ARIEL’S POVI bent over sweating and huffing. My eyes became blurry with tiredness. I had exhausted my stamina. I looked up at Adonis. He had barely broken a sweat.“You need to build up your stamina first.” He walked over to me and offered me a hand.I took his hand and he helped me straighten up. I opened my mouth to say something to him but I was still so out of breath that it resulted in me taking rapid short breaths.I bent down again and allowed my body to fall to the ground this time. Adonis chuckled as he watched me.Placing a hand on my belly and the other on my head, I stayed still for a few minutes taking in long deep breaths and breathing out slowly to catch my breath and calm my racing heart.“You should at least know that you did better than most beginners.”I winced as I sat up on the floor.“Really?” I squinted at Adonis.He nodded, “Yeah, we’ve been going for well over four hours now,” he paused and looked up, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, “it’s well

MELVIN’S POVI walked over to where Niko’s vehicle was parked. From a distance, I could already see the four people who stood around the vehicle. Resha, Darius, Vera, and Viktor. They were part of Niko’s team and I knew all four of them. Niko was a killing machine and he had successfully put together a deadly killing formula with his team.The entire pack was very wary of Niko and his four horsemen of death that followed him. They looked innocent but I knew what each of them was capable of.I waved at them to get their attention. They all bowed and chorused, “Your highness.”I cleared my throat becoming slightly uncomfortable by their gesture. I acknowledged them quickly so they could straighten up.“Where is Niko?” I finally asked after they had regained their composure.“He is getting ready in his quarters,” Resha replied, pointing towards the workers' wing of the castle.“Okay.”“Do you need something, your highness? We could help you with it,” Resha chipped in, and the others nod

MELVIN’S POVNiko hopped through the stairs immediately and I forced my body to follow him. If it was Ariel I had to get there on time and I would think of what to do next after I had seen her.I hope I could save her. Goddess, tender mercy!“Darius, where are you?!” Niko called out, stopping abruptly at the top of the first flight of stairs.“Top floor, Niko!” Darius’ voice rang back.Niko started up the stairs again. He was always alert. We got to the top floor in no time and I could already hear the hearts beating rapidly. One, two, three, four. I counted three different heartbeats, including Darius’ own, two especially beating very fast.I could tell Niko was listening to the heartbeats too because we didn’t know the exact room they were in when we got to the top floor but he knew where to go just like I did.We got to the room and Darius’ back was what we first saw. I looked down and noticed that he was standing over someone because of the clamped legs that poked out between his

ARIEL’S POVEighteen Hours Earlier...The minute Melvin told me what his father was about to do to the other packs, I knew I needed to do something. I couldn't focus solely on just training while Joharres went ahead to obtain more power.Everything was falling apart at the very beginning. Ridiculous!I needed to do something to give me certainty or at least help me keep a cool head so I could think properly. Then it popped into my head, I could get clairvoyance.However, getting one would mean going to get a reading from Ikea, my pack’s witch. Melvin had sounded it severally into my ears that my pack was the last place I should think of going to right now because his Father had his betas scouring the nook and cranny of my pack. But I couldn’t care less at the moment. This was the only thing I could think of and I needed this.So rather than head to Jada’s cabin after my training session with Adonis, I went back to my pack instead. I knew it was dangerous but I have been in constant

MELVIN’S POVI got home feeling elated and settled. My heart felt light knowing that Ariel was safe and still very much out of the clutches of Father. I was in such a light mood that I strolled into the castle whistling.I decided not to go in through the throne room. I was in a good mood and I didn’t want Father to ruin it for me. He was definitely still sulking about yesterday.I was walking across the yard when Mother’s voice startled me.“You spent the night out, Melvin?”I jumped a little before looking up to see where her voice came from. I used my hand to shield my eyes from the sun so I could see Mother, who was standing on the verandah. She was smiling down at me.“Mother, you startled me,” I called back to her.“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” She waved at me, “come up, come to me.”I went in through the entrance that led to the yard and made my way up to the verandah to meet her.“Good morning, Mother,” I greeted as I got to her side.She turned to me, her lips still curled