♡Arielle’s POV♡ “… You’re pulling me out of my comfort zone, Raphael.” A masculine voice spoke as I pushed open the door of Raphael’s office. He was sitting on one of the couches, chatting and sipping wine with a dark-skinned man sitting opposite him, whom I had never seen before. ‘That must be Alpha Gordon. My ticket to getting information on Brielle.’ I thought, clutching the letter I had prepared, and I walked into the office. “Don’t tell me you would rather be holed up in Havenbrook than help save a damsel in distress. You can’t be that heartless.” Raphael teased. His gaze flickered at me, and his face brightened. “This is Arielle, my beautiful wife, and Luna.” He announced, leaping out to his feet and rushing to me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to his friend. The man stood up, and only then did I notice he was not just tall; he was huge. He stood a few feet taller than Raphael, who was already tall, and had more defined muscle. While Raphael had more of a
♡Arielle’s POV♡It was like we had stepped into a magical world that only existed on the pages of fantasy books. The Intertwine was nothing like the grey-scale world I had imagined. It was beautiful. No, beautiful could not cut it. It was ethereal.The vast night sky was full of a multitude of dazzling stars that glowed, each of different sizes and soft colours. Some even had other stars orbiting around them. They were not enough to make the world as bright as day, but bright enough for us to see where we wanted to go. The landscape wasn’t as colourful as the sky and was a bit empty. We were standing in an almost endless meadow that had sparse little flowers and trees with coloured leaves here and there, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have its charm. A soft breeze moved through the short grasses, carrying a sweet, gentle scent.“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” I asked Raphael as I rubbed my eyes, in case I was dreaming about all I was seeing. I wasn’t. It all remained the sam
♡Arielle’s POV♡ “Let go of me.” I screamed, slamming my boot of my free leg into its hand that held my other. It didn’t even flinch a bit at my action. It lifted me so my face could be in front of it and it let out a bone-curling roar. I shut my eyes, wincing at the terrible sound and pungent stench of rotting eggs that came from its mouth. Drops of saliva touched my skin, and I felt like I was pierced by little needles. I needed to act fast, or else I would be monster food in just the first few minutes I spent in The Intertwine. And I couldn’t depend on Raphael. He was too busy defending himself. I just hoped he was okay. The sharp pain I felt in my chest was no more and was replaced by the fanatic banging of my heart. My hand unsheathed the dagger on my thigh, and with all my energy, I stuck the blade into its right eye. A thick, yellow, repugnant liquid oozed out of the gash. I expected the monster to shriek in pain or at least react a bit to the stab and maybe drop me while he
♡Arielle’s POV♡“Where did you learn to treat broken bones?” I asked as I watched him clean the last bit of blood off his arm. I wanted to help him patch his wounds, but he refused, like it was my hands that was hurt. It was the least I could do after he had helped me treat my broken leg.It wasn’t perfect given that our medical bag had been tussled during our encounters with the monster, and so some of our supplies had gotten broken. And honestly, we didn’t carry a cast to treat a broken leg because, well, we weren’t prepared for that. Injuries and wounds we were, but broken bones? Not so much. He had to make do with what was left and improvise. He did a great job.“Charlie was good at medicine, so he taught me a thing or two, even if he was sure I didn’t need it. I’m grateful he did.” Raphael said and began returning the medical equipment back to the bag.True, an alpha didn’t really need to know how to fix broken bones or stuff like that. Their healing rate was off the charts. If h
♡Arielle’s Point Of View♡ “Do you know how long we’ve been here?” I asked in a hushed tone as Raphael walked through a narrow path through a thick, dense forest of trees with dark blue leaves. It had been all we were seeing for the past few hours. It was eerie. They almost completely blocked the light of the stars, and we had to depend on Raphael’s sharp eyes to remain on the blue star so we wouldn’t wander astray. The silence was deafening and made me anxious that something was going to pop out of the leaves to attack us. “I don’t know. Maybe two or three days.” He replied just as quietly as I was, tightening his hold on me so I wouldn’t slip off his back. “Are you tired? We can take a break if you want.” I said, feeling sorry for him. He had been going through a lot. A whole lot. Fighting monsters, carrying me, and being on guard while I slept. It was an endless circle for him. And worse, his wounds weren’t healing as quickly as they were supposed to, one of the effects of The I
♡Arielle’s Point of View♡No. He couldn’t be. Please, he couldn’t be. Raphael couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t. He was too young. He still had so much to experience and enjoy in life. He couldn’t die without seeing his territory free of Killian’s plan. He… he couldn’t leave me.I knew sounded really selfish, but I was honest. I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t want him to leave me. He changed my life. He changed my perspective. He made me see the world, alphas, in true light instead of the tinted lens I had grown up with. He had made me feel all sorts of things that I never dreamed I would with not just anyone but an Alpha. I couldn’t let that type of man die. Fate could take me and leave him instead, and I would be fine. Because… I loved him.“I loved Raphael.” I whispered and tried not to scream, and laugh, and shout, and curse myself at the same time. What was wrong with me? I was crazy.He had confessed his love to me some days ago, and I kept insisting that I didn’t understand wheth
♦Raphael’s Point Of View♦ “Arielle, please wake up. I need you.” I whispered, brushing a small strand of her hair from her face. It had been three days since we returned from The Intertwine. Three days and my sleeping beauty’s eyes hadn’t even twitched. I had been by her side the whole time I was awake, waiting and praying to the moon goddess that she would wake up. Joan had said she would wake up soon, but every second she wasn’t awake, it made my chest squeeze. How soon was soon? She had to wake up. I was losing my mind seeing her so frail and weak, covered with bandages from all the injuries that she had sustained from the bug bites. We had even tried magic-induced drugs, and they helped her leg a bit, but the wounds she had remained the same. I was sure it was because she got them from The Intertwine. I couldn’t protect her enough. I had laid half-dead, unable to do anything against the devil bugs apart from waiting for the hands of death. While she got hurt not just trying to
♦Raphael’s Point Of View♦Arielle was kissing me?! Not me kissing her. I didn’t initiate it; she did. She was kissing me on her own volition.My brain fried for a split second before my body responded on its own. I placed my hand behind her head and deepened the kiss. The beautiful taste of her lips and her scent engulfed me, and I lost myself in them, savouring the goodness.She broke the kiss just when my hunger for her had risen to the point where I wanted to be in control and deepen it, but I had to respect her boundaries. If she wanted to stop, then it was fine with me, even though I wanted more. Just her kissing me out of the blue was enough to keep me on cloud nine for a week.“What—”“Shh.” She whispered, placing her finger on my lips. “It may seem really odd that I would say something like this at this moment, but I need to say it now because I don’t think it’s fair to you. So will you please listen to everything without interrupting till I’m done?”Though confused by the sit