MasukMy father, a lone werewolf, had come all the way from the Obsidian Pack while battling an illness, to attend my union ceremony with Dean Willows, Alpha of the Moonstone pack and CEO of Willows Industries. It was my father's last wish to see me get married before he died. He was elated that his dreams were finally coming alive. Unknown to him, I had arranged a fake marriage with Alpha Dean. I had knelt outside the Willows mansion for many hours with my father's medical records in hand, begging him profusely before he finally agreed to play along in this wedding charade. But when the full moon rose high in the sky, Dean abandoned me, leaving me to face the pack's judgment alone. My father's heart gave out the moment he saw me standing there, all alone without my so-called mate. While taking his final breath at the hospital, he whispered to me in warning: "Arianna , beware of the Moonstone Pack..." and gave up the ghost. My heart was heavy with grief. I then saw Dean's childhood sweetheart, Vivien Cross, post on social media: "Only the unloved one is the third wheel." That was the last straw. I sent Dean a breakup message, severing our union. He responded by bringing the she-wolf, Vivien to our apartment, flaunting his new alliance.
Lihat lebih banyakChapter 1
Arianna
It was already past midnight when I finished dealing with my father's funeral arrangements. I returned to our penthouse apartment and took off the cheap rented wedding dress.
Ten hours had passed since I sent Dean Willows the breakup message. I could not determine which was more painful; Dean abandoning me at the altar, or my father’s death. I had been dealt two huge blows, all in one day.
My inner wolf, Accalia, cried bitterly, I felt like I had failed my father. I was a useless and weak she-wolf of a daughter who could not fulfill her father’s last wish. All thanks to Dean!
I could still hear the pack members' comments of mockery in my head as I tried to navigate the pain and hurt I felt deep in my heart.
“Thank goodness the Alpha did not show up, she must have seduced him in the first place!”
“Yes, Alpha Dean deserves better, better than this weak she-wolf that is trying her hardest to trap him with marriage!”
“She must want him for his wealth and position, good riddance!”
I had heard them say different things about me earlier that day, their harsh remarks and judgements were still ringing in my ears. I had a headache.
This wasn't the first time Dean had abandoned me for his long time girlfriend, Vivien Cross.
After Vivien appeared back in his life, every single one of our dates would be interrupted by her, intentionally or not.
It was the same as earlier today, when I was at the wedding venue, trying to reach Dean. He did not show up but still I stood there like a fool, waiting for him, even though I knew that there was a slim to no chance of him showing up. I already knew where he was.
I had called him a number of times also at the hospital after my father had died before he finally picked up. But then, the voice I heard at the other end of the phone did not belong to him, it belonged to that she-wolf, Vivien.
I knew it instantly. He was with her, he had chosen her over me, again. This was a fake union, to fulfill my father’s last wish, but he still chose her, abandoning me, again.
I knew Vivien must have devised a way to keep him all to herself on my fake wedding day, which she succeeded at. This was all her doing, Dean would never say no to her.
Sometimes she'd have a sudden unexplained injury, other times a mysterious illness.
Those common ailments would become matters of grave importance in Dean's ears. He would abandon me completely and drop everything to tend to her.
I used to make a fuss about it at first, I would complain about his attitude towards me. But later I came to understand my place, a place he showed me with his words.
He had told me clearly that his one and only love was Vivien, who had been his longtime girlfriend.
“You are only my mate, but not the one I love! My one and only true love is Vivien! Now that she is back, there is nothing you can do about it. You have to deal with it!” He had said, shattering my fragile heart to pieces.
Now all that remained was numbness. I was done!
I sat on the cold tiles, unknowingly drifting off to sleep.
When I woke up, Dean was sitting on the sofa smoking, his eyes gleaming in the dark. He was looking at the wedding dress on the couch with obvious irritation.
"Why aren't you sleeping in the bedroom? What's wrong with you sitting here? You nearly scared me to death when I came in."
He frowned at my swollen eyes. His voice laced with a hint of menace, "It's just a mating ceremony, isn't it? It was fake anyway, we can make it up to you later. Are you never going to let this go?"
As he finished speaking, Vivien walked in with a bag of breakfast, using her own key.
“You even gave her the key to our apartment?” I asked him. All my vulnerability was suddenly exposed.
I could see a glimmer of obsession in his gaze as soon as his eyes flicked to Vivien. I realized there and then, that Vivien had a hold on Dean, a hold that I couldn't compete with.
Seeing the tense atmosphere between Dean and me, Vivien spoke innocently:
"I'm so sorry, Arianna . This afternoon I got injured while running some errands and Dean had to come to my aid. If he hadn't found me in time and carried me to the hospital, I might not be here now."
I gave her a cold glance, not bothering to respond. I could tell she was only pretending.
But Vivien seemed to remember something and quickly turned to pull out a black plastic bag from her purse.
"Alpha Dean ran several kilometers to buy these for me, but they're not really appropriate for me to use. I should return them to you, Arianna ."
Her innocent eyes blinked repeatedly, but I knew she was mocking me.
She thought I still cared about this laughable relationship? I’d be damned!
I curved my lips in mockery and coldly said after she finished: "Dean, let's put an end to this farce. You've made it clear where your love and loyalty lies. I don't want to be a part of this anymore."
His face went instantly pale. He probably did not expect me to still maintain my stance on breaking up with him.
Whether the wedding was real or fake, I didn't want it anymore.
Even the air around him made me feel nauseous.
Arianna~Flashback Continues ~At first I did not pay attention to where we were. All I wanted was to get far away from the Queen mother at that moment, so I didn’t seem to mind where Alpha Ryder took me.Alpha Ryder’s mother was probably out to get my head, owing to what just happened, she was probably about to bring those threats alive, and I was not going to wait while that happened.At that moment, I depended on Alpha Ryder’s help, even though he was the cause of all that happened in the first place. My life had turned out like this, all thanks to his plan. A plan that I didn’t even know about yet.“Come in here,” he said with a steady voice as he opened the door and guided me inside. The door shut behind us with a soft click, a sound that somehow echoed in the silence, far louder in my chest than it should have.The moment we stepped in, I looked around, a good look to see where we had just entered. And I saw clearly.The dark wooden pillars, the heavy velvet curtains, the gold
Arianna I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. My eyes fluttered open slowly, taking in the soft morning light that spilled across the room, it was warm, gentle, and almost too peaceful to be true.But that peaceful feeling didn’t last a second.As my vision cleared, the room slowly came into focus. The tall, dark wooden pillars stood at each corner, polished to a shine. Heavy velvet curtains framed the windows, their deep color making the morning light look softer as it filtered in. Gold accents ran along the walls and furniture, giving the entire room a warm, rich glow.It was elegant, it was grand, it was powerful. And definitely not the room I had slept in before. It was glaring to a fault.My breath hitched and my heart raced as though it was about to beat out of my chest. I pushed myself up slightly, my eyes darting around, trying hard to locate something, anything I could at least recognize. But the more I looked, the faster panic crept up my spine. And t
RyderI could not believe what I had just done. Did I just kiss Arianna? I could not pinpoint the force that pushed me to land my lips on hers. All I knew was that, I wanted to do it so badly as I watched her lips move when she was asking me all of those questions.I remembered being at a loss for words, trying to figure out the best way to explain my public declaration to her. I did not ever imagine I was going to kiss her.My plan was different, even though I knew that there was some kind of force between us, something that was dragging me towards her, this was not the way I wanted it to turn out.I wondered if she was going to believe my words and what I was about to propose, now that I had moved faster than myself.But then, I still could not seem to regret it. It felt like the right thing to do in that moment, if Rufus had not interrupted.All of these thoughts went through my head as I shot Rufus a look. If only looks could kill, he might have been six feet under.Then I heard
AriannaI stood still in the hallway, far away from the chaos that had just threatened to swallow the trajectory of my entire life. Far away from the, was I to say ‘madness’ that had just happened?I did not know what to call it, nor could I tell what he was thinking. He seemed to have planned and decided on something, all on his own, without ever telling me he was going to do that, until he did.Now I was not ready to move or bulge from the spot I stood until I heard the explanation he had for me. That was probably the only last thin thread of what could make sense or make me see the direction he was going.Beta Rufus was right earlier. What if Dean would see the broadcast of this evening and decide that I had just jumped from the fry pan, straight into the fire? Into the pit of hell?Who knows if that was the direction my life was heading with everything that just happened?‘I am not going to give Dean the satisfaction of seeing me down. Even Vivien would mock the life out of me.’ I


















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