AsherI noticed the change quickly.One moment Ariezel leaned slightly against me, hands holding mine with a flutter of nervousness. The next moment, she was as stiff as a corpse.Was she that nervous? I wondered.I wanted to look at her. Wanted to instantly drop everything to make sure she was okay. But I couldn't at this moment. I was her Asher, but I was still an Alpha. The worst thing to do at this moment, whilst being stared down by another, was to show any weakness.So I simply squeezed her hand once more, hoping that my presence would give her some comfort.It took seconds to occur to me that I hadn't answered the mysterious Alpha's question. I stood straight, straightening my face to leave no emotions before I spoke.“Good day. And you are?"I perused his face. The man was average in height, with a leaner build than I had yet similar in other ways. His jet black hair was gelled, making him look even more upstuck. The most notable part I halted at for seconds, were his eyes. T
AsherThe surprise written on his face gave me satisfaction. He recovered from his shock, rearing back in retaliation.“We're not done here-”“Oh I think we are Derek.” I cut him off.I was far from done with him.I reveled in how his face transformed from shock to veiled rage. By calling him by his title rather than name, I had disregarded him and his leadership.“What did you just say?” he spoke threateningly.I didn't stand down, tilting my head to the side.“Alpha is too great a title for someone like you. Perhaps I should call you something more fitting. How about an abuser?” I asked“Excuse me?” he asked.“No. Even that's too tame. Wife beater seems more appropriate considering everything, right?”I craved the reaction that would come, proving that my hunch was real. I wanted to know beyond all doubts that he was the one that had caused the bruises on her skin, the nightmares. I needed to know if he was the one who made her afraid.To my rage and satisfaction, he did.“Shut the
AsherI waited with bated breath for him to leave. The second the hall doors closed I instantly snapped back, moving towards Ariezel with a speed unrivaled.I looked in surprise as I reached her. How focused was I to not have noticed when she had fallen?She was on the ground, sitting up whilst she remained staring straight at nothing. Her hands were locked together, white in a vice grip that looked painful. Not even the pain of falling had brought her back to reality.It hurt. She was in this state because of that excuse of an Alpha.The urge to chase him down from the hall and maul him filled me temptingly, but I couldn't. I wouldn't do so.I looked at Ariezel's teary eyes. She was what was important, more important than any vindication I could have gotten.“It's okay. You're okay. " I whispered in a hushed tone so she could hear solely. I was never a comforting person, but it came easy with her.Slowly I raised her up till she stood up, leaning on me. Despite everything she still s
AriezelI held my breath. Even though now I was at the forefront of it all, everything still felt daunting at the last moment.But this time I wasn't afraid. Despite the trepidation I felt, there was not one iota of hesitation in me.As I looked up at him, my thoughts were affirmed. I loved him. I loved Asher, and it was enough to share my secrets.“Derek." The name sounded so foreign to my lips, an evident sign of how long I had gone without thinking of it. Without thinking of him, until now.The thought of Derek's cruel face, the words I heard in my haze was enough. He knew about my child.But he wasn't important. Not now, as I sat with my mate and love about to tell him my past finally.“Derek said he was my mate... because he was.”The guillotine had struck. I had finally revealed part of the truth I had hidden for so long.“What?” Asher spoke, his incredulous tone evident.A flood of guilt came to me, even though I knew it didn't belong. It shouldn't have bothered me. After all,
AriezelEven moments after, I still couldn't believe my eyes, my ears, nor the memory that continued replaying in my mind.The wooden frame of the door remained still, never shifting no matter how much I wished it would. Silence reigned, deafeningly so, making my mind all the more louder. Most of all, the repetition of the way he turned away in silence ran continuously through my mind. Even though minutes had passed and I was sure to have been in the same position he left me in for about half an hour, I still hadn't answered the questions that plagued my mind.‘What had happened?Why did he move away?Why did he give that strange look? What did it mean?What did I do wrong?’My hands curled into fists at the last question. Those words were all too recognizable to me.The times I would cower in fear, left alone with bruises and a room in disarray I would have to clean up before his arrival. Tears streamed down my face back when I hadn't mastered the pain, all the while the memory of hi
AriezelWhat happened to him?I paced around my room in the middle of the night. That night, like the others, I had waited for his arrival, hoping that he would come and explain himself. As the hours passed my heart grew weary as it had for the past three days, and in the end I knew he wasn't coming.His absence, like before, left me restless. Usually I would have buried my sadness within, ignoring it in turn for sleep and carrying a torch of hope within me as I leaned into his lingering scent for comfort. But not this time.After the way he dismissed me in his office, I could no longer bury myself in vacant hope. I could no longer stand by and wait helplessly for whatever was to come.Instead my mind ran wild and I began pacing, wracking my brain for what felt like the hundredth time for what had changed in him. And so immediately at that.I hadn't expected to find a solution quickly, if at all. Yet it still filled me with frustration nonetheless.All I knew for certain was that it r
ARIEZELI took a step back, or at least I thought I did. Perhaps I was falling already, about to collide with the grass below the same grass which we had spoken under many times.But I wasn't. My legs remained on the ground, and he was still at the front of my view. Silent, unwavering. Cold.What had happened to him so instantaneously? How had the man I knew and grown to love seemed to have morphed into a completely different person? Why was he acting so different?My mind whirred, yet no solutions could be found. Even as I buried myself under the memories, all I saw were the beautiful memories. His sweet words and our loving nights. Memories that couldn't match with the present person I saw now.“I love you Ariezel.”“Leave.”“Thank you for being my mate.”“I want us to break this bond.”Freezing cold tendrils froze my blood, settling right in with the dread inside me.I was brought back to reality unexpectedly. I blinked and wondered why everything in me blared in alarm all of a sud
Asher I knew she was there. Why wouldn't I? Her stare burned towards me. Rather than a deep flame, it felt scorching. Not the accusatory eyes Ambrose silently gave after I had revealed to him Serena's arrival. This felt more painful than anything, weighing deeper on me than any other stare.It only made me burrow in deeper, burying myself in blonde hair and a too different scent. I held Serena tighter.The pack's eyes were all on us and this was the most evident claim I could have given.Soon I felt the pain through the mate bond, and her faint footsteps amongst the crowd sang clearly to me.Within me my wolf rebelled, it wanted to draw away from the too- thin frame and go after her, hold her close. The thought made me pull Serena even closer.‘No.’ I told myself as I had done for the past several days. I reigned him into silence, suppressing my instincts despite the difficulty it caused. It was never really over, but after laying the constant barrier, I could have pretended like it