Chapter Twelve

Ariziel

I opened my eyes to groan at the sun hitting me, aggravating the pounding headache I felt.

Slowly I stood up, hands fisted against the sheets as I stared into space.

I had another dream.

It was not the nightmare that had haunted me for the past few days, but a real dream. The times I believed to have forgotten cane back.

In my dream I saw a younger Derek. His smiles, his laughs and his playfulness.

Now, Derek was my mate and an Alpha. But back then, he was nothing more than my childhood friend.

Knowing each other since childhood, he was the only one in the pack who interacted with me. Even though he couldn’t stop the problems I faced, he comforted me through them. It was when we grew old enough that we learned that the Alpha, Derek’s father and my father, the Beta, had agreed on an arranged marriage between Derek and I, in order to secure the pack’s future.

A part of me mourned then, knowing that there was no chance of me finding my mate anymore. But I resigned to the idea q