Arielle’s POV:I knew it before I could even see it.I was healing the wounds of the boys. I could see it close by before my eyes, leaving behind nothing but a scar to show for it. I felt the pain in my chest continue to dull, and a lightheaded feeling came over me, which made me feel a little dizzy. My vision blurred as I continued to heal the boys, and before I knew it their tears had stopped.‘Arielle,’ I heard my name being called. Now I could tell it was the same familiar voice I had heard that came out of seemingly nowhere, but I couldn’t still tell whose voice it was. It sounded like an old woman’s voice, genial and kind. But it was not the voice of Richard’s foster mother, Esme. No, I thought, this voice had a strange accent along with it, and it was calling out to me persistently.I was brought back to reality when I heard my name being called by my assistant. She was looking concernedly at me, but I brushed it off with a smile, which wavered a little when she asked, “Are you

Richard’s POV:Why could we not just have a normal date, and some damn time to ourselves?I thought furiously as I walked over to the door of the suite, where we had previously been seated for our date. Arielle watched with worried eyes at the door but I gave her a look that said that I would handle it, then I grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.I caught Darren mid-knock with his hands raised and balled up into a fist.“Darren,” I growled his name, frustration seeping into my voice as I saw his face. “You better have a good reason for being here as it is.”The warning tone in my voice told my best friend - and our Pack’s charismatic Beta - that I was not in the mood to joke around. It seemed hat he got the point, and he nodded at me.“I was actually here looking for you, Richard,” he began to explain, “There has been a new development, and it is imperative that you come here now. Your presence is needed, Richard. This isn’t something that I can handle on my own.”The way he spok

Arielle’s POV:Those words I heard did have an effect on me, and I couldn’t for one just deny that. It was like an avalanche of emotions suddenly built up inside of me, waiting until the last drop of weight that would send everything come rolling downhill.Still, I had to be strong, I reminded myself. I was not just Arielle Grey, pack doctor. I was also a member of this pack, and I was protected. But more than that, I was the mate of the Alpha of the Redding Pack, Richard, which made me a future Luna. I had to learn to be stronge despite all odds.“Was that what he said?” I used a false calm expression to hide all my fears behind it, building a wall to block all of that out of my mind for the time being. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as Ethan displayed a look of surprise at my reaction, or rather, my lack of reaction. “I didn’t exactly expect any less from Leon. But you and I already know that, don’t we?”A familiar scent caught my attention, and I suddenly was aware of

Arielle’s POVWe were at a standstill.Instead of being outside, the three of us were at the clinic. And we weren’t the only ones there. It turned out that Darren had also sent three other warriors to look after me. They were now patrolling the place, Lilian having convinced them that she would be watching Ethan.I was nervous, and anyone who had eyes could see it. There I was, seated in the couch of my office, biting my lips and tapping my foot on the floor incessantly. My hand had found its way to my hair and I was slowly unraveling the bun I had put my hair into previously.Ethan was in the office with me, as was Lilian. Lilian was more focused on watching Ethan, and I didn’t blame her, having not seen his good side before. But I hoped to at soon, the tension would end. Ethan himself was seated at a chair in front of my desk, and his eyes were darting about the place, sometimes focused on me, and sometimes looking around the office. But he was avoiding Lilian’s intense glare, that

Arielle’s POV:What could I say to convince him?I was spent; I felt like I had been tense, my shoulders even hurt from the way I had been overthinking since for the past few hours, waiting for Richard to return.And now, this.I was still on my knees, feeling the pent up tension leak out of my body through my tears. I wasn’t crying just for Ethan. I was crying for everything; for Leon’s message he had sent as an ultimatum to me, for the obstacles I still had to face as the mate of the Alpha of the pack, for all the pain I had gone through at my age.Why was all this happening?“Get up,” Richard was saying, and I could see a flash of an intense emotion in his eyes before it was quickly replaced by blankness. I watched him clench his hands into fists and unclench them back again.He even repeated the command a second time.Still I couldn’t get up. I wouldn’t get up until he finally listened to me. I need him to give me a listening ear, and not to ignore my pleas like I meant nothing to