ARI“Why am I here?”I grip my phone, lighting it up again to check if the text I sent five minutes ago went through.Read.I am not surprised that he told me to show up only to stand up. It was my mistake to obey him and come here as he demanded.The street I am on is empty, wind rustling the trashcans lining up the front of the shops. There are street lights, making it glow an almost orange flirecscent lighting. Yet, even when I am standing here alone, I don’t feel scared.There is nothing that makes me want to bolt that’s outside here; rather, it's who is coming up to me that’s making me want to bolt and never look back.My mind has been plagued by him ever since yesterday when he declared that he was one goofing around with me. I still don’t understand his encrypted message.Make you feel everything that I feel.That doesn’t explain a lot, and I am not sure I want to feel the hatred he feels. I am good at generating my feelings without his help. Is tonight the first step to assert
ARISomeone is walking to the ring.A figure blending in with the shadows, cleaked until the last minute that he steps into the light, and my breath gets locked in my throat.No.The whole crowd goes wild, screaming and pushing. I get pushed forward, but hands hold onto me, making sure I don’t get swept off. My eyes are on Zade as he walks in the cage, looking like he owns every single person, the place, and the very air we breathe.It doesn’t matter the setting, he owns every room, every space he walks in.Sebastian looks confused. He looks at someone at the side before locking his jaw and watching Zade, who is standing at the end of the cage, eyes on Sebastian.This is the surprise.“Thrilling, isn't it?” Mullet leans on my shoulder, face almost pressing on mine. I get away from him in disgust, as I feel like I am about to cry.Is this a punishment? Is this what he wanted me to see? I thought I had protected Seb from him. I thought I had made Zade get his attention away from him. Ho
ZADEShe is crying again.The figure that’s buried under my sheets, twitching and whimpering as if having the fifth nightmare of the night is whimpering as if in pain.To get to know someone, watch them as they sleep. From the way they curve in on themselves to their movements and sleep behaviour, everything you need to know about them will be revealed.She is lonely. It's so sharp, buried deep inside her bones, a part of her, and I wonder if she even knows how lonely she feels. It's one thing to be a rogue, cast away from your pack.It's another thing for such a thing to happen to a child, forced to live that lifestyle. A young werewolf separated from its pack and lived like that.I am not feeling any empathetic emotions towards her. It's her life, but watching her, seeing it, how she has taken it as her nature, as who she is, part of her personality is intriguing.Something got triggered tonight; that’s why she is in my bed, crying in her sleep, running away from the grip of the nig
ARIIt might still be a nightmare.I trip and fall on the carpeted floor.“Be careful, mate, you don’t look so well.”A gasp escapes my lips, and I look around the room. I am back in that damned bare room. I grapple for something to hold me up, stilling when I see my hands.Red. Blood.My heart is racing again, eyes blurring as I stretch both of my hands in front of me. when … why …Something flashes in my mind. Me running after the figure that was being carried away on a stretcher. My shaking hands grabbing the swollen, unrecognizable face, covered in blood. A neck that’s unnaturally twisted.I look up at the person looking at me as if I am an intrigue. No, he isn't a person; he is a monster. A heartless, cold monster who killed Sebastian simply because we talked.“How could you?” My voice is trembling, but I don’t care. All I feel is this lodged thing, almost solid, in my throat. “Why did you kill him?”“he was living on borrowed time anyway. Thanks to you, I remembered to complete
ARIThe first thing I feel is a very cozy warmth surrounding me.The next thing I feel is that I am lying next to someone, the source of the coziness. The last thing I remember is going to the washroom to wash up …I open my eyes, and I am immediately reminded of where I am.Zade’s.I am in his room, in his bed, and I think … he is lying next to me. I look down at my tangled body, which is wrapped in sheets, and I see that I am wrapped in a robe.I can feel my heart start to spike in my chest, and with as minimal movement, I look behind me, hoping and crossing fingers that he is asleep.He is.Gingerly getting out of bed, I tiptoe to the bathroom, get dressed as fast as I can, and peep outside again to make sure he is still fast asleep.I don’t know how I ended up half naked in his bed, how we ended up cuddling at that, but I know that I need to get out of here. Everything is so confusing, my mind is running in overdrive, trying to put all the pieces together, connect the dots, but do
ARIIt's so sharp, bone chilling that my whole body jolts, a gasp between my lips before everything submerges and muffled.The ocean is so rough and strong, I am oulled under in seconds, and I look up the only light getting further and further away.Did I make a wrong calculation?Something ripples above, heading towards me.I didn't.Zade swims down towards me until he is in front of me, looking at me. The water is making his skin look so pale, almost bluish, but his eyes are so dark here, looking at me.He is looking at me, for what feels like a few minutes before he grabs my hand, and start to push upward. I cant look anywhere else. Not below me, to that dark bottomless ocean I was being dragged under, not on our side, but his face.He is looking up, dragging me with him until his face disappears above. Soon enough, I am above the surface, gasping and coughing. Zade swims us to the shore, dropping my hand once we are safely on solid ground.My knees give out under me, and I cough,
ARIAn incessant noise somewhere is disturbing me, pulling me out of the deep slumber I am in.“Uurgh,” I pull the covers off my head and squint towards the dark room. Who is looking for me so early in the morning?“Ari, open up! I know you are in there! I will knock this door down if you don’t open now!”With a groan, I pull myself from the bed and drag my tired, sleep-addled body to the door. It's very early for this.“I thought you were dead, that he killed you or something!”“Mimi,” I close the door once the short girl storms inside the room, looking around as if she is searching for someone.“What?”“When you didn’t come that night and continued to disappear the following days, I thought he had killed you. or worse.”I have no idea what she is saying. I am so exhausted that I curl up on the couch as she paces around the room, looking around. “What's worse than dying?”“Kidnapping. Many things, actually,” she halts in front of me as I drag the blanket draped on the back of the co
ARI“Don’t you have anything better to do other than babysit me?”The food is so good. or, it could be because I am so famished and starving I would eat anything and get the same reaction.No, it's really good.“I do. But I needed to make sure that you ate and did not die in here alone.”“Wow, I didn’t know enemies took care of each other like this, let alone worry.” I don’t even look up from the hot bowl of food as I inhale it.“You have a very smart mouth.”“Thanks.”We fall silent, the only sound coming from me eating before I notice his leg is bouncing. It switches to his foot tapping on the floorboard, the black boots making a tapping sound. It's irritating as hell.“What were you thinking?”That makes me look up. “What?”“Getting rained on, then jumping into a freezing lake, drowning twice, what the hell were you thinking?”Am I … getting a scolding from him right now?“what?” is all I can ask again like an idiot. I suppose my mouth is having ttrouble catching up with my brain,
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,