♦Raphael’s POV♦ I love you. That was what I wanted to say. I had fallen in love with her. She was my mate, so I wasn’t surprised, but I never expected it to be so soon. After all, I had only known her for a few weeks, but I didn’t mind. In fact, I was happy. I was exhilarated by my feelings for her because she was a blessing. The moon goddess couldn’t have given me a better mate. Arielle was everything. She was smart and logical, yet she had a large heart and was empathic. She was headstrong and fiercely loyal, yet open to change and new ideas. She was beautiful. Her amber eyes were full of intelligence and had this don’t dare mess with me look, though her face looked blank and polite. She moved with unmatched grace and an ambiance of confidence that I couldn’t help but find seductive. I couldn’t imagine falling for anybody else than her. And I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her and the whole world that I was madly in love with her, but one look at her revealed the confusio
♦Raphael’s POV♦ “Your are?” Arielle blinked at me and tilted her head to the side. “Why?” “I thought about what you said, and I saw truth in them.” I sighed, closing the book and laying it on my lap. “I shouldn’t brand all witches as evil because of what they did in the past, just the way I wouldn’t want an omega to judge me based on what other alphas had done.” Witches had done a lot of things to alphas in the past. Their trickery and vast knowledge of magic had caused a lot of serious discord between territories, sometimes almost leading to full-blown wars. It went on for years until the counsel of Elds was able to put a stop to their act. No one really knew why they did what they did, but it caused strife and animosity between the two races. Alphas saw witches as no good, sly snakes and chaos bringers, and they saw us as barbaric, wild cavemen with empty brains. But though I didn’t like the witches, I still saw the wisdom in what Arielle had said. Alphas weren’t all pure and ho
♡Arielle’s POV♡~Ello, I’m really busy right now, so I can’t pick up your call. Please leave a message.~“Why isn’t she picking up?” I mumbled, my dress swishing around me as I paced to and fro in my room. My finger tapped the call button again, and I held the phone up to my ear.~Ello, I’m really busy right now, so I can’t pick up your call. Please leave a message.~“Oh, come on. Why isn’t she picking up?” I growled and threw my phone on the bed in Raphael’s and my hotel room. We had travelled to Moonshade for Killian’s soiree the day before and lounged in a five-star hotel.“You still haven’t been able to reach her?” Raphael asked as he wore his cufflinks.“No, and it’s driving me crazy. Brielle has never ignored my calls. Never ever.” I huffed, plopping down on the bed, and I snatched my phone. I dialled her number again for probably forty-eighth time that day, but as always, I was replied with a voice note. Just like I had been receiving every time I called her for the past three
♡Arielle’s POV♡ All the arrays of Alphas’ pheromones slammed into me at lightning speed, and I gasped, stumbling back. My eyes squeezed shut, and I pressed my fingers against my temple as my body tried to get use to the sudden change in the air. There were many alphas present. Far too many for my omega senses that had only come in contact with just one alpha’s pheromones. It was too much. Too choking. My chest turned tight, like I was drowning. I was suffocating. I couldn’t breathe. The warm and earthy scent of cedar filled my nose, cocooning me and overpowering those of the other alphas. It was safe. It was protection. It could only be one person. Raphael. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me into his firm chest, and I whimpered, melting into his embrace. The banging in my head and the choking in my lungs began to dissipate. “What do you think you’re doing with my wife?” Raphael snarled, and a low growl rumbled from his chest. “Easy. I told you I wouldn’t hurt her.” Killian l
♡Arielle’s POV♡“Mom!” Brielle and I gasped, rushing to both sides of my mom, and we sat on the armrests.Tears streamed down her cheeks, and though she pressed her hand to her lips, trying to choke back her sobs, they slipped past and echoed throughout the room.“It’s alright, mom.” I said as we patted her back, trying to comfort her, but it did no good.She wailed like a woman who had lost it all in one night. It was terrible to hear and see her so broken and crushed.I suspected whatever past she had with Killian was terrible and painful to remember, but I didn’t expect her to have a full-blown mental breakdown.“It’s ok, mom. Let it out. Let everything out that he has done to you. You’ve been holding it in for too long. Tell us your struggles.” Brielle whispered, rubbing her back.“I-I… I can’t. Our mom sobbed harder.“You have to. You need to let it out unless you won’t heal from the scars and trauma.” She insisted, and it only seemed to make her crying intensify.My heart went o
♡Arielle’s POV♡“W-what… T-that’s preposterous.” I stuttered, taking a step back, and I almost bumped into the chair.Me? In love with Raphael? That… That was absurd. Yes, there was something special between us. A fondness and connection that kept growing strong even without the interference of our pheromones. Sure, the butterflies in my belly always took flight and seemed to increase their fluttering daily whenever he was around me or when I simply thought of him. But surely it couldn’t be love. Or could it?“You can’t lie to me, Arielle. I am your mother; I know you.” She sneered, stalking closer to me like a predator cornering a prey. But I wasn’t going to cower away. I wasn’t a frightened child who was afraid to get on my mother’s nerve. “Tell me the truth: are you in love with Alpha Raphael?”“If I am, so what!” I snapped back. “Raphael is one of the most wonderful souls I’ve been blessed to meet. I would be lucky to fall in love with him.”And I meant it. It didn’t mean I had ro
♡Arielle’s POV♡“Ari! Ari! Wait!” Brielle called out my name, but I didn’t stop. I just kept matching to moon goddess knows where. I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want her to see the tears in my eyes or hear the sobs that threatened to escape. When I said I wasn’t going to ball my eyes out like the last time, I lied. The dam was so close to bursting open and flooding my cheeks.Different emotions ran through my head, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t know how to control the hurricane that was rolling in me. So many things had happened in just an hour. My secret was exposed to a hoard of Alpha Lords and the whole world, since the press were present. And right in front of Raphael, the man that I wasn’t sure what I felt for him apart from guilt that I had deceived him. Then I discovered the true identity of my father, a chaotic, ruthless alpha scum, and the worst of all, I literally sold out my loved ones to him.I didn’t know if I should scream, cry, or hit myself for bei
♡Arielle’s POV♡A fae?! Liana was a fae. I gawked at her like she was an odd oddity, because she was. How? How was she a fae? They were extinct, weren’t they? All the books I read, including those that were given to me by Agnes, stated that fact as clearly and simply as possible. Yet I was sitting in front of a person who claimed she was one. “How are you a fae? I thought fae were extinct.” I asked, frowning a little bit. I liked Liana, and I trusted her too, but not so much to believe that she was one of the most powerful races on earth that were thought to have gone out of existence. “Do you think a kind as powerful as mine could suddenly fade out of existence? Just like that?” Liana giggled, placing her hand over her mouth. “We no longer reside in your world because we chose to.” Why? Was it because of Thaddeus? It would make sense if it was because of him. After all, he had almost wiped out all the races that dwelt on earth. It was after the faes solved the problem that their