica, Aria dashed out and came to the library. She deposited her bag on the desk and sunk in her favorite chair in the corner of the room away from the entire place. Throwing her head in her hands, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply to bring herself in control.'Well, I won't say I am disappointed since you didn't let me out. I'd say I'm freaking proud of you for teaching that witch a perfect lesson that she deserved.' Melody spoke to her.However, Aria didn't feel what she did was right. She was not the type of person who'd hurt someone against the hurt they cau
63. Goodbye For Good! Jake never felt this intimidated before. And across whom? A girl! He stood consciously under Aria's scrutinizing gaze as he threw sharp and venomous daggers at his friend holding his hand."Let go." Jake said severely."Come on, don't be ridiculous. There's no way you are leaving it whatever that is you have between yourselves unfinished." Neil jumped in their conversation while Aria gaped at them curiously."Stop it." Jake eyed them.Neil refused to listen to him and faced Aria, "He's my best friend and I care for him more than my mate. So Aria, there's something you need to know about him." Jake tried to pull him away. "All this while whenever we bullied you, it was done on Jake's insistence.""What?" Aria's eyes were sharp and assessing."Jake made us do it… so that he could come and be the savior of your life. So you noticed him." He turned to shrug at Jake. "
64. GriefWhen Aria punched that out, Jake never assumed she would abide by her words. Because after that conversation with Jake, she never spared him a look. Ten days down in their lives, and she had still not looked at him. She didn't have any time to look at him provided that she made friends and they kept her entertained. Kai's mate, Daisy, was one of them. She disliked Kai and the gang of his bully friends. She was a feminist and the talks of Kai and his notorious friends led her to maintain distance from him. No matter how much Kai attempted, she found a way to ignore and piss him. When Daisy perceived Aria had problems with the same boys group, she quickly became friends with her. Then there was Patty, a girl from the preceding grade aka their junior. The little nerd was being pestered by the boys of her class when Aria found her. This led to expansion to her friend circle, and now she had three other shy nerds from Patty's grade. Aria did not feel ashamed hanging out with j
65. Aria's First Date!She looked at the closed door and then behind herself at the complete darkness. A feeling of beingstuck, being committed to this moment, pierced through her veins and settled like congealed sludge in her belly.Talk? What talk was he talking about? If he thought she was okay with getting humiliated and then approached again for the same thing she was humiliated for then he was wrong. She wasn't going to get along with this easily. Because Aria was super mad. Even enraged.'At least he's making an effort to talk.' Melody rolled her eyes as she recalled Noah and his selfish ass. That jerk never approached her at all.She shoved that remark away and focused on the handsome face that's coming to annoy her now. His words bit through her heart that day. Aria recalled how much she'd cried that night to the pillow.She's never felt so bad. Yes she was an omega. Yes her status was low in the pack. Yes nothing c
126. Jake nodded before he ran a hand through his hair, "I learned a valuable lesson, Kai. Don't jump to conclusions. Communicate.” "And don't let assumptions cloud your judgment." Kai added. Jake smiled wryly, "Yeah, that too." "You'll get through this, Jake. You and Aria will work things out." "Yeah, we will. I'll drop to my knees if that's what it'd take to make things right with her." Jake said as he prepared to get up.Kai noticed it and asked him where he was preparing to go."To meet Aria, where else?" Jake shrugged. "I was feeling too ashamed to go to her after I saw the video. But after talking to you, I realized I should be with Aria already."The color of Kai's face changed. He tried to make Jake stay as going to Aria's house was going to send his anger soaring. Everything was still a mess after Noah's leave. Aria was missing too."Man, I can't put off seeing her any longer. I need to be with her as I've already made a huge mistake by staying away. The asshóles at scho
125. Jake's POV "Jake, you are here and I looked for you everywhere." Kai stopped next to his best friend in the sports ground of their school.The lights surrounding the ground illuminated intensely as Jake remained seated in the centre on the ground. The night sky was starless and the moon was crescent. Heavy grey clouds floated overhead as the winds started growing stronger.Kai, who had been searching for Aria, had noticed Jake's car parked just outside the school's gate. Although his priority was to find Aria, Kai needed to have a serious conversation with Jake too. Hence, he decided to prioritize meeting Jake first before resuming to look for Aria.He sat next to Jake on the ground as he realized that his friend was blankly staring at the goal net. His knees were drawn closer to his chest, his hands wrapped around them, while I deep frown set between his brows.Although the stench of alcohol clung to him like a long lasting perfume, what really puckered his own eyebrows was V
124. Veronica's dirty strategy! Jake's POV Disgust slid through me as I pulled away from her. I roughly wiped a hand on my mouth before spitting out my saliva to get rid of the taste of her blood.She seethed as I spit out several times and dashed my hand recklessly over my mouth. "What the fuck, Jake Ragnar? Who do you think you are!" Rage nearly consumed me as I scowled at her in response and snatched her arm to yank her closer, "Who do you think you are, huh? How dare you seduce me?" "Seduce you? Don't act like a jerk, Jake! It was you who pulled me in your lap. I just came to say hello!"I swept a gaze over her body. She was barely dressed. What I felt smooth under my touch wasn't her top— she was actually naked. She had no panties on and that spoke a lot about her intention. She did it deliberately. She knew I'm drunk and not in the right mind to inspect between the right and wrong. This bitch! My wolf hollered, wanting to come out. He was already pissed at me for acting lik
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