ARIARI“So what prompted this little getaway?”We are in a cozy café by the window. It's raining outside, making the town appear almost gloomy but in a very romantic way. It’s my favorite season.Mimi sits back, pushing her glasses up as she rearranges the sugar holder at the table. “You looked like you needed fresh air,” she says.I smile, feeling warm.“And I am worried about you.”“Why? I am all better now. I have rested well enough. I admit that I was neglecting myself and doing all these crazy things. I don't know what was happening to me, but I am okay now.”She sighs, looking at me guiltily. “It's not just that. I am worried about the relationship between you and Zade.”My smile drops. “There is no relationship between me and him.”The waitress brings us our order, which is a perfect distraction that allows me to recollect myself. Mimi clears her throat once the waitress leaves our table, looking at me.“I know, but I wouldn’t bring this up if I wasn’t worried.”“I don’t under
ARII have never experienced this before.There is a tent that’s lighted with golden and pink lights, fluffy soft pillows and duvets on the floor, creating a very cozy feel. It looks and feels like a slice of our own heaven where no one knows it exists.“What do you think?” Mimi looks at our finished project with pride, arms crossed.“It's…” so wonderful I have never thought this is something I will ever get to do or even be in. “Magical,” I gush out and kneel, peeking my head inside the tent.“I brought snacks, and you have all the things we bought earlier, right?”“Yeah,” I get the shopping bag, dumping everything on the floor. Mimi walks over to the window and draws the curtains so that we can get to watch the rain, the campy mood elevating.“You said someone is coming.”“I did,” she sits opposite me in her pajamas. “And she will. I think she is still settling in.”“Who is she?”“My childhood best friend. She had been away for years, but we still kept in contact. Her parents just c
ZADE“She is so hot,” Cass groans beside me, eyes on the cheerleader gyrating on another girl in front of us.Yeah, they are hot. On a normal day, I would love to watch them go from dancing to playing with each other in one of the many bedrooms in this house.But it's not a normal day. It hasn’t been a normal day for me for weeks.“Wanna watch?” Cass turns to look at me. He is planning on taking his cheerleader for a more fun time.“I have a girlfriend.”“Not that it has stopped you before,” he snickers, getting up to go to his fun of the night.I hate who I have turned to. A constant overthinker, pinning over a girl I can't stand, wondering what she is doing and how I can destroy the little joy she is having.“You look like you are bloated.” Logan hands me a cup, and I take it, not even wincing at the burn going down my throat. “What's going on?”“Just a bug I can't figure out how to crush.”“Olivia or ari silvers?” The jerk is smirking, having fun over my misery.“Both. They are dri
ARI“Mom, there is no need for a party. It's not a big deal for me.”“It is! It's not every day you get bonded to your true mate and also get your wolf back. This calls for a celebration, honey.”Getting bonded to a mate who doesn’t want me and getting my wolf back through him has left me with an amount of debt to repay and these feelings of gratitude towards him.“But I don’t want to celebrate.” I can feel myself losing this argument. If Mother wants a party, I know she will get a party even if it’s to the cost my comfort.She believes in celebrating every little thing, a habit that has developed over the years, and I can't find it in me to put my foot down and mean it.I want her to be happy, smile, and just enjoy what she is calling a good thing even if I don’t think it is.“I have already set a gown for you. It's not a big party, just a family dinner. I thought this could be the start of us four being an actual family.”I don’t want to disappoint her and tell her that he won't be
ZADEIt's still the same.At least on the outside. The same black gates are opening, leading to the long, wide driveway.The same house that’s adorned with fountains, statues, and the all seasons blooming flowers.It’s the same butler, who bows at me when I get out of my car and opens the door for me, and steps inside the foyer.This is where it all stops being familiar … untouched. It’s almost as if keeping the outside familiar will make it seem like nothing has changed overall.I slide my hands into my pockets, wondering if I should remain at the foyer and wait to be greeted or walk in, but that will mean differently.“You’re here!” she is wearing a big smile, hands open as if to hug me. “Come in, come in. this is your home don’t stand there like a guest.” She attempts humor, but it's all lost on me.“Thank you for inviting me.” My tone is cool as I let her lead me to the living area, where I see them.Father and daughter, talking as they share a drink. It looks casual. They look …
ZADE“Ari insisted on not having a party. I wanted everyone to celebrate you and your bonding. I know it must have been stressful and confusing at first.”“Mom, stop asking him so many questions.” Ari looks at me apologetically.“Mary is right, we would have loved if we had a big party. After all, not every day two powerful beings come into union like this,” Father adds as we all sit at the dining table, the servers starting to bring us the starters.“It's nothing, it was over in five minutes. I didn’t want a spectacle anyway. It's just bonding, nothing to make a big deal out of it.” Ari puts a napkin on her lap before glancing at me.They are all comfortable with each other. They are a family, and I feel like an outsider even if we are all seated here, connected one way or another.“You are not just anybody, and it's not just any bonding. He is the future king alpha, and you are a female alpha, the daughter to my mate. I think that deserved the biggest party of the century.”Everyone
ZADE“When will you stop acting like a petulant child?”“I don’t know, father, when I feel like you have had enough torture and guilt over what you did.”I don’t see the punch coming, feeling it rattling my entire brain. He has never hit me before. We fight and break things, but he has never hit me before.“You can do all that you want to me,” he grabs me by the collar, pulling me up, “but hurt Mary, an innocent woman, and lashing out at her? That’s where you cross the line, son.”I push myself away from him, readjusting my blazer. “You can drop the act, no one is in here to judge you. I know the real you.”“And what is that?”“That you are a cold, heartless man who will never love anyone or put anyone above yourself, always for the seat and power you hold. Always for the seat and power you have.”He shakes his head, walking by the window, looking calm, but I would be a fool to let my guard down. There is a reason he is the most feared man.“Is that what you think?”“Think?” I adjust
ARII am grappling in the dark. Ever since my mother got mated to the king alpha, I waited and kept watch for the other shoe to drop. Years of running and hiding, never settling, and always on the road have turned me into someone who doesn’t believe in happy endings.Why did he agree to let us in his territory so fast? Why did he mate my mother so fast, then take us into his beautiful home?As I sat in that mansion—too big and grand—I felt like I would stain it. He assured us that we would be safe with him and that all the bad people looking for us would be dealt with.That we had a home now and we could rest because he is in our lives now.I don’t believe in knights, I don’t even believe in saviours overall.But then I saw her. She looked so tired, worn out, and in need of a break. I saw how she leaned into him, sighing as if she was resting for the first time in years.How could I ever take that away from her?It has been just the two of us, and it hasn’t been the best. She has tri
ZADEShe looks peaceful. Like an angel, sleeping like this.But when has she never felt or looked like an angel? I sit down on the leather chaise in the master suite, eyes trained on the massive bed that seems to swallow up her small, lithe figure.She is mad at me.I am mad at myself, too, if I am being honest. I keep forgetting impprtant shit that should be automatic when it comes to ari but then I fucked up again. I can’t keep fucking up, it’s going to cost me largely and I won’t be able to live with myself.I think I know what she needs the most. What she is asking the world for, her mother, what she is asking me for. What she is asking herself.Being with me is threatening all of that, I know it. I can feel it too, like this deep truth just below my consciousness, and I must act on it, or I will lose her. It’s not defined, it's not named, but it's there. I can feel it, and if I focus on it, I can most definitely almost put a name to it.To this feeling that Ari wants and feels m
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