ZADEShe is lonely.Feeling anguish.Good.I turn and start walking away.“What … where are you going?” Max asks.“You found her.”“Yes, but-““I am leaving now, Max. My nighttime schedule is behind because of you.”She doesn’t object, not that I was expecting her to.I need a drink.When I get to my room, I find the boys all gathered in front of the fireplace playing a game.“What you doing here?”“It’s so boring, there is nothing to do here other than be at the hot tub and then back in the rooms. It blows,” Cass groans as he stretches on the floor.I frown, shrugging off my coat. “Since when has that made you all look so sorry for yourselves?”“Since you started blowing us off to go for a midnight walk with Max.” Rowan rolls his eyes and throws the cards on the table.“Okay, then let's go roam the grounds.”The two look up at me, surprise marred on their faces. Logan only nods before he smiles. “I thought you had started to lose your spark.”“Never,” I smirk. “Let's do what we do be
ARISomething is beside me.No, someone. A wolf, to be precise. I know this even before I open my eyes, still groggy from the hibernation because of the link all wolves have with each other.I could be freaked out, alarmed that a wolf has come and laid down with me uninvited, but I don’t. This wolf feels familiar, safe, too.I know it's max even without confirming by looking at her.I want to lull up and sleep more, but she stirs, too, and starts moving around like she wants me not to go back to sleep.It's tempting, but I don’t think I am ready to face the world just yet. I don’t know if I want to go back at all. Being here and just hibernating sounds fun and the best option of all.Max is in her wolf form, hence the movements are not as demure or unnoticed because at one point she topples above me and I huff out a breath, breathe knocked out of me.I lazily open one eye to glare at her and shoo her away, but her nuzzle is right in front of my face, and she is looking at me, waiting
ARIEverything is clear and sharp, and all my senses are awake and infused as one.The trees all blur as I run, the ground beneath my paws cool and hard. The smell of rain, mixed with snow and the trees all mix in the air, the sharp cold air making me shiver.Not from the temperature but the exhilaration, the excitement that I feel in this moment.There is another wolf, a large brown wolf, that’s ahead of me, running faster. I want to pass it and be faster, and the thrill of it makes me increase my speed, acutely aware of the other wolf behind me.The more I run, the faster I get, and the more I feel like I am stretching after a deep slumber. All my limbs feel like they are awakening, and I feel alive.Alive than I have ever been in all my life. Running with Max and Mimi is making me so happy. I can't help the howl I let out as I gain speed until I am at par with Max, before I ump my speed and run ahead of her.We have been at this the whole morning. Running, playing, and more running
ARI“How?”“We will train very day, get you stronger. You are an alpha, you are supposed to be stronger than you already are right now.”“Yeah,” Mimi agrees. “Why aren't you?”They don’t know that I have been wolfless all this time and its only recently I have had my wolf back.“Because I have been wolfless for most of my life,” I exhale. I can't meet their eyes, I don’t want to see the pity. “I just got her back, so now I have to catch up with all the missed early education and training. I am years behind, so it makes sense that I am getting kicked around like this.”“It's okay,” a hand touches my shoulder. Mimi’s smile is warm, with no pity or sadness. “We were here, and you have her back. It's not too late.”“Yeah,” Max nods in agreement. “I train junior students, so I think I am the best candidate to help you catch up.”I can't cry, not now. I blink back the tears. “Why?”“Because I want to,” Max shrugs, “and because I don’t like seeing people get bullied. I would kick their ass f
ZADEI don’t understand why these human hunters insist on facing off against stronger beings in the name of killing monsters.Eradicating monsters.They crush so quickly, so weak but yet so confident. I let go of the now limp body, and watch it as it falls and angles itself weirdly.Six hunters.There were seven, aiming for the three wolves who showed up at the beach naked and didn’t feel cold lying on the chilly beach. How stupid can they be?I knew that she had issues and didn’t care much about living but how unaware is she? How unaware is Max too? Isn't she supposed to be good at this kind of thing?I look around, wondering where the last guy went. Maybe he will have better luck than his friends and snag himself some werewolf girls as they start going back to where they came from. Hell, he might as well as follow them and then he can score a whole pack of them.Fuck, I am so mad right now. Something moves on my right, but I don’t look.Mmh, there he is. Hiding, watching, waiting. H
ZADE“Mimi is collateral for your mistakes,” I tighten my grip and the girl stops struggling. She knows that it’s all futile.“Please, zade please,” Silvers starts pleading but she still isn't looking at me how I want her to. Maybe if I killed her friend, I would be one step ahead of making her feel awful and drown in the agony I promised her.“Don’t kill her, she is more than collateral and you know it,” Max’s voice cuts through and I tilt my head to look at her. There she goes, being all-knowing again. Or that’s what I want her to think.“Are you sure?”She isn't as convinced as she was a second earlier. “This is about you and Ari, so why does Mimi have to suffer from that?”“Please zade, I will do whatever, please don’t hurt Mimi,” Silvers kneels and clasps her hands in front of me.Ah, this is getting awfully dramatic, sucking out all the fun and suspension out of everything. I let go of Mimi and she slumps on the ground, in a fit of coughs as she touches her neck. Silvers runs t
ARII haven’t been able to sleep.All I keep seeing are dead bodies, piled up and eyes looking at me telling me it's all my fault. This morning I woke in a sheen of sweat, gasping for air my heart thumping so hard.When I went to get breakfast, it was a heavily meat-based breakfast, with a buffet spread out for everyone to choose from and load up as they pleased.One look at what was a little too bloody meat and I was so queasy I ran out of it and barely kept from gagging. All I was reminded of was the severed limbs and blood. Limbs I had to touch and pile up together then burn before gathering the bones and burying them where they won't ever be found.In a matter of a day, zade has turned me into an accomplice and made me bury and burn bodies all in the name of cleaning up our messes.The girls all seemed to find it less disturbing than I did. Apparently, they have had to deal with a bad case of going out of control where they killed a human or two and they had to clean up after them
ARI“Good, so cheers,” we clink our glasses and drown the first glass easily.“Wow, it's not bad.”I know this isn't like my first at all. This is sweeter. So I refill our glasses again and drink up again.“I think I am starting to get the concept of parties,” Mimi slumps on the table, twirling her glass in front of her face.We are on our third bottle.“It is loud, full of people who might be annoying on a random normal day but here they are all filling up this emptiness that’s on our normal days. It's nice,” she goes on.It does feel nice. I am not pressured, I don’t feel heavy and I am giggling. I feel so bubbly inside I want to dance.“Hey, let's go dance!” I pull her up, drawing me I don’t know how many glasses of the night.She stumbles which makes us giggle before we walk to the dance floor. I start shaking my shoulders, to test this out, and I laugh when I find that I don’t feel the mortification that would follow when I even think of dancing on a normal day.But it's not a n
ARI“I shouldn’t have this conversation while I am seeing two of you, but I need to let it off my chest, otherwise I will not say anything. You need to understand that one day I will be gone and you won’t ever see me.“Maybe I won’t have said something and you will think that everything is fine between us but it’s not. So this is me telling you that one day, I will leave you because me and you, we won’t end up together.“I can’t be with you. I can’t be with anyone. Mother is safe now and all I have left is one year to get done with school then I can do what I want the most. But then you … you have plans. You are set.“I certainly didn’t see this coming, you being my mate and all. But that shouldn’t confuse me or you that I will stay and continue doing life as if it’s perfect. It’s not perfect. I am not perfect, and it’s okay. I like it this way because t
ARINow I am his mate, then I will be his crowned wife, then I will be told to perform this and that for him, for the pack, for the kingdom.None of that for me. All will be stripped of who I am, what is mine, and be dressed in what is his. Be in servitude for the rest of my life, and for what? Love? I don’t believe in love.I never grew up in love long enough to believe in it, long enough to let it impact me in a way that, by believing, if I stay by Zade’s side, all will be okay. I am jaded, messy, and broken.He got mated to a disaster, and he knows it. He doesn’t even know what he wants for himself, but he has the privilege of that being thought for him.I might have misjudged him in the past as this cruel, mindless prince that is spoiled and such, but I wasn’t far off.But despite it all, I know that I have no future with zade. I can’t tell him that though, and it hurts somewhere I my chest to think I will h
ARII nod, exhaling softly. “I see.”“I didn't mean to hurt you. I just needed you to understand that some things are serious. Worldly things are impactful.”That makes me want to laugh, but I can't find the strength to. “I guess I wouldn’t know.”“Come on, why are you bringing that up? I thought we were talking about the beautiful views and the oncoming summer.”“You keep forgetting that I am not a child, Zade. You treat me like I am porcelain that can break any second if left unattended, and think that I don’t have brains.”“It's not like that. I want to protect you.”“Patronize me. I don’t even know why I am surprised. You are just an asshole, an alpha asshole who thinks that they know better and the rest are just his minions who couldn’t think for themselves.”God, this is why I hate packs. Being patronized, led like sheep, told to do this and that, not allowed to think on your own, especially if you are a female wolf, mated to a goddamn prince of the goddamn kingdom.I am not eve
ARII never wanted to believe in knights.Having someone there for you to take your needs seriously and follow them through … that’s something that I never thought could happen for me. Yet here I am.Zade asked me to be with him this summer, to take a break with him, and all I wanted to do was be away from what I had come to know. I needed to escape my reality for as long as I could, and when I told him that as long as he took me somewhere far, I would have fun, then yes.So now I am watching the ocean. The wind is ruffling my short hair, the salty, cool breeze caressing my skin, and the sound of the waves, the calming subliminal noise of the ocean, is making my heart start feeling peaceful.He took it seriously. I wanted to get away, and he took me to a beautiful island that I didn’t know existed. It's so beautiful. Palm trees, mountains, ocean, green everywhere, it looks like it's out of a fairy land.I don’t know how he does it. How he manages to catch me off guard and floor me aga
ARIZade is letting me take what I need from him, this time letting me have my way on my terms.It has been that way from the very beginning, but tonight, it's like he wants me to take care of myself using him and, in a way, take care of himself too, by using him.So when I guide him and press him on my opening, we both freeze, breathing heavily before I urge him with a pull of his hips to push inside me.And heavens, it feels delicious. The stretch, the feeling of him opening me up as my walls accommodate him until he is fully seated inside me …I contract, squeezing him, feeling the girth inside me and I want to swallow more of him, suck him in and keep him there … it’s a heady, good feeling.“Why won't you love me?” The hoarse whisper makes me open my eyes just as Zade looks at me. He is …crying?“What?” I ask, eyes wide.“Why did you say you can't love me?”“Because,” I shift, and we both groan. His hips jerk in response, and he starts moving slowly. He has forgotten about the que
ARIWhen the body is exposed to extreme cold, at some point, it stops supplying the less important parts with blood in order to save the vital organs.It has been quite similar to me. I have spent most of my life just functioning, and apparently it has been necessary for my body to cut off supplies to some of the things anyone my age would deem normal to have.There hasn’t been a case where I could feel anything other than flight and flight. But eventually, here I am.My body is thawing, slowly coming to life, and it feels so good.Zade’s tongue is slicking inside my mouth, seeking and touching every crevice inside. His body is pressed to mine to keep me up, one thigh pressed between my legs, one hand grabbing my butt, hips flushed.I am weak at my knees. I want him, I can feel him, and I am floating. I know I am kissing him, but I am also falling and falling, feeling safe that he will catch me.It’s a dam that has been let loose.He is mine. I shouldn’t feel this way. I should feel g
ZADE“But then it will be another, then another… if you can be swayed so easily, then is it even worth it?”“I wasn’t swayed easily. You and I know that there is more to us than a bond between mates.”“Hard to believe that when all that connects us is that.”“Our parents do connect us, too. Do you think we wouldn’t have crossed paths if we hadn’t been mates?”“We could have, but you would be intent on killing me or destroying my life like you did at the beginning.”“That’s true. But you can just chalk up my feelings and invalidate them, simplify them to one variable.”“It’s the only thing that is making sense. I mean, here I am, sitting in your love sanctuary, surrounded by your memories with her, and yet you are telling me it's me you want. What about her? Why was it so easy for you to just leave her?”“If you hadn't shown up, I already knew it would rather be her that I pretended with, cosplayed my inner wishful thinking even though it wasn’t true.”I close my eyes briefly before lo
ZADEThere is something dark, alluring, and compelling about Ari Silvers that I have never been able to fully comprehend.Her beauty and magnetism are not the traditional kind. It's raw, demands that you see her, revere her, and ache to be close to her, so you can bathe in it.She is beautiful in the traditional sense as well, but then you look again. And again, and again. You are drawn in, wanting, needing, desiring, and even wanting to corrupt.She is pure, she is dark, she is innocent, but also twisted. She is all that you wish you could hold and covet to yourself, but you cannot. For it is not to be held by others and coveted, stolen, but to be looked at, worshiped, and if you are good, to be bathed in.But never yours.She is sitting on the rooftop.I followed the feeling of our bond, and I am surprised, a little unsure why she would be here. This is where she fell, almost to her death after all.Her knees are pressed against her chest as she looks at the far distance, lost in wh
ZADEI stop behind one balding man, I think he is here because he is a legacy. Not the official family but still as important. I can see the sweat trickling down his neck into the stiff, tight suit he is wearing.If I wasn’t so sure before, now standing behind him as he reeks of fear … it's solid. My hand goes through his back, and I touch the organ that’s beating and warm in my palm.Gasps echo around, but no one says a word, as they look at me with horrified expressions, save for my father, of course.“This man,” I turn to Jude, “you missed this man.” My fingers close around the beating organ and pull my hand back. The body shakes, twitching before his head thumps on the table like a log. The scent of blood permeates the air, thickening it with the tension and fear pulsing in the room.I walk over to Jude and let the organ fall on his file, and he looks at it, eyes wide. I am sure he isn't breathing. After all, I just killed a legacy, and he has a lot of mess to clean up.And also,