Aria's POV
Flashback - Three months ago.
Charlotte White, the Beta’s daughter, appeared after chemistry class. Rounding the corner, I walk straight into her. It wasn’t intentional and honestly, I would give anything not to be near Charlotte. Even though I was the daughter of the Alpha, it didn’t stop her harassing me.
Today, Charlotte had her ash blonde hair slicked back and pulled up in a high ponytail. She had been busy talking on the phone when I walked into her. The moment she sees that it is me, an evil grin appears. The phone slips from her hand, the screen shattering as it hits the floor.
“You bitch, do you know how much that costs?” her arms fold over her chest as she scowls at me.
“Of course you wouldn’t, you don’t even have a phone, wait until my father hears about this!” Anyone would think that Charlotte was the Alpha’s child by the way she acted.
Charlotte’s father was my father’s Beta. I knew I would get into trouble. Charlotte would spin some lie about me, and I would have to do extra chores for the next year to make up for it. It wouldn’t be the first time, Charlotte was always trying to get me in trouble, like she thrived off of my downfall.
“I’m sorry Charlotte, it was an accident.” I felt bad, I really did, though I shouldn’t. At least if I apologise, my father might go easier on me.
“Yeah right, you worthless piece of shit”, Charlotte pokes me in the chest with her long talons.
“Bad shit always happens when you are around”. People had gathered around now to see what was going on as I fought back the tears. Wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole.
“Screw you Charlotte White!” Bea, my best and closest friend. She hurries down the hallway, forcing people out of her way, she slips her arm through mine. Holding me locked in place, forcing me to stand up to the bitch of the academy.
“Need your ‘friend’ to stick up for you now”, Charlotte chuckles as she flicks her ponytail over her shoulder, beckoning her friends to join her. The whole thing made me feel small as people close in on us.
“Watch that mouth of yours Charlotte.” Ryan was walking down through the hallway. Many of the girls gasped, he was truly gorgeous with his jet black hair, his chiselled jaw and those amber eyes of his. His looks made him unique and today he was dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. The top buttons open so you could see the top of his muscly chest.
“Look who it is! The guy that's not even part of the pack. Why don’t you just fuck off and go back to where you came from,” Charlotte snarls at him.
“I may not be from your pack but I will always defend my girl!” he shoots a wink at me and I feel the heat in my cheeks. It was rare to hear Ryan call me his girl, but when he did it always sent a blush to my cheeks.
“This has nothing to do with you, but the bitch who broke my phone!” Charlotte rolls her eyes and starts checking out her manicured nails. Out of nowhere she throws a punch directly at my jaw. Her hand didn’t even get to make contact as Ryan caught her fist.
I watch as his hand squeezes hers and everyone around us gasps. I beg him to let go, knowing that this was going to cause more problems, but he doesn’t stop until everyone hears several cracks and Charlotte squeals out in pain.
It’s only when Charlotte starts begging that Ryan lets her go. Charlotte shakes out her bent fingers and rushes out of the school, quickly followed by a couple of her friends.
“Ryan, you are going to get in so much trouble” Bea whispers, her eyes wide.
“She got what was coming to her and besides, she is eighteen, she will heal” Ryan didn’t appear fussed.
Over the next few days, the news of his actions travelled quickly, and pack members began demanding that Ryan be brought to trial for treason.
“Maybe it’s best that he returns to Crimson pack” my father suggests, knowing the pack were getting riled up about Ryan still not being trialled.
“After everything he has done for us?” I attempt to plead with my father. I wasn’t talking about what Ryan had done for the family, I was talking about myself. Ryan had changed my outlook on life. I hated being the youngest daughter and the weakest link. Yet Ryan always promised me that my time would come and no matter what, he would always be there for me.
Ryan wanders into the kitchen and grabs an apple.
“It’s fine Aria, I am more than happy to accept the trial” he crunches through the apple, making me smile.
I had just turned fifteen when I found Ryan, he was fighting for his life at the edge of the pack lands. I had been on my way home from an after school club when I stumbled upon his bruised and bloodied body.
At the time he had told me to leave, but I couldn’t. My head was telling me that the man was a stranger and yet my heart was begging me to help him. Somehow I managed to get him home, moving him over a mile. To this day I don't know where I found the strength, he was much larger than my tiny frame.
When I had fallen in through the door, it had been my brother Kyle that had helped us. Seren completely ignored what was happening and refused to come out of her room. Kyle helped to clean up the strange man as he berated me for bringing home a stranger and putting the pack in danger. Which was made worse when father arrived home.
The Alpha had sent me to my room so that he could question the man but I never made it, instead I hid on the stairs, listening to the conversation.
When Ryan revealed who he was, the Alpha agreed to let him stay. He could stay on one condition and that was if Ryan pledged allegiance. Which he did without a single hesitation. Now it has come to this.
“It’s fine Aria, I promise”, Ryan leans down, kissing me on the cheek, making me blush. We had known each other for a couple of years by this point. Our friendship had blossomed into something else. Though we had never made it official, everyone knew that we were together.
Ryan tells the Alpha that he is confident in standing trial because he believed he was right in his actions, he was defending me. The Alpha agreed with Ryan, but it had come with a price.
As the trial began, the pack listened to everyone’s point of views, but they all came to the same conclusion.. They decided that he should be expelled from the pack.
The tears fell thick and fast as Ryan’s amber eyes found mine, we both knew what was coming, we were going to be separated and there was nothing that could be done.
“Wait,” I call out over the people, “What if he takes another oath?”
“Aria, the decision has been made, go and say your goodbyes,” my father looks into my green eyes. He was overwhelmed with sadness for me. He knew we were happy together, he knew he was about to break my happiness, a happiness that had not been present until I got to know Ryan.
“What if he takes a Blood oath?”
Aria's POV Flashback- three months ago Gasps rattle through the silence at my announcement. “The Blood Oath?” my father questions. The Blood Oath was not to be taken lightly. An ancient and sacred oath. Known by very few, the Alpha was surprised I knew about it. He pulls his me aside, away from the pack. “How do you know about the Blood oath?” he whispers under his breath, trying to stop the pack from overhearing them. Folding my arms across my chest, I heave a sigh, “Father, you know that I like to research our history,” I glance over at Ryan who is sitting with his face in his hands. I knew the Blood Oath was the only way to protect him. To stop the pack ganging up on him. At the same time, he had to be willing to hold up his end of the oath. Breaking the oath would mean he would suffer. No one knew how because it was different for everyone. My father turns to Ryan, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Ryan Conri, do you consent to taking the Blood Oath, to forever link yo
Aria's POV Flash back- three months ago Racing to Ryan’s side, I drop to my knees and lean over him. Tears stream down my face as I try to shake him. He wasn’t breathing, his chest still in the moonlit grounds. “Aria” my father rests his hands on my shoulders. “Aria, he will be fine, it’s just what happens” The Alpha summons Kyle and his Beta to help move Ryan back inside. He tries to reassure me that by morning Ryan will be his normal self, but I didn’t believe him. Refusing to listen to my father, I follow Kyle and my fathers Beta. Both men were huge and they were struggling to carry Ryan. A complete change to the day I had brought Ryan home. The men carry Ryan to his room. A room on the opposite side of the house to my bedroom. It didn’t stop me from following my brother in. As they lay Ryan down, I sit by his side, holding on to his hand. Kyle hovers for a moment, like he wanted to say something, his eyes darting about. “You think it failed?” I ask Kyle, hoping that it was
Present Aria's POV Exactly one hour later, I hear the turn of the key. I hadn’t moved from the spot where he had left me. My original plan was to escape, but when trying to figure out how to get out, it dawned on me that Ryan was expecting it. That's why he had locked me in, that’s why he had given me a time, he wanted to see what I would do. He had a scent unlike anyone else, and it had already found its way into the room under the door. Before he had even got through the door. His eyes settle on me, but in the same way as before, not quite looking at me. But I could see how annoyed he looked that I was still here. His wolf is a hunter and he had always enjoyed the thrill of the chase. I had ruined his fun! “Get up!” When I don’t move, he rips me up to my feet. I try to keep myself from whimpering, but some squeals escape. My body ached and he was making it worse. “You will listen to me Aria. Things will only get worse for you” “Maybe you will listen to me when you find out t
Aria's POV He doesn’t return again and I end up crying myself to sleep. When I open my eyes, I’m in bed properly. Wrapped up in the blankets, the door closed and Ryan was nowhere to be seen. Hung on the outside of the wardrobe was a long black dress. With thin spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline with a leg slit that probably went as high as my panty line. It wasn’t anything that she would have chosen for herself, it was far too revealing for me and yet I couldn’t help but run my hands over it. The material was silky smooth as it grazed over my skin. “It’s yours to wear tonight” his voice makes me jump. “I’m not going” I whisper as I reach out and touch the dress again. It was far fancier than anything I had ever worn. “You will be there, it’s not a request, it is an order.” I catch his gaze in the mirror, it was the first time he had really looked at me and I felt it, the twisting knot in my stomach, the one I had felt in the dungeons. Why did it have my stomach turning this
Aria's POV My heartbeat speeds as I realise that the very man I had come to hate was my mate. Tears spring to my eyes and I blink them back, worried that they are going to ruin everything. “Who was he Aria?” Ryan asks me again. I feel a lump in my throat because honestly, I didn’t know. The stranger had just stopped me from hitting the ground face first. I back away from Ryan, a stupid mistake but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t accept him as my mate, not after everything. “Stop!” he growls at me, but I find myself steadily backing away. He was purposely keeping his voice low. Not wanting to attract attention and I’m grateful when people step in between us, ignoring me and trying to talk to Ryan. Escaping from everyone, I quickly hurried out into the hallway, eagerly pulling off the shoes I could barely walk in. I tried to breathe deeply, as I realised that everything was now a hundred times worse. Running through the hallways, I receive odd looks from those standing
Aria's POV It happened every night for the next week. The vivid dreams of Ryan and I. Somehow a part of me enjoyed it while the other part of me hated it. At least Ryan was sleeping elsewhere! They always woke me at the same point though. With Ryan saying he thought I was a good girl. I didn’t know what that meant, I had no control over my dreams. When he unlocks the door, he seems different. Happier almost. Today I notice that he hasn’t brought me breakfast. “Come Aria, we are having breakfast downstairs today?” I was surprised and even more confused when he smiled. The smile was genuine, there was no force behind it like the other times. Nodding my head, I followed him out the room. Over the last week, I had learnt that it was better not to say anything, not to give him any clues about how I was feeling. He didn’t need to know that I had practised shifting every night. He certainly didn’t need to know that it was getting harder and harder for me to not act on the mate bond.
Aria's POV The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Ryan reluctantly agrees with the doctor that I take a course of pain medication. The medication doesn’t agree with me or maybe it was the whisky that Ryan gave me. It has me slurring my words and fighting against Ryan as he tries to keep me in bed. I try hurling things at him, but they never make it any further than a few feet, not even close to hitting him. At first he laughed at me, making jokes about how I was too weak to do anything, but that just angered me more. I was fed up with being the weak one. “Aria, get into bed!” “Make me!” I snap back at him as I stumble around the bedroom. Was this what it was like to be drunk? It wasn’t a nice feeling. I hear the growl. Instead of backing down, I turn to face him, dropping into a defensive stance. He seems surprised when I growl back. Throwing his hands up in the air as he rolls his eyes at me and walks out. “Where are you going?” I call out down the hallway but he keeps walking
Ryans POV I know what I saw, I don’t care if she wants to deny it. She has her wolf. She has met her mate. He was at the Moon Ball and I had let him leave. There is pure fear in her green eyes as she peers up at me. Her body was trembling, I hadn’t seen her this way before, even when I punished her. She was truly scared. Aria drove me mad. I don’t know why, but she did, I wanted to punish her and care for her at the same time. Here in this moment, she really thought she was telling me the truth. Reaching down I grab her hand. There were no marks, no signs that she had shifted before, but she definitely had claws. To be able to partially shift, she needed to have fully shifted.. “I will ask you once more, Aria. Did you meet your mate at the Moon Ball?” She shakes her head, her dark hair fanning out as she bites on to her bottom lip. I wasn’t going to get answers from her, not now. Not why she was refusing to tell me anything.. Rolling my eyes, I drop her hand, and walk to the bat