《Enigma》 Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 1: Prologue Amara and Steven waited by the dining table with their children for their eldest daughter to descend the stairs so they can surprise her. Arabe was turning ten today. It was especially a special day for Amara as she was about to introduce Arabe to her extended family. Arabe descended the stairs in almost a sprint and the chorus of happy birthday started immediately. Little Elliot and Eros were pping ferociously in excitement. Valentina and Elizabeth were trying to take a sneak at the cake in the midst of the distraction and the twins, Benjamin and Ethan were beaming and singing loudly to their sister who was turning red with embarrassment every passing second. ¡°Come on pumpkin. Blow the candles already.¡± Steven teased Arabe. ¡°Yeah Aria. I want to eat the cake.¡± Elizabeth eximed. There was a little bit of drool visible on the side of her lips. ¡°Don¡¯t drool on the cake Betty.¡± Ethan said with a look of disgust on his face. ¡°But I am hungry and I can have all the cake if I drool over it.¡± ¡°Betty it¡¯s your sister¡¯s birthday. Let her at least cut the cake before you try to inhale it whole.¡± Amara signed shaking her head. She swatted Valentina¡¯s hand as it reached the cake making the six year old pout. Arabe shyly walked towards the head of the table and blew the candles. She cut the cake as the house rang with the birthday song again. ¡°Kids get your bags or you will bete for school.¡± Amara told her children once the celebration came to an end. ¡°Steven please drop them off.¡± Steven nodded and went to grab his keys. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you dropping us off?¡± Benjamin asked confused. ¡°I will be spending my day with Aria today.¡± Arabe looked at Amara confused and shocked. ¡°I want to stay too.¡± Elliot voiced and Eros nodded in agreement. ¡°Not today. We will go out some other day. Today is only for Aria.¡± Steven exineding inside to collect the grumbling children. Steven already knew where Amara was taking their eldest daughter and he knew she needed to go there with only Arabe. He quickly pushed the children out of the house and stowed them inside the car. He grinned at Amara in encouragement and drove off. ¡°What are we doing today mom?¡± Arabe¡¯s soft voice snapped Amara out of her thoughts. ¡°We are going to a very special ce. Wear somethingfortable. We have a long walk to look forward to.¡± Amara told her a little nervous about the uing meeting. Arabe nodded and made her way to her room. She quickly changed into a track pant and a loose t- shirt and skipped down the steps. Amara was already by the door waiting for Arabe to join her. As soon as she came down, the mother daughter duo started their walk into the dense woods of Greycoast. Arabe was shocked seeing how well her mother knew her way in the woods as she saw Amara gliding effortlessly through the dense forest like she knew every branch and stone that were there. For all she knew her mother was a human for the most part just like her and she never went in the woods before. Not at least in front of her and her siblings. But she knew there was something mysterious about her mother which she couldn¡¯t decipher. Arabe had always found a weird connection with Amara. This connection was deeper than what she had shared with her biological mother, Elena. It had been there since as long as she could remember and when she moved in with Amara after Elena died giving birth to Eros, her little brother, the N?velDrama.Org ? content. connection got intense. Arabe still remembers the day her mother died. She was seven and her first half¡¯s exams were in a week. She was in the school when a woebegone Steven had picked her up from her school in the middle of the day and taken her directly to her house. A baby¡¯s cries could be heard when she entered her house but the atmosphere was thick with mncholy. Her father, Alexander was sitting beside a pale female corpse, wailing pitifully. She saw her aunt Amara looking dazed at the dead female. Her aunt Natalie was trying to calm the child down but he won¡¯t stop crying. Once she had stalked near the unmoving female, she knew who she was. She ran towards her father andtched onto him. Alexander had wrapped his arms around his trembling daughter and both of their bodies shook with sobs at the loss of a mate and a mother. They had arranged a funeral after five days for Elena but the most shock came the day after the funeral. Alexander had vanished leaving behind a letter to his family. Arabe had lost her mother and father in mere span of a week. She was so lost in the misery that she failed that year and had to repeat it. The Knights had decided to go in search for Alexander when he didn¡¯t return for a few months but they couldn¡¯t take Arabe and Eros with them. Amara and Steven had stepped up and took them in. Arabe couldn¡¯t describe how grateful she was to them. Her brother Eros didn¡¯t even know about not being their child till date. They raised Eros and Elliott as twins. That¡¯s how loving and impartial they were and Arabe had eventually started calling them mom and dad but she didn¡¯t forget her mother and father either. Arabe was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn¡¯t realize that Amara had stopped walking and she bumped into her, stumbling back a little. ¡°Sorry mom.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright sweetheart.¡± Amara told her smiling. Arabe looked around to find herself standing in a clearing. It had a small cabin to the side. The sound of rushing water could be heard over the quietness of the woods. ¡°We are here to meet someone important.¡± Amara exined looking at Arabe¡¯s confused expression. ¡°Someone really important to me. To us.¡± Arabe looked at Amara with furrowed eyebrows. ¡°I met them when I was ten years old and now it¡¯s time you meet them too.¡± Arabe nodded reluctantly. ¡°Ryder.¡± Amara called in the mind link. Arabe gasped as she saw the massive transparent golden wolf walk out of the woods behind her mother but somehow she knew the wolf won¡¯t hurt her or her mother. ¡°This is Ryder, Aria. My older brother.¡± Realization dawned on Arabe as she stared at the beautiful wolf standing too close to her mother. He looked almost possessive of her. ¡°Are you telling me that this is Uncle Ryder? As in the Uncle Ryder?¡± Arabe eximed. Ryder snorted making Amara re at him. She nodded at Arabe sheepishly. ¡°Wow! Can I hug you uncle Ry?¡± Arabe asked shyly. Ryder looked at her in awe and nodded. Arabe dashed towards him and flung her arms around his neck as much as her small hands could go. Ryder nuzzled into her. Amara looked at the duo in wonderment but her expressions soon changed to a groan of pain as she wasnded on her ass by a huge golden fur ball tackling her to the ground. The said fur ball was wagging his tail ferociously and nuzzled into Amara¡¯s neck. Before Amara could weave her fingers through the new arrival¡¯s fur, a growl ripped through the silent woods. ¡°Get the fuck off of my sister.¡± Ryder growled. Arabe stepped away from him in shock, looking at the unfolding scene. It looked almostical. Amara groaned in frustration at the antics of her brother and Xander cowered into her, trying to make himself smaller. ¡°Language Ryder. There are kids present here.¡± Amara snapped. ¡°Then tell him to get away from you.¡± Ryder grumbled stubbornly. ¡°Xander sweetie, do you mind getting off of me please?¡± Amara said signing. Xander moved from above her, sulking in the process. ¡°Wow mom! You weren¡¯t exaggerating when you said Uncle Ryder was overbearingly possessive.¡± Arabe said snickering. Ryder red at her but she just looked at him amused. ¡°This is Xander, Aria, my nephew and Ryder¡¯s eldest son.¡± Arabe nodded, beaming at Xander who was still sulking. ¡°Xan, this Arabe, Aria for short. She is my eldest daughter.¡± Xander still didn¡¯t look happy. ¡°Sweetie don¡¯t be sad. Your Papa is a minnie. I will spend an entire day with you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Thank you Aunty Amy.¡± Xander gave a wolfish grin. ¡°WHAT? WHAT ABOUT ME?¡± Ryder bellowed. ¡°You were mean to him. Again.¡± ¡°So what? He was taking you away from me.¡± Ryder said growling at Xander. ¡°For heaven¡¯s sake Ryder. How old are you? Stop throwing tantrums like a child. He was not taking me away from you. I seriously want to thump you sometimes.¡± ¡°But you didn¡¯t hug me.¡± Ryder whined. Amara sighed and hugged the big wolf, burring her face in his neck. Ryder literally purred and pulled her to the ground. Arabe watched the interaction between her mother and her uncle with amusement. She had never thought what her parents told her about her uncle Ryder was true but it was. He was just as possessive and loving to her sister as they said and she also saw firsthand that the treatment didn¡¯t extend to anyone else. She watched the big bad wolf go putty in her mother¡¯s arms. The scene looked hrious to the least but she was still intrigued about these fascinating wolves and her mother¡¯s connection to them. ¡°Hello Aria.¡± Xander said startling Arabe from her staring. ¡°Hey Xan. It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Yeah cousin.¡± Xander gave a wolfish grin receiving an equally bright smile from Arabe. Amara and Ryder were still bickering in the background. ¡°He is your father?¡± Zander nodded. ¡°Where is your mother?¡± ¡°We spirit wolves don¡¯t have mothers. There is no female wolf here. You will understand soon.¡± Xander exined. Arabe looked at him confused. Many questions were swirling in her head. Why was she here? What are these wonderful creatures? How can they be rted to her mother? How was she rted to them? The kepting. ¡°I know you have a lot of questions Aria and I am going to exin everything to you.¡± Amara said, startling Arabe out of her pensive. ¡°You might want to sit down. It will take a lot of time to exin.¡± Arabe made herselffortable on the forest floor and leaned against Xander. She didn¡¯t know why but she already trusted these massive spirit wolves. Amara opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a very expectant Ryder. ¡°Will you groom me after you have exined Aria everything?¡± ¡°SHUT UP RYDER.¡± Amara growled at him making him actually shut up. Amara exined everything to Arabe that day with a grumbling Ryder sulking behind her. Chapter 2- Arabella Chapter 2- Arabe In the pack children, I am the oldest. I will be turning neen this year. Because of the year I lost when I lost my mother, I am now in the senior year of high school. Thenes Zeno. He is Uncle Leo¡¯s eldest son. Uncle Leo has two more children, Faye and Hugo. They are fourteen and twelve. Francis and M are Uncle Stanley¡¯s children. They are sixteen and thirteen. Then there is Fabian and Zoe, also sixteen and thirteen. They are Uncle Ryan¡¯s kids. Uncle Mathew have three children, Vivian, Griffin and Vincent. Vivian is sixteen. Griffin and Vincent are twins. They are thirteen. Then there is Uncle Asher¡¯s daughter, E. She is fourteen. Uncle Austin and Aunt Cloe couldn¡¯t make it this year. They have a daughter, Zahra who is thirteen. She is an angel. We get along quite well. We don¡¯t get to meet each other much but I love to spend time with her. I have a feeling that Griffin has a crush on her. I tease her a lot about it. It¡¯s quite arge family I have here but I still feel lonely at times. I am notining though. I have wonderful parents and siblings. I wouldn¡¯t dare exchange them for anything. My father, Alexander still hasn¡¯t shown up to this day. I have lost hope that he ever will. Grand pa and Grand ma call once in a while but I don¡¯t feel connected to them anymore. Uncle Oliver and Aunt Natalie also calls once in a while but the connection is just not there. It feels like they have moved on and had started a new life. ¡°Well well well! What do we have here?¡± Zeno¡¯s annoying voice broke my staring match with the moon. He was standing near my leaning figure with a nasty smirk on his face. ¡°Hi Zeno.¡± I said politely. He gave me a disgusted look. It has been like this since I moved in with mom and dad. He simply hated me since the day heid his eyes on me. I used to go to Greycoast high before as it was near my old home. From that day he had never given up a chance to belittle me and make life difficult for me. Francis and Fabian as usual must be keeping Ben and Ethan busy while this muck of a persones to soil my already gloomy mood. ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me like I am your friend you weakling.¡± He snapped. Yup! That the best he coulde up with. ¡°Do you mind moving? The moon is really pretty today.¡± I told him calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t destroy the moon¡¯s beauty byying your ugly eyes on it. Why don¡¯t you just leave or something? Aren¡¯t you like already eighteen? Must have failed a year or been expelled for being stupid.¡± He startedughing at his own joke. I just rolled my eyes at him but deep down the wounds of my mother¡¯s death and my father¡¯s disappearance are still fresh. I chose not to reply to him. ¡°What are you deaf and dumb too now? You should just go back to your real parents and stop trying to get along with our pack and family. You are not a part of it anyways.¡± He kept on talking. He knows my parents are a sensitive subject. The pack children don¡¯t know who they are, only the adults know that. Hell they don¡¯t even know that Eros is my brother and not Elliot¡¯s twin. They think I am the only one that basically barged in the Astley family. So basically I am an outcast in between the new generation of the pack. They don¡¯t know where I came from nor do they know me properly but they still decided that I am not a part of their family. Well its better this way. I can train more and I don¡¯t have to lie to anybody about my whereabouts. ¡°Your parents must have been fed up with you to kick you out and leave you behind. I don¡¯t know why Aunt Amara and Uncle Steven decided to take you in. They should have left you to fend for yourself.¡± He said in a teasing voice. The pale corpse of my mother shed in front of my eyes. A shudder ran through my body at the image. I could hear the sorrowful wailing of my father and the cry of an orphan child who lost his mother before he could even get to know her. ¡°And now you are crying like the wimp you are.¡± Heughed. I am crying? But the images won¡¯t go away. The voices were ringing in my ears. I clutched my ears and screwed my eyes shut but it felt like those things had prated in my head. No. Go away. I don¡¯t know how long I sat there like this, trying to get rid of the horrifying scene. Someone ripped my hands away from my ears and I opened my eyes on reflex. ¡°Breath Aria. In and Out.¡± A voice said in my ears. Dad. ¡°Please sweetie. Breath.¡± Mom. Am I not breathing? ¡°It¡¯s okay. Just rx.¡± There were people around us. I could feel it. ¡°Daddy. Mommy.¡± This content is ? N?velDrama.Org. ¡°Yes baby. We are right here.¡± Dad said near my ears. The haze was clearing slowly. I found myself sitting in dad¡¯sp with mom¡¯s worried face right in front of mine. Dad was holding my hands in a tight grip and his legs were pinning mine. I slumped on Dad trying to calm my raging heart. What did I do? Chapter 3- Arabella Chapter 3- Arabe ¡°What happened? Is everything alright?¡± Mom said in a panicked voice. ¡°It¡¯s nothing mom.¡± I wiped my eyes. ¡°I just remembered that¡­ that day.¡± I shook my head to clear the images that were swirling in front of my eyes. ¡°Did anything trigger it?¡± Dad asked in a stern voice but I can sense the undertone of worry in his voice. I saw Zeno looking at me with a weird expression on his face from the crowd around us. Everyone was gathered around us. Shit! I didn¡¯t want to go into full panic mode in front of them. They will bully me even more. ¡°No dad. It just happened out of nowhere.¡± I lied. Getting Zeno into trouble won¡¯t be a good idea now. It will create even more problems than I already have. He is their Alpha after all. They worship him like a god. I have been through this for so many years, one more won¡¯t be that much of a problem. ¡°Okay. Are you feeling alright? Do you want to go home sweetie? We can go right away.¡± Mom said narrowing her eyes at me. I don¡¯t think she believed me. Ben and Ethan were looking at me with concern and so were Valentina and Beth. Elliott was standing beside them with Eros holding his hand. Those two always had a close bond from the beginning. ¡°Off course not mom. I am alright. I just freaked out a little. That¡¯s all. You can continue the party. I will need a minute to collect myself.¡± I said with a straight face. In reality, I want to go home and curl up in my bed. I am d Eros didn¡¯t have to go through what I had. ¡°Steven we are leaving.¡± Mom said with authority. My head snapped towards her in surprise. ¡°Off course love.¡± ¡°Why? We can stay. I promise I am okay.¡± I tried to convince them. ¡°You think I will care more about a party when my daughter is not feeling well? Well you are wrong. Kids get in the cars. We are leaving.¡± A pleasant warmth started to spread in my chest at her words. I know she is not my real mother but in all these years, she never let me feel that. I smiled at her gratefully. She is a really great woman. I don¡¯t know what I would have done without her and dad. ¡°Mom how about I go visit uncle Ryder?¡± I suggested standing up on shaking legs. ¡°You can still enjoy the party. I don¡¯t want to kill the fun.¡± ¡°Are you out of your mind? We are not leaving you alone when you just had a panic attack.¡± Ben snapped. ¡°Yeah. I know how bad it gets. We areing with you.¡± Valentina said firmly. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°No. We areing with you.¡± Elliot said. Eros nodded looking determined. He looked really adorable. If this wasn¡¯t a serious situation, I would N?velDrama.Org ? content. have pinched his cheek. ¡°We can¡¯t make you forget it Aria but we can stay by your side when you need support.¡± Ethan said in a soft tone. He engulfed me in his arms. Soon another pair of arms joined us and then another. Their warmth med me down to a great extent. It felt like I was at home. I buried my face in Ethan¡¯s chest as he squished me close and the others closed in as well. After a while we separated. ¡°You are not alone Ari.¡± Beth told me. I nodded gratefully. Mom and dad smiled at us with love shining in their eyes. ¡°I am sorry.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to¡­¡± Ethan started but mom cut him off. ¡°Actually I am thinking of going to see Ryder. Aria you areing with me. Ben, Ethan one of you drive the other car. Be careful. No rash driving. We wille back tomorrow.¡± Mom said in a no argument tone. We know not to challenge her when she talks like that but I am having a feeling that I am screwed. She will probably dig everything out of me. ¡°How will you go there mom if you are leaving the car behind?¡± Val asked confused. ¡°Ryder will pick us up. Come on Aria.¡± And with that she turned around and started walking towards the houses of the pack members. My siblings know we go see uncle Ryder every Sunday but they don¡¯t know why or where. They don¡¯t know about the spirit wolves in the slightest. It was apparently an order from grandpa Hercules about keeping everything from the new generation. Mom and I go to the cabin every Sunday morning. She trains me there in the clearing in front of the cabin. I have gotten quite good at fighting but my spirit powers haven¡¯t showed up yet. Mom said hers needed a trigger so I am not sweating on it. Mine could be the same way. I am already of age so it scares me some times that maybe I don¡¯t have any but mom believes otherwise. She says she knows I am her heir. Well in a way I am her daughter. Not by blood but by soul. I am happy with that. When we reached near the stretch where the cars were parked, mom turned into the forest and I followed her. The walk to the cabin was silent. She didn¡¯t say a word nor did she once turn around to look at me. That really sacred the shit out of me. Chapter 4- Arabella Chapter 4- Arabe Once we reached the clearing of the cabin, mom plopped down on the ground and looked at me sternly. She motioned me to sit down and I reluctantly sat down in front of her. This ce always felt like home. It calmed me down every time I was agitated but today, seeing mom like this, it was riling me up and making me nervous. ¡°Spill.¡± She ordered. I don¡¯t have a choice now, do I? ¡°I was sitting under the tree and Zeno walked up to me.¡± I mumbled. She didn¡¯t say anything just looked at me with a nk face. Well she looked scary. ¡°Mom can we not talk about this please.¡± I made ast effort to save those idiots¡¯ asses. She just replied me with a re so I continued. ¡°At first I didn¡¯t pay much attention to them like every time but he said some things about mom and dad and the next thing I know I was seeing and hearing the memories of that day.¡± I chewed on my bottom lip to stop myself from crying. ¡°What do you mean by every time? How long has this been going on?¡± Her voice came out sharp. Oh no. She is furious. ¡°Since I started living with you.¡± ¡°WHAT? AND YOU DIDN¡¯T BOTHER TELLING US?¡± Mom bellowed. ¡°Mom calm down please. It wasn¡¯t this bad before. Just some snidements and stuff here and there. I never paid much attention to them in school anyways. It just got to me today. I think they never liked me moving in with you guys.¡± I said looking at my fingers. ¡°What were your brothers doing when you were going through all this? I am going to ground their asses for eternity. And why the hell didn¡¯t you beat the living day lights out of them? I think I taught you well till now.¡± Mom snapped. I sighed. I think uncle Ryder is really rubbing off on her. I didn¡¯t know she can be this violent. ¡°Mom, it¡¯s not Ben and Ethan¡¯s fault. Fabian and Francis usually keep them busy and Zenoes to mock me. About not beating them up, mom that¡¯s ridiculous. How can you tell me to beat them up? I meane on. You are my mother. You are not supposed to say things like that.¡± I replied amused. She smirked at me. Situations like these made me understand how wonderful of a friend she is to me despite being my mother and mentor. ¡°Well I almost beat someone on my first day at school here.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± I was shocked. ¡°They were bulling Aaron.¡± She said through gritted teeth. I nodded. ¡°Is that why you asked to change school?¡± ¡°Yeah. But I guess I can tolerate them for one more year.¡± I signed in exhaustion. ¡°I will get you transferred to Greycoast high. You can at least enjoy yourst year of school.¡± I looked at her to find her smiling softly at me. I grinned at her and jumped on her to hug her. ¡°Don¡¯t go beating their asses¡¯ mom and don¡¯t tell the others about it either. Especially the boys. I can imagine them going on a hunting party with dad in the lead.¡± I shuddered at the image. They would probably beat them ck and blue. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. ¡°Fine.¡± Mom grumbled. ¡°I will have to tell Steven though. I¡¯ll make sure he won¡¯t harm anyone. I seriously want to hurt them for hurting my baby.¡± She was actually pouting. Iughed at her antics. She is sometimes like a child in a grown up¡¯s body but she doesn¡¯t even look a day over neen. ¡°Who do you want to beat up princess?¡± Uncle Ryder¡¯s voice came from the tree line and then his massive form emerged in front of us. Oh no! If mom is childish and possessive, uncle is on an entirely different level. I hope Uncle won¡¯t rile mom up. Uncle Ryder sat down beside mom and she leaned on him. Their bond is truly envious. Uncle Ryder will do anything to keep mom safe. He even gets upset when mom doesn¡¯t need his help. I wouldn¡¯t dare to voice it in front of him but it¡¯s really cute how he gets territorial over mom and demands to be groomed like a pup. Yup! He still asks for that. I never saw mom do that though. I am frankly not sure how she will manage to lick Uncle Ryder. The image made me shudder in disgust. It will take her forever to do that. Females doesn¡¯t have wolves after all. ¡°Zeno, Francis and Fabian.¡± Mom grumbled. ¡°What did they do? Did they hurt you?¡± Uncle growled. ¡°Nahh. They bully Aria and she had a panic attack today.¡± Mom exined nonchntly. ¡°WHAT?¡± Here we go again. If mom is dramatic, Uncle Ryder is off the chart. I sighed at his outburst as he cursed the entire past generations of the three boys to the deepest pits of hell. I was tempted to tell him that it is not their ancestors fault but I know he won¡¯t listen so I shut my mouth and listened to him berate them. At least he didn¡¯t shoot up and run to murder them. ¡°I am changing her school for thest year.¡± Mom told him ignoring his rant. ¡°You do that. I don¡¯t want them near Aria. I knew those boys weren¡¯t ready to lead a pack. Especially Zeno.¡± He grumbled and mom hummed in reply. My eyes widened in surprise. So they are deliberately keeping them from shifting. Hmm. Makes sense. I feel the same way. They truly are not ready yet. Chapter 5- Arabella Chapter 5- Arabe The air rushed through my hairs as we traveled back home. Mom is sitting on Ryder¡¯s back while I am on Xander¡¯s. There are nine more spirit wolves but sadly I haven¡¯t met them yet. Mom said she will let me enjoy my life till she can keep up with the spirit walker duties but she is still training me in case I have to take over unpredictably. I am already of age so the powers wille to me in full force any day now anyways. So far there have been no problems but you never know. Right? We got off of their backs as we reached the woods near our house and started our walk. It is past breakfast time but my stomach is growling as we haven¡¯t eaten yet. Ryder and Mom were going on and on about Zeno, Fabian and Francis so we arete. I hope dad has fed the others but again he is totally useless in the kitchen. My poor brothers and sisters must be starving. A strawberry blond haired midget almost tackled me to the ground as soon as I entered the house. ¡°Eros! How many times have I told you not to run around the house?¡± Mom scolded him but the sternness slipped from her face as the said midget looked at her with a puppy face. Everyone is a sucker for that one. I swear to god, it feels like he is getting cuter every passing day. He definitely knows that and uses it to his advantage. ¡°I missed you Ari.¡± He said to me as I picked him up. Mom went inside looking at the two of us fondly. I made my way to the kitchen and had an immediate mind to run out of the house as I could literally see mom swelling with rage. Dad looked like he would shit his pants any moment. He must have done something bad. ¡°Love the kids were hungry.¡± Dad said in a weak voice. Others were trying to escape but one look from mom made them stop in their tracks. What did they do? Ahh! Now I know what happened. Dad is definitely sleeping on the couch tonight for sure. After mom screamed herself hoarse, she went to take a soak. Apparently dad had ordered pizza for breakfast and had forgotten to dispose of the evidence. No wonder mom was mad. I left my shaken up family in the kitchen and went to take a bath myself. Eros quietly went to sit with dad. Mom cooked lunch and we sat down to eat. Mom was still shooting dirty looks around the table. Only me and Eros were spared from it. I am more worried about their reaction about me changing school though. We had discussed to talk about it after lunch beforeing home. I am sure there are going to be major fits and objections on it but I just don¡¯t want to go to that school anymore. I know this wasn¡¯t my first panic attack. I have had them since that day. This was the first time Zeno¡¯s words actually affected me but I just want a peaceful senior year. After they saw that, I am one hundred percent sure the bullying will be worse. Now they know what gets the reaction out of me. The lunch went by in a jiffy and we are seated in the living room to announce what I am dreading to tell them. ¡°Aria will be changing school for thest year.¡± Mom said bluntly. ¡°I am transferring her to Greycoast high.¡± There was a chorus of ¡®Whats¡¯ and ¡®Whys¡¯ but one look from mom and they all shut up. For her small stature, she has a really mean re. ¡°We will go with her.¡± Ben dered. ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t want to start high school without Aria there.¡± Val said dramatically. She is starting high school this year. It feels like yesterday that she was dancing around the house in her diapers. My baby sister is growing up so fast. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. Aria has only one year left of school so it won¡¯t be that hard. You guys on the other hand have a few so only Aria is changing school.¡± Mom said in a no argument tone. ¡°But why does she have to change school anyways?¡± Ethan protested. ¡°She has her reasons and you will not force her to tell you those.¡± Mom warned. Everyone nodded but I could feel dad¡¯s eyes on me. All this time I was looking at my fingers in anxiety. We have never been to separate schools before. I hope they won¡¯t be mad at me. ¡°I know this has something to do with yesterday.¡± Beth said in a serious voice. ¡°We will know about it soon.¡± Sometimes I wonder if she is an old women in an eleven year old¡¯s body. She has always been like this. Wise for her age. Mom and dad went to their room. Surely mom must be filling him in on the situation. ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to tell us what is bothering you but we will know eventually.¡± Ethan said looking at me with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t look so nervous Aria. We are not mad at you. If going to a new school makes you happy, we will go with it.¡± The others nodded. I can¡¯t describe in words how much I love my family. They are just perfect.N?velDrama.Org ? content. Chapter 6- Arabella Chapter 6- Arabe The week went by pretty quickly and it¡¯s the first day of school. We usually go to school together but it would have to change for this year. The twins are taking one of their cars with the others and I am taking mine to school. Mom and dad gifted us our own cars on our sixteenth birthday but we usually use only two cars with it being six of us. I haven¡¯t used my car for like forever. I have to leave early too as the school is on the other side of the town. The school starts at eight so now I am on my way there. I would be lying if I said that I am not scared. I hope this school won¡¯t be the same as Redwood. At least there won¡¯t be any bullying with the pack children not being there. I parked in the parking lot and went to my first ss of the day, Literature. Mom already got my schedule while she did the procedure of the transfer. The corridor is starting to get less and less crowded. It made me really nervous as they kept looking at me. Being new in school can be really nerve-racking. I entered the ssroom and went straight to the teacher for him to sign the slip that was given with the schedule. He took it and told me to stand in the front. I don¡¯t want to introduce myself. Please just start the ss already. ¡°We have four new students joining us this year. One of them is here. The other three must being in a minute. We will start the ss when they join us.¡± The teacher, Mr. Cole said to the ss. I shuffled on my feet as I felt the eyes of my fellow ssmates on me. True to the teacher¡¯s words the door opened a couple secondster and three boys walked in. Three tall and very handsome boys. What enthralled me more was their size and build. It was simr to my brothers and the pack kids. Something¡¯s not right about them. I can tell just by looking at them. The way they walked, the way they presented themselves is screaming non-human or maybe I just might be just overreacting. They gave their slips to the teacher and stood beside me. I must have looked like a dwarf beside their above six feet height in my five foot four. ¡°Please introduce yourselves.¡± Mr. Cole told us. I really want to murder that man. ¡°Hi! I am Arabe Astley.¡± I am d I didn¡¯t shutter. I had changed my surname from Knight to Astley after my tenth birthday. They are my family after all. N?velDrama.Org ? content. Eros already had theirst name from the beginning as the Knights didn¡¯t object on it. As the teacher realized that I wasn¡¯t going to say anything else he told the others to introduce themselves. ¡°Lucas Williams¡± The boy with slightly curly ck hair and yellowish brown eyes said. They all had tanned skin. He seems to be some sort of leader of theirs. He was quite build but what disturbed me more was that he was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows. All of them were. Well rude much. I didn¡¯t pay them any more attention and starred towards the back wall of the ssroom. ¡°Archer Taylor¡± The one with dirty blonde mop of curly hair and striking blue eyes said. He had lean muscles. ¡°Hudson Martin¡± Thest one with straight red hair that werebed to the back with greenish brown eyes said. He gave the ss a beautiful smile. I swear I heard some of the girls almost faint. ¡°Okay take your seats.¡± Mr. Cole said. I made my way all the way to the back. There was an empty chair beside me and the other two empty chairs were in the middle of the ss. Weird. I know. I took out my notebook and pen to start with the notes and stuff. I heard the chair beside me move. Lucas sat in the chair. I could feel his eyes on me. This guy is really starting to give me creeps. I didn¡¯t pay much attention to him. ¡°Where are you from?¡± He asked in a hushed voice as the Mr. Cole started the ss. ¡°Greycoast¡± I mumbled. He looked at me confused. ¡°I used to attend Redwood high.¡± He nodded. ¡°We are from Australia.¡± ¡°Oh¡± It¡¯s quite strange to move here of all the ces from Australia. ¡°Why here from all the ces in America?¡± He shrugged not giving any answer. ¡°I didn¡¯t know there is another school in this town. It¡¯s quite small to have two of them.¡± I nodded looking at the board. ¡°Why did you change school in thest year?¡± ¡°Because¡­¡± ¡°Because?¡± he asked tilting his head to the side. ¡°Just because.¡± He opened his mouth to say something but Mr. Cole called out to him and he focused on the board. The sses went by quite fast and it was already time for lunch break. Two more sses after this and I can go home. I picked my tray full of food and was looking for a ce to sit when I heard someone call my name. I turned to find Hudson waving me over like a toddler. I didn¡¯t have much choice then so I went to their table. Even in the crowd full of people, they stood out immediately. I could see some girls looking at them. More like stripping them with their eyes. But something was weird about them. Something familiar but not so familiar at the same time. Maybe I will find that out if I get to know them more. Chapter 7- Arabella Chapter 7- Arabe I sat down on the empty seat beside Lucas. Hudson was still grinning like a fool. ¡°Hi! We didn¡¯t get to introduce ourselves properly before. I am Hudson.¡± I opened my mouth to reply but he cut me off. ¡°I know you are Arabe. This one here is Archer.¡± This time I just nodded knowing full well that he would just keep talking. ¡°Your name is too long. Can I call you Be?¡± I scrunched my nose at that. ¡°Aria will be fine.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Hudson saidughing. ¡°So how are you liking Greycoast so far? It must be a great change from Australia to here.¡± ¡°The weather is really nice here.¡± Lucas replied. I nodded. ¡°Lucas said you used to go to Redwood high. Why did you change? You must have left a lot of friends behind.¡± Hudson enquired. I scoffed at the word friends and took a bite out of my pizza slice. ¡°My siblings actually. They still go there. I just needed a change I guess.¡± ¡°Siblings?¡± Archer asked. That¡¯s the first word he said since the lunch started. ¡°Yeah. Five of them actually. Three of them are in high school. Two are in middle school and one is just five. My mom home schools him.¡± I don¡¯t know why but I felt free talking to them. ¡°Wow. You have quite a big family.¡± Hudson¡¯s eyes shed with sadness. I wonder what happened to him. ¡°Oh yeah. That¡¯s just my immediate family. My family is way bigger than that. There are so many uncles and aunts. Eros couldn¡¯t even remember their names at times.¡± I told him grinning. ¡°You seem to love them a lot.¡± Hudson¡¯s face fell and so did Archer and Lucas¡¯s. I nodded looking at them with a worried expression. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Yeah. Just remembered a few things.¡± Hudson gave me a fake smile. I didn¡¯t ask them anything after that. The lunch went by pretty quietly after that. No one talked. The atmosphere turned really gloomy from that point. We dumped our trays and exited the cafeteria. ¡°What ss do you have now?¡± I asked in attempts to get their attention away from their sad memories. ¡°Biology.¡± Lucas said. ¡°I have Journalism.¡± Hudson said. His jolly mood was starting toe back a little but I can see the lingering sadness in his eyes. ¡°Philosophy.¡± Archer muttered. ¡°I have biology too. See you guyster then.¡± Hudson and Archer nodded and we separated our ways to the respected sses. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked once we took a seat at the desk. ¡°Yeah.¡± Lucas replied but didn¡¯t say anything more. The rest of the sses went by quickly which wasn¡¯t much as I had only one more ss after this. None of the three were in myst ss. I didn¡¯t even see them in the parking when I left for home. They must have left early I guess. I made my way home and parked my car in the garage but what distressed me was the ck truck standing in our driveway. Zeno and his gang seems to be here. I entered inside, almost tumbling over as Eros as usual came running into me. ¡°Ari.¡± He squealed grinning. ¡°Hi E.¡± I grinned at the little munchkin. ¡°How was your day Aria? Did you like that school?¡± Valentina¡¯s voice came from the kitchen. ¡°Yup. There were three new students other than me so it didn¡¯t feel that bad. I liked it there.¡± I told her entering the kitchen with Eros on my hip. I left my bag on the chair of the dining table. I didn¡¯t pay any attention to the living room side as I knew those demons were sitting there with Ben and Ethan. ¡°How did you like high school?¡± I asked. ¡°Well it¡¯s more or less the same except those two buffoons on my as¡­ butt.¡± She looked possibly annoyed. ¡°What did they do?¡± I askedughing. ¡°They barged in my ss and told the boys to stay away from me.¡± She gritted out. ¡°How the hell am I supposed to have a boyfriend now?¡± ¡°You are not. Simple.¡± Ethan saiding in the kitchen with Ben in tow. ¡°Buzz off.¡± Val snapped and stomped upstairs most likely to her room. ¡°Don¡¯t give her too much of a hard time you two.¡± I told them grinning. ¡°We are just doing basic brotherly duties. Besides she has a mate out there somewhere. I don¡¯t want her to regretter.¡± Ben said seriously. Well he does have a point there. ¡°We never had that problem with you. Val is apletely different story though.¡± Ethan grumbled. ¡°I am older than you. You know that right?¡± I narrowed my eyes at them as they talked about me like I am a child. ¡°We are taller than you.¡± Ben grinned. Like that solves the argument. I shook my head at their antics. There is no wining that one. ¡°Just don¡¯t go overboard.¡± They nodded. ¡°We heard new students.¡± Ethan enquired. These two and their over possessiveness. I swear to god they will get along really well with Uncle Ryder when they meet him. ¡°Yeah. Three of them. They are from Australia.¡± ¡°Male or female?¡± ¡°Male.¡± I told them smirking. ¡°You are not allowed to talk to them.¡± Ben dered. ¡°Excuse me?¡± I snipped letting Eros down. He ran out of the kitchen sensing the iing war. ¡°Like he said. Don¡¯t talk to them or I will get dad involved.¡± Ethan said crossing his arms on his chest. ¡°Do that and I will tell mom what you did to Val. Also about the time when you snuck out of the house at This content is ? N?velDrama.Org. night to go to that party.¡± ¡°Go ahead. We don¡¯t care. Boys are dicks. You don¡¯t need them now. You will meet your mate soon anyways.¡± Ben said firmly. ¡°You do understand that your gender is male right? You just called yourself a dick.¡± I grinned but they didn¡¯t budge. ¡°We just talked for the first time today. It¡¯s not like I am going to date any of them.¡± I sighed. ¡°Okay. Any news about a boyfriend and I will make sure mom and dad grounds your ass.¡± Ethan threatened. ¡°I am older than you.¡± I yelled at their retreating backs. ¡°Sure sis.¡± Those two smirked an identical smirk and left my fuming self there. I seriously want to beat the crap out of those two buffoons. Chapter 8- Lucas Chapter 8- Lucas It¡¯s been almost a week since we came to Greycoast. The week at school had been quite eventful to say the least. That girl, Arabe, she feels different. There is something familiar and captivating about her. She has been the constant topic of our conversation these couple days. ¡°Do you think she is a part of a pack?¡± Archer asked from beside me. We are camped beside a river today and Hudson is taking his time with bathing in the river. ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°That alpha was right then. There is a pack here.¡± I hummed. We were a fairly decent pack a month ago but the attack killed the rest as we weren¡¯t shifted and our parents were killed protecting us. We were told to flee and we did. Only the children but they caught up. Only three of us survived. All thanks to that Alpha. A wolf spirit came to help us and killed the majority of the attackers. The rest of them fled. He told us to yet. Since then we have been living in these woods, changing our camps daily and covering our tracks. It¡¯s hard living like this. The Alpha hadn¡¯te here yet either. He said he wille soon but there is no sign of him till this day. It¡¯s been almost a month now. It¡¯s Saturday today. I am d the week ended. We at least have a little time to rx. Between hunting and looking over our backs, school was an additional hazard but we need to go to school. Our parents wouldn¡¯t have liked it if we had flunked our education. ¡°Where did Hudson go?¡± Archer said, panic clearly visible on his face. He got up to his feet looking around. Shit! Where did he go? Did they take him? We looked near the river but couldn¡¯t find him. ¡°Guys look what I found.¡± Hudson¡¯s voice came from behind us as he came running out. ¡°You moron. We thought someone took you.¡± I bellowed. ¡°Sorry about that. I saw a silhouette of something from the river so I went to check it. You wouldn¡¯t believe what I found. Come on. Follow me.¡± He ran back in the forest as we followed him. We came into a clearing and stopped looking at the little cabin there. ¡°There is a cabin here.¡± He announced proudly. The cabin was fairly small but still looked livable from the outside. What if someone already lives there? ¡°We can stay here till anyonees here.¡± Hudson said grinning. ¡°What if someone is living there?¡± Archer asked voicing my exact thoughts. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone had lived here for a while. There isn¡¯t much stuff inside.¡± ¡°You went inside alone?¡± I snapped. ¡°Yup.¡± What am I going to do with this one? He is always so careless. ¡°What if you would have got caught?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t so let¡¯s get inside. I haven¡¯t slept on a bed for a while. We can cook those rabbits on the stove too.¡± Hudson said excitedly. Those things did sound inviting after travelling so far and living in the jungle. I buried my conscience and entered the cabin. We can always run when the owneres back. It was quite nice inside. There was little to no dust. It didn¡¯t look that small on the inside. ¡°The bathing products are of a female.¡± Archer said from the bathroom. Why would a female live here in the middle of the jungle? ¡°Do you think this is where that spirit walker lives?¡± Archer asked seriously while Hudson bounced on the bed. ¡°We don¡¯t have any way of knowing that. We don¡¯t even know if the spirit walker is a female or a male.¡± He nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s just rx for the time being. We will have to leave once the owneres back.¡± I went outside to clean the rabbits but was startled when I heard someone muttering angrily in the woods. I got up to look around. The voice wasing closer and the person sounded angry. A short petite figure broke out of the tree line, stomping her feet in anger. She didn¡¯t seem to notice me standing there I think as she kept up with her angry rant. But why is she here? ¡°Aria?¡±N?velDrama.Org ? content. Chapter 9- Arabella Chapter 9- Arabe I am fucking pissed. That ass wipe of a person Zeno just won¡¯t leave me alone. He ising to my house after school every freaking day with that stupidckeys of his. Even Vivian joined them now. I don¡¯t know what he wants anymore. I even changed school to get away from his nasty ass. Mom has kept those idiots from approaching me at home but today I just got fed up of seeing their ostrich like faces and their eyes zooming onto me like a freaking owl. Uh the owl would be horrified of gettingpared with them. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. They are the type of people for whom I wish I had more middle fingers. I so want to strangle them in their sleep. Mom and dad has been going to lengths to keep them away from me but they went on a date today. We thought as it¡¯s a weekends, those idiots won¡¯t show up at our house but lo and behold, they grazed our door steps bright and early with a fucking smug smile on their faces. It¡¯s Saturday today. So I thought maybe I will have some sort relief from seeing their retarded faces but no. They had to ruin my weekend as well. I feel like I haven¡¯t sworn this much in my entire fucking life. These are the first people I am having the urge to murder. That too, painfully. As mom and dad weren¡¯t home, Zeno sneaked out of the game room and cornered me but today I wasn¡¯t having it so I did something without thinking. I kicked Zeno in his nuts before he could open his mouth and knocked him cold with a punch to the temple. The others came running down to the kitchen hearing his painful cry but till they arrived, I had punched him unconscious. Before anyone could say anything, I stormed out of the house and into the woods. I swear I saw Ben and Ethan look at me with proud smiles. The others were just in in shock. Well he won¡¯t die for sure. I didn¡¯t hit him that hard just enough to make him unconscious. My brothers can deal with him for sure. They know I won¡¯t get violent for no apparent reason. I still feel like hitting something. The cabin will be a great ce to calm down. I don¡¯t want tosh out on my siblings. I will stay there till mom and dades home. I was so engrossed in cussing Zeno to hell that I didn¡¯t pay much attention to the tall figure standing in front of the cabin. ¡°Aria?¡± I looked up to find Lucas with a half skinned rabbit in his hands. The rabbit slipped from his hand and fell on the ground with a thump. ¡°Um¡­ Lucas? What¡­ what are you doing here?¡± I asked looking confused. The door of the cabin opened and Archer came out followed by Hudson. Did they think that this was some sort of camping ce? ¡°Guys this is not a camping ce. This cabin is my mother¡¯s.¡± I exined. They just looked at me like I said I murdered a puppy brutally. But why are they here? Isn¡¯t this ce being like protected or something? ¡°I don¡¯t think you should be here. Some¡­ people won¡¯t like it.¡± I told them as discreetly as I can. ¡°Then why are you here?¡± Archer asked. ¡°Because it¡¯s my mother¡¯s?¡± ¡°No I mean why are you here all alone.¡± Archer pressed. ¡°That¡¯s literally none of your business.¡± I snapped. The anger from earlier is starting toe back again. I just need to be alone. ¡°You know what, stay here. I am just going to go somewhere else. Just don¡¯t misce anything. I won¡¯t be responsible if mum skins you alive for damaging anything.¡± I said sharply and turned towards the river. Maybe sitting there will calm me down. ¡°Don¡¯t let her go. She knows what we need.¡± A dominant voice came from between the trees. I turned around to find a massive wolf spirit the same size as Uncle Ryder. I can tell right way that he isn¡¯t from our pack. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked looking straight in his eyes. Apparently he didn¡¯t like it and growled menacingly at me. I felt the threeing close to me. ¡°Don¡¯t you daree close to me. I swear to god you won¡¯t like the oue. I am not in a good mood right now.¡± I warned them. But like the idiots they were, they didn¡¯t listen and closed in on me. Yay! New punching bags. Before anyone of them could make a move, I turned aroundnded nonstop punches and kicks on them. With a fewst finishing touches, they were groaning on the floor with pain. I looked at the Alpha spirit and smirked. He was possibly fuming. He lunged at me but before he could make a contact with me, arge golden body attacked him. Shit! Xander. Obviously the Alpha was stronger than him and pinned him to the ground with his teeth on Xander¡¯s neck. Chapter 10- Arabella Chapter 10- Arabe ¡°No. Get away from him. Leave him alone.¡± The alpha tightened his grip on Xander¡¯s neck making him whimper. ¡°Xander.¡± I could feel a sort of heat pass through me as I saw Xander whimpering in pain. I could physically feel the anger from earlier multiply to ten folds. I could feel it rolling off of me in waves. ¡°GET AWAY FROM HIM.¡± The Alpha stepped back looking at me in shock. ¡°BACK OFF.¡± He moved back even further. I will kill that bastardter. I ran towards Xander and sat beside him. His neck was injured and he looked on the verge of passing out. Something blue like some sort of energy was leaking out of him. ¡°Xan. Please stay awake.¡± I begged him. He looked at me with a sort of relief in his eyes. The instincts just came up. I ced my palms on his wounds and thought about healing the wound. Nothing happened for a few seconds but slowly and eventually the wounds started to close. The blue energy thing started going back inside him and the wound closed uppletely. As I saw that Xander was alright, I shifted my attention to the intruders. Lucas, Archer and Hudson were standing on their feet but still wincing with every moment and the Alpha¡­ well he is in for a huge shit. The four of them were looking at me with a mixture of shock and fear. Yeah! Fear bitches. You don¡¯t get to hurt my family and still have unbroken bones. ¡°Stop Aria.¡± A familiar voice stopped me before I could lunge at the douchebag of the alpha. ¡°But he hurt Xan.¡± I protested. Mom looked at the Alpha with a maddening expression but what shocked me was that her eyes were glowing. That of a werewolf. They looked just like uncle Ryder¡¯s. Xander got to his feet and stood in front of me protectively. The woods rustled and one by one more spirit wolves emerged from them with uncle Ryder in the lead. Dad was standing right beside mom. ¡°I called them.¡± Xander whispered to me. He looked so proud of himself that I couldn¡¯t help but giggle. ¡°Thanks.¡± The adreline from earlier was leaving my body slowly. I felt a little exhausted. I closed my eyes for a second but when I opened them, six more spirit wolves were standing behind the idiotic Alpha. The three fart bags didn¡¯t look that brave anymore. The rest of the pack arrived and stood beside my mother with uncle Leo in the lead. ¡°There must be a good reason for why you attacked my daughter and nephew. If there isn¡¯t, I will kill you painfully.¡± Mom threatened. Why are her eyes glowing? ¡°You can¡¯t be her mom. You look like you are not even twenty.¡± Hudson opened his mouth. Mom swelled like a bull frog. But before she could burst, dad saved the uing storm. ¡°Love you are growing in vampire years. You really are neen or was it twenty?¡± Dad said pulling mom close and rubbing her arm to calm her down. Uncle Leo snickered as mom¡¯s face turned impossibly red. She turned around and hid her face in dad¡¯s chest. ¡°You should have reminded me of that earlier.¡± Mom mumbled. All the shifters were trying to hold theirugh but it didn¡¯tst long as Uncle Carter burst outughing his ass and the chain reaction began. As usual, Uncle Ryder came to her rescue. He growled in warning and mom ran to him pouting with a red face. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. She usually forgets that she looks young for her age and then ends up throwing a tantrum. No wonder Val got her dramatic side. We literally look like sisters as we are more or less the same age as she is aging slowly. The Alpha growled in irritation as wepletely ignored his presence. Egoistic much. ¡°Why did you attack my family?¡± Mom growled out, all the humor forgotten. ¡°I wanted answers.¡± The Alpha replied stiffly. ¡°What sort of answers? What was so important that you decided it¡¯s a good idea to trespass in a pack¡¯s She said thest word tauntingly. The Alpha growled but didn¡¯t have any choice but to stay quiet. He did trespass in ournd. ¡°We are looking for the Spirit Walker. She hasn¡¯t visited us since years.¡± He replied. ¡°We were attacked and these are the only members left of the pack.¡± My eyes widened in horror. No wonder they looked so sullen on the mention of anything rted to family. I looked at Lucas, Archer and Hudson to see them looking at the ground. Hudson had tears in his eyes. ¡°Okay first of all, I am really sorry for your loss. Second, I wasn¡¯t informed about the existence of any other pack by the previous Spirit Walker and she is really going to have an earful for that. Third, who attacked you?¡± Mom looked disturbed. ¡°So you are the new Spirit Walker then?¡± He asked. ¡°Yeah but I already found my heir. I will be looking after the duties till she is ready to take over.¡± ¡°The spirit walker must have forgotten about our pack as we haven¡¯t had any attacks or threats for two generations. The attack was quite unexpected actually. We didn¡¯t even had time to prepare or hide.¡± The alpha grimaced. ¡°I am really sorry I wasn¡¯t there to help you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault but I suspect that those scum bags wille after this pack as well so we wanted to warn you and help you with the attack.¡± He is not that bad as I thought. He is just a little uptight. ¡°Do you have any idea who attacked you?¡± Uncle Leo asked. ¡°Demons.¡± The Alpha spat with venom dripping in his voice. Chapter 11- Zeno Chapter 11- Zeno ¡°Do we have to go there so early?¡± Francis grumbled from the back seat. I didn¡¯t answer him and focused on driving. ¡°It¡¯s eight in the morning.¡± Fabian told him like it¡¯s mid-afternoon. I saw Francis flip him a bird. Fabian has always been an early bird. That guy can even function perfectly on an hour¡¯s sleep. ¡°Zeno why do we have to go there every day?¡± Fabian asked meing forward and looking at me from the gap of the front seats. ¡°You guys have been going to the Astley house daily?¡± Vivian asked looking at us surprised. ¡°Yeah this douchebag has been taking us there after school every day.¡± Francis snipped. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I want to.¡± I answered with a straight face. The real reason though is because I couldn¡¯t see her in school. After the incident at the bonfire, I have been having this weird guilt feeling in my chest. I didn¡¯t know her situation was this serious with her parents. When I first met her, she was so aloof and sad. I was seven then. Despite being sad, she looked like a doll. Her porcin white skin, her strawberry blonde hair, her clear blue eyes, everything was so perfect about her. I didn¡¯t like it. She didn¡¯t talk much. Not even to me but I just had this urge to know her more. Even if I was seven, I didn¡¯t like the way her presence affected me. From the very beginning of when we did start to understand pack stuff, we were told that we have a mate out there and she was affecting me so much. That¡¯s not good. My mate won¡¯t like it. I didn¡¯t approach her at first. Just red at her from wherever I stood. But everything turned worse when I entered high school. The summer before freshman year had brought bad feeling in me like a sort of gloomy darkness. One day I was happy and the other day I woke up to feeling empty and sad. What angered me more was that staying near her eased the feelings. Even if I am in the same building as her or if I saw her from afar, the emptiness would subside. I didn¡¯t like it at all. But that didn¡¯t feel enough and I became greedy to have that little content in my life. I didn¡¯t like that she had so much control over me. So I did what I felt was a better option. I started making Fabian and Francis distract Ben and Ethan and I started verbally bullying her. My friends never had anything against her. They were just bored and tagged along. I never touched her though. I am not an asshole to put my hands on a female. Well I might have gone a little too far by warning everyone to not be friends with her but who cares. It¡¯s not like she had any N?velDrama.Org ? content. friends to begin with. She deserves to be alone for trying to be a part of our family and pack. The closure with her brought a new level of calmness to me. I used every opportunity I got to berate her. She can hate me for all I care. I just needed my happy life back. A little closeness is enough. If making her suffer brings it back, so be it. She is just a human anyways. But she had to go and change schools. I so wanted to drag her back to Redwood high by her hair. How can she do that to me? How am I supposed to get my daily dosage of calmness? That human is not even good for a simple fucking thing. She is just a fucking wimp who can¡¯t even protect herself. I don¡¯t know why a supernatural family epted a human in their family. On the bonfire day, I did feel bad¡­ a little. I know I went overboard but she wasn¡¯t paying attention to me. How dare she do that? She should listen to me when I talk. I was going to apologize for what happened that night on the first day of school but what do I find out. That bitch ran away. She went to a totally different school. Why? No one has even a single fucking clue. Not even her brothers know why she changed school. If she thought she can run away from me, oh how wrong she is. I won¡¯t let that happen. I wille to her ce daily if I have to and eventually I will force her to transfer to Redwood high. I parked my car in the driveway of her house and got out immediately. The others followed me. I knocked on the door and it was immediately opened by a smiling Arabe. As soon as her eyes fell on me the light in her eyes disappeared. Her smile turned into a nk face. ¡°Ben, Ethan, your friends are here.¡± She hollered and stepped aside. Before I could talk to her, her brothers came downstairs looking at us with a confused face. I saw her slip to the kitchen. ¡°We didn¡¯t know you guys wereing over.¡± Ethan said smiling. Those two are too nice to suspect anything. ¡°I didn¡¯t either.¡± Francis whispered from behind me. I stepped on his feet to make him shut up. ¡°Yeah we just decided toe over out of nowhere. Is it alright?¡± I said halfheartedly but keeping a polite smile on my face. It¡¯s not like they are going to kick us out. Chapter 12- Zeno Chapter 12- Zeno ¡°Off course not. Come on in. How about we y something in the game room?¡± Ben said grinning brightly. ¡°Sure.¡± I smirked when their backs turned towards us. I saw her making something in the kitchen from the side of my eyes. We yed Mario cart for a few minutes but I wasn¡¯t paying much attention to the game. I noticed that Uncle Steven and Aunt Amara aren¡¯t home. This is my chance. I will threaten her to transfer back to my school. That way I wouldn¡¯t have toe here daily and I can go back to chiding her whenever I want. I got up saying that I needed something to drink and entered the kitchen. She was still there. I approached her with a smirk on my face as she turned towards me. I was about to speak but a groan came out of my mouth instead of words as I felt a hard kick on my baby maker. The next thing I know, I felt a blow to my temple and everything turned ck. **** I woke wincing in pain as my head throbbed like someone had dropped a boulder on it. What the hell? Do I have a hangover? I don¡¯t remember going to any party. ¡°Ohh he is waking up.¡± A female voice said from near me. What is happening? ¡°We can see that Val.¡± Came an amused male voice. ¡°Why does he have a purple colored forehead?¡± A kid. Where am I? Wait a minute. Purple forehead? Are they talking about me? I jolted up from wherever I wasying but regretted immediately as a sharp pain went through my forehead and my groin throbbed. I opened my eyes to find the Astley siblings and Fabian, Francis and Vivian surrounding me. Some had amused expressions while some had worried look. Why are they looking at me like that? ¡°That isn¡¯t purple Eros. It¡¯s a mixture of ck, blue, purple and red.¡± Elizabeth told the little demon. Hold on a second. Why do I have a bruised forehead? ¡°What happened?¡± I croaked out. I need water. N?velDrama.Org ? content. A ss of chilled water was trusted in my hands which I drank in one go. ¡°You tell us. We found you on the kitchen floor with a seething Aria breathing fire over your unconscious body.¡± Ben said amused. Then I remembered what that bitch did. She will pay for that. I will make sure of it. ¡°What did you do to her?¡± Ethan asked seriously. All the amusement vanished from the twins¡¯ faces and their other siblings also looked at me with a nk face except for Eros. ¡°Why would I do anything to her?¡± I growled. ¡°Our sister is not the violent type. Unless you rile her up, she is as silent as a saint. So we know for sure that you did something to her.¡± Elizabeth said narrowing her eyes at me. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything to her.¡± I shouted but my head throbbed even more. Well I am telling the truth. I didn¡¯t do anything to her this time. Francis and Fabian looked ufortable with a hint of fear on their faces. Vivian looked down right confused. She had never yed part in our little adventure nor did she knew anything about it. She evenined many times that Arabe didn¡¯t talk to her which I turned into hate in her head. I don¡¯t think anyone is aware of the extents my schemes. ¡°You can¡¯t lie to us forever. We will know everything eventually.¡± Valentina said with a smirk. ¡°Can you at least take me to the hospital? My head is throbbing.¡± I grumbled keeping the groin part out. That would be utterly embarrassing to tell. They snorted. They literally snorted in my face. ¡°Chill you won¡¯t die from a little injury. I can tell Arai didn¡¯t use her full strength or you might have ended up in aa or worse, dead¡± Elliott said scoffing. ¡°Don¡¯t look at us like that. Mom has been training her since she was ten. They think we don¡¯t know it but we do. We just kept it a secret.¡± Val said smirking at me. My eyes widened in shock. Fabian and Francis¡¯s head whipped towards the smirking siblings in I can tell equal shock. All this time I thought she was defenseless but I could have died. But why didn¡¯t she defend herself before? ¡°So what did you do Zeno?¡± Ben asked with murderous look on his face. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± My voice came out weak. He looked ready to butcher my ass. ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Ethan said rubbing his chin like he was thinking really hard. ¡°You were there when she had a panic attack at the bonfire and today she hit you. What could that mean brother?¡± I stiffened. I am sure they are going to kill me painfully from the way they are looking at me. I haven¡¯t felt this scared in my entire fucking life. Chapter 13- Amara Chapter 13- Amara ¡°Demons? But why did they attack you?¡± Leo asked voicing my thoughts. ¡°Demons have always been trying to kill us. Well not exactly us but the spirit walker and the road to a spirit walker is through the wolf spirits.¡± The Alpha exined plopping on the ground. Hispanions also sat down. They looked exhausted. ¡°But why? There has to be some sort of reason.¡± Stanley said. ¡°Did you forgot what my mother said? The first spirit walker¡¯s mate was a demon. He has been after her since then but she is already dead so why now after so many years and your pack? There wasn¡¯t even anyone that was shifted.¡± I exined. This is really concerning. What are these demons after? ¡°We were the pack that she first helped. Our ancestors were the first shifters.¡± The Alpha said looking me straight the eyes. My mouth popped open. How can I forget such an important detail? ¡°After we defeated the Demons for the first time, there haven¡¯t been any threats to us so none of the generation since then had shifted yet. I snooped around a little and found out that other packs were destroyed too. The other spirit wolves had vanished as their pack was gone. We were fortunate enough to have some of the members alive but we lost our Alpha in the attack. This pack is the only one that hadn¡¯t been attacked yet and I am having a feeling that the attack here is going to be massive, now that they know where the spirit walker is.¡± Steven growled lowly in his throat and pulled me closer. Steven and his possessive ass. The spirit wolves and the shifters growled aggressively. They don¡¯t seem to like the idea of anyoneying their hands on me as well. Well I don¡¯t like that either. Those demons can keep their filthy ws to themselves or their will be consequences. ¡°We want to help you with the attack too.¡± One of the boys said in a firm voice. ¡°How about we address this situation tomorrow when everyone is well rested?¡± I advised. Steven looked at me in disbelief. He looked at me like I told everyone to dance naked around the fire. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that Steven. Look around yourself. Those boys look like they haven¡¯t eaten or rested properly in a long time which is quite true, those spirit wolves have been traveling since forever and our daughter looks to be on the verge of passing out. We will meet here tomorrow at midafternoon. We will decide what actions to take from there.¡± A switch of sorts must have clicked in Steven¡¯s head as he looked towards Aria. She looked like she straining to keep her eyes open but was failing at it miserably. ¡°She healed me Aunty Amy.¡± Xander said excitedly. ¡°No wonder she looks like that.¡± Steven grumbled. ¡°Are you okay now Xan?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yup.¡± Aria had put almost all of her weight on Xander by now. She was practically syed on him. My poor baby. She must be feeling exhausted. Using spirit powers for the first time feels like shit. ¡°You three, pack your things. You are staying at our ce.¡± I told the boys and turned towards the Alpha. ¡°Alpha, you and the rest of the pack can rest here. We will see you tomorrow and then we will I looked towards Aria to find her sleeping while standing and heavily leaning on Xander who didn¡¯t look bothered at all. ¡°Steven carry Aria home. She is almost asleep.¡± Steven walked towards Aria to pick her up but she jerked back feeling his hands on her. She must be feeling confused. ¡°It¡¯s me Aria.¡± Steven said to her in a gentle voice. She calmed down and he picked her up. She waspletely rxed in a mere second. The boys came out with their duffle bags. They didn¡¯t have had time to pick anything while running from those demons. We would have to go shopping soon. Like very soon. They have been through a lot in these past few days. They deserve a little rxation. I can¡¯t take their pain of losing their family away but I will do anything to make them happy again. ¡°Bye guys. I guess I will see you tomorrow. Just be careful please.¡± I told the pack and Ryder, Xander and the others. ¡°Do you think we should involve the kids?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Not yet. We will discuss that tomorrow.¡± I told him. He nodded and they set off on their way. I motioned the boys to follow me as Steven walked in front of This content is ? N?velDrama.Org. me with Aria in his arms who was sleeping soundly. ¡°You know you can just run right?¡± I said to Steven. ¡°Not without you.¡± He answered simply. He is going to be way over possessive from now on. ¡°So what are your names?¡± I asked the three figures walking behind me tentatively. ¡°I am Lucas Williams.¡± The boy who spoke earlier about helping said. ¡°Archer Taylor.¡± The curly haired one said quietly. Not much of a fan of talking are we? Seriously that¡¯s the first time I heard him talk. Chapter 14- Amara Chapter 14- Amara ¡°Hudson Martin.¡± The one that called me a neen year old said grinning. ¡°I am Amara Cross, now Astley and this is my mate and husband, Steven Astley. You already know our eldest.¡± I told them grinning. ¡°Eldest? How many more are there?¡± Hudson asked. ¡°Six. We have seven kids.¡± They didn¡¯t look that surprised by it. ¡°So Aria was telling the truth.¡± Hudson said looking surprised. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of people in one house.¡± ¡°It will be really crowded with us adding in the house. We can stay at the cabin. Only if you don¡¯t mind.¡± N?velDrama.Org ? content. Lucas said politely. ¡°Don¡¯t give us that crap boy.¡± Steven scoffed looking over his shoulder to the boys. ¡°If my wife says you are staying with us then you are. Besides you can use a little time to rx, a feel of warm bed and home cooked food. I can tell you missed that.¡± ¡°Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Astley for your hospitability.¡± Lucas said politely. I choked on my spit. ¡°Dude just call us Steven and Amara. We don¡¯t look that old.¡± I told him looking at him horrified. Hudson snickered and Lucas smiled at us. Archer looked relieved. When we exited the forest, I saw something that did not sit well with me. Steven growled looking at the ck truck parked in our drive way. No wonder Aria went to the cabin. That boy just won¡¯t let her breath freely. I don¡¯t know what his problem is. What is he doing here anyways? It¡¯s weekend. Doesn¡¯t he have anywhere else to be? One of these days I am going to beat him to pulp. Nobody messes with my children. If it wasn¡¯t for Leo, I would have dealt with that boy by now. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and walked to the door of our house. I opened the door and entered the house with Steven right on my tail to stop in my tracks. The scene looked intense. My children looked like they were about tomit a murder. I wonder what happened. My kids looked at the boys and then at me. Their eyes fell on Steven and the unconscious Aria in his arms. There was a chorus of ¡®Aria¡¯ and they ran towards Steven. Eros clung to me and started crying. ¡°What happened to her?¡± Ben asked, his eyes on Aria. ¡°She is exhausted. She is just sleeping.¡± I told the lot. They didn¡¯t seem to believe that but still didn¡¯t question any further. I shushed Eros down but he didn¡¯t want to let go so I adjusted him on my hip. ¡°Who are they?¡± Val asked looking at the three boys with a confused expression. ¡°This is Lucas, Archer and Hudson. They will be living with us from now on till they want. They are from a different pack. They are Aria¡¯s ssmates too. So be nice.¡± I warned them. ¡°Yes mom.¡± They said together creeping the hell out of me. Steven went upstairs to put Aria in her bed. I looked towards the four people huddled together. My eyes fell on the back of a certain someone. I am done with his bullshit. ¡°You.¡± I marched towards Zeno. I couldn¡¯t help myself but burst outughing when I saw his face. He had a freaking huge ass bruise on his temple. He looked at me with a clenched jaw making me stop my cackling. ¡°What are you doing in my house on a weekend? I don¡¯t remember anyone telling me you wereing over nor did I allow friends over when I was out.¡± I asked the four cartoons with narrowed eyes. ¡°He brought us.¡± The three monkeys said at the same time pointing at Zeno. Why don¡¯t you try to weasel out of this one Zeno? I can¡¯t beat him up but I will make sure this piece of shit never sets foot near my daughter. Zeno red at Fabian, Francis and Vivian. I cleared my throat to get his attention. He gulped and then looked at his hands. ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°Yes you?¡± ¡°I just wanted to hang out with Ben and Ethan. That¡¯s not illegal is it? The twins didn¡¯t tell us that we weren¡¯t supposed to be here on weekend.¡± He said shaking a little. ming my sons now are we? Fear for your life boy. I am so going to kick your ass. The twins opened their mouth to say something but I cut them. ¡°Oh yeah! Then how did you end up in this situation and my daughter in the woods?¡± I asked titling my head to the side. He looked shocked at first but covered it quickly. ¡°She hit me out of nowhere. Why don¡¯t you go ask her?¡± He gritted out. Oh no you didn¡¯t. He did not just me my daughter for his mistakes. ¡°Listen here boy and listen clear. You go near my daughter one more time or even breathe in her direction, I will make sure you get what you deserve. I have had it with you. I didn¡¯t do anything at first because of Leo and because Aria said not to but one more slip and you will pay for it. I will break your bones one by one and let them heal and then break them again and again and again. UNDERSTOOD?¡± Chapter 15- Amara Chapter 15- Amara Zeno nodded. He tried to put up a brave front but I could see the fear in his eyes. The other three baboons looked like they would piss their pants any second. Their faces were pale as a ghost. ¡°Love, how about you go take a bath? As much as I want to beat the kid, I don¡¯t think Leo will appreciate his son being traumatized. Your aura is slipping out quite a lot.¡± Steven said pulling me back from Zeno. ¡°You. Leave.¡± He said to the four hairless cats. Zeno, Francis and Fabian made a dash for it but Vivian didn¡¯t move from her ce. She looked scared as hell but she still didn¡¯t move. Is she frozen by shock? ¡°Vivie on.¡± Francis said from the door. ¡°No.¡± She said with a trembling voice. ¡°What?¡± Francis asked confused. ¡°I said no.¡± She replied this time firmly. ¡°I am not going anywhere with you.¡± ¡°But why? Do you want to die or what?¡± Francis asked with wide confused eyes. He was getting jittery as I openly red at him. I am really intrigued though as to why Vivian doesn¡¯t N?velDrama.Org ? content. want to go with them. ¡°All this time you told me that Aria is a stuck up bitch.¡± I clenched my fist hearing that. ¡°And what do I find out? The stuck up bitch is none other than you three. You made it impossible for her to have friends. You made it seem like she didn¡¯t want to be friends with anyone but guess what? We all misunderstood her. Why? All because of you three. From this moment onwards I don¡¯t want anything to do with you three and I will make sure the others know what you did to her even if she isn¡¯t ready to tell that to anyone to save your unworthy asses. Everyone in the pack is going to know how undeserving you are to lead a pack. No wonder you haven¡¯t shifted yet.¡± Francis¡¯s expressions morphed into sadness. He looked utterly devastated. He turned around with slumped shoulders and left. Wow! This is not something I thought these boys would be capable of. But the question is, why? Why would they go to such lengths to just iste and bully a girl? It can¡¯t just be because she is human. Well they think she is human but still that can¡¯t be the case. Their mothers are humans as well. Then why? There seems to be something going on here that I can¡¯t interpret¡­ yet. I will find out eventually and if it turns out that they are doing this just for fun, I will beat the crap out of them for sure. No matter whose sons they are, they will get it really bad. ¡°I am sorry aunt Amara. I didn¡¯t know they were doing such a thing. I swear I didn¡¯t take part in it. They made sure to keep me away from her and others too. They made it seem like Aria was the one that doesn¡¯t want to be with us. We never had anything against her. I am really sorry.¡± Vivian was sobbing her eyes out at this point. I pulled her in a hug. ¡°It¡¯s okay sweetie. Don¡¯t cry. Now that you know everything, please don¡¯t do what those scabbed weasels did or I will just have to punish you.¡± I said giving her a wide grin. She flinched. ¡°Love stop scaring the poor girl. She didn¡¯t do anything to our baby anyways.¡± Steven said shaking his head. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared of her Vivi. Amara is just in a sort of¡­ a mood. Would you like to stay for dinner?¡± ¡°No thanks Uncle Steven. I think I will just go home and lie down a little. I feel a little faint.¡± Vivian mumbled. She did look pale. Did she thought I would poison her food? Well I would have before but not now when I know the truth. Did I overdo it though? Well it¡¯s her loss. I make delicious food. ¡°How are you going home?¡± Ben asked from the other side of the room. I had totally forgotten about them being here. Lucas, Archer and Hudson looked a little awkward. Wonder why they are feeling like that. ¡°I will just call my dad.¡± ¡°I will drop you off. No need to call your dad.¡± Steven being his over loving self, told her. She gave me one look and nodded. Steven picked up his car keys and set off with Vivian in tow. ¡°Let¡¯s get you to your rooms to freshen up.¡± I told Lucas, Archer and Hudson. ¡°Mom we only have two guest rooms.¡± Elliot said. Opps! I totally forgot about that. ¡°We can stay in one room mam. It won¡¯t be a problem.¡± Lucas said looking shy. Aww he is adorable. Did he just call me mam? I will address that partter. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. Ethan and I can share a room. We are in each other¡¯s room all the time anyways and our rooms are secondrgest after Mom and Dad¡¯s. You can have one of our rooms. Just give us half an hour to move the stuff.¡± Ben told them smiling. ¡°We can live in one room. Please don¡¯t change anything for us.¡± Archer said looking flustered. Chapter 16- Amara Chapter 16- Amara ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem. Freshen up and then we can have dinner. We can also watch movies after that.¡± Ethan told them smiling. I am so proud of my boys. I pulled the two in a hug and kissed all over their faces despite them struggling. Hehe I am stronger. ¡°Mom. Stop it.¡± Ethan grumbled but he still had his arm around me. ¡°Mom please stop kissing me.¡± Ben said pouting. I gave them each onest kiss and stepped back. ¡°Elliot show them the two guest rooms for now. Then one of them can move to the spare bedroom when it is clean.¡± Lucas, Archer and Hudson followed Elliot to the second floor. ¡°You two hurry up ande to the kitchen to help me with the dinner. We are one pair of arms short today so it will take time and we are having a feast for the boys.¡± I told the twins. ¡°Yes mom.¡± And off they went to do their jobs. ¡°Mom I can help with cooking.¡± Val said bouncing on her toes. ¡°No way.¡± I said horrified at the idea. Apparently she had inherited Steven¡¯s talent in the kitchen. She once almost set the house on fire while boiling the water for spaghetti. No way in the hell am I letting her enter my kitchen. ¡°I will help mom.¡± Beth said smiling at me. ¡°Off course sweetie.¡± ¡°Why her and not me? I am older than her.¡± Val whined. ¡°You know why.¡± I narrowed my eyes at her. This content is ? N?velDrama.Org. She pouted and looked at me with puppy eyes which obviously didn¡¯t work on me. ¡°That happened only once mom.¡± She wailed when I didn¡¯t give up. ¡°I am not letting you in the kitchen.¡± I said firmly. Her pout became more prominent. Beth snickered earning a re from her sister. ¡°Come on Eros. We will go y in the back yard.¡± Val dragged a fussing Eros out of the house. He clearly didn¡¯t want to go. What am I going to do with this one? ¡°Mom you stink. Go take a bath.¡± Beth said wrinkling her nose. ¡°But I did in the morning.¡± ¡°Mom just go. We will start dinner ¡®after¡¯ you took a bath.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± I went to my room with slumped shoulders. Beth acts really mature for her age sometimes. My babies are growing up too fast and I still look neen. I don¡¯t want to look like their sister. I hope the age thing kicks in soon. Time for a bath. I filled the tub with water of suitable temperature and removed my clothes which I didn¡¯t notice were covered in foliage and dirt. Might have caught them when I ran to the clearing. Beth was right. I do stink. I lowered myself in the tub and rxed in it. After a couple minutes, I got out and wiped myself dry. Don¡¯t have the time for long baths today. I have a feast to cook for the boys. I quickly dashed downstairs after I got ready in a jeans and a top. The twins weren¡¯t there yet and Beth was sitting on the dining table chair lost in her own world. I wonder what goes on in her head. I walked towards the living room to find a very spooked Eros and Valentina on the couch. ¡°What happened to you two?¡± I asked making them jump in the air. ¡°Mommyyyyy.¡± Eros started full on crying and jumped in my arms. Valentina wasn¡¯t behind either. They both clung to me like their life depended on it. ¡°What happened? Are you hurt? Did anyone say or did something to you?¡± They just kept crying. ¡°Mom there is a huge wolf ghost in the backyard and he threatened us to go inside or he will grill us alive.¡± Val exined after she had calmed down a little. Eros nodded wiping his eyes. I know who that wolf ghost is. I am so going to beat the crap out of him. I stormed outside to the back yard and found the culprit lying peacefully in the line of the forest. ¡°RYDER.¡± I shouted. He lifted his head from his paws, looked at me and rested his head back on his paws, huffing in the process. ¡°Why the hell did you threaten my kids?¡± I asked ring at him. ¡°First off. What are you even doing here?¡± ¡°I am guarding the house.¡± He said in a duh tone. ¡°About those brats, they shouldn¡¯t be out in the current situation. We are sort of at a war.¡± He does have a point. ¡°Why are you guarding my house like a creepy stalker though? Why didn¡¯t you tell me you wereing here?¡± ¡°I know you won¡¯t let mee here to keep you safe.¡± Well yeah. He is not a guard dog. He is my brother. I wouldn¡¯t let him do such a thing. ¡°So I decided by myself that I will stay here and look over you.¡± He looked proud of himself. ¡°If those brats didn¡¯te out, I wouldn¡¯t have been discovered.¡± ¡°Stop calling my kids brats.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Ryder and his sassy ass. ¡°Well you are not sitting here like some guard dog. Come on in. It¡¯s time the kids meet you. They keep asking about their ¡®Uncle Ryder¡¯ anyways.¡± I told him sighing. He jumped to his feet and started following me. There was a collection of screams as the massive figure of my brother entered the house. Well they look more scared than I anticipated. Chapter 17- Zeno Chapter 17- Zeno That woman is scary as hell. I didn¡¯t know that stupid bitch would go ratting about us to her parents. Now I am not even aloud to be near her. How am I supposed to get this empty feeling to go away? I don¡¯t think they will allow me in their house ever again. Uhh! I am so screwed. The only way to get near that idiot is the pack gatherings which isn¡¯t much. I would have to find another way to get near her. Maybe I can go to her school once in a while. They can¡¯t stop me there from approaching her. The door of the car mmed shut pulling me out of my dilemma. I looked on the back seat to find a very upset Francis and no Vivian. ¡°What happened to you? Where is Vivian?¡± I asked him. He didn¡¯t answer for a while. Fabian looked at me in question and I shrugged not knowing what the problem was. ¡°It¡¯s all because of you.¡± Francis said looking at me with loathing and anger clearly visible on his face. ¡°Dude what are you even talking about? Are you in shock or what?¡± I joked. ¡°YOU. YOU ARE THE REASON WE ARE IN THIS SITUATION. THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU. I NEVER WANTED TO HARRASS ARIA NOR DID FABIAN. YOU PULLED US INTO THIS. YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAD SOME SORT OF TWISTED INFATUATION WITH ARIA, YOU DRAGGED US INTO BULLYING HER.¡± I looked at him shocked as he shouted in my face. How did he know about the weird pull I had towards Arabe? He startedughing menacingly as I looked at him dumbfounded. I looked at Fabian for help but he looked away from me. ¡°What? You thought we didn¡¯t know about your messed up feelings for her. YOU BIPOLAR PRICK. YOU MADE THAT GIRL SUFFER WHEN SHE WAS ALREADY IN SO MUCH PAIN JUST BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT SHE HAD SOME SORT OF CONTROL OVER YOU. YOU SELFISH BASTARD.¡± ¡°How¡­ how do you know that?¡± I asked him. This day is getting better and better every passing second. Note the sarcasm. ¡°Your sixteenth birthday. You were drunk your ass off.¡± Fabian said looking at me with the same look as Francis. ¡°You talked about all the messed up shit you thought about Aria. We were disgusted of you and wanted to stop everything but you said something about feeling empty when you couldn¡¯t be near her for too long or some shit along the lines and we did saw it happen with our very own eyes over summer. You looked gaunt and had a very dark aura around you whenever you would go too long without being near her. So we went on with it like we didn¡¯t know the truth. We thought you will grow out of it but that never happened and then the bonfire incident happened. We carried on with your activities just to keep an eye on you so you won¡¯t go too far again. By that time, we knew something is really wrong with you. So we tagged along to keep Aria safe.¡± I just looked at the two people sitting in my car in front of me in shock. The two people I considered my best friends think that I am messed up and hitched in the head. To top it all, they are siding with that slut. ¡°Get out.¡± I told them with a nk face. ¡°No.¡± Francis scoffed. ¡°I SAID GET OUT OF MY DAMN CAR.¡± ¡°Not happening.¡± Fabian said looking at me with a serious face. ¡°You need help and we are not going to leave your side till you at least get the help you need. You can N?velDrama.Org ? content. kick us out of your life after that.¡± Francis said calmly. At that moment, I wanted to punch them and hug them at the same time. They just want well for me. But the problem is, I don¡¯t need any sort of help. It¡¯s that Arabe girl that has problems. She might be a witch for all we know or maybe I am just over reacting. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here before they think of kicking us out themselves.¡± Francis said looking sad. They had to be the bad guys too just because I was having issues and dragged them with me. I wish I hadn¡¯t done that and just took more civil way to approach Aria. It wouldn¡¯t have been this bad and they wouldn¡¯t have suffered because I couldn¡¯t figure out my own fucking thoughts. ¡°Where is Vivi?¡± Fabian asked as I was about to start the car. ¡°She doesn¡¯t want anything to do with us. She said that she will tell everyone of what we did to Aria. Well Zeno did make it seem like Aria didn¡¯t want anything to do with us and made her a sort of a pariah in school and the pack. It¡¯s understandable.¡± Francis said looking at us with a sad face. I never thought that I had done so much damage in a fit of my rage. Why? Just because I couldn¡¯t figure out what the fuck I was feeling. ¡°She said we aren¡¯t good enough to lead a pack.¡± That did break my heart. He looked so devastated. They don¡¯t deserve to be treated like this. They did nothing wrong. Whatever they did was for my sake. Hearing the people you are supposed to lead in the future say that you aren¡¯t worthy enough to lead is really heart breaking. We are wolves. Our pack is everything to us. The leaders live only to lead and protect the pack but here we are, being rejected by our pack before we even took our positions. This is shattering. For the first time in my life I felt like crying. What have I done? Chapter 18- Lucas Chapter 18- Lucas I plopped on thefortable bed as I exited the shower. Hudson went in the bathroom. Archer was sitting on the desk chair, reading a book he found somewhere. This is the most rxed I have felt since the attack. I can tell by looking that Archer and Hudson felt the same. There is a sense of security in this house. A sort of warmth and hominess that I didn¡¯t knew I missed so much. This content is ? N?velDrama.Org. In all this running and surviving, I had missed these simple gestures of taking a shower,ying on your bed and staring at the ceiling thinking random things and some other things like having a full house and dinner with family. These things seem so modest but they are really important and we seem to take it for granted. We only realize how important they are to us, once we lose them. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Archer asked breaking me out of my pondering. ¡°About how much our lives changed in one day. Before the attack we didn¡¯t have a slightest idea of this world and now we are living in the middle of it. We lost everything but found something new.¡± ¡°Yeah. It has been a whirlwind. I just hope that our parents were still alive. I miss them. I didn¡¯t even get to say goodbye to them.¡± Archer said giving me a sad smile. ¡°I want to help them with the attack. It will at least bring some sort of justice and peace to our parents and the other people we lost.¡± Hudson said as he exited the bathroom. He must have heard us talking. ¡°I want to as well but I don¡¯t know how it will work.¡± I voiced. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Archer asked. ¡°See from what I collected, our Alpha is dead and that must be the chief¡¯s son. A pack needs an Alpha to function and we don¡¯t have him. We do have a beta which is one of us but we still need an Alpha. Even if we did shift, who will lead us? Who will take charge of us? What if they thought that we shouldn¡¯t be shifting as we don¡¯t have an Alpha? The spirit walker has total control over the shifting process. What if she decides that we shouldn¡¯t shift due tock of a leader? We won¡¯t be able to help and get justice. We will be too weak to fight against those monsters anyways. I just hope they let us in this. I want to give it my all to save the people I have left with me.¡± I told them. Archer and Hudson looked stunned for a moment. Yup! We didn¡¯t know about the shifter world till the day we were attacked but from what we concluded, it must have been kept in the chief¡¯s family. The day of the attack was a total shock and chaos. We didn¡¯t know anything at all about the creatures that were killing us nor did we know that we were a part of their world in some way. When the chief shifted into a massive wolf, we were shocked but we ran as instructed by his wife and sons. They were trying to help us but they got killed in the process. Nobody anticipated an attack of that sorts. Not even in their dreams. There was confusion everywhere. The parents took over for the chief¡¯s family and the children ran but they came after us too until we were saved and told about the way out. We were pushed into a new world headlong without any warning but we wanted revenge so we made it our mission to survive and fight back when we get a chance. Seems like we have that chance now but there is a possibility that it can be taken away from us. ¡°We will figure something out. We will kill as many demons as we can before dying. I am not going to sit around and watch people defend me and lose their lives. This time I will fight too and no one is going to stop me from doing that.¡± Archer said standing up from his chair. ¡°Yeah! We will fight. With or without being shifters, it doesn¡¯t matter if we don¡¯t have extra properties to us. We will fight with what we got.¡± Hudson said plopping beside me. A knock broke us out of our heated discussion and we went downstairs to eat. The Astley¡¯s were waiting for us with a table full of delicious looking food but my mind was solely wondering to our talk earlier. We will fight no matter what and with everything we have got. We won¡¯t rest peacefully till we get to the bottom of this and eradicate the people responsible for the demise of our people. Chapter 19- Amara Chapter 19- Amara ¡°Mom run. There is a wolf ghost behind you.¡± Ben said with a shaking voice. Val and Eros had jumped out of the living room couch and behind their older brothers. Elliot too was standing behind them and the three of them where pushing each other around to get better cover resulting in Elliot to fall down. Ryder sat beside me as I saw the scene unfold. He tilted his head to the side looking at them with a very confused expression. Elliot screeched watching Ryder¡¯s massive head tilt and dived behind the kitchen counter. Beth on the other hand was looking at Ryder with interest. She has always been an odd one. ¡°Those brats are stupid. I don¡¯t know why you stay with them and not me.¡± Ryder¡¯s jealous ass said. ¡°MOM THE GHOST JUST SPOKE.¡± Ethan screamed resulting in Ryder and me to wince. ¡°Okay enough.¡± I said before anyone could start spoofing anything more. ¡°Kids, this is Ryder my older brother. Ryder, these are my children. Benjamin and Ethan, the twins. Then there is Valentina, Elizabeth, Elliot and Eros.¡± ¡°I like Aria better.¡± Ryder said amused. He did not just say that? ¡°He is Uncle Ryder?¡± Ben asked with wide shocked eyes. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. I nodded. ¡°Mom you never told us he is dead.¡± Val screeched. ¡°DO I LOOK DEAD TO YOU?¡± Ryder growled making the bunch in front of us jump. ¡°Ry they don¡¯t know anything.¡± I sighed. He just huffed at me. ¡°He is my god father right mom?¡± Beth asked all excited. I nodded amused. ¡°I have a cool god father.¡± She skipped towards Ryder and hugged him. Ryder looked really happy. Even his tail was wagging a little. ¡°I am d this one is mine. The others are utterly stupid.¡± Ryder said nuzzling into Beth. Isn¡¯t that enough? Just let go now. ¡°Okay. Now that everyone is clear that Ryder isn¡¯t some ghost, let¡¯s get to making dinner. We have a lot to get done. I will exin everythingter.¡± I said testily. Ryder was still nuzzling into Beth. The others still looked a little on the edge but they were no longer screaming and running. ¡°That¡¯s enough. Get to the kitchen.¡± I said sharply to Beth. I heard the lot behind me snicker which I shut up by a re. Beth looked at me amused as I moved the focus of my re to the two of them. ¡°Mom do you mind if I stay with uncle Ryder?¡± The smartass asked with a little smirk on her face. I growl slipped my lips before I could stop it. This time Beth looked scared. Ryder flinched. There was a scurrying noise of footsteps behind me. Good decision. ¡°Kitchen. Now.¡± I told the shaking brat. She all but sprinted out of there. I red one more time at Ryder and made my way to the kitchen. But before I could even take two steps, a huge ass fur ball blocked my way. ¡°Did I do something wrong princess?¡± Ryder asked in a vulnerable voice. Aww. He looks like a lost puppy like this. No! I am mad at him. I refused to answer him and tried to walk from beside him. Key word. Tried. ¡°Why are you mad at me princess?¡± He blocked my path. Again. But why am I mad at him? ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I mumbled looking at the floor. I heard Ryder snicker. I looked at him pointedly and jumped on him to tackle him down. He rolled over with me on top and then turned. Inded on my back and he pinned me with his body. I struggled to get up but stopped at his next words. ¡°Are you jealous Princess?¡± His voice sounded amused. I could feel my face warm up. Ryder gave a barkingugh and nuzzled into me. I hid my red face in his mane as he continued to cackle. ¡°S¡­shut up Ryder. Stop acting like a hyena.¡± Wow! Way to go Amara. ¡°Sure.¡± He said snickering. ¡°Get off of me Ryder. I need to cook dinner.¡± I told him but he justid onto his side and pulled me in his chest with his paws. I rested my head on him as he curled his head around my back, blocking my way out. Iid there for a while but I need to get up. ¡°I need to get up.¡± I told the big wolf curled around me. ¡°Later.¡± He didn¡¯t even open his eyes. ¡°Please let go. We are having a feast for Lucas, Archer and Hudson. That¡¯s the least I could do for the boys after what they have been through.¡± I all but whined. He let go of me this time. I got up and stretched. Ryder got up as well. ¡°Why are you getting up?¡± I asked confused. ¡°I aming with you.¡± He said in a duh voice. ¡°No you are not.¡± ¡°Yes I am.¡± ¡°No. Go upstairs to mine and Steven¡¯s bedroom to rest up.¡± ¡°I am not going there. What if someone attacked you and I am toote toe save you? Your room is an entire floor away. I am staying right here with you.¡± I groaned in frustration. I should have seen thating. Chapter 20- Amara Chapter 20- Amara ¡°You can¡¯t stay in the kitchen when we are cooking. It¡¯s not that big enough for you to sitfortably while the four of us work there. How about you go check if Aria is awake?¡± I exined to him politely. ¡°Are you calling me fat?¡± Ryder¡¯s said dramatically The front door opened and Steven walked in. He stopped a few feet away from us. He is still scared of Ryder to this day. ¡°No I am not but Ry you are gigantic and the kids are still a little scared of you. Please.¡± ¡°No¡± He huffed. This stubborn wolf. I don¡¯t have a choice now. ¡°I will tell on you to papa.¡± I said smugly. ¡°You won¡¯t.¡± He challenged. ¡°Watch me.¡± I closed my eyes to talk to papa. ¡°ALRIGHT. I AM GOING.¡± Ryder screamed before I could even say p. ¡°You are really mean.¡± Ryder¡¯s eyes fell on Steven while turning towards the staircase and he snarled at him. Steven squeaked and stepped back. Yup! The massive figure of Steven was shaking with fear due to my brother. Ryder stalked upstairs before I could yell anything at him, grumbling under his breath. ¡°What is he doing here?¡± Steven asked in a shaky voice. ¡°Apparently he was watching over me from the outside of the house so I called him in and introduced him to the kids.¡± I exined. ¡°Oh my god! Is he staying over?¡± Steven looked horrified at the idea. I looked at him with a nk face. He wailed like a banshee and dived face first on the couch. I left his weeping self there and went to the kitchen to start with the dinner. I don¡¯t know when these two will get along. ¡°Mom were you jealous of Beth?¡± Elliot snickered. ¡°No.¡± I snapped. ¡°Why would I be jealous of her?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Ben said grinning at me. I threw an apple at him which he caught effortlessly. ¡°Get to work.¡± I told them which they did without any further questions as Eros and Val exited the kitchen snickering behind their hands. In the next three hours we made a huge amount of dishes. We made Greek sd, Pot roast, mashed potatoes, Fajitas, cornbread, Chicken fried steak, roasted carrot squash and sweet potato soup, chicken skillet noodles and for dessert, apple pie and Yorkshire pudding. Well we do have ten growing children to feed. Some of them literally have an appetite of a bear despite being part wolf. I am sure none of the food will be left after dinner. ¡°Elliot go call the boys for dinner. Steven go check if Aria is awake.¡± I told them after we had washed up. Elliot ran upstairs quickly but Steven made a face. ¡°Why me? Send Ben or someone else. I am not going. Ryder is there.¡± He whined. And people say I am the one that¡¯s childish. I sighed in exhaustion. ¡°Ryder.¡± I called in the mind link. Ryder hummed. ¡°Is Aria awake?¡± ¡°Barely.¡± ¡°Will you bring her downstairs for dinner?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to put her on my back? I can¡¯t carry her by the scruff.¡± Ryder sassed. ¡°Fine I will send Steven up. Be nice.¡± ¡°I will think about it.¡± I can literally hear the smirk in his voice. I don¡¯t know why he hates Steven that much. ¡°Steven Aria is awake but she is feeling weak. Go bring her down for dinner.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°I told Ryder to be nice.¡± ¡°What did he say?¡± Steven asked narrowing his eyes at me. ¡°He won¡¯t hurt you Steve.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a good answer.¡± ¡°Steven go get our daughter.¡± I said sternly. He turned and ran full speed up the steps without furtherint. Five minutester Lucas, Archer and Hudson came down with Elliot. Their jaws dropped to the floor seeing the dining table. Everyone took their seats. Did I overdo it a notch? I just wanted them to have a day to eat to the brim andze around. I thought they would like it. Oh my! What if they felt like I am feeding them like pigs? Okay that was stupidly random. Steven came downstairs with a half asleep Aria in his arms with no sign of Ryder. ¡°Ryder is sleeping upstairs in Aria¡¯s room for the time being.¡± He said cing Aria on the chair beside him. ¡°Why are you pouting love? Is something wrong?¡± ¡°I think I overdid it with the food.¡± Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. Steven gave a boomingugh. I returned it with a mean re. ¡°But the boys look happy.¡± I looked up to find them grinning widely and filling their tes enthusiastically. The table was filled with I grinned at Steven. He smiled at me and pecked my lips. ¡°E dad. Stop kissing my mommy.¡± Eros¡¯s voice came from Aria¡¯sp. That little tyke was looking at us with a disgusted face. When did he get there? I flushed red as every eye on the table turned towards us. Stevenughed at my embarrassed state and the others joined him. I red at my husband which made himugh even more. I smirked at Steven making hisughter die down immediately. The table rang with a new round of You are so going to sleep on the couch tonight love. Let¡¯s see who has thestugh then. Chapter 21- Amara Chapter 21- Amara As the afternoon rolled around, Steven, Ryder and I made our way to the cabin. The pack is going to be there by twelve and so are we. We decided to not bring Arabe with us as she is still going through the after effects of yesterday¡¯s events. Lucas, Archer and Hudson threw a fit toe with us but we denied them and now they are probably sitting in one of their rooms pouting together. Aria might have joined them as well. I sighed for¡­ I don¡¯t how many times today. It is a very important day today. ¡°Love everything will be alright. Don¡¯t worry too much.¡± Steven said from beside me. I know we can get there in a few minutes but I wanted to take a walk to clear my head and think about¡­ well everything. In between yesterday¡¯s dinner and Ryder showing up out of nowhere, I had no time to think anything over. I do have some ideas but I don¡¯t know if they will totally be worth it. Besides we don¡¯t know the full extent of the problem. ¡°Amy.¡± Steven stepped in front of me stopping me in my tracks. I looked up at him confused. ¡°What is going on in your head?¡± ¡°Nothing. Just the things about the meeting and our problems that are toe.¡± I rubbed my head as it was starting to ache now from the over thinking. ¡°We will figure something out. Don¡¯t worry about it too much.¡± Ryder said. ¡°Besides you are not alone in this situation. None of us are. We will work something out.¡± ¡°You do understand that there is a major possibility that our children will be fighting right? They might die there.¡± I eximed horrified even at the thought of it. ¡°Yeah and I trust them enough to know that they will destroy every damn demon thates to kill us.¡± Steven said firmly. I nodded still not fully convinced. What if something happened to them? I won¡¯t be able to live with myself if anyone of our people died. ¡°Princess just hop on. We are not getting anywhere with you exploding your head for something that hasn¡¯t happened yet. We will run there.¡± Ryder more like ordered. I opened my mouth to object but shut it when Ryder growled at me. I quickly climbed on his back and buried my face in his neck. ¡°What about me?¡± Steven asked blinking innocently at us. ¡°Use your damn feet. I am not carrying your dumb ass anywhere.¡± Ryder snapped and took off. Uhh! These two. I still can¡¯t understand why Ryder detests Steven so much. In a mere few minutes we were in the clearing in front of the cabin. The alpha and his fellow spirit wolves were already there waiting for us to arrive. N?velDrama.Org ? content. This ce is going to be really crowded soon with the eleven spirit wolves from this pack, seven from the other, the seven shifters and the two of us. Not to forget, the spirit wolves are magnificent creatures. I am already feeling ustrophobic after even thinking about it. Steven and I sat down on the steps of the cabin with Ryder sitting right beside me, giving the alpha challenging looks. That possessive idiot. It¡¯s not like they are going to attack us now. ¡°Come to the clearing.¡± I heard Ryder say in the mind link. One by one, ten spirit wolves emerged from the trees and sat beside Ryder so that the other pack of spirit wolves and our pack were sitting right across from each other. The shifter emerged and took the only remaining space in the circle that was right across from me. Nobody spoke for a while. The air was filled with tension. ¡°We would like to know anything and everything about the demons.¡± Leo stated. ¡°Fine.¡± The Alpha started. ¡°They are sneaky little things. They are fast but not faster than us. Same goes with their strength. They can¡¯t shift or anything but they can protrude sharp talons and teeth which contains some sort of poison that paralyzes a human body. It does not have that much effect on shifters but it can leave their body weak for a few seconds and that¡¯s all they need to finish you off if they are smart enough which I don¡¯t think they are from what I saw but we need to be more careful. From what my father told me, this poison has no effect on the spirit walkers or spirit wolves but they attacked us had at least two hundred of them. We weren¡¯t even a fifty. You can do the calction as to what rate they attack. Demons have lower status in our world. Lower than a witch or a vampire. A witch¡¯s magic can hold them for at least fifteen seconds but that¡¯s all. It only works for the low level demons that they use as the army. For the high level ones, the witch can only freeze them for a mere three to five seconds depending on the witch¡¯s level of powers. The lower level demons are easy to kill. Just decapitate them and they will disintegrate into ashes immediately. I killed almost ny percent of the force that came for us but I think they wille in greater number this time. Their leader wasn¡¯t present with them. As to how to kill a higher level demon? Well I don¡¯t know how to do that exactly. That knowledge wasn¡¯t passed on to me. Maybe the previous spirit walker or a high level witch can tell us about it. The only problem is that we are not entirely clear of their intension. If they are only trying to eliminate uspletely, that do make sense but what if they have an ulterior motive?¡± Chapter 22- Amara Chapter 22- Amara The silence that grazed the clearing was imprable. The pressure was thick in the air. There are only a total of twenty-seven of us. If we add Cassidy and Grayson, we will be twenty-nine. We will need someone to watch and guard the kids. So Austin and Cloe will be on it. We might need more people on guard as the mates and parents of the shifters will have to go with the kids. How are we supposed to take over that many number of demons? That too without the humans noticing? ¡°What are your thoughts about it Amara?¡± Leo asked me. ¡°I can see the gears turning in your head.¡± It took me off guard a little. ¡°First of all, I think we need to contact Greyson and Cassidy. With the witch part down, we need to contact mom for the information on killing the high level demons.¡± I don¡¯t know how many more things that women forgot to tell me. ¡°We need to get the kids, mates and parents out of here and to safety. I was thinking to send them to Austin and Cloe but the two of them alone can¡¯t protect the lot so we need more reinforcement only if they want to get involved. They do have a child. I can understand if they don¡¯t want anything to do with this. Maybe a few of the shifters can go with them but that will leave us underhanded more than we already are. The kids shifting is out of question as the spirit wolves can do more damage than the shifters. No offense but I have to think logically here.¡± Leo smiled shaking his head. ¡°So what do you guys think?¡± ¡°That sound like a good n but I was thinking about letting a few of the kids shift. We will lose few warriors anyways for the protection. Why not go with untrained ones than the trained ones? We will be short on a few spirit wolves but if we failed in protecting our loved ones, there is no meaning winning the war.¡± Leo said thoughtfully. That does makes sense but losing spirit wolves in this situation does not sound good. I don¡¯t trust Zeno, Fabian and Francis with authority and power. Lucas, Archer and Hudson would want to fight. That means they will need an Alpha. The only other alpha in my knowing is Ben and I don¡¯t want my kids on the battle field. What are we going to do? ¡°I refuse to be Zeno¡¯s wolf.¡± Ajax voiced. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be Francis¡¯s wolf either.¡± Cedric said. ¡°Neither do I want to be Fabian¡¯s wolf. Those three are not suitable to lead.¡± Ivor scoffed. ¡°We agree with them. We don¡¯t want to be led by humans like those.¡± Victor growled. Caesar and Finn nodded at that. Earl, Fallon and Emersyn said nothing but they seemed to agree with them as well. I didn¡¯t see thating. The alpha, beta and gamma of the spirit pack are objecting to merge with their human counter parts and their fellow pack wolves are agreeing to them? Even the Alpha, beta and gamma not rted to the said pack are agreeing with them? This hasn¡¯t been seen before. This is not something we thought was possible. I looked at them with mouth wide open. ¡°Mom they hurt our sister for no apparent reason. That said sister is also a spirit walker.¡± Earl said. Earl, Fallon and Emersyn had started calling me mom since the day they knew that they are Benjamin, Ethan and Elliot¡¯s wolves. So technically they are my son. ¡°We value spirit walkers more than humans and they hurt the spirit walker as well as our sister. You can¡¯t except us to hand them power do you?¡± ¡°No we don¡¯t.¡± Stanley said. The shifters looked crestfallen. This is not happening right now. What I am more surprised about is that Ryder hasn¡¯t uttered a word yet. I am having a bad feeling about this. ¡°There is one more thing I want to make clear.¡± Ajax started. ¡°As he is nearing of age, the connection between us has gotten stronger. I feel a sort of darknessing from Zeno. The other two boys are just trying to keep himpany but what they are doing is wrong and as there won¡¯t be an Alpha, the other wolf shifting won¡¯t be possible.¡± ¡°What do you mean by darkness?¡± Leo asked. He looked possibly terrified. I would be too if it was my son in that ce. ¡°It started three years ago in summer. I didn¡¯t feel it clearly before but now we know what the darkness and emptiness means. It is starting to affect me to at some extent this past few months.¡± Ajax said. I have a feeling I know what that means. ¡°Our mate died that summer.¡± The clearing was filled with gasps of horror. An alpha losing a mate is not a good thing. The entire pack will suffer because of it. This is turning more and moreplicated every passing second.Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. Chapter 23- Amara Chapter 23- Amara Leo looked like someone pped him in the face. Hearing that the mate of your son died before he could even meet her is truly devastating. ¡°There is one more thing we suspect.¡± Earl growled. Ajax just looked away¡­ ashamed? ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. Please don¡¯t be any worse news than this one. ¡°We think Aria is my second chance mate.¡± Ajax said looking at the ground. He didn¡¯t say Zeno and his. Oh dear! How much do they hate him? ¡°Why do you think that?¡± Leo asked. He looked hopeful and so did the others from the pack. ¡°From what I think he started bullying Aria since the school started after that summer. As I said earlier that I could feel his emotions more and more these past few months. I noticed that the darkness inside him would diminish to almost nothing when Aria would be near him or in the same building. I had started to look over him since I first felt those depressing feeling. The same goes for me. Whenever you two woulde here to train, I would stay nearby and it made me feel calm and happy.¡± Ajax exined. ¡°That might be because she is a spirit walker.¡± Steven objected. I don¡¯t think he likes the idea of Aria being mated to Zeno. Nor do I. ¡°I thought that too at first but I am sure now that she is my mate.¡± Ajax said firmly. Ryder growled. ¡°I don¡¯t want my precious niece with that bullying git. I support your decision Ajax.¡± ¡°Thank you papa. I would rather die like this than put Aria through that situation. She deserves better than that insolent human.¡± Ajax looked determined but I could see an underline of sadness in his eyes. He is one strong willed Alpha. Only if he could have a better human. ¡°Please. Don¡¯t do this.¡± Leo begged. ¡°He will die due to that darkness. Give him one chance. I know what he did is unforgivable but¡­ I can¡¯t lose my son.¡± His painful sobs raked the silent clearing. The other shifters hung their heads in shame. I walked up to him and hugged him as he cried on my shoulder. It is not his fault that he has to go through this horror of begging for his child¡¯s life. There are so many atrocious things parents have to do for their children and they are always ignorant of it. The parents usually end up paying up for their reckless mistakes. ¡°Tyler.¡± I called. ¡°Yes.¡± Leo¡¯s voice went deeper as Tyler surfaced. ¡°What do you think about this situation?¡± ¡°No matter how much I am ashamed of Zeno, he is still my son Amy.¡± That was enough for me to know his answer. ¡°Give him a chance princess.¡± Papa¡¯s voice rang in my head. I know everyone heard it in the mind link.This content is ? N?velDrama.Org. ¡°But what about my daughter? Doesn¡¯t she deserve to be happy?¡± This time no one spoke but I had made my decision. ¡°Call a meeting including every single person of the pack at seven tonight. Mates, parents, children, every single one of them. It will be held at the meeting house. We will talk there. You may leave.¡± My voice was sharp and full of authority. I know they could feel the fury rolling out of me in waves. The shifters left immediately. I could feel their happiness. Of course, they are happy. It¡¯s their children after all that are getting a safe passage. I couldn¡¯t even be mad at them. If they think I will just sacrifice my daughter, then oh how wrong they are. One wrong move and I will kill that bastard with my bare hands. No body messes with my family. ¡°Calm down love.¡± Steven pulled me in his arms. I buried my face in his chest, inhaling his scent to calm myself down. A sob made its way out of my mouth on its own ords and that was it. I broke down. Steven just held me close and let me cry. I could feel Ryder standing right behind me. I turned around and hugged him close. ¡°Mom if Aria doesn¡¯t want to be with that prick, we won¡¯t let that piece of shit force her into it. We promise.¡± Earl said. Every single one of them nodded. Even Ajax. Poor pup can¡¯t even be with his mate because he has a crappy human. ¡°I will tell her to give this rtionship a chance Ajax. I don¡¯t want you to be away from your mate.¡± ¡°Thanks Aunty Amy but don¡¯t force her. She deserves to be happy. Don¡¯t give in to any of their demands. Aria is more important than anything and anyone.¡± ¡°You are a perfect mate to our daughter Ajax. I couldn¡¯t ask for anyone else. Only if Zeno hadn¡¯t been such an asshole.¡± Steven hissed. ¡°Love lets go home. We should eat something before going to the meeting. I have a feeling, it is going to be a long one.¡± Steven said leading me to the trees. ¡°I apologize for what you had to see alpha.¡± I said turning towards the alpha as he and his pack were still there. ¡°I can understand your concerns mydy. It was not an inconvenience. Just to make it clear, I support Alpha Ryder and the pups¡¯ decision. That filth does not deserve happiness but for Ajax¡¯s sake, give him a chance. That pup does not deserve this agony.¡± The alpha said. Chapter 24- Amara Chapter 24- Amara I nodded and turned around to walk home. ¡°Hop on.¡± Steven said crouching in front of me. I didn¡¯t have any energy left to argue so I simply climbed on his back. He zoomed off immediately. We were ganged in immediately by four people as soon as we crossed the threshold. ¡°What happened?¡± Hudson. ¡°What did you decide?¡± Lucas. ¡°What are we doing?¡± Hudson. ¡°Mom were you crying?¡± That was Aria. I didn¡¯t answer her. Looking at her made me want to cry again. Archer was standing behind the three but close. ¡°We have a meeting at seven today. Everyone is going.¡± Steven answered as I tried not to cry. ¡°What do you mean by everyone?¡± Aria asked. ¡°Just what I said. Everyone.¡± Steven answered and steered me inside. As soon as we enter our bedroom, I broke down again. My daughter¡¯s fate will be decided today. I just want to hide her some ce safe. Why can¡¯t anyone just let her live in peace? Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. A minuteter a very naked Steven entered the room from the bathroom. ¡°Come on. I have prepared a bath. We still have two hours to go. Let¡¯s rx a little before we have to face the hell.¡± I was about to protest but he picked me up and entered the bathroom. He gently ced me on the counter and removed the dress off of my body. ¡°We won¡¯t let anyone hurt our daughter love.¡± He said circling his arms around me and resting his forehead on mine. ¡°We will fight to ourst breath if ites to it but we have to give Ajax a chance to be with his mate. He doesn¡¯t deserve the life he is living. One wrong move and Zeno won¡¯t be able to put a hand on our daughter. I will make sure of it and so will Ben and Ethan. You know how much our children love each other. They won¡¯t let anyone hurt their sister.¡± I nodded smiling. ¡°You did a good job with them. They are perfect. I couldn¡¯t ask for anything better.¡± He said smiling softly. ¡°We did a great job. We raised them together Steven.¡± He nodded and set me on my feet on the bathroom floor. He lowered himself in the bathtub looking at me yfully. I blushed as I stripped out of my underwear and bra. I could feel his gaze on my body. I lowered myself in the bathtub, facing him. He pulled me towards him as I was about to get His lips molded into mine immediately. He kissed me gently and passionately while his fingers roamed my body. A few secondster, he parted our lips. ¡°Once this is all over, I am going to fuck you to oblivion.¡± Steven growled looking at me with a heated gaze. I couldn¡¯t help the moan that slipped my mouth. ¡°I am already trying really hard to control myself love. Don¡¯t make it harder.¡± He said near my ear making me blush even more. He adjusted me so my back touched his and he leaned back with me on him. I sighed soaking in thefort of a warm water and my mate. After the bath, I made a quick dinner of mac and cheese and told the kids to get ready. They didn¡¯t object or ask any questions but I knew they were bursting inside to know what was going on. Eros on the other hand is simply clueless. He thinks we are going to visit the pack as usual. We had to take three cars as our number is increased by three. Archer, Hudson and Lucas are driving Aria¡¯s car with Ben with them to show them the directions. Aria was going to go with the three boys but the twins threw a fit about leaving their sister with a male. Three looked to be a fat chance. Aria sat pouting in Steven¡¯s car and refused to talk to Ben and Ethan. I wonder what will happen when the twinse to know about the subject of the meeting. God save Zeno¡¯s soul or rather not. I would like to see him get what he deserves. s that won¡¯t be a good scene and I would have to restrain them from getting physical with the supposed Alpha no matter how much I want to beat him to pulp myself. We parked our cars in the space in front of the houses of the pack and started our walk towards the meeting house. As we entered the clearing, the buzz stoppedpletely. The atmosphere turned into a stressed one. I could see the confused faces of the children peering at us from the midst of the crowd. In the crowd, my eyes also fell on Zeno, Fabian and Francis. Two growls ripped through the silence. Mine and Steven¡¯s. I could tell without looking that the rest of my party was shooting daggers at the three snakes. Their heads lowered and I focused on the pack sitting around the three, like trying to protect them. I wanted tough so bad but I controlled myself. ¡°Mommy why are you mad?¡± Eros asked innocently from my hip. ¡°Nothing baby. We are just in a sort of problem.¡± He nodded. I shouldn¡¯t have brought him here. He is too young for this. Chapter 25- Amara Chapter 25- Amara ¡°Beth take Eros and wait near the car. Ryder will keep youpany.¡± ¡°Why me? Elliot is youngest. Send him away.¡± She whined. ¡°Or send Val she is stupid.¡± Val protested from Beth¡¯s side. Oh lord! This girl always has answers for everything. ¡°Ryder, do you minding to the clearing near the pack¡¯s houses? I don¡¯t think Eros should be here while we talk about¡­ well an uing war and I am sending Val and Beth with him.¡± ¡°Sure. I will be there in a second.¡± I sighed in relief. ¡°Beth, Val both of you are leaving with Eros. Stay with Uncle Ryder till we get back. Do not wonder around alone and listen to him. Am I clear?¡± ¡°But mom he is scary.¡± Eros said jutting his lower lip out. Val nodded. Beth looked at me with a wide grin. She really seems to like Ryder. ¡°He is not scary. He is just a huge puppy.¡± I said giggling. Ryder would skin me alive if he heard that. I heard Steven choke on¡­ I don¡¯t know what. I don¡¯t know why everyone fears my sweet brother. ¡°Steven do you mind dropping them off?¡± I asked smirking. His face turned into a horrified expression. ¡°Mom we can go by ourselves. It¡¯s not that far.¡± Val whined. ¡°The situation we are in is not safe. We need to be careful.¡± ¡°Mom I will drop them off. I want to meet Uncle Ryder too.¡± Aria volunteered. ¡°Fine.¡± The four of them left. I looked around to find Zeno¡¯s eyes focused on Aria¡¯s retreating figure. I can¡¯t actually do anything about him at the moment. Leo hung his head when my eyes fell on him. ¡°Thank you for gathering here on such a short notice.¡± I started as my kids and Lucas, Archer and Hudson took their seats. ¡°We have an important decision to make. We are in a possible threat of being attacked by our old enemies. Demons.¡± The clearing lit up with gasps and murmurs. ¡°They had already killed other packs. Ours is the only one left. The three boys are from a pack that was attacked a month ago. They are the only survivors.¡± I said pointing to Archer, Lucas and Hudson. ¡°Their spirit alpha managed to save them and he also made sure to inform us of it. He is currently staying with Ryder, my older brother and the other spirit wolves.¡± There was a confused uplift in the silent talks mostly between the shifter¡¯s parents and the children. ¡°Those of you who don¡¯t know about spirit wolves, I will exin about them in short afterwards. Just to say they are the wolf part of the shifters and they merge with you when the danger to the pack arises.¡± N?velDrama.Org ? content. The air filled with more mumbles and gasps of surprise. Everyone except the current shifters and their mates were whispering amongst each other. ¡°SLIENCE.¡± Everyone on the filed shivered in fear and bowed their heads slightly. Alpha voices do that to humans and shifters alike. ¡°So where were we? Oh yeah! You must have guessed that, to fend of the danger some of the children will be shifting.¡± I saw Zeno, Francis and Fabian grin from the side of my eye. Bastards. ¡°But we have run into a problem. The spirit wolves are refusing to merge with their humans.¡± I smirked when the grins from those three idiots¡¯ face slipped. ¡°Then how are we going to fight?¡± It was Hugo that asked it. That kid is more of an Alpha than Zeno could ever be. ¡°Well we are here to solve that.¡± ¡°Why are they refusing?¡± Thomas, Leo¡¯s father asked. ¡°They don¡¯t trust Zeno, Francis and Fabian with power nor they deem them worthy of leading after what they did to Aria all these years.¡± I said in a firm voice. The reactions were just as mind blowing as I expected. The humans in the pack and the children red at the three who looked like they wanted the ground to open up and swallow them. ¡°What did they do to the poor girl?¡± Ste, Leo¡¯s mate and Zeno¡¯s mom asked with a shaky voice. ¡°They bullied her since she started living with us. They also deliberately isted her from everyone from pack and any humans in school by presenting her like a bad and arrogant person. The panic attack she had on the day of bonfire was also caused by these three. Well mostly because of Zeno.¡± Steven exined. ¡°They are lucky I didn¡¯t kill them yet for putting my daughter through this. I decided not to take actions because of my fellow pack members and Aria telling me not to but they crossed the line again and started visiting our house daily once the school started as I changed Aria¡¯s school so she could have a peacefulst year of school. Yesterday though Aria snapped when Zeno tried to approach her when we weren¡¯t home and she was alone. She knocked him out. Now he is banned from our house and is not toe near Aria whatsoever.¡± I said smirking. ¡°You should have beat the crap out of him.¡± Ste spat. ¡°Why just ban them? You should have definitely beat them up.¡± Riley, Stanley¡¯s mate and Francis¡¯s mother hissed angrily. ¡°I am ashamed of these brats. I don¡¯t remember raising them like that.¡± Mia, Ryan¡¯s mate and Fabian¡¯s mother said in a disgusted voice. ¡°Mom please. Let me exin.¡± Zeno said desperately. Chapter 26- Amara Chapter 26- Amara ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear anything. Aria was going through so much already after losing her parents and you had to go and make it even more difficult for her. I am ashamed of you. Do not call me mother till you get your act together and apologize sincerely for what you did. If I were in Amara¡¯s ce, I would have killed you for torturing my child to the extent of her going into a panic attack and you have been doing this for years?¡± St was in tears by now. ¡°What did that girl even do to you guys for you to act like this? Is this how pack leaders act? Have you ever seen your fathers act like this? How could you even willingly torture someone from your own pack? Are you not even slightly ashamed of yourself?¡± Mia asked looking at the three like they were a particrly nasty piece of filth under her shoes. ¡°IT IS ALL HER DAMNED FAULT.¡± Zeno shouted. I almost shed his throat hearing that. If it wasn¡¯t for Steven holding me back, he would be lying in the pool of his own blood by now. ¡°SHE MADE ME FEEL DIFFERENT. SHE IS THE ONLY CURE TO THE EMPTINESS AND DARKNESS I FEEL. WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO HAVE SO MUCH CONTROL OVER ME? SHE IS JUST A PUNY AND DEFESELESS HUMAN. SHE HAS NO RIGHT TO HAVE CONTROL OVER ME.¡± A punchnded on Zeno¡¯s face and he fell a few feet away. It wasn¡¯t me who hit him though. To my surprise, Lucas had left his seat and sucker punched Zeno straight in his jaw. No one objected. I wish he was Aria¡¯s mate. Things would have been so much better. What came as more of a surprise was Zeno¡¯s reaction. He didn¡¯t get up or fight back. He justid on the ground and started crying. No one made any effort to confront him. He slowly got on his knees and looked at me. ¡°Please let me see her.¡± The expressions on his face were maddening. ¡°Please I am begging you. I don¡¯t want this pain. It hurts so much. Please take it away. IT HURTS LIKE HELL. TAKE IT AWAY. I DON¡¯T WANT TO FEEL LIKE THIS ANYMORRREEEE.¡± He started thrashing on the ground and scratching his chest. The scene was simr but back then it was me in his position, writhing and moaning in pain because of my mate¡¯s infidelity. I don¡¯t know what to feel about him anymore. That kid is clearly in pain for several years but what he did to ease the pain does not make his eptable. ¡°Mom what¡¯s going on? We heard someone scream.¡± Aria came running out of the trail with Beth, Val and Eros in tow. As soon as Zeno saw her, he leapt to his feet and ran towards Aria with a twisted expression on his face. He crushed her in a bear hug. His screaming ceased and whimpering sounds could be heard N?velDrama.Org ? content. he buried his face in her hairs. We were about to take actions to get Zeno away from Aria when a feral snarl ripped through the air and a very angry Ajax came out of the tree line followed by equally vexed Ryder and Xander. Oh shit! We are in a huge trouble. Aria finally freed herself and leapt backwards towards the spirit wolves. Zeno looked up to protest, but his mouth hung open in shock and fear. Aria stepped backwards and stood behind Ajax who was growling lowly. ¡°HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY MATE AFTER HURTING HER FOR SO LONG?¡± Ajax growled. Oh no. This is not right. We are super screwed. I could see the shock on Aria¡¯s face at the deration. ¡°You do not deserve a wolf nor do you deserve a mate. You are an utter scumbag. Stay away from my niece or I will make sure to tear you into pieces.¡± Ryder spat. Zeno looked utterly shocked and devastated to say the least. ¡°Just because you were feeling horrible doesn¡¯t give you the right to make other people¡¯s life miserable. You are a disgrace for a human being.¡± Xander growled angrily. Zeno was shaking like a leaf. I never saw this side of Xander before. My baby is finally growing up. He looked like a true alpha now. I so want to give him a lot of kisses and that¡¯s what I did. I ran towards Xan and hugged him. I pulled his muzzle down and kissed him all over it. ¡°Aunty Amy you are embarrassing me.¡± He whined but didn¡¯t make a move to stop me. He more like purred. Who was getting embarrassed again? But the moment was short lived as I was pulled away by the back of my shirt and my back crashed into a very upset Ryder. His jealous self just couldn¡¯t take it when I smother someone else with loving gestures. Xan whined and I made a move to go to him but was pulled back. Again. ¡°What the hell Ryder?¡± ¡°Tell him to get his own sister.¡± Was his answer. ¡°At least let me check on my daughter.¡± I said irritably. ¡°Fine¡± He let me go, grumbling I may add. ¡°Pumpkin you okay?¡± I asked a very shell shocked Aria. ¡°Yes mom. Just a little surprised.¡± She said and leaned on Ajax who looked quite ecstatic to tell the truth. I so want to tease these two. ¡°Love we are going off the topic here.¡± Steven said clearing his throat. I looked back towards the pack members to find them gawking at the scene in front of them which happens to be me, Aria, Ryder, Xander and Ajax. A blush crept up my neck realizing what I just did. I buried my face in Ryder¡¯s neck to hide it. Chapter 27- Arabella Chapter 27- Arabe ¡°Why do we have to go and not Elliot?¡± Val whined beside me as we made our way to meet Uncle Ryder. ¡°Because Eros can¡¯t be there, and he wouldn¡¯t stay alone with Uncle Ryder.¡± I exined. ¡°This is so unfair.¡± She stomped her foot while little Eros bounced on my other side. ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± Beth chimed. ¡°I like Uncle Ryder.¡± I shook my head at the two and kept walking. Honestly, I just wanted to get away from there. Away from Zeno¡¯s piercing gaze. He had been staring at me from the moment I entered the clearing. It made me really ufortable. What does he even want from me? I never did anything to him. I never even paid any attention to him. He had just started giving snide remarks to me and it got worse in high school. I think he has some screw lose. How can a person be so rude to someone without any reason? If it was in my hands, I would have chucked him in a psychiatric facility and asked the doctors to put him through intensive shock therapy. That might have been useful to fix his twisted head. ¡°Uncle Ryder.¡± Beth squealed and ran towards the massive wolf spirit. Uncle Ryder¡¯s eyes twinkled. ¡°Hello pup. You seem excited to meet me.¡± He said amused. Val and Eros cowered behind me. ¡°I am.¡± Beth grinned. ¡°Why did you call me pup?¡± ¡°Well you are my sister¡¯s pup, aren¡¯t you?¡± Uncle Ryder looked utterly confused. ¡°But I am a vampire.¡± Beth whined very unlike Beth. ¡°Off course you are but I will still call you pup.¡± Two more spirit wolves came out of the tree line and sat beside Ryder. Beth looked at them curiously while Val and Eros clutched onto me painfully. ¡°Hey Xan. Hi Ajax.¡± I greeted. ¡°Hi Aria.¡± Xander said excitedly while Ajax nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you two wereing as well.¡± I moved closer to them, dragging my two siblings with me. ¡°We wanted to see if you were alright.¡± Ajax replied. I nodded. ¡°Val, Eros you can¡¯t hide from them for forever.¡± I said sighing at the two trembling figure. ¡°Come on now E. Introduce yourself to Xander and Ajax. They are really nice. Think of them as big cuddly dogs.¡± I saw Uncle Ryder re at me from the corner of my eye. He will definitely get back at meter. ¡°Hi. I¡­ am E¡­ros. Nice¡­ to meet¡­ you.¡± He said nervously. ¡°Val.¡± ¡°I am¡­ Valentina. Nice¡­ to m¡­eet you.¡± She seemed to be trembling more than Eros. Beth had taken a seat and was leaning on Uncle Ryder, looking at the pair with amusement. She won¡¯t let Val easy with this one. I can tell by her expressions. Eros took a tentative step towards Xander. In a few steps, he was right in front of Xan. Eros looked be debating a little. After a couple seconds, he shrugged and threw himself onto Xander. ¡°Yeah he is soft and cuddly Ari.¡± Eros squealed as he buried his face in Xander¡¯s back. ¡°Come on Val. He didn¡¯t bite me.¡± If Xander or anyone of them were offended by what Eros said, they didn¡¯t show it. Seeing him Val made her move as well and unsurely walked near Xander. Eros pulled her abruptly as soon as she was in his arms reach and Val fell on Xander. She shivered a little looking around but when nobody objected, she just settled herselffortably beside Xander. Original content from N?velDrama.Org. I sat beside Ajax and leaned my head on him in a n of taking a short nap till the rest of my family I had closed my eyes for just a couple seconds when I was woken up by a scream that ripped through the forest. It wasing from the direction of the meeting house. I jumped to my feet and ran towards the clearing. I could hear footsteps behind me. ¡°Mom what¡¯s going on? We heard someone scream.¡± Before I could register anything, I was pulled into someone¡¯s arms. The person was whimpering in my ears. What the hell is going on here? Who the heck is hugging me? I tried to get out of his hold but he simply tightened them around me. He slumped down and pulled me on hisp, burying his face in my hair. That¡¯s when I saw who it was and I started thrashing. It felt disgusting to be touched by him like that. I looked up for help. Eros, Val and Beth slinking slowly towards Ben and Ethan and Mom and Dad were looking at me with wide fearful eyes. They seemed to be in a shock. A feral snarl ripped through the air from behind me and I felt someone enter the clearing. If I am correct on who they are, there is going to be a massive mess here. Taking advantage of Zeno¡¯s distraction, I freed myself and leapt backwards. I saw Zeno look at the three arrivals in shock and¡­ is that fear? I moved backwards and stood behind a very angry Ajax. Ohh! Someone is going to get their ass whooped. Chapter 28- Arabella Chapter 28- Arabe ¡°HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY MATE AFTER HURTING HER FOR SO LONG?¡± Ajax growled. Um what? Did he just refer to me as his mate? That can¡¯t be right. Right? He looks serious though. ¡°You do not deserve a wolf nor do you deserve a mate. You are an utter scumbag. Stay away from my niece or I will make sure to tear you into pieces.¡± Uncle Ryder spat. Zeno looked like someone had punched him in the nuts. I mean guts. You go Uncle Ryder. Tell that asshole who is the boss here. ¡°Just because you were feeling horrible doesn¡¯t give you the right to make other people¡¯s life miserable. You are a disgrace for a human being.¡± Xander said angrily. I never saw thating. Sweet Xan being aggressive. I got to be careful around him from now on. I didn¡¯t know he was capable of the emotion called anger. Zeno looked to be trembling in fear. The serious atmosphere was broken down by a very squealing mother of mine who jumped on poor Xander and started kissing him all over his face or is it muzzle? ¡°Aunty Amy you are embarrassing me.¡± He whined but I could see he liked being smothered in kisses by mom as he made no effort to stop her. Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. But it all ended when Uncle Ryder¡¯s jealousy picked up and he pulled mom towards himself by the back of her shirt. Xander protested and mom tried to go back to him, but she was pulled back again. ¡°What the hell Ryder?¡± Mom protested. ¡°Tell him to get his own sister.¡± How can a grown ass Alpha be this jealous of his own son? ¡°At least let me check on my daughter.¡± Mom said irritably. ¡°Fine¡± Uncle Ryder let mom go, grumbling something under his breath. That duo is utterlyedic. ¡°Pumpkin you okay?¡± Mom asked me. ¡°Yes mom. Just a little surprised.¡± I replied and leaned on Ajax. I can see mom pulling one of her ¡®I want to tease the hell out of you¡¯ face. Why is she looking at me like that though? Then it clicked me. Ajax is my mate. Well he said he is and mom believes that too. I could feel the heat start to crawl up my neck but I didn¡¯t move away from Ajax. He is too warm for that. Mom is not going to let me live this down any sooner anyways. ¡°Love we are going off the topic here.¡± Dad said clearing his throat. It was mom¡¯s turn to be embarrassed. She looked around and turned redder than a tomato. She turned around and buried her face in Uncle Ryder¡¯s neck. Cute. In all this, Zeno waspletely forgotten. I felt Ajax vibrate a little as he growled. I looked at whom he was growling at to find Zeno trying to get near us. More like me. Zeno ceased his movements hearing Ajax growl but tried to get to me again. Without warning Ajax lunged at him and pinned him to the ground, his sharp canines¡¯ inches from Zeno¡¯s face. Oh my holly burritos. This is turning dirty real fast. Doesn¡¯t that boy like ever learn? Why the heck was he even hugging me in the first ce? Idiot. ¡°HOW DARE YOU TRY TO GO NEAR HER WHEN I TOLD YOU NOT TO?¡± Ajax shouted in his face. That¡¯s not a pretty site. Uncle Leo and the other uncles came running near the snarling magnificent wolf but backed away as he bared his teeth to them. Ajax looks to have lost it. Shouldn¡¯t uncle Ryder be doing something? I turned my head to look at him to find him watching the show with a wolfish grin and mom was standing right beside him looking equally amused. What am I going to do with these two? Zeno struggled under Ajax but his eyes were focused on me. The expression in them was maddening. A shiver ran down my spine from the way he was looking at me. Like he wanted to possess me. Ajax moved and blocked me from his view. Zeno started to trash more but whimpered. I looked down find that Ajax had lightly dug a w in Zeno¡¯s chest. Okay this is getting worse. Why isn¡¯t anybody interfering? ¡°You are still looking at her like she is some piece of meat?¡± Ajax¡¯s voice was dangerously low. ¡°I have a wonderful mate but I don¡¯t know why I have to get a shitty human like you.¡± What? ¡°Give me one reason as to why I shouldn¡¯t kill you. You don¡¯t have any, do you? Because of you I might never have a chance to be with my mate. Once I am inside you, she will hate me for the things you did. She will leave me for your wrong doings. SHE WILL REJECT ME.¡± No that can¡¯t be true. He is joking right? No. This can¡¯t be happening. Zeno can¡¯t be my mate. He is cruel and a disgusting person. I don¡¯t want to be with him. But what about Ajax? He doesn¡¯t deserve any of this. Why does everything have to turn like this? Why? I just found my mate and I might lose him just like that. Chapter 29- Arabella Chapter 29- Arabe Taking advantage of everyone¡¯s distracted state, I ran into the woods. They won¡¯t notice me gone any sooner as they were too focused on the snarling Ajax. I ran in a random direction without checking where I was heading. Why does everything bad have to happen to me? What have I ever done to anyone? I just wanted a happy life after that dreadful year mom died and dad bailed on me. Do I not deserve to be happy? I had thought that I will find my mate while in college or after it. We will get married and have a family together. We will live happily away from the pack, away from Zeno and hisckeys. But no everything had toe crashing down and I had to be mated to that good for nothing piece of shit. I know for sure he will reject me. Even if he did stay with me, my life will be horrible. He will torture me daily. No one will be able to stop him then. He will more like own me. Won¡¯t he? He will have a freene. He would make sure to turn me into aughing stock for everyone to see. Not even mom or dad would be able to do anything. I wouldn¡¯t possibly drag them into my mess. They have already done enough for me. It¡¯s not like I want to be with him. I would rather die than be with him. Poor Ajax. He is wonderful. I couldn¡¯t ask anything more for a mate, but Zeno had to ruin it all. I don¡¯t know why he had to be the Alpha. If it was someone else, I would have been able to be with Ajax without any problem. ¡°Ouch¡± Me and my clumsy feet. Or is it my eyes¡¯ fault. I got up from the forest floor rubbing my head to ease the pain and dusting my clothes. Apparently in the midst of running I didn¡¯t see the huge ass branch sticking at the low level and smacked head long into it. Where the hell did ite from? Stupid branch. My head hurts. Wait a minute. Where am I? I looked around myself to try to see if anything looks familiar, but I couldn¡¯t see anything other than the dense woods and darkness. I don¡¯t think I had evere to this part of the forest before. Why the hell did I run? Me and my stupid decisions. But I needed to get away from there. I couldn¡¯t see N?velDrama.Org ? content. Ajax like that. Besides I would have murdered Zeno if I had stayed there any longer. That is not nice right. I don¡¯t want to be a murderer anyways. It is no use killing him. I will leave this ce in a year anyways. Well whatever that I am going to do, can wait. For this moment, I am utterly screwed. Mom is going to skin me alive once she gets her hands on me. Lord save me from her wrath. One part of me is wishing that she didn¡¯t get to me, but another part wants her to be here with me as soon as possible. What should I do now? I don¡¯t; think anyone will even see me here. It¡¯s so dark that I can hardly see my hands. This forest feels eerie now that I am actually looking around it. I should have just kept running without looking. That way I wouldn¡¯t have felt so sacred. I sat down leaning on the very tree trunk that had smacked me with its branch. Stupid overgrown nt. Yup! I will hold this grudge forever. The tree should have grown it¡¯s branches higher. I think I hit my head a little too hard. I am cussing at a tree. If that doesn¡¯t make it clear, then what will? Might as well rest up a little till there is at least a little light to see properly. Don¡¯t want to go running in circles. Do we now? I don¡¯t know how much time passed but I jerked awake by the rustling of footsteps. Did they find me this early? Wonderful. Let¡¯s get ready for the scolding party. I was about to get up when I heard voices. They were talking amongst each other. What made me stop was thenguage they were talking in? It oddly sounded like Italian. Nobody in the pack speaks that Their voices were growing louder. Don¡¯t tell me they areing this way. What have I gotten myself into? Should I move away from here? If I won¡¯t, they will clearly see me when they will walk by the tree. But it¡¯s too dark to see. They might not see me. What should I do? ¡°L¡¯hai sentito?¡± I heard one of them say. (Did you hear that?) Fuck they are literally on the other side of the tree. Their footsteps halted. What are they talking about? ¡°Di cosa stai pando?¡± Another gruff voice said. (What are you talking about?) ¡°Ascolta attentamente. Battiti del cuore.¡± It was the first voice again. (Listen carefully. Heartbeats.) Chapter 30- Arabella Chapter 30- Arabe So, it is two of them. The silence between them stretched for a few seconds. I listened carefully for anything, but I couldn¡¯t hear anything, like they disappeared in thin air. My heart lurched in fear as I heard the first guy right behind me. ¡°Cosa abbiamo qui?¡± I could hear the smirk in his voice. (What do we have here?) I looked behind me to find a tall male bearing down on me. I couldn¡¯t see his face properly due to the darkness. ¡°I don¡¯t think she can understand us.¡± A bored voice, thick with Italian ent came from the other side of me. The first guy huffed. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. ¡°What are you doing here girl?¡± The second guy asked. ¡°I am lost. Do you know the way out?¡± I said standing up. My voice shook with fear. The first guy seemed to like to see the fear in me. I heard him making an appreciative sound. ¡°How did you end up in here in the first ce?¡± the second guy asked again. His ent was making it difficult to understand what he was saying. ¡°I ran in the woods without looking and when I did look around, I didn¡¯t know where I was. I am waiting for the sun to rise so could at least see where I am.¡± I exined leaving the more important bits out. I don¡¯t know why but something felt odd about these two people. ¡°Let¡¯s just kill her and move on. We have work to do.¡± The first guy said snorting. I stiffened when he said the killing part. I saw the second guy nod discretely. Oh no. Are they some sort of criminals? The way they talked about killing me so casually makes me think they are. What should I do now? I couldn¡¯t even see properly. The first guy tried to grab me, but I ducked on instinct and moved away from the both of them. Well seems like I have to rely on my hearing and other senses more now. They stopped momentarily at my action but caught themselves quickly and lunged at me again. I ducked under the second guy¡¯s arms and kicked first one in the stomach. Taking advantage of the second guy¡¯s distraction, I kicked his legs from under him and made a dash for it. But my luck decided to go on a vacation on the very moment and I tripped over a tree root. I was about to get up and run again but fell down on my front as one the two men pushed me down with his foot. ¡°You bitch. How dare you hit me?¡± He growled. His boots dug into my back painfully as he kept pressing them down more and more. He pulled me up into a kneeling position by my hair. I couldn¡¯t help but wince in pain. My face whipped to the side as he pped me hard. I could taste the blood in my mouth. He yanked my hair down making me look up at his face but it had changed. His eyes were glowing red and I think I saw his teeth growing. Shit! They are supernaturals. I should say myst prayer now. I don¡¯t think they will let me live after this. The second guy came beside him and red at me. I gulped looking at their angry faces. ¡°Filthy human.¡± The second guy spat in a disgusting tone. My breath left me as a kicknded on my stomach. I wanted to fight but I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to. Only if I hadn¡¯t fallen on my face. Another kick came after the first one and then another. They kepting. They had let go of my hair and I slumped on the ground, curling in a fetal position to protect myself as much as I could. ¡°We were going to give you an easy death but now you will have a painful one.¡± The first guy grunted with every kick. A hard kicknded on my head. ck dots started to appear in my vision and I closed my eyes. I felt dizzy even with my eyes closed. The pain felt too much. It hurts. Please stop. I shouldn¡¯t have run away from my family for one stupid boy. I shouldn¡¯t let him affect me so much. Look where I am now. I should have stayed with mom, dad and my siblings. ¡°Let¡¯s snap her neck for good measures. If anyone found her and she babbled about us, we will be screwed.¡± One of the guys said once they were done kicking the life out of me. I felt one of them bend near my face. I won¡¯t be able to see my family for onest time. I screwed my eyes tightly as I felt his hand on my neck but he stiffened and moved back. Do they want to beat me up more? I opened my eyes to look at what was happening. I couldn¡¯t see clearly and with the darkness it was already hard to see. A misty light filled the forest around us and the next moment, the two guys dropped on the ground right in front of me but it wasn¡¯t their body. There were two piles of ashes. That can¡¯t be possible. Am I hallucinating? Did I die already? My head pulsed with pain and my vision started to close in. I slipped into the darkness as a calm light filled the forest around me. Chapter 31- Amara Chapter 31- Amara We were so focused on Ajax and Zeno that nobody knew when or where Aria went. It was because of Zeno that we found out that she wasn¡¯t here. He abruptly snapped out of his daze without any recollection of knowing what was happening or how he got under a snarling wolf spirit. Ajax moved away from him in a shocked state and he started going into raging fit. At first, we didn¡¯t understand what had happened to him, but it was made clear what was going on when he shouted about not knowing where Aria is, and everything clicked in ce. Zeno had abruptly snapped out of whatever state of mind he was stuck in and Ajax went ballistic right after Aria went at a certain distance for them to not feel her around. This mate thing is really getting out of hands. I don¡¯t think we have much time left in our hands now. I might have to let Zeno shift. There is no other option. They both seem to have been losing it. Losing their first mate has left a major dent on them. That is not something I should be worried about now. Aria is nowhere to found. We are looking for her over half an hour now. We looked all over the forest we usually visit and she knows but there is no trace of her. I hope she hasn¡¯t run off blindly. She could get lost in the woods and with the demons on our case, it might turn into a disaster. What if the demons got to her? What if they took her? What if they killed her? What if¡­ ¡°We will find her love.¡± Steven said breaking me out of my chain of thoughts. I didn¡¯t say anything. I saw Ajax pace in front of me as I sat with Steven on the steps of the cabin with the Alpha and his pack surrounding us. The others are looking for her. Ajax hadpletely lost it when Aria went missing and he was on the verge of shooting in the forest to go after her, but Ryder ordered him to stay put. Seeing his state now, that was a better decision. He would have probably been a hindrance more than a help with the state he is in. Zeno on the other hand couldn¡¯t recall what had happened after Aria had left the clearing to drop Val, Beth and Eros. Looking at his bewildered state, I didn¡¯t know at that moment if I should pity him or crack his head open to check if he there was any of his brain left in his head. Ste took him inside the meeting house to rest as he was flinching and looking around wide eyed. The mate problem is really getting to him now and he is totally unaware of it. ¡°Love why don¡¯t you calm down? Everyone is looking for her. We will definitely find her.¡± ¡°No. I should be out there looking for her too Steven but here I am being forced to stay put. What if something happens to her? I wouldn¡¯t be able to live with myself.¡± I snapped. ¡°You know why you are here. We can¡¯t have you wondering in the woods with a threat on your head and as for Aria, we will find her. She will be back with us in no time. Think it this way. If shees here, we will be here for her.¡± I nodded looking around the woods for any sign of my baby. I don¡¯t know how long we sat there but the forest hadpletely submerged in darkness. I was about to lose my head and go looking for her myself when the forest line started to illuminate more and more. Earl came out of the tree line with an unconscious female on his back followed by Fallon and Emersyn. I ran towards them and Steven got her down. I gasped in horror at the state of her. Ajax growled in rage but started to whimper sitting beside her. My baby looked half dead. There wasn¡¯t an inch of her that was unharmed. Who would do such a thing to her? ¡°Steven take her inside the cabin. I need to heal her.¡± Steven dashed inside with our daughter in his arms and exited the cabin once he ced her on the bed. Ajax tried to follow me inside, but I stopped him at the door which he reluctantly agreed. I stripped Aria¡¯s clothes to find the horrifying state of her body. There were blue and purple bruises all over her body. The worst were on her stomach and head. I started with her head and then gradually healed every other bruise. I checked her for any unattended injury, but she waspletely healed now. She will wake up soon. I cleaned her with a washcloth and put some of my lose clothes on her. I left the cabin as I covered her with the nket. ¡°Who?¡± I asked as I closed the door behind me. ¡°Demons.¡± I growled as Earl uttered those words. ¡°Two of them. We found her in the denser part of the woods deep to the east. They were about to snap her neck when we got there. A secondte and we Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. would have lost her. We killed them.¡± I nodded. Ajax looked to be on the verge of losing it again. ¡°Ajax why don¡¯t you go stay with Aria inside? It will help you calm down.¡± I told him. I didn¡¯t need to tell him twice. He more like ran inside. ¡°I told the kids about Aria being safe.¡± Steven told me. Chapter 32- Amara Chapter 32- Amara ¡°We need to work faster with our ns. The enemy are closer than we thought.¡± I voiced as the shifters and other spirit wolves entered the clearing. ¡°I will start tomorrow morning. Make everyone stay home. We can¡¯t take chances now. Steven will get everything sorted with Austin, Cloe, Cassidy and Grayson. We will start with the Alphas first, but I am worried about Zeno now. He doesn¡¯t seem to be in a right state of mind.¡± ¡°Maybe he will get better once he shifts and realizes what has actually happened with his first mate.¡± Stanley voiced. ¡°Maybe.¡± I replied not fully convinced. ¡°Ben can be Lucas, Archer and Hudson¡¯s Alpha. Is that okay with you Alpha?¡± ¡°We are more than alright with it. You took them in. That¡¯s more than we could ask for. But Lucas is a beta and Archer is a gamma. Won¡¯t there be like two of them in the pack then?¡± He asked politely. ¡°Packs are not for hierarchy Alpha. They are more like families. I don¡¯t think having more than one dominant wolves of the same rank will create any problem. If I am thinking right, they will be a more powerful pack.¡± ¡°Off course mydy.¡± He said mortified at my statement and bowed a little. My eye twitched when he called me ¡®mydy¡¯. Couldn¡¯t they use a normal term for me? Like my name. ¡°Will you please stop calling me ¡®mydy¡¯? Please call me by my name.¡± ¡°We were taught to treat spirit walkers with utter respect. They are royalty to us. I apologize if I offended you.¡± And he bowed again. ¡°Alpha you don¡¯t need to treat me like royalty. Just treat me like a friend please. You are not bellow me. We are all equal here.¡± He looked shocked at my words but nodded nheless and so did the other six spirit wolves. Geez I should have given them names. It would have been easier that way and I wouldn¡¯t have felt like they are things or objects. They are living and breathing wolves after all. ¡°The younger kids are not shifting.¡± I said firmly. Everyone agreed. ¡°We need to make arrangements to move the non-fighting members of our pack to safety with the protectors in a way that no one will suspect anything.¡± ¡°How about we start moving them in small groups? They won¡¯t be too much in the eye that way.¡± Leo suggested. I nodded. I was about to stop when I heard a whimper from inside the cabin. I didn¡¯t think twice and ran inside. I saw Ajax curled around a very grumbling Aria. She was waking up. Ajax was looking at her creepily. Tone it down dude. I switched on the lights and sat beside her on the bed much to Ajax¡¯s protest which I shut up with a very promising re of decapitating him if he opened his mouth¡­ or muzzle toin. ¡°Mom.¡± Aria mumbled as she opened her eyes. ¡°I am right here sweetie.¡± I took her hand in mine. Steven gave her a ss of water after propping her on some pillows. N?velDrama.Org ? content. ¡°How are you feeling princess?¡± He asked taking a seat near her head after she drank the water. ¡°Sore. But it doesn¡¯t hurt anymore.¡± She was refusing to meet our eyes. ¡°I am sorry mom, dad.¡± She whimpered. Her eyes filled with tears. ¡°I just wanted to get away from there and ran away without thinking.¡± ¡°You are back with us now. That¡¯s all that matters. Don¡¯t do such a thing again though. We were losing our minds here when we couldn¡¯t find you at first. What would we had done if anything had happened to you? Ajax almost set his tail on fire.¡± I joked to lighten her up. Ajax grumbled something incoherent. She chuckled. ¡°I am sorry. I won¡¯t do that again. I am sorry to you too Ajax. I promise not to run away like that again.¡± She said blushing. Steven growled. I know he is itching to give Ajax a good kick up the ass. I didn¡¯t know if I shouldugh or coo at the pair. ¡°As long as you are safe.¡± Ajax told her. ¡°What happened in the woods?¡± I asked. ¡°Well I was running and I fell down due to a branch smacking me in the head.¡± I snorted. More like she ran into a branch head long. ¡°Mom.¡± She whined. I grinned at her. ¡°Then I realized that I didn¡¯t knew where I was and couldn¡¯t even see a thing. So, I decided to wait till the sunes up, but I heard voices. At first, I thought it was you guys and was about to shout to gain your attention when I heard that they were talking in Italian. I don¡¯t know how but they found me. They decided to kill me right there but I made a run for it. I tripped again due to low visibility and they beat me up. They were about to snap my neck but stopped and I passed out.¡± ¡°They were demons Aria.¡± I told her. Her mouth popped open in shock. ¡°Do you know what they were doing there? Did you hear anything?¡± ¡°I think I have an idea. They didn¡¯t want anyone to know about it. I think they were scouting. That¡¯s why they were going to kill me.¡± I nodded. ¡°Rest here. We have a long week ahead. I will go talk to the pack. Ajax will keep youpany.¡± Steven and I exited the cabin with a new determination. No body hurts our family and gets to live. They will pay for this. Chapter 33- Arabella Chapter 33- Arabe Mom left me alone in the cabin with Ajax. I know what I did was foolish. I shouldn¡¯t have run away in a situation like this. We already had so much on our te with the possible attack and I had to go and get everyone in more trouble. ¡°Are you going to reject me?¡± Ajax¡¯s voice brought me back from my thoughts. ¡°I don¡¯t want to reject you Ajax but in no way in the hell can I be with Zeno. Besides he might be the one that will reject me.¡± I rxed on the bed and curled up around him. He is so warm. This feels so nice. ¡°I know this does not justify Zeno¡¯s actions but there is a reason he is acting that way. I don¡¯t think he even knows that.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± I asked confused. ¡°In the summer before three years, our mate died.¡± I gasped in shock. Then who am I to you? ¡°Do you know what it feels like when your mate dies? It feels like someone has sucked your life out of you. You feel empty and a darkness starts to creep inside you. You be so desperate to get rid of it that you go to any lengths to feel happy again. That year we lost our other half and he must have felt the changes happen inside him but he was lucky that he found his second chance right after or he would have killed himself eventually. If alive, he would have been beyond repair. Human bodies can¡¯t sustain the effects of rejection. He must have felt the emptiness and darkness leave him when he would have been near you. I felt that too. The relief when I would be around you, I felt content. I put two and two together and I knew from then that you are our mate. I couldn¡¯t ask for more but Zeno kept ruining everything for us. We had already lost one mate but his actions will make us lose our second mate too.¡± Ajax spat. ¡°Sometimes I wonder if her dying did her good. I mean Zeno is not a kind of person anyone would want to be with. I won¡¯t hold it against you Aria. I can understand if you want to reject us. You deserve to be happy. Zeno won¡¯t give you the life you deserve but please before getting to the rejection, give him just one chance. Not for him but for me. I know what I am saying is very selfish of me but please just one chance is all I am asking. Maybe he wille to his senses when he understands everything. I just want a chance to be with you. To be with my soul mate.¡± ¡°I can only try Ajax but I won¡¯t promise to put up with everything he throws at me. He has done so much Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. damage to me when I was already suffering. He made it hard for me to heal. What you are telling me does make sense but what he did to me is in no way fair. He took it out on me when it wasn¡¯t even my fault. You said that this started the summer before we started high school but he has been bullying me since I started living with mom and dad. He simply hated me. It did get worse once we started high school. I don¡¯t think he ever had any good feelings towards me. He simply hated me since day one. I am sorry Ajax but Zeno would never want to be with me. I would have tried for you to forgive him but he will reject me on the spot. I am sure of that. We should just enjoy the moments we have left together. There is no chance for us being together after Zeno shifts.¡± It is really breaking my heart to say this to Ajax but that¡¯s the truth. Why does this have to turn this way? Why can¡¯t I have a normal and easy life for once? Poor Ajax. He is stuck in the midst of this. He will be suffering the consequences of Zeno¡¯s actions and decisions. We both will be suffering because of that ungrateful person. I just hope, whoever Zeno chooses will be a good change in Ajax¡¯s life. Not having control over your life seems nerve wrecking. I couldn¡¯t even fully grasp what he is going through. I just want him to be happy. Why does such a good wolf spirit have to be paired up with a crappy human like Zeno? I wonder how he will react when he finds out about him and me being mates. He will probably berate me and curse me to his heart¡¯s content. He will never choose me no matter what happens. It doesn¡¯t matter if he hurts me. I just hope he bes a good Alpha to the pack. The Alpha is an importantponent of the pack. The pack will crumble without a good leader. I will be happy if he steps up to his responsibility without being snotty even if it costs me heartbreak. I will cope with that. I will be gone soon anyways. ¡°I can understand.¡± Ajax said in a grim tone but I could feel the eptance in his voice. He will be a great mate. He is perfect. I just wish I was able to have him myself. We would have been so happy together but s fate always has ns. It is always enigmatic and dances on its own tune. All we can do is ept what it throws at us and embrace it with whole heart. I curled up closer to him. I buried my face in his warmth and closed my eyes. I could stay like this forever. Please god, don¡¯t take this away from us. Please stop the time and let us stay this way forever in each other¡¯s arms. Chapter 34- Amara Chapter 34- Amara ¡°I need to talk to the kids that will be shifting.¡± I said firmly as I stood outside the cabin. ¡°Who all are shifting?¡± Leo asked timidly. ¡°If it¡¯s up to me only three of them will be shifting. As there is no other choice but to let Zeno shift, it will be him, Francis and Fabian. I am not sure about Ben, Ethan, Lucas, Hudson and Archer. There is no need for them to shift but the three boys would want to fight and as they don¡¯t have the Alpha, Ben would have to lead them. As for Ben, he doesn¡¯t do anything without his twin. We have more chances of a good battle with them together than separate. If Lucas, Archer and Hudsonplies with not shifting, only three people will be shifting.¡± I exined. ¡°Well that soundsplicated. How are you going to merge all these wolves in so less time? It will take a toll on you. We do have a battle to fight.¡± Carter voiced. ¡°We don¡¯t have a choice, do we? I can say that we have at most of a week to prepare. Those two guys dying will alert them. Aria told me they seemed to be scouting in private. We need to hurry up.¡± He nodded. I was about to talk when I heard movement in the woods. Everyone went into defense mode. Are the demons attacking us now? We are not even slightly ready. We waited for the intruder to show themselves in a tense silence. I sighed in relief as the first person broke out of the tree line into the clearing. She was followed by another and five more people joined them. ¡°Cass you scared the shit out of us.¡± Iined. The evil witch cackled at our state and stered a smirk on her face when she was doneughing at our expense. Grayson shook his head at his wife with an amused smile. Sometimes I pity him. ¡°Well we couldn¡¯t miss the fun. We made our way here as soon as I saw what was toe. I picked up this vampire family on the way. I thought they would be useful. We can use as many hands as we can get on the battle field.¡± Cassidy¡¯s smirk went wide as she pointed towards the Knight family. The Knights looked like they would rather be anywhere else than here. Especially Alexander. His face had turned into hauntingly void of any emotions. I rubbed my forehead to get my bearings together. With everything going on, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a right time for the Knights to reenter Aria¡¯s life. My baby is already going through so much. ¡°I had a premonition.¡± Cassidy started, this time with a serious expression. Ahh! She means business. ¡°The demons are nning very carefully for the attack. They are ready in every aspect. The leader is powerful but nothing Amara can¡¯t handle. We need to forge a sword to kill that asshat of a demon but that won¡¯t be hard. I will do it but Amara will be the one killing him.¡± I looked at her with my jaw hanging open. She was talking about killing a high level demon like she was arranging a tea party. ¡°What the heck are you on about? What sword? How the heck am I supposed to kill him?¡± I asked. I heard Steven chocking withughter beside me. I am in a dire need of a normal person in my life. ¡°Well demons are creatures of darkness. Though weak but they dwell in the darkness.¡± Cassidy started Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. like she was talking to a two year old. ¡°A spirit walker is a part of the light side but a powerful one. I will forge a sword which you will have to plunge into the demon¡¯s heart with transporting your spirit energy through the sword into the demon¡¯s heart. It will kill him. But the energy needs to be very powerful. We might need to take some¡­uh¡­ drastic steps.¡± I looked at her confused. ¡°What do you mean by drastic steps?¡± I asked. ¡°We will talk about thatter.¡± Cassidy said hastily. What is she hiding? ¡°First we need to focus on the shifting and hiding of our children and non-shifters.¡± ¡°Yeah we were just discussing that part.¡± Leo said. ¡°I have already talked to Austin about the possible hiding conditions. He is in for it. In a way they are in danger as well. At least we will be able to protect each other together.¡± Cassidy said sighing. This woman is always ahead of everyone. I couldn¡¯t help myself butugh at the bouncing witch. In a way, I relieved that she is here. I was starting to lose my mind with the situation. I think everything will go smoothly now. Chapter 35- Amara Chapter 35- Amara ¡°So with that settled, we can start with the shifting while Cass forges the sword. I know it¡¯ste but I want to talk to the boys now so we can start with the shifting tomorrow. Let¡¯s get going then. I will talk to them at the meeting house. Get the eight of them there please.¡± I said to everyone. ¡°Ryder will you please stay here with Aria and Ajax. I don¡¯t want to take any more risk.¡± ¡°Sur¡­¡± Ryder started but was cut by a very enthusiastic Emersyn. ¡°We will stay here mom. Don¡¯t worry about Aria.¡± Ryder growled as Earl and Fallon nodded in agreement. ¡°Okay. Thank you sweetie.¡± I heard Ryder mumble ¡®stupid pups¡¯ under his breath. I chuckled at the very angry Alpha which he returned with a yful re. Oh my silly brother. I can¡¯t express how much I love him. The shifters started to leave and I turned towards the Knights. Cass and Grayson went to Steven to talk with. ¡°Long time no see.¡± They hung their heads in embarrassment. They looked utterly mortified. ¡°Amy can I talk to you for a minute?¡± Alex said looking everywhere but in my eyes. ¡°Sure.¡± We walked to the river shore. I didn¡¯t turn around to look at him as the tension stretched between us. ¡°I know what I did wasn¡¯t exactly right but I wasn¡¯t in the right state of mind at the time. I didn¡¯t want Arabe and my son into the pit of darkness I was in at the time. I am still suffering but I think I am ready to face them. Is it okay to meet them tomorrow?¡± His voice was grave and expectant. I know he must have been in the worst state at the time but Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. abandoning your children is not a good thing. The same children you made with the very mate you were grieving over. I know losing a mate is horrifying but leaving your children on the streets without any warning is also not a good thing. ¡°I don¡¯t know Alex. It is up to them. Eros doesn¡¯t know about you being his father. He is too young to know about things like these. We talked with Aria about this and she was more than okay with this arrangement. Aria on the other hand is not in the right state of mind at the moment. She is going through some mate issues and I don¡¯t know if she would be up for any more emotional trauma. I won¡¯t force her in it. I will ask her though.¡± ¡°Eros means god of love, right?¡± I nodded. ¡°You gave him a really good name. I am d you took them in. Please talk to Aria and tell me what she thinks. I would love to meet them. I know what I did wasn¡¯t the right thing to do but I couldn¡¯t think of anything other than running away from the ce that took my mate from me. I am really sorry about it but I can¡¯t change it now. I wish I had taken a different road than running away. Not only did I lost my mate, I also lost my children that day.¡± His eyes were filled with unshed tears. I hugged him, rubbing his back as he sobbed in my arms. ¡°I can understand why you did that. I am not sure with Eros as that little munchkin doesn¡¯t think about anything other than Spiderman but Aria might understand and they will forgive you eventually.¡± ¡°I hope so too.¡± He said wiping his face of the tears. ¡°Wait why did you call Eros little? Isn¡¯t he like eleven?¡± Alex asked me confused. ¡°Well is supposed to be but he stopped growing at the age of five. He is a full blood vampire. There are eight to nine more years for him to at least turn six.¡± I told him chuckling. He nodded with a pleasant smile on his face but the vacantness in his eyes remained. His eyes looked dead. I hope that he will find someone with time and move on. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to the clearing. Steven and Ryder must be on their way toe get me.¡± I told him shaking my head at the image. He chuckled. ¡°Ryder is still the same then.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t even need to ask that. He is actually gotten worse. He gets jealous of the pups and my children as well. I don¡¯t know what I am going to do with him.¡± I smiled at the thought of my brother. He is the best brother in the whole wide world. How right I was. Steven and Ryder bumped into us at the edge of the clearing. ¡°We were about toe get you.¡± Steven said. I shook my head and walked past the two over possessive males. ¡°Well I should get to the meeting house. It¡¯s getting prettyte.¡± I said to everyone. ¡°I will go there with Ryder. Steven take the others to our house. I don¡¯t think living separately will do any good. Our enemy is already active. I will get home with the boys. Tell the children to share rooms. We have ten bedrooms in total. I think that will be more than enough.¡± Everyone agreed with the arrangement and we separated our ways. I climbed on Ryder¡¯s back and we set off towards the meeting house. Ryder stopped at the edge of the woods at the clearing near the meeting house and I got off of his back. ¡°Aren¡¯t youing inside?¡± I asked him as he made no move toe with. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want me there.¡± he said sulkily, Whoa! What happened to him? Chapter 36- Amara Chapter 36- Amara ¡°Is something bothering you Ryder?¡± I asked. ¡°No.¡± He more like pouted. I raised my eyebrow at him questionably. ¡°Okay! I just feel like you don¡¯t love me anymore.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything and let him continue. ¡°You don¡¯t spend time with me like before. You are always paying more attention to the pups. You don¡¯t talk to me like before and even if you doe to see me, you go all mushy over Xander and the other pups. Do you not love me anymore?¡± ¡°Ryder what has gotten into you? No way in the hell will I stop loving you. You are my older brother. Nobody can ever take your ce. About the pups and kids, Ry they are children. How can anyone not adore them? Just because I love them too, doesn¡¯t mean I love you any less. I love you Ryder.¡± I hugged him and he dropped him head on my back, hugging me back. ¡°I love you too princess.¡± ¡°Nowe on. We have to do some grown up things.¡± I said walking towards the meeting house. I heard him follow behind me. I entered the house with Ryder in tow to find all the eight boys and Leo, Stanley and Ryan, waiting for us there. Ben, Ethan, Lucas, Archer and even Hudson were ring murderously at the utterly terrified group of Zeno, Francis and Fabian. ¡°Leo, Stan, Ryan, please leave. I would like to talk to them in private.¡± Leo opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off. ¡°I promise I won¡¯t murder them.¡± Ryder snorted beside me in a very audible voice. Ohe on Ry. Don¡¯t blow my cover. Leo, Stanley and Ryan reluctantly left. The panic on Zeno, Francis and Fabian¡¯s faces became more prominent. Scared are we? I plopped on the ground as the couch isn¡¯t big enough for Ryder and he sat down beside me. ¡°We are here to talk about shifting. I wille straight to the point. Zeno, we don¡¯t have a choice but to let you shift. Your condition is getting out of hand. If you are shifting, Francis and Fabian will be shifting as well as they are your beta and gamma. I seriously don¡¯t trust you though neither do the spirit wolves but we don¡¯t have any other option here. Either that or¡­ well so you three are shifting. I will tell you about your role once you have shifted. One wrong move and I will snap your necks. Keep that in mind.¡± The three boys nodded, trembling from head to toe. Hah! Fear me bitches. That¡¯s what you get after tormenting my daughter. ¡°Now Lucas, Archer and Hudson, you don¡¯t have an alpha. Ben is an alpha and he can lead you but our family does not work separately. Ethan is a beta. He will join with Ben and if timees, so will Elliot. Your spirit alpha agreed to this but I want to ask you three if you are okay with this arrangement.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t mind. As long as we are not in the same pack as those three,¡± Lucas said pointing at Zeno, Francis and Fabian. ¡°we are okay with it. Besides, Ben and Ethan are awesome. We couldn¡¯t ask for better leaders than them.¡± Ben and Ethan grinned at them. I am proud of my boys. ¡°There is one more thing. Spirit wolves are better at killing demons than shifters. I don¡¯t know how to ask this¡­ just hear me out and tell me what you think. We will go with that. If you five shifted, we will lose five spirit wolves but we will still have shifters so the numbers will be the same. So I wanted to ask you, do you want to be on the battel field?¡± ¡°I know this sounds unreasonable but we want to fight. We lost our entire pack to those monsters. I don¡¯t think we will be at ease till we fight them ourselves. Please let us fight.¡± It was Archer that talked this time. I smiled at him and nodded. They grinned at me. ¡°Okay it¡¯s gettingte. We should get back home. Zeno and Ben, we will meet here tomorrow at nine in the morning. You two will be shifting first. If I am not exhausted after that, the betas will be shifting tomorrow as well. I will inform you about it when the timees. Zeno be here by nine in the morning.¡± Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. With that being said, I turned to Ryder. ¡°Let¡¯s go home Ryder. I want to rest as much as I can.¡± He got up and nodded. ¡°Boys drive home. Be careful. We have guest over so you might have to cram up. Please bear with it.¡± ¡°No worries mom. We will see you back at home.¡± Ben said smiling. I nodded as I exited the meeting house. The boys went on their way to the cars and I hopped on Ryder¡¯s back. The three monkeys still hadn¡¯t moved from their ces. I saw Leo, Stanley and Ryan They must be thinking that I decapitated their sons. Like I would. I am not that heartless. If they were in my ce, they would have already kicked the boys out of the pack or might have even killed them but it¡¯s not their daughter that is suffering. So why will they care right? Those people can go do whatever they want if they don¡¯t even trust me. My family must be waiting for me at our house. Who would have thought that one person¡¯s stupidity and arrogance will end up causing so many problems. Chapter 37- Amara Chapter 37- Amara The morning came earlier than I expected. Steven, Ryder and I stopped by the cabin before going to the meeting ce. We wanted to check up on Aria before going there. Ben and Ethan already left for there. Ethan wanted to be there for his brother when he shifted. Who am I to stop him anyways? May be he will shift today as well. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. I entered the cabin with Steven to find Aria sound asleep, curled up with Ajax. She looked so peaceful like she shouldn¡¯t be in any ce other than there. Aw! They look cute like that. If the spirit wolves could be captured in pictures, I would have clicked one. I heard Steven grit his teeth behind me. That how loudly he was doing it. How he could not find the scene in front of him adorable is beyond me. s! I would have to wake them up. Aria might want toe with us for the shifting and Ajax is part of the process so¡­ yeah got to get to work. Aria will get a firsthand experience of the shifting process. After all she will be doing this at some point when she takes over. ¡°Aria¡± I called but I got no response. Ajax had left no way to reach her. He had covered the outside edge of the bed with his massive body and Aria was sort of nestled in between his curled up body. How the heck am I supposed to get to my daughter? I huffed in irritation. I heard Steven trying to stop himself fromughing. Indeed, when I turned around to re at him, his face looked unnaturally red. Laughing at my frustration are we now? Wait till we get home. Then we will see who isughing. I so want to cackle as I hatched the n to get back at him but I stopped myself from doing so or he would be alerted that I am nning something against him. Don¡¯t want that happening, do we now? ¡°AJAX¡± I screamed as ast resort, startling the sleeping wolf spirit and Aria. Ajax shot up in rm and growled in warning. He stood in front of Aria on the bed like covering her from the danger. Once his eyes fell on my grinning self and a very sniggering Steven, he groaned and plopped back down on the bed which creaked dangerously I might add. Got to get a new bed here real soon. ¡°Why are you screaming so early in the morning mom?¡± Aria whined. ¡°How are you feeling sweetheart?¡± Steven asked ignoring herint. ¡°Good I guess but I want to sleep some more.¡± She said rubbing her eyes. ¡°It is half past eight already Aria. We have to go.¡± I told her apologetically. Her face fell immediately. She looked like she was about to cry. Ajax looked crestfallen. ¡°You cane with us.¡± I offered. ¡°You do have to take over some day. You can learn there.¡± She nodded. ¡°Let me freshen up a bit. I am borrowing some of your clothes mom.¡± She said as she scrambled out of the bed and into the bathroom. ¡°How are you doing Ajax?¡± I asked the very pouting wolf spirit. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Good I guess.¡± He didn¡¯t speak for a few seconds. ¡°Can I not merge with Zeno? I will lose her forever. Why can¡¯t I have another human? Why is he destined to be the Alpha? Just why?¡± My heart broke looking at his state. He looked so woebegone. Aria must be feeling the same. After all both of them don¡¯t want anything to do with Zeno. ¡°I am sorry sweetie but you know if don¡¯t merge soon, Zeno will probably die or go mad and so will you. In this way, you at least have a little chance to be with each other. Zeno might change after shifting.¡± I said half-heartedly. I don¡¯t think Zeno will change. People like him always have some residue of their past selves no matter how much they try to change. I just hope he wouldn¡¯t abuse his power after today. Who knows? He has done that before shifting, he might as well do it after. We need to take a chance here. At least for Ajax and Aria. ¡°I don¡¯t want her to put up with that scum of a person for me. I would rather she moves on than be with him.¡± Ajax spat. I couldn¡¯t think of anything to say. Any mother would be happy to have someone like Ajax as her daughter¡¯s other half but the fate always ends up ying nasty games. They are so close yet so far. I hope Zeno gets some sense knocked into him for once and at least tries to change. Aria came out of the bathroom wearing one of my t-shirt and jeans. Thank the heavens we are almost the same size. Her eyes looked red though. She must be crying in there. I didn¡¯t say anything and dragged Steven outside as he opened his mouth to speak. This is not the time. We got to let her deal with this for now. We ran to the meeting house with Aria on Ajax¡¯s back and Steven carrying me. I saw Ben and Ethan outside of the house, leaning on the wall. While Zeno stood timidly on the other side with Francis. Ryder was beside the twins with Earl. Zeno¡¯s eyes slipped to Aria as we came out of the tree line but three very vicious growls rang through the air making him look at the floor. I smirked at his scared state. ¡°Stay with your dad and Ethan and watch carefully. Okay?¡± I told Aria as we walked near the group. She nodded and turned around to hug Ajax. Poor child. Chapter 38- Amara Chapter 38- Amara ¡°I will miss you.¡± She said to him. Her voice broke at the end. ¡°I will miss you too.¡± Ajax replied with an equally broken voice. ¡°We will meet again someday Ajax. Till then, goodbye.¡± Aria hugged him one more time and walked towards Ethan as he took her in his arms. Ben and Ethan hugged Aria as she tried really hard not to cry. Ajax wasn¡¯t any different. Steven joined the hug. I want to kill that bastard for making my precious children to go through this. ¡°Bene here.¡± I told my little Alpha who sadly isn¡¯t a child anymore. Pouting won¡¯t do here. Why can¡¯t babies be babies forever? I chose Ben first as I know there will a huge dramaing after Zeno shifts. If he hurt my baby anymore, I swear to god I will castrate him. Alpha or not. Ben and Earl stood facing each other with me in the middle. Both of them looked really excited. I ced one palm on Earl and the other on Ben¡¯s chest. I closed my eyes and concentrated to be one with the spirit energy. Once I felt the connection, I opened my eyes to see the spirit aura flowing around me in every individual. This feels wonderful. I haven¡¯t done this in a while, giving in full control of my powers. I focused on transferring Earl¡¯s spirit energy into Ben. Slowly Earl started to lose his form and start to merge with ben¡¯s spirit energy. I heard ben groan as his body started to ustom to the new form I put into him. When the entire spirit energy of Earl was transferred to Ben, he fell to the ground on his hands and knees. His bones started to break and reform as he screamed in agony. ¡°Everything will be alright Ben. Just focus on shifting. Focus on your inner wolf. This will be over soon. It will be less painful next time.¡± I told him as I sat in front of him, heaving from the activity. Using spirit energy can be really exhausting. Ben screamed as his back and limbs broke and started to elongate. Soon his form was the size of the six and half foot massive Earl, his clothes shredding to bits. His human features vanishedpletely and he transformed into the alpha wolf he was destined to be. Ben stood on shaky legs. He looked exhausted. I smiled at him proudly. His legs gave up under him and he plopped down on the ground. He must be exhausted. He slowly shrank and shifted into his human form, passed out from the first shift. Steven threw a nket on Ben. I don¡¯t know where he got that but oh well. He picked the unconscious Ben and went inside the meeting house to let him rest. I could see from Ethan¡¯s bodynguage that he wanted to go and check on his twin but he stayed put with a very wide eyed Aria. ¡°Mom that was awesome.¡± She breathed out. ¡°I couldn¡¯t see anything.¡± Ethan said frowning. N?velDrama.Org ? content. ¡°But she did everything right in front of our eyes. How can you not see it?¡± Aria asked looking at Ethan like he has gone mad. ¡°The only thing I saw after mom closed her eyes is that the three of them were slowly absorbed in a globe of very bright light and then it vanished and ben started to change.¡± Ethan replied. ¡°Mom is he alright? Why did he pass out?¡± ¡°He is fine. He is just exhausted from his first shift.¡± I told the very terrified Ethan. ¡°Earl looked so majestic mom.¡± Aria said grinning. At least she forgot about the things toe for a moment but I have to get on with it. ¡°Zenoe forward.¡± I said with authority. He came in front of me with shaking legs and stood opposite of Ajax with me in the middle. Ajax gave Zeno a look of deepest loathing making him shrink back. He looked like he would shit himself any moment. I ced one palm on Ajax and my other on Zeno¡¯s chest. I closed my eyes and focused on the spirit energy once more and opened my eyes as I felt the connection. Slowly Ajax started to lose his form and vanish. I could hear Zeno groan in pain as his spirit energy merged with Ajax¡¯s. He also fell to the ground as soon as Ajax vanishedpletely. ¡°Focus on your inner wolf and let it flow through you.¡± But he wasn¡¯t shifting. What is happening here? ¡°Let it flow through you Zeno. Focus.¡± ¡°He¡­ is refu¡­sing to shif..t.¡± Zeno groaned. Shit! ¡°Ajax let him shift. What are you doing? You will end up killing both of you this way.¡± I said in an alpha voice. The yellow eyes of Ajax shed in Zeno¡¯s for a second and then Zeno screamed in agony as his limbs and back started to elongate. In a few seconds he shiftedpletely and stood on his shaky legs but his eyes moved to a very frightened Aria. Their eyes met and Zeno fell to the ground with his eyes still on her. He shiftedpletely into his human form. ¡°Mate.¡± He mumbled and passed out. Chapter 39- Arabella Chapter 39- Arabe I watched mom merge Earl with Ben¡¯s spirit energy as Ben groaned in pain. It must be hurting him really bad but once he shifted he looked magnificent. The thing I was dreading was when Zeno shifted. I watched in dread as mom merged Ajax with Zeno¡¯s spirit energy. He seemed to be in more pain than Ben. Ajax must be making it difficult for him to shift. As much as I liked the idea, I don¡¯t want Ajax nor Zeno to die. I was right about Ajax making it hard for him to shift. I watched wide eyes as mom ordered Ajax to let Zeno shift. What I didn¡¯t expect was seeing Ajax¡¯s eyes sh through Zeno¡¯s. I could see all his emotions swirling in the yellow eyes for the mere seconds Ajax was in control and the contact broke as Ajax gave in. Zeno screamed as he shifted. I clutched onto Ethan¡¯s arm to keep myself from bolting. Oh how much I wanted to run and never face this moment. Zeno¡¯s eyesnded on me as he stood with shaky legs. He plopped down as his legs gave up under him. His eyes changed from yellow to his usual hazel as he shifted into his human skinpletely. I heard him mumble ¡®mate¡¯ before he passed out. Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. Francis threw a nket over him to cover his naked body. His clothes had shredded while he shifted. ¡°Is it done already?¡± Dad said as he came out of the house. Mom just gave him a curt nod. He picked Zeno up and went back inside the house. The mate matters can wait for now. He isn¡¯t going to go chasing me around when he is unconscious. Might as well get home before he wakes up so he won¡¯t have a chance to berate me anymore. ¡°Are you alright mom?¡± I asked as I saw her lean forward with her hands on her knees. ¡°A little tired. Nothing to worry about. I think I should start with the betas as well. That way I will have time to restter and I can fight properly if they attacked.¡± Mom said standing up. ¡°But mom¡­¡± Ethan started but was cut off by a very disapproving uncle Ryder. ¡°You look ready to hit the bed. I am not letting you harm your health in order to do something in time. If the demons attacked before we arepletely prepared, we will figure something out.¡± ¡°But Ryder¡­¡± ¡°Shut up and go to bed.¡± Mom gritted her teeth which then turned into a pout as Uncle Ryder continued to re at her. She stomped her foot childishly and stormed off into the meeting house. Ethan had turned around and was banging on the wall with his fist as heughed quietly. I bit my lip to stop myself fromughing. A very disgruntled dad came out of the house and closed the door behind him immediately. ¡°What happened here? Why is Amy throwing a tantrum inside?¡± He looked scared for his life. ¡°She was ordered her to go to bed when she didn¡¯t want to.¡± I saidughing as I couldn¡¯t keep it in anymore. Mom¡¯s pouty face swirled in front of my eyes and I was ovee with a new round ofughter as Ethan rolled on the floor beside me. Mom almost looked like a bratty child put to its ce. That was hrious. ¡°Who did that?¡± Dad asked with wide shocked eyes. ¡°I did.¡± Uncle Ryder said titling his head to the side like challenging dad to say something against him. ¡°Oh¡­ um¡­ why?¡± He asked twisting his fingers nervously. Wow! I have never seen dad this scared before. Not even when mom shot threats at him for setting the kitchen on fire. She had made some pretty dangerous ones at the time. I would have shit my pants if I were on the receiving end. ¡°She wanted to go ahead with the betas as well. I send her off to rest up before that. I don¡¯t want her to get hurt now. She is my baby sister after all.¡± Uncle Ryder grunted. ¡°Yeah she gets reckless at times. Thanks Ryder. She wouldn¡¯t have listened to me in this case.¡± Dad said smiling. First time in ages, I saw Uncle Ryder give dad a look that did not resemble ¡®I want to murder you painfully¡¯. Dad looked relieved now. ¡°But seriously uncle Ryder, I have never seen mom like that. That¡¯s the first time I saw mom being treated like a child that she really is inside and refuses it bluntly. You are the best.¡± Ethan said chuckling. ¡°You didn¡¯t see your mom when she was your age. She was adorable and kind of stupid to tell the truth. She tried to set a spirit wolf¡¯s tail on fire once when she was twelve. Oh that was hrious.¡± Uncle Ryder said with a wolfish smirk. Ethan and I howled withughter as dad chuckled. Chapter 40- Arabella Chapter 40- Arabe ¡°She was a cute little munchkin. Papa adored her so much that he would do anything to see her smile. Ah! Those were some wonderful days. The day she moved in the cabin was the best. I would drop her off and pick her up from school every day. I went to school with her once as well. I could tell by her expressions that she didn¡¯t want me to but she didn¡¯tin much or papa would have given her an earful.¡± Uncle Ryderughed with a faraway look. ¡°I miss that time so much. We were so happy together. Just us. The spirit wolf pack and the princess of the pack. She was like the light of our lives. She still is. Spirit walker or not, she will always be our little princess. The adorable little munchkin that stumbled upon us while running into the woods foolishly.¡± This is first time I heard uncle Ryder talk about mom¡¯s childhood. Mom nor anyone else ever told us how she met the spirit wolves. Uncle Ryder must be having a hard time with mom spending less time with him. Anyone can tell just by looking at them that they are inseparable. I should encourage mom to spend more time with uncle. She is usually so busy with us that she doesn¡¯t get much time to herself. She is the best mom in the world. I kind of feel guilty for taking so much of her time. From the face Ethan was making, I know he must be thinking the same. ¡°Your mom and the boys might need something to eat after they wake up. I will go get it. Look over them. Okay?¡± Dad said to Ethan and I, breaking the silence that stretched between us. ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay here and look after them? I will go with Ethan to get food for everyone.¡± I offered. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Dad asked. ¡°Off course dad.¡± Ethan said grinning. ¡°Okay then. Be safe and don¡¯t go wondering around.¡± Dad warned. I nodded and entered the trail. ¡°Can Ie with?¡± Francis¡¯s small voice made us turn back around. We had conveniently forgotten that he was there. ¡°NO.¡± Dad and Uncle Ryder snarled scaring the already terrified boy even more. I shook my head at them. ¡°Dad, uncle, Ethan is with me. He wouldn¡¯t dare try anything and if he did, I will knock him out and leave him there. He will probably end up passing out of fright with you two here.¡± I said in a calm voice. With mom not here, Uncle Ryder will probably try to scare the soul out of Francis and dad will definitely help him in the job. I can totally imagine them grinning evilly over Francis¡¯s quivering body. I shook my head to get rid of the image. ¡°Yes dad. I will beat him up if he tried anything.¡± Ethan supplied putting his toned muscles to show. Uhh! These three hooligans. The fourth one is passed out cold or the party would have beenplete. ¡°Are you guys done scaring the life out of him? If so, we will get going.¡± I said irritated. Francis didn¡¯t need any more telling and he dashed past dad and uncle Ryder who were ring him Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. down all the while he went from there. He fell into steps behind Ethan and I. As we reached the pack¡¯s houses, I saw a crowd that was gathered there. They looked anxious but Aunt Ste, Aunt Mia and Aunt Riley didn¡¯t share the same concern. Uncle Leo got to his feet as soon as he saw use and marched towards us. ¡°What is going on? Is everything alright?¡± He babbled frantically. ¡°They shifted and now they are resting?¡± It came out more like a question. What was he expecting anyways? Someone dying? He sighed in relief. ¡°Where are you off to Aria, Ethan?¡± Aunt Ste asked us in a sweet voice but red at Francis and uncle Leo. ¡°We were off to get some food for when they wake up.¡± Ethan replied with a small smile. ¡°You don¡¯t need to go anywhere. I will cook something up. Amy must be tired as well. She usually gets hungry and tired after using spirit energy.¡± Aunt Ste is the best Luna there is. She knows everything about everyone and takes care of everyone¡¯s needs. I don¡¯t know how Zeno turned out like that. ¡°Yeah Uncle Ryder just scolded mom for over exerting herself. She looked he mad. She is sleeping as well.¡± I told her snickering. ¡°For the food, you don¡¯t have to go any extra length aunt Ste. We will just get something from the diner nearby.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. Come on in while I cook.¡± With that she stalked inside with aunt Mia and aunt Riley following her. ¡°Is she alright?¡± Uncle Leo asked as we were about to follow the threedies. ¡°Yes.¡± I could see the gold swirl in his eyes. ¡°Are they mad at me?¡± He asked, his voice going a little deeper. ¡°You would have to ask them yourself uncle Tyler. Uncle Ryder is in a right mood and mom must be passed out by now despite refusing to rest. Why don¡¯t you go ask them yourself? There is no one there except dad.¡± I suggested. He shifted without any warning and ran off into the trail. I hope they make up soon. Chapter 41- Arabella Chapter 41- Arabe I sighed and made my way inside uncle Leo¡¯s house. The others dispersed as well and Ethan followed me inside. Faye and Hugo were sitting in the living room with Linda and Thomas, Uncle Leo¡¯s parents. All of them looked a little ufortable. I wonder why. ¡°What the heck are you following us for?¡± Ethan sneered behind me. I turned around to find a very panicked Francis standing at the door. ¡°Um we were going to take the food together?¡± Francis said it more like a question with a trembling voice. ¡°We were just trying to get you out of there so our uncle or dad won¡¯t end up beating you up.¡± I told him in a cold voice. ¡°They had that look in their eyes.¡± I shuddered thinking about what had happened if we had left Francis there. ¡°But Luna¡­¡± He started but I cut him. ¡°Hold it right there. Who the heck are you calling Luna? I am not anything to you other than the girl you can no longer bully.¡± I sneered at him. He shrunk back a little but didn¡¯t back down. ¡°But you are Zeno¡¯s mate.¡± He mumbled. I scoffed and Ethan snorted pretty rudely. ¡°So?¡± I asked nonchntly. I wanted my mate too but I can¡¯t have him ever. Ajax can¡¯t be with me anymore and Zeno is an entirely different story. His repugnance for me can only be rivaled by my loathing for him. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®so¡¯?¡± Francis said outraged. ¡°He is your mate. That means you are his mate as well.¡± Well thank you mister obvious. ¡°That makes you our Luna. You have a responsibility towards the pack. You can¡¯t just bail on us like that. How could you even think about abandoning your pack?¡± Ethan clenched his fists. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go learn some human decency first and thene to me asking about my responsibilities?¡± I said with a nk face. Francis looked like someone pped him in the face. ¡°At least I have enough manners to treat a fellow human with respect and out of only that shred of humanity are you standing here, using and pointing fingers at me or you would be six feet under and rotting in your cascade.¡± That shut him up. He hung his head and turned around to leave. ¡°I know what you did was not on your own ord and you were just doing that for Zeno but supporting your friend in wrongdoings makes you as much responsible for it as him.¡± I said with a firm voice. He nodded with his back to us and walked out of the door, closing it behind him. I only got a second to breath and I was engulfed in the arms of Ethan. ¡°Get off Ethan. What the hell? Stop crushing me.¡± I mumbled against his chest, struggling to make him let go. ¡°I am so proud of you.¡± Ethan squealed letting me go. Um okay. What has gotten into this one? ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do that earlier? They wouldn¡¯t have been able to walk all over you like that.¡± ¡°Mom had told me to keep it low and to keep out of spotlight. Something about being what I am.¡± I told him shrugging. He nodded. ¡°You can do all the things mom can?¡± he asked excited. ¡°Not yet but someday I will. Mom will retire and I will take over.¡± I replied bouncing on my toes. I am really excited about the things I could do when I will get the full grasp of my powers. I will be as cool as mom. ¡°Amy raised you all really well.¡± Aunt Ste¡¯s voice made me realize that we are not at our home and I blushed in embarrassment. ¡°You have a really good rtionship with each other despite not being rted by blood. No one will ever suspect that part after looking at you all. My children never had that bond. Well not at least with Zeno. He has always been aloof and kept to himself.¡± She handed us the packed food. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if we are rted by blood or not. She is our sister and no one can tell us otherwise. I will do anything to keep her happy and I know for sure that she will do the same for me.¡± Ethan said aunt Ste with a small strained smile. He does not like being anyone bringing up the part that we are not blood rted. None of us like that. We are siblings. Blood or not. We don¡¯t mind it or as a matter of fact even remember it then why should they? We are happy the way we are. I gave her a smile and thanked her as we left for the meeting house. On the way I saw Francis sitting outside his house with his face in his palm. His body was shaking a little. Is he crying? ¡°Aren¡¯t youing?¡± I asked him with less hostility than before. Ethan gave me an incredulous look but one look at Francis and he looked away like he didn¡¯t see Original content from N?velDrama.Org. anything. Geez this is awkward. I didn¡¯t mean to make him cry. I know he is not that bad of a person. Well I hope he isn¡¯t. Chapter 42- Arabella Chapter 42- Arabe ¡°You don¡¯t mind meing?¡± Francis asked looking at us, his voice heavy with crying. I looked at the parcel I was carrying while I answered him ¡®no¡¯. ¡°Give me a minute.¡± With that said he dashed inside. I looked at Ethan who looked at me with the same difort I felt. ¡°Did I go overboard with him? I mean he is not exactly the ringleader here.¡± I whispered. ¡°Nahh. He just took it too hard I guess. Don¡¯t take it to the heart. They made you cry so many times. He had thating. At least now he knows that what he did was wrong.¡± Ethan said shrugging. I can tell by the look on his face that he wasn¡¯t really that happy about reducing someone to tears. ¡°I feel like a bully now. I made him cry.¡± I said pouting. N?velDrama.Org ? content. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You didn¡¯t do anything wrong.¡± Ethan said slinging his arm over my shoulder and he pecked my forehead. Francis came out of his house and fell into steps with us on the trail to the meeting house. ¡°Oh thank god you are here.¡± Dad said rushing towards us as we entered the clearing. ¡°Amy just woke up and she is hungry. You know how your mother gets when shecks food in her stomach.¡± I gave dad an apologetic look as he dashed inside with the food parcels. Ethan startedughing as soon as the door closed behind dad with me joining him. ¡°My princess is making him dance around her little finger.¡± A very smug and smirking uncle Ryder said from beside us. When did he get there? He wasn¡¯t alone either. Fallon and Cedric were with him. So mom is going with two more shifting today then. I nodded at the two new arrivals in greeting which they retuned enthusiastically. ¡°You two are shifting as well.¡± I told my twopanions. Ethan grinned at me but Francis looked nervous. His face and eyes looked red from the earlier¡­um¡­ event. ¡°Are you not excited about it?¡± I asked him. ¡°Oh I am. A little scared that¡¯s all.¡± He mumbled. ¡°You will do fine.¡± I assured him. He nodded and we made our way to the meeting house. I opened the door to find mom happily munching on some sandwich and mac and cheese with an exhausted dad sitting beside her with his head on the counter. ¡°Hi babies.¡± She said with a mouthful of food. Only my mother could address a six foot tall person as baby. ¡°Uh mom that¡¯s gross.¡± Ethan groaned. ¡°You used to do it as well.¡± She said like that solved the matter. I just sighed and sat down on the stool beside dad. ¡°Did you eat anything princess?¡± Dad asked me. ¡°I am not hungry yet.¡± I told him. ¡°You should eat more.¡± He said pulling me close in a hug. ¡°You never hug me like that.¡± Ethanined. I poked my tongue at him as dad shook his head at a pouting Ethan. ¡°He isn¡¯t wrong.¡± I very hoarse voice came from the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. I squealed and dashed towards Ben. He caught me as I jumped on him. Thankfully he was fully clothed. A second figure jumped in the hug making Ben fall down on his butt. ¡°Look at you all grown up.¡± Mom said tearing up. ¡°Mom please don¡¯t do this.¡± I scooted away as I knew what wasing. ¡°You little midget. Get back here.¡± I poked my tongue at him. ¡°Mooommmm.¡± Ben screeched as mom pulled his face down and started kissing him all over his face. ¡°Ow mom let go.¡± She had pulled him in a bone crushing hug. That¡¯s what you get for calling me midget. ¡°Love you will break his ribs at this rate.¡± Dad interjectedughing. Mom let go of Ben, blushing red. ¡°I am sorry. I forgot in excitement not to use full strength.¡± She mumbled as Ethanughed at the disgruntled state of Ben. Ben scowled at him as he got to his feet. ¡°I am starving.¡± Ben groaned as his stomach managed to duplicate the symphony of a screeching whale in the call for food. He dived on the food and started eating at high speed. ¡°People will think we starve you at home.¡± Ethan said amused. ¡°You will know after you shift.¡± Ben said stuffing his mouth with whatever edible thing he could get his hands on. At this rate, Zeno might have to starve as Ben doesn¡¯t seem to be nning on stopping to eat any soon. Well his house is ten minutes away. He can eat there. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work then.¡± Mom said looking at the sandwich with longing in her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t think I will get anything else to eat.¡± She marched outside with dad in tow. Ben did not pay any attention to her and focused on the job at hands. Ethan, Francis and I followed mom and dad outside. Let¡¯s get started then. Two down, six more to go. Chapter 43- Arabella Chapter 43- Arabe As I looked at mom talking to Fallon, something clicked in me. Ben woke up. That means Zeno will wake up soon as well. Holly shit! I need to get the hell out of here. No way in the hell do I want to face him at the moment. He will probably end up cursing me to the hell and then everyone will get into fighting. I don¡¯t think my family will let him go this time if he tried to mess with me. ¡°Mom.¡± I called and she turned towards me. ¡°I want to go home and sleep. Do you mind if I leave now? I have seen how its¡¯s done and I cane back tomorrow if needs be.¡± Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. ¡°Sure. Go ahead. Ryder will take you home.¡± She replied frowning as I gave her a pleading look. ¡°Thanks mom.¡± I squealed and was about to go to uncle Ryder but was stopped by Ethan. ¡°Aren¡¯t you staying for me? You were here for Ben.¡± He looked hurt. Please Ethan. Try to understand. ¡°It¡¯s not like that Ethan. I need to get out of here.¡± I said urgently trying to make him understand. ¡°But why? Just stay for a couple more minutes. Please.¡± I opened my mouth to reply to him but was cut off by a very timid voice of Francis. ¡°She wants to leave before Zeno wakes up.¡± I closed my eyes sighing. I just don¡¯t have the strength nor the will to face that good for nothing person. ¡°Oh¡­ well hurry up then.¡± Ethan said but he looked like he didn¡¯t want me to go. ¡°You know what. I am not going anywhere. Why should I run when I haven¡¯t done anything wrong? I will stay here with you. All the best. Fallon loves you. It won¡¯t be that painful for you. I promise.¡± I beamed at Ethan who grinned back at me. He pulled me into a tight hug. ¡°Thanks sis.¡± He mumbled. ¡°To tell the truth, I am a little scared.¡± Hisst words were so quiet that no human could have heard them even after standing right beside us. Ethan has always been the timid one in the twins. Ben had always been the outgoing and more on the brute side but despite being build the same in body and height, Ethan has always been gentle. He is like a big plushy teddy bear. ¡°You will be great Ethan. I believe in you. Just follow mom¡¯s instruction and everything will be fine. Now you are a teddy bear, then you will be a big fluffy wolf.¡± I teased to lighten his mood. There were two protests after my little speech. Well I did call those two soft and cuddly. ¡°Come on Ethan. Let¡¯s get started with it so you can be up for dinner.¡± Mom said softly. Fallon and Ethan took their position on either side of mom and she started to merge Fallon with Ethan. Within a few minutes, Ethan was on the ground, groaning in pain as he shifted. He also shifted into his wolf form for a brief moment and then passed out, shifting back to his human form. Dad covered him with a nket which he keeps conjuring from heaven knows where and took Ethan inside. Francis walked where Ethan had stood before as Cedric took Fallon¡¯s ce. Thank god mom introduced me to the spirit wolves before getting here in the morning or I don¡¯t know what I would have done. Before today, I only knew Xander, Ajax and off course, uncle Ryder but the others were a actually remembering all their names. I don¡¯t think I remember every single one of them. I will with time, I guess. Cedric didn¡¯t look as enthusiastic as Fallon. He was huffing a lot and kept giving Francis a re here and there. Francis looked to be shaking in his boots. Well he wasn¡¯t wearing any boots but still. I think the poor guy had had enough for today. I mean he isn¡¯t actually a culprit here. ¡°Cedric, I don¡¯t want any problems. Let him shift. Do not refuse it and make it more painful for Francis.¡± Mom said firmly. I can tell that it was an order by the way Cedric stiffened and nodded ring at the ground. Within a few minutes, Cedric vanished into Francis and he shifted without any problem from Cedric. I don¡¯t know how she does this ordering everyone thing and they just follow. Maybe I can do that too once I take over. Francis fell unconscious after shifting for a brief moment and dad carried him inside, wrapped in a nket. Mom plopped down on the ground on her knees looking exhausted. ¡°Are you alright mom?¡± I asked kneeling in front of her with Uncle Ryder hovering obnoxiously over us. Now that I think about it, where did Uncle Tyler go? I didn¡¯t see himing back or anywhere. ¡°Just exhausted. This is tiring. I want to sleep.¡± Mom mumbled as her eyes drooped. ¡°I will take you home princess.¡± Uncle Ryder chimed in. ¡°Thanks Ryder.¡± Mom mumbled as I helped her on uncle¡¯s back. ¡°Please tell your father that I went home Aria or he will worry.¡± I nodded. Momid down on Uncle¡¯s back and he started moving in our house¡¯s direction at a slow trot. I should get going as well but we can¡¯t leave Ethan here. He will get super mad if we did that. I would too if I were him. My stomach growled breaking my thought process. Now that I think about it, I haven¡¯t eaten anything since yesterday¡¯s early dinner we had back at home. I need food. Chapter 44- Arabella Chapter 44- Arabe ¡°Daddy.¡± I barged into the meeting house whining. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong? Are you hurt?¡± Dad asked as I jumped in hisp. My stomach chose the exact time to make its difort known. Ben snickered and Dad chuckled. I could feel my cheeks heating up. ¡°Are you hungry princess?¡± he asked softly. I nodded puffing my cheeks. I haven¡¯t had any food today. It¡¯s not my fault that my stomach is being so vocal about it. ¡°Let¡¯s get you home then.¡± ¡°What about Ethan?¡± ¡°Ben will stay with him.¡± ¡°Go home sis or your stomach will end up eating you.¡± Ben joked. ¡°We will be home soon. Like he has a right tough. He had already devoured everything we brought earlier. ¡°Uncle Ryder took mom home. She was feeling weak.¡± I told dad. ¡°What? Is she alright?¡± Dad looked like he was about to start panicking. ¡°Yup. She is just tired from all this. She said she wants to rest. We will have to cook today dad.¡± He looked more horrified at the idea of cooking than he looked relieved from hearing that mom was okay. Then his face lit up. ¡°Nahh. Cassidy will cook for us.¡± He said grinning. ¡°When did she arrive?¡± I asked. ¡°Yesterday. When you were fast asleep. Grayson is also with her and ¡­¡± He hesitated. I looked at him with eyes. Is uncle Austin here too? I haven¡¯t seen Zahra for months. ¡°The Knights came with her.¡± I gasped in shock. Ben growled lightly behind me. ¡°Alexander is with them.¡± Dad looked down, avoiding my eyes. He looked downcast. It doesn¡¯t matter if he or they all came back now. This is my family now and I am not going anywhere. ¡°The house must be full then.¡± I said hugging him close. ¡°Aria¡­um¡­ your father is back.¡± He said hesitating on thest part. ¡°Where did you went toe back dad?¡± I asked looking at dad pointedly. He just pulled me into a hug. ¡°I am not going anywhere dad¡­ um¡­ unless you want me to.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere then. I was already getting antsy thinking about you going to college and now Alex came back. The demons are going to attack us soon. This is just too overwhelming. I don¡¯t want to lose any of you.¡± ¡°Dad¡­¡± Ben started but we were interrupted by a scowling figure standing in the hallway. ¡°Who is going to college? Who is Alex? Is he your boyfriend?¡± Zeno growled out. ¡°What if he is? It¡¯s none of your business. Don¡¯t poke your nose where doesn¡¯t belong.¡± I snapped ignoring his first question. Dad groaned, massaging his temple. ¡°How the heck is it not my business? You are my mate and you are not supposed to be with someone else. Break up with him right this instant.¡± Zeno said growling lowly. Ben was dying withughter behind me as I looked at Zeno with a nk face. ¡°Are you done?¡± Zeno looked at me confused. ¡°Well I am going home. I don¡¯t think I am obliged to listen to you rant about your supposed im which isn¡¯t actually true.¡± I hoped off of Dad¡¯sp and turned towards Ben who looked red faced from all theughing. ¡°Come home soon Ben and look after Ethan. He was a little out of it before shifting.¡± Ben nodded biting his lip but he still burst into fits ofughter looking at where Zeno stood. I turned to look at what Ben wasughing so much at to find a very upset Zeno frozen in his ce. He looked downright hurt. What did he thought I would do? Run into his arms and kiss his boo boos. Ha! Like I would. I don¡¯t forgive that easily. He made a mistake, might as well own it and apologize. That doesn¡¯t seem to be Zeno¡¯s forte though. Well I think I will be alone forever then. Zeno gaped at me, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. He didn¡¯t seem to believe what was happening or rather what I said. ¡°Come on dad. Mom must be waiting for us back home.¡± I said turning towards the door. I was almost out of the door when a palm closed around my hand and I felt sparks where our skin touched. I heard two very angry growls but Zeno didn¡¯t let go. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. ¡°Wait. Can we talk please?¡± He more like begged. A pleading Zeno. Well this is new. What does he want anyways? He must be wanting to make it clear about not wanting to be together. Oh well, let¡¯s get this over with then. Sooner the better. I will be able to move on easily like this. Only if Ajax was here. I wouldn¡¯t even have had to think about moving on over my mate. ¡°Sure.¡± I replied trying to get my hand out of his grip but heced our fingers together, grinning at me. He looked utterly gorgeous. I mean handsome. Huh! Wait a minute. No! He is none of that. He is a bad person. This stupid bond is just messing with my head. This wasn¡¯t making it any better. Uhhhh! I got to get everything under control. I can¡¯t go swooning over someone who is clearly going to hurt me every opportunity he gets. I squared my shoulders and gave my hand one more unsessful tug as Zeno marched to the trail with me in tow. ¡°I will be back soon.¡± I shouted over my shoulder to my utterly angry father and equally mad brother. I am d they didn¡¯t interfere. I have a really bad feeling about this though. Chapter 45- Arabella Chapter 45- Arabe As Zeno dragged me to the pack¡¯s houses, I jerked my hand out of his, taking advantage of his distraction. He looked at me shocked. Did he expect me to do whatever he wants? ¡°What happened?¡± He asked bewildered. ¡°Nothing much. Just your highness holding my hand without permission.¡± I sneered. ¡°Why can¡¯t I hold your hand?¡± He looked at me like he was doing someplex calctions for a space ship. ¡°Oh let me think.¡± I started rubbing my jaw like I was thinking really hard. ¡°You, my bully, is holding my hand like we are friends. Isn¡¯t that a dreame true? Why wouldn¡¯t I want the person who made my life a living hell, act like everything is just peachy? I mean that will exempt me from further torture. I do have to be careful now or I would fall into a fall pretense and you would probably try to hurt me again. Can¡¯t be more careful these days, can we now?¡± The sarcasm dripping from my tone was so sharp that Zeno flinched at every word I said. I gave him my best smile in return. He looked¡­ ashamed? Now that¡¯s something new on him. ¡°Look I am sorry for what I did to you all these years.¡± I raised my eyebrows at him. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ you had so much control over my emotions to the point that I absolutely hated it. You made me feel different but you never gave me even a look. You didn¡¯t even know what you were doing to me. Now I know that you were in some sort of distress but my seven year old mind thought that you had an attitude and weren¡¯t giving me any attention. I thought that you didn¡¯t even knew that I existed. I wanted to make you look at me. Know about me. Be aware of my presence but you never even looked in my general direction.¡± He red at me like it was my fault that I didn¡¯t know he existed at that time. I had just lost my family. What did he expect me to do? Go on y dates with him. I didn¡¯t even had met him before I moved in with mom and dad. ¡°I thought you were full of yourself so I did what I thought was right at the time. I made you a social pariah so you will only pay attention to me but you still didn¡¯t even make an effort for it. Then I started bullying you and I got what I had wanted all that time.¡± He had a mad glint in his eyes. It scared the shit out of me. Before I could make a run for it, he started pacing around and talking. ¡°You were aware of my presence now but I didn¡¯t like it how hard I had to try to just make you look at me. So I tried to make it harder for you to be in school. Why should I be the only one to suffer? You didn¡¯t have any friends as I had already taken care of that part. You won¡¯t possibly pay attention to me if you had someone else to look for, that¡¯s what I thought. I will make it so difficult for you that you won¡¯t have anyone to lean on other than me but guess what? I didn¡¯t get the response I wanted but I was happy with what I got.¡± He stopped pacing and grinned at me but his eyes said something else. There was regret shining in his eyes. I don¡¯t know what to think about this anymore. ¡°Only one emotion was enough. Only one nce was enough. Even a word from you was enough and I hated it to the point that I wanted to torture you so bad that you will end up crying for ages. I did not like the control you had on me at all. It made me feel like a ve to you. I wanted to ruin you for that, for making my life hell but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to hurt you. It made me sad at the same time.¡± He sat down by a tree on the side of the trial. I didn¡¯t move from my position. I couldn¡¯t. It felt like someone shot freeze ray at me. I don¡¯t know if it was fear or shock but my body refused to move. A ¡°Then the summer before high school hit. It was the worst period of my life. It felt like my life and soul was getting drained out of me slowly. I was snapping at everyone and everything. I was a mess. Then the bonfire night came and I saw you. All the bad feeling, the pain, the emptiness, everything left me. I couldn¡¯t tell how happy and vexed I was at the same time. You still had the same control over me.¡± He was twisting his fingers madly. He looked agitated. ¡°I had decided that year that I would distance myself from you and start anew but you still wiggled your Original content from N?velDrama.Org. way in my life and you were totally unaware of it. Again. So I dumped my n of leaving you alone and started hurting you anytime I could. Being near you made it easier to cope with the darkness that was spreading inside me. Hell even being in the same building made it easier to breath freely. So I came down harder on you. I couldn¡¯t let any chance to get pass me to be near you. How could I? The feeling without you being there was horrible and I loathed it even more. There were times I wanted to talk to you nicely but all that woulde out of my mouth would be something horrible that would be bad enough to make you unhappy. That had unfortunately be a bad habit of mine. I tried so hard to make you see me. I knew you hated me but I couldn¡¯t stop. I tried even harder BUT YOU STILL IGNORED ME LIKE I AM SOME UGLY CENTIPEDE.¡± I flinched as he screamed pulling his hair in frustration. I had a very strong urge tough as a centipede with Zeno¡¯s head danced in front of my eyes but I controlled myself. He got to his feet and closed the distance between us in two strides. If I say that I am scared, it would be a major understatement. He fingers caressed my cheeks softly but not even the sparks made it easier to not want to run for the hills. I shouldn¡¯t havee here with him. Why did I have toe here alone with him? Chapter 46- Arabella Chapter 46- Arabe ¡°Why are you crying baby?¡± He asked softly. When did I start crying? ¡°Are you scared of me? Please don¡¯t be. I won¡¯t hurt you anymore. How could I? You are my other half. I want you to love me back the way I do. We are mates after all. We should love each other. I didn¡¯t understand before about what I felt about you but now I do. You are my mate and I had always felt the connection in between us. It¡¯s time you feel it too. I can understand that you couldn¡¯t feel it before as you are a human but now you have no excuse to ignore me or distance yourself from me. You were always mine and now I get to im you. I know what I did was wrong but you have to give me a chance. I promise I will make it better. You will give me a chance right?¡± His eyes were soft but his words¡­ I didn¡¯t like it one bit. It felt like he was telling me that he deserves a chance because he is my mate. I haven¡¯t felt like murdering someone this bad before. I was going to give him a chance for Ajax but he is too far gone. The fear finally left my body as I felt the anger burn into me. I stepped back pulling myself away from him. I had a really bad urge to pound something to pieces. He took a step forward but I held my hand in front of me to make him stop. He looked puzzled and dejected. ¡°Are you rejecting me?¡± he asked with a shaking voice. ¡°What would have happened if I wasn¡¯t your mate Zeno?¡± I asked ignoring his question. ¡°But you are my mate. Why would I think about something like that?¡± ¡°Just answer the damn question.¡± I snarled. ¡°I didn¡¯t think about that.¡± He mumbled. ¡°Would you have treated me fairly if I hadn¡¯t turned out to be your mate? Would you have stopped bullying me? Would you have left me alone to live my life peacefully?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± His answer was firm. ¡°I would have. I was going to start over from the day I shifted. I wanted to start anew. I want to be a good Alpha to my pack, a good son to my parents, a good friend to Francis and Fabian and the best to you.¡± ¡°Prove it then. Your words don¡¯t mean anything to me. Prove it that you are changed and don¡¯t expect me to jump in your arms due to you being my mate because I won¡¯t. Be the man of your words and prove to everyone that you deserve to be what and where you are. Don¡¯t you daree to me thinking that everything is fine in between us. Just because you are my mate doesn¡¯t mean you have the right to do as you please with me. I am not that easy Zeno. I don¡¯t believe in empty words.¡± He looked shocked but nodded. I texted dad toe to the car as I made my way there with Zeno right on my heel. I stopped near the car and the idiot behind me bumped right into my back making me groan. ¡°What do you want?¡± I asked massaging my temple. I am starving. I don¡¯t think I can handle this anymore. I need food. ¡°Nothing.¡± He mumbled with his head down. ¡°Why the heck are you following me then?¡± I gritted out. Keep it together Aria. You don¡¯t want to turn into a monster over food. ¡°Why not?¡± He asked like I had told him something absurd. ¡°Listen Zeno. I am starving enough to eat an entire elephant. Don¡¯t test my patience at the moment or I swear to the deepest pits of hell that I will beat the shit out of you.¡± ¡°Cute.¡± He said looking at me dreamily. Then something clicked into him. ¡°You are hungry? Come on. I will make you something to eat.¡± I clenched my fist, about to knock some sense into him but he was saved by dad. Lucky bastard. ¡°No need for that. I am taking her home.¡± Dad said ring at Zeno whose face fell immediately. He turned to me. ¡°You youngdy, get inside the car. I saw what you were about to do. Your mom will be Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. informed about this. She had warned you before not to use your fists where it is not necessary.¡± He looked at me disapprovingly. ¡°But dad¡­¡± ¡°I am not listening to your excuses. Get in the car. Now.¡± I red at Zeno onest time and climbed in the car. ¡°Can Ie with?¡± I heard Zeno ask dad. ¡°No¡± I shouted before dad could open his mouth. ¡°That¡¯s it. Grounded.¡± Dad said giving me a mild re. I looked at him horrified. He gave me a look challenging me to say anything but I just huffed and pulled the window up. I saw dad shake his head and walk around the car to get inside from the driver¡¯s side. My eyes fell on Zeno as we backed out to find him looking like lost puppy. He was looking in the general direction of our car with longing. Oh! Snap out of it. It¡¯s just the bond. That guy has done more harm to me than good. I will just focus on the uing food for now. ¡°You remember Alex is home right?¡± Dad said as we reached the main road. I nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t resent him okay? I know he made a mistake but he regrets it very much. He had just lost his mate and that is not easy to go through. It feels like a dark cloud is looming over you. He didn¡¯t want Eros and you to be caught up in it so he did what he thought was right at the time. Just hear him out if he talks to you.¡± ¡°I can understand I think. I know the effects of losing your mate are hard but he should have at least contacted us when he was a little better. Well I will hear him out and all but I am not going anywhere with him nor am I calling him father. Same goes for Eros. He abandoned us dad. Every one of them did. You are our family. Not them and it is going to stay that way. The only thing I can do is not give him a hard time but I can¡¯t ept him or any of them back.¡± I told him looking out the window. Chapter 47- Arabella Chapter 47- Arabe ¡°Well that¡¯s fair enough. You act so mature these days¡¯ princess. When did you grow up so much?¡± I turned around to find dad pouting. ¡°Dad I will turn neen this year.¡± I said chuckling. ¡°But it feels like we just got you yesterday.¡± I shook my head at his childishness. ¡°You are still grounded.¡± ¡°WHAT? But I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°You were going to hit Zeno.¡± He said with a nk face as he parked in our garage. ¡°He deserved it and you know it.¡± I said outraged. ¡°Yeah but you are not to use violence to solve every single one of your problems. Your mom wouldn¡¯t like that. Take your punishment withoutint and I will keep this between us.¡± That offer does sound good. Mom would probably whip my ass for this. ¡°Whatever.¡± I gritted my teeth and stomped out of the garage. I entered inside the house to find it a lot fuller than I expected. ¡°Ari.¡± Eros squealed and ran in my arms. ¡°How did it go?¡± Elliot asked. ¡°Mom was already passed out when she came and we were too scared to ask uncle Ryder.¡± I could feel eyes on me. I knew they were looking at me¡­ at us. I walked inside and plopped on the couch. ¡°There wasn¡¯t any problems. Ben and Ethan will be home soon.¡± ¡°Ohh! We can have a party tonight. What do you think?¡± Val asked bouncing on her toes as I rubbed Eros¡¯s back. ¡°Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Everyone will be shifted by then.¡± I suggested. ¡°We are having a party tomorrow.¡± Val said jumping around. ¡°By the way, you are sharing room with Eros. I got the chit to share with you but he threw a fit and now I have to share room with the stupid one.¡± Beth said pointing at Val who stopped jumping and red at her. Iughed. That sounds very much like Eros. I plopped down on the couch with Eros still clinging to me. ¡°I am sharing with Hudson and he snore.¡± Elliotined. ¡°Can I sleep in your room Aria?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t snore.¡± Hudson¡¯s offended voice came from the dining table. ¡°Sure.¡± Elliot said sarcastically. ¡°Of course you can.¡± I told him. He whooped with his fist in the air. ¡°I want to sleep in your room too. Val¡¯s stupidity will end up rubbing on me.¡± Beth said in a teasing voice. ¡°I am sleeping in your room too Aria. Oh oh let¡¯s have a movie night.¡± Val said. ¡°Not today. Aria is grounded.¡± Dad¡¯s voice came from behind me. ¡°But dad it was Zeno¡¯s fault. I didn¡¯t even do anything.¡± I protested. ¡°ZENO.¡± Beth screeched. ¡°What did he do this time? I am going to crush his skull one of these days.¡± She was doing violent gestures with her hands. I just looked at her amused. ¡°Elizabeth Astley.¡± Dad¡¯s stern voice made her stop mid gesture. ¡°This is not how you talk youngdy. Your younger brothers are in the room and you are disying violence. I am grounding you as well. In your room now.¡± Val and Elliot wereughing behind their hands. ¡°Dad Elliot does that too.¡± Elliot gasped in horror looking at Beth in betrayal. ¡°Eros is fast asleep.¡± The little munchkin was actually snoring lightly. ¡°Ah! He didn¡¯t sleep wellst night.¡± Dad saidbing his fingers through Eros¡¯s hair. ¡°He was asking Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. for you.¡± He told me. ¡°I don¡¯t know how but he seems to have overheard us talking that you were hurt. He refused to sleep till he sees you himself. He didn¡¯t sleep till half past three in the morning.¡± I kissed Eros on his hair. ¡°Let me take him to bed. He must be exhausted.¡± ¡°I will take him dad. Don¡¯t worry too much.¡± I got up and made my way to my room with Eros on my hip. ¡°Now you two.¡± I heard dad say in a scolding tone when I reached the top of the staircase. I chuckled imagining their faces and entered my room. I changed into a sweat pant and loose t-shirt after cing Eros on the bed. My stomach growled loudly. ¡°I think I heard a sea lion in here.¡± Dad¡¯s voice came a few secondster from my door. He was grinning like a fool, holding a tray full of food. I ran towards him and lunged on the tray. ¡°You must be really hungry.¡± He mumbled looking at me amused. I sat down in the middle of the room and dived in. Dad joined me. I swatted the hair out of my face as they kept falling over my eyes. I forgot to tie them. ¡°I will tie them up.¡± Dad said sighing as I almost ripped a chunk out of my hair. He got up and picked ab from the dressing table. ¡°How is your new school? Are you liking it so far?¡± He asked as he brushed my hair. ¡°I like it there but I miss going to school with the others.¡± I told him with a mouthful of ham. ¡°Don¡¯t talk with your food in your mouth. You might choke on it.¡± He scolded. I hummed and continued to eat. He braided my hair and was tying a bow on it when the door of my room opened. I stopped mid chew, looking at the guest. He looked different from what I remembered. His eyes didn¡¯t have the same light. They looked dead. There wasn¡¯t the benign smile on his face that used to make me feel warm and safe. It was nk. He looked like a man suffering from immense sorrow. ¡°I came at the wrong time I guess. I wille backter.¡± He said. ¡°Nahh! I was just leaving. Come on in.¡± Dad replied getting to his feet. He entered with a little hesitation and started looking around the room. Dad gave me a pleading look and left, closing the door. I waited for to him to speak but he refused to meet my eyes. ¡°So what did you want to talk about?¡± I asked running out of patience. Chapter 48- Arabella Chapter 48- Arabe It¡¯s been two days since Ben and Ethan shifted and I talked to my father, Alexander. It was a very eventful day. Zeno had been tailing me like mad from then. Yesterday I found him hiding in the tree line near my house. Mom was super mad but she let it slide because he very innocently said that he wanted to see me and I was running away from him which I was but I denied the usations. Now, as a result, I am stuck with Zeno sitting beside me on the back porch, gawking at me like a creep. The most shock came from Alex. He didn¡¯t bring up the old things. I could see it on his face that it hurt him to even think about the past. He just asked me if we could start over and I agreed. He was suffering too and unlike me, he didn¡¯t have an amazing family to back him up. Apparently the Knights didn¡¯t know where he was till Cassidy dragged him back to Greycoast. They met at the airport. Greyson had brought up them up with him. He was all alone all this time. No wonder he looked like that. We are making progress now. ¡°Aria your mom is looking for you.¡± Lucas called from the back yard doors. I nodded and got up to go inside. Mom had been resting all day yesterday to gain her strength back and today we are having a meeting under the name of a party in our house. Zeno tailed behind me without saying anything or making any noise. The house will be filled with newly mated couples soon. I cringed imagining the sight. ¡°Mom you were looking for me?¡± I asked as I reached the kitchen to find mom going berserk in there. ¡°I need help with the cake. Kick your boyfriend out. We don¡¯t want the repeat of what happened earlier.¡± She said looking pointedly at me as Beth, Ben and Ethanughed. ¡°He is not my boyfriend.¡± I snapped but nobody paid attention to that. ¡°The knife would have hurt her. I had to dispose it off.¡± Zeno said from behind me. Yup! The stupid one tried to kill a knife because I cut my finger while chopping the vegetables and then proceeded to dump all the other knives in the kitchen in the trash. That¡¯s how mom caught him and kicked the both of us out of the kitchen. I mean what the hell did I do? ¡°You heard her. Go help the others.¡± I told Zeno. He opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off. ¡°I will kick you in the nuts if you won¡¯t get moving.¡± He clutched his jewels protectively and scampered away. I see he hasn¡¯t forgotten that. I had kicked Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. him in the nuts the day before yesterday because he tried to kiss me at the meeting house. Like I would let him get that close to me. He hadn¡¯t tried to approach me intimately since then and keeps on looking creepily from afar. I started with the cake as the guest were due in an hour. Cassidy was looking after the setup of everything and the other boys were working on hermand. She seemed to enjoy that very much. Greyson and the Knights were nowhere to be found. Mom said that they were running an errand. But everything was already almost done. What are they up to? Maybe I am just thinking too much into it. They really must be running some errand. In the hour, I was done with the cake and mom had started putting the food on the table but I had started to notice something odd. Mom looked a little tense and so did dad. Cassidy was as bubbly as ever. If Cassidy is bouncing all over the ce that means everything is fine. Mom must be stressed about the preparations. Just as I was putting thest cherry on the cake, the doorbell rang and mom dashed to open the door. I washed my hands and made my way upstairs to get freshened up. I saw Zeno on the way ring murderously at Lucas. It¡¯s a recent development since Lucas shifted and Faye, Zeno¡¯s sister turned out to be his mate. What a scene it was? Zeno only backed down when Ben and Ethan dered that they wouldn¡¯t let him near me if he wouldn¡¯t stop trying to hit Lucas. I quickly washed up and changed into a simple dress. I came downstairs to find a very frantic Zeno looking everywhere for me. He crushed me into his muscled body¡­ I mean not so desirable body as soon as his eyes fell on me. ¡°Let go dude.¡± I grumbled trying to push him away but he just tightened his grip and buried his face in the crook of my neck. I could hear a couple giggles and a few displeasured sounds in the background. Not having any other resort, I kicked him where the sun doesn¡¯t shine and he immediately let go, clutching his jewels. The majority of the male poption in the house groaned or winced as I looked pointedly at the idiot moaning in pain. ¡°I told you not to touch me or I will hit you, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Why the hell do you keep attacking my sensitive parts? Don¡¯t you want kids?¡± Zeno said groaning. His eyes were watering. Did I hit him too hard? ¡°I do want kids.¡± I said innocently. ¡°A house full of them.¡± Zeno¡¯s eyes shined a little. ¡°But me having kids has nothing to do with you.¡± I smirked as the triumph on his face fell. ¡°What do you mean?¡± he growled. ¡°Just what I said. Don¡¯t touch me from now on.¡± With that being said, I dashed up the stairs as I felt the atmosphere change in the room. Better get out of here before I get attacked. I could feel the anger radiating from Zeno in waves. I was about to lock my room¡¯s door when the door opened with a bang and I fell on my butt due to being pushed off bnce. A very angry Zeno stood in my doorway with his eyes swirling with gold. It felt like Ajax and Zeno were both partially in control. This is not good. I scooted backwards as he locked the door. Holly goddess of the Caribbean ind! I think I went too far this time. I need help. Chapter 49- Arabella Chapter 49- Arabe He stalked towards me as I kept scurrying backwards. I was about to get up and make a run around him when he pinned me to the floor and straddled me. I looked at him mesmerized as the sparks flew in my body. ¡°What were you saying downstairs baby?¡± He said as he leaned on me. His face was right in front of mine. I could feel his breath on my lips. His voice¡­oh it was making the butterflies in my stomach go berserk. ¡°I asked you something Arabe.¡± H He caressed my face with his free hand. ¡°I told you not to touch me.¡± I mumbled in a weak attempt to make him leave me alone which failed terribly I might add. ¡°And why is that baby? Why won¡¯t I touch my own mate? Why won¡¯t my mate have my kids? Do exin it to me baby.¡± He said in a deep husky voice as his lower area came in contact with mine lightly. I bit my lip to stop the moan that wanted toe out of my mouth. That bitch was enjoying teasing me. I opened my mouth to answer him snappily but only a moan came out of mouth as his lips touched my neck, pressing light kiss there. This is not right but why does this feel so good? ¡°You know what will lie here baby?¡± He asked as he nibbled at the crook of my neck making me moan shamelessly. ¡°My mark will be here for everyone to know that you are mine and nobody else¡¯s.¡± He growled in my ears, sending pleasurable shivers down my back. This is not right. I shouldn¡¯t be doing this. I haven¡¯t forgiven him yet. Right? I was about to protest but he shut it up with his lips enclosing mine. He was kissing me hungrily. His hands roamed my body as he pressed into me even more. As the need for oxygen surfaced, he started leaving open mouthed kisses down my neck and corbone while I tried to catch my breath. He sat up and pulled me in hisp, kissing me again. He pulled me so close to his body that I felt his body heat radiate into me. He pried my mouth open and a warm bundle of muscles plunged into my mouth making me moan loudly. He caressed my tongue with his, tugging on my hair. It felt like all my bones had melted inside my body. I slumped into his arms as he hugged me close. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a mess doll? I like it.¡± He said smirking as he cupped my face in his palm. The heat of embarrassment started to creep up my neck as he surveyed me with heated gaze. But this is not right. Just because he is my mate doesn¡¯t mean I have to be intimate with him. Original content from N?velDrama.Org. He pulled me to my feet as he got up and wiped the tears that escaped my eyes. He pecked my forehead then nose andstly ced a soft kiss on my lips. ¡°Don¡¯t say such things again please. It really hurts me to hear you say something like that. If you do end up talking like that again, I will dly remind you who you belong to. You are mine whether you like it or not and it will stay that way till myst breath.¡± His expressions shifted from serious to amused. ¡°Might as well check your hair out beforeing downstairs if you don¡¯t want to be teased.¡± With that being said he turned around and left my room. As my senses came back to me, I realized what just happened. That fucking wombat kissed me. It felt really good but that¡¯s not the point here. How dare he kiss me like that? I will murder him in his sleep tonight. That will teach him a lesson. I turned to the mirror to check myself out but stiffened at what I saw. ¡°ZENO.¡± I screamed in frustration. My entire neck was littered with small red marks and a big one was at the crook of my neck which I am sure anyone would be able to see from a mile. How the hell am I going to cover all this? I am going to kill him. I changed into a high neck crop top and jeans as I don¡¯t have any make up to cover Zeno¡¯s drawing with and stomped downstairs. Zeno flinched at the murderous re I sent his way. I took my seat beside Val with Eros on my other side. Zeno was sitting across from me. ¡°Why do you smell like him?¡± Eros said scrunching his nose. My checks started to heat up as Eros looked at Zeno with displeasure. ¡°Because he attacked me.¡± I used making Zeno choke on the ss of juice he was gulping rapidly. Eros let out a cute growl and almost jumped off of his chair but I caught him before he could go and do something. Zeno shrunk into his chair as Ben and Ethan growled dangerously beside him. Francis was I looked around the table but the Knights and Greyson were still not there. Where did they go? Mom and dad were looking unusually stiff in their seats and so did Uncle Leo. Others looked to have no idea of it as they were chattering around. Something is not right. They are hiding something from us. The dinner went on for an hour or so. I kept ncing at mom and dad all the while but they weren¡¯t eating much nor were they engaging in the conversations heartily. They looked anxious and on the edge of their seats. They kept ncing at the door more often than the food in the tes in front of them. We were sitting in the living room after eating the dessert when the front door opened and a very sweaty Greyson barged in followed by equally dirty Knight family. He nodded towards mom, dad, Cassidy and Leo and climbed upstairs mumbling something about taking a shower. The Knights followed suit. What were they even doing all day that they didn¡¯t even turn up for the dinner? One thing is for sure. They are hiding something from us. Chapter 50- Arabella Chapter 50- Arabe Everything happened at once. The phones of the pack members started ringing one after another. The house was filled with chaos till the phones stopped ringing. ¡°No one is to go out of the house while we check it out.¡± Uncle Leo ordered. There was an uproar of protests as many of the pack members had tears in their eyes. They didn¡¯t tell us what had happened. ¡°But¡­¡± Uncle Mathew started. ¡°We are going to check it out and the mates and the children will be staying here till we get back. No one in any condition is to leave the house. Cassidy will be staying with you while we take Greyson with us. The Knights and the newly shifted will stand guard. This is a serious matter and we need to be alert. Do not let your guard down.¡± Uncle Leo said in a firm voice. ¡°But what had happened?¡± Aunt Ste asked looking utterly worried. ¡°Our houses were set on fire.¡± Uncle Leo said grimly. ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°But our parents were home.¡± ¡°What happened to the ones that were home?¡± A series of questions rang through the house. ¡°From what we know, no survivor was found so far.¡± Uncle Leo answered with a tired face. He looked unusually calm for someone who had just lost his parents. Something is going on over here. The sounds of protest and questions were reced by the sobs and gasps of horror. ¡°Who did this?¡± Aunt Mia asked in a shaky voice. ¡°We don¡¯t know yet but we have an inclination.¡± Uncle Leo looked angry. ¡°We will have to move the rest to safety sooner than we nned. There is a heavy chance that the demons had already started with their attack.¡± The room was unusually silent. ¡°Follow the orders and stay inside.¡± He turned around with the pack following him. Mom, Dad and Greyson also left after them. I looked out the window to see them pool into three cars and zoom off. I looked around to find everyone looking grave or crying, except for the Knights and Cassidy. I have a feeling that no one died. This was all a part of the n. Everyone else were huddled together in small groups. I sat down beside Cassidy and tapped her on her shoulder, gaining her attention. ¡°They are safe, aren¡¯t they?¡± I thought. She gave me a very slight nod. I sighed in relief. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± She shook her head. I understood that she meant ¡®not now¡¯. ¡°Are we being watched?¡± She nodded discreetly again. I tensed up but slowly rxed myself to not make anyone suspicious. Eros ran towards me sniffling lightly. He must be scared. I picked him up and made my way towards were Ben, Ethan and the rest of my siblings were sitting. We looked like war refuges with the small huddled groups scattered around. ¡°Ari what will happen now?¡± Val mumbled. Her lower lip was trembling. ¡°We will wait here till the otherse back. Don¡¯t worry too much. They will sort it out ande back soon.¡± I told her softly. ¡°I am scared.¡± Beth said from beside her as she moved closer to me. ¡°We are safe here Beth. No one will harm us here. Ben, Ethan and I will fight everything off before anything could touch you.¡± She nodded. ¡°Do you want to go to bed?¡± I asked the four of them. ¡°I am sleepy but I am scared. I don¡¯t want to be alone.¡± Elliot said sniffling. ¡°How about you all sleep in the same room. We will stay with you to look over you. Will you feel safe that way?¡± I asked. They nodded. I looked around to find the younger kids drooping but were straining to stay awake because they were freaked out. I got up leaving a sleeping Eros in Ben¡¯sp and walked towards Zeno. ¡°Hey!¡± He looked at me startled. His eyes were red from crying. ¡°Would you guys help us to set the beds for the younger kids? They look tired.¡± He looked like he didn¡¯t hear me clearly at first but nodded and got up. He walked towards Francis and Fabian who got up immediately. I started to ascend the staircase when Eros screamed. ¡°What happened Eros?¡± I asked dashing towards him. He was bawling his eyes out. ¡°I opened my eyes and you were gone.¡± He said sniffling every now and then. ¡°I was going upstairs to set the bed. You are tired, aren¡¯t you?¡± He nodded and muttered a ¡®sorry¡¯. ¡°I will be back soon to get you.¡± The ten of us, including Vivian made our way upstairs and started with preparing for the sleeping arrangement in my room as it was one of the tworgest bedroom in the house. The other was mom and dad¡¯s. We also pulled out the sofa bed. It could upy four of them and four could sleep on the bed as it is king sized. The rest four can take the floor with nkets on them. Vivian went downstairs to get them as I ced thest nket on the floor. Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. They filed in and snuggled into the covers. Eros wasfortably sandwiched in between Beth and Val. Everyone was out like a light. I walked out but kept the door open slightly after checking all the windows were locked. I found the others on the steps. Vivian was cuddled into Ben. Fabian had his head on Ethan¡¯s shoulder. Lucas, Archer and Hudson had upied three steps and as their mates were sleeping they looked awfully glum. I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes when I found out that Valentina was Archer¡¯s mate. The chattiest one was paired up with the most silent one. Hudson still hasn¡¯t found his mate yet. He looked unhappier than the others. Francis was sitting alone a step down from Hudson as his mate E was also sleeping. Zeno was nowhere to be found. Where did he went off to? It¡¯s not like I care but I just want to know. Hands encircled around me, surprising the shit out of me. I stopped myself from screaming as I felt the sparks on my body. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked in a whisper as he pulled me down in hisp on the topmostnding of the stairs. He didn¡¯t say anything. Just pulled me closer and rested his head on my shoulder. I let him because he was sad. I am not that petty. ¡°I am scared.¡± He mumbled quietly. For a moment I thought he was talking to himself but he squeezed around me as I heard his broken intake of breath. I took his palm in mine and started doodling on it. Then wrote ¡®they are safe¡¯ on his palm alphabet by alphabet. At first I thought he didn¡¯t get it but he gave it away when he stiffened behind me. I squeezed his hand in order to tell him not to react and miraculously he understood. He squeezed my hand back in reassurance. I think he understood that we are being watched because he didn¡¯t react much on it. Chapter 51- Arabella Chapter 51- Arabe After a few minutes, Zeno pulled me up and dragged me to one of bedrooms right beside the one the others were sleeping. ¡°You will stay with me in the safe house right?¡± He asked as he closed the door of the room. ¡°With you or not. I am to stay in the safe house. Mom doesn¡¯t want me on the battle field and I can understand. I am not fast or skilled enough to fight a demon yet.¡± I told him. He looked relieved. He pushed me against the wall and rested his forehead on mine. I scribbled ¡®being watched¡¯ on his chest with my fingers. ¡°I got that part.¡± He mumbled against my lips. ¡°This is not the time for this Zeno.¡± I gritted out. But the big oaf didn¡¯t listen and closed the almost nonexistent distance between our lips. I was about to Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. push him off roughly when I felt him scribble on my back. ¡®What is going on?¡¯ He scribbled as his lips moved on mine roughly. ¡®Told you everything I know.¡¯ I scribbled on his chest. He moved back a little, breathing heavily. He leaned in again and started kissing me softly. ¡®Don¡¯t want enemy knowing. That¡¯s why didn¡¯t tell everyone.¡¯ I wrote on his chest. He squeezed my side in affirmation as he continued to massage my lips with his. He rested his head on my shoulder after a while and hugged me close. I opened my eyes only a fraction as I felt like someone was watching us to only stiffen in fear. Red eyes were staring at me from outside the window. I closed my eyes again not wanting him to know that I saw the demon and pulled away from Zeno. ¡°Let¡¯s go. The others must be wondering where we are. Your mom might need you as well.¡± I told him lightly. Zeno looked quite taken aback by my tone of voice. It was unusually soft. ¡°But I want to stay here with you a little while longer.¡± He said frowning at me. His eyes were searching my face for some clue. He must have seen the underlined panic in my eyes because he quietly exited the room with me. I entered y room to check on the sleeping ones but there didn¡¯t seem to be any problem. They were safe. I discreetly nced at the window to find four more pair of red eyes glowing outside the window of their room. I acted like I didn¡¯t see it. What should I do now? I can¡¯t just leave them here. What if they attacked and took them when I went to get Cassidy? Zeno was looking at me confused. I need Cassidy. Will she hear me if I called her in my head? ¡°Cassidy.¡± I shouted loudly in my head. But there was no reply. My hands were starting to get mmy from the fear and panic. ¡°CASSIDY¡± A secondter the door of my bedroom opened and Cassidy walked in massaging her head and ring at me. ¡°Are they sleeping alright?¡± she asked looking at me pointedly. ¡°Yes.¡± I said. ¡°They are outside the windows.¡± I thought. Her expression only changed slightly but it went nk again like she didn¡¯t react at all. ¡°This room is stifling.¡± She said opening the window. I saw the demons back away abruptly. ¡°The others will get back soon.¡± She said. ¡°I hope everything is fine there.¡± I said and Zeno nodded. ¡°I saw one outside the window of the other room and I saw four outside this room¡¯s window.¡± ¡°Well we will know when they get back.¡± She said nodding. The red eyes were still there but a little further. They must have climbed up the tree outside the window. But what is Cassidy up to? ¡°The others are getting tired as well. I hope theye back soon. We have to start with nning everything. The attack is happening way sooner than we anticipated. We are way too underprepared. We have so much to prepare. We have to move the children and spouses to a safe ce too. I don¡¯t know what we will do at this rate. I can¡¯t say all this in front of the people sitting downstairs as they are already going through loss but we might note back alive from the battle.¡± Her voice was barely above whisper and her back was to the window. ¡°We haven¡¯t even figured out where to hide them. Uhh! I am having a headache from all this.¡± It clicked to me what she was doing and I had an idea. ¡°How about we hide them at where dad¡¯s old coven was?¡± I asked grinning slightly. Cassidy smirked lightly. ¡°Nobody knows of that ce. That coven was destroyed way too back in time to remember so the demons won¡¯t look there. Dad had told me that the ruins were still there.¡± Cassidy made a show of getting excited and grinned back at me. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that? That would be a perfect ce. I will discuss it with the others when they She bounced out of the room. ¡°Are you relieved now that that part is settled?¡± Zeno asked with a soft expression on his face. I nodded happily. He pulled me towards the open window. A cold draft of air came in from the window making me shiver and I sneezed. ¡°I guess we should close the window. You are shivering.¡± Zenoughed lightly and locked the window. I saw them creep back a little closer. ¡°Let¡¯s get outside and let them sleep.¡± I said to him and dragged him outside. This time I left the door wide open. We crashed into Cassidy a few steps out of the door. ¡°I had put a spell around the house. They won¡¯t be able to break in so don¡¯t worry. I had made sure to lock everything up. I don¡¯t think they want to break in either.¡± She mumbled. ¡°You know what to do when the otherse back.¡± She turned around and bounced down the steps, bumping into the upants on the way purposefully. That olddy can never grow up despite her age. ¡°Where were you guys?¡± Ben asked looking pointedly at Zeno. ¡°We were talking and we came up with a n.¡± I said excitedly. ¡°Cassidy liked it too. I will tell you everything when the otherse back.¡± Right on point the doorbell rang and I dashed downstairs with an amused Zeno on my tail. Chapter 52- Arabella Chapter 52- Arabe ¡°They had left a note for us.¡± Uncle Leo said as everyone settled down in the living room. ¡°It said one generation down. Two more to go. See you soon. Soran.¡± ¡°Is Soran the demon lord we are fighting against?¡± Aunt Riley asked. ¡°Think so. It can¡¯t be anyone else.¡± Uncle Leo said sighing. ¡°We will have to be ready for the attack. They are attacking sooner than we thought.¡± I opened the window a crack that I stood beside. ¡°How about we start with moving the kids and women? Aria had a really great idea about where to hide them. It¡¯s a perfect ce.¡± Cassidy interjected. ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Mom said. ¡°Where do you think we should hide everyone?¡± ¡°I was thinking Dad¡¯s old coven. It¡¯s in Europe right? They won¡¯t be able to imagine us being there. I don¡¯t think they know about it. I mean it was destroyed a long time ago.¡± I said. ¡°Hmm. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡± Dad said. ¡°We will have to hurry though. I can arrange a private flight for tomorrow. Austin will take care of the legal things. You guys will be safe in Scond.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t need any sort of protection there so everyone who is able to can join us here. Austin can take care of them there. Once everything is sorted, they cane back.¡± Cassidy said excitedly. ¡°What are we supposed to do?¡± Uncle Alec said irritably motioning towards Uncle Aaron and himself. ¡°You said females and children.¡± He does not look happy. ¡°You will be going with them off course. We don¡¯t want you getting hurt.¡± Uncle Carter replied.Belongs to ? n0velDrama.Org. Uncle Alec huffed and looked away crossing his arms. I don¡¯t think he liked the terms used for the non- fighting group. ¡°Alec we meant the non-fighting group.¡± Mom said giggling. Uncle Alec red at her openly. ¡°Did you find anyone?¡± Aunt Ste asked. ¡°No. The ce was burned to dust. I don¡¯t think anyone survived.¡± He said dolefully. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to mourn the losses at the moment. We should focus on protecting what we have left.¡± There were collective nods in the room and then it was plunged into silence. Everyone yed along really well, the once who knew the truth and the once that didn¡¯t, both. I think we made it believable enough. ¡°I will start with the arrangement.¡± Dad said after a little while and walked away to the general direction of his office. ¡°Where are the other children?¡± Mom asked. ¡°Sleeping in my room.¡± I told her. ¡°Thanks Aria. At least they can sleep peacefully.¡± She said sighing. ¡°Lock everything up and you kids go to bed as well. We will wake you up when it¡¯s time to leave. We will pack your things for you.¡± I nodded and made my way to the stairs leaving the adults behind. Where am I going to sleep now? ¡°We can take mine and Ben¡¯s room for now. Others will need a ce to sleep.¡± Ethan suggested. Everyone agreed. ¡°You guys go ahead. I will lock everything up.¡± I said and turned back around. I started walking to the kitchen but heard footsteps behind me. ¡°Why are you following me?¡± I asked Zeno. This guy is making me annoyed now. He doesn¡¯t have to follow me everywhere I go. He didn¡¯t answer and just kept walking behind me. Not creepy at all. Note the sarcasm. I checked the kitchen windows and door and then proceeded to lock everything else on the floor. Everything was already locked. Only the window in the living room was open. I locked it and made my way upstairs to check every room. After I was done, I quickly checked my room to make sure everyone was alright and then entered Ben and Ethan¡¯s room. All this while Zeno was silently following me but I I looked around the room to find a ce to sleep. Ben and Vivian were curled up on one side of the bed with a pillow line dividing the bed in two parts. Ethan and Fabian were sleeping on the couch. Lucas, Francis, Archer and Hudson were sprawled on the nkets on the floor. I groaned realizing the only space to sleep was on the bed and Zeno will be sleeping beside me. Well I can¡¯tin now with all the problems going on. I opened the wardrobe of the twins and pulled a t-shirt and sweat pant. I think it¡¯s Ethan¡¯s as it is a little smaller in size than what Ben usually wears. I went in the bathroom and changed into them. I opened the bathroom door and almost screamed as I collided with a hard chest. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± I snapped. ¡°Staying with you.¡± Zeno said in a matter of fact tone. I don¡¯t even have any energy left in me to reason with him. I side stepped him and power walked towards the bed. I quickly got under the covers and closed my eyes leaving more than enough space for Zeno behind me so he can sleep without getting too close. I felt the covers getting lifted and Zeno crawled in. ¡°Are you mad at me?¡± He mumbled behind me. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then why are you trying to get away from me?¡± Do I have to tell him why? ¡°It¡¯s not like we are a couple for me to stay near you.¡± He wrenched me around to face him. ¡°But we are. You are my mate. We are together.¡± He said in a matter of fact tone. I sighed. ¡°Zeno this is not the right ce nor time to talk about this. Please just sleep. Okay?¡± ¡°No you will be gone tomorrow. I want to make this clear now.¡± He said with his voice rising slightly. ¡°Do you want to wake everyone up? Keep your voice down, will you?¡± ¡°Then tell me why you are running away from me? Did I do something wrong? Is it something I said? We were fine before.¡± He looked anxious. ¡°Nothing happened. Just let me sleep please. We have a long day ahead tomorrow.¡± I said irritated. ¡°Don¡¯t you care if something happened to me in the fight?¡± He asked looking hurt. ¡°When did I say that? Stop it Zeno. Stop with this guilt tripping. Just because we kissed a few times doesn¡¯t mean we are together and that does not mean that I want you to get hurt. Let¡¯s sleep for now. This is not the time to talk about things like these. We will talk about us after everything is over. Just He grinned at me. ¡°You care about me.¡± Is that all he got from what I said? ¡°Just sleep will you?¡± I said exhausted and turned my back to him, leaving as much distance between us as I can. ¡°Okay.¡± He pulled me towards him, spooning me from behind and buried his face in my neck. I sighed epting defeat and closed my eyes. I would really like to know what really goes on in that head of his. Chapter 53- Amara Chapter 53- Amara ¡°We will wait for them to attack as we don¡¯t exactly know when they will make a move and neither do we know where they are.¡± I said as we sat in the front yard. ¡°With the non-fighting party safely sent to Scond, we don¡¯t have to worry much about the safety of our people. I just hope everything goes fine.¡± ¡°We are going to be alright Amy. There is nothing more we can do to prepare ourselves. The only thing we can do now is wait for them to attack and defend ourselves by killing them all.¡± Leo said. It has been two days since the kids and the mates of the pack members have been sent to the safe house. Well not to Scond but the original safe house. That Soran will be in for a surprise when he does attack us. We are ready as we will ever be. He wants war then we will give him war and whoop his and his spawn¡¯s ass. ¡°Let¡¯s eat dinner and get to bed. I don¡¯t think they will attack today.¡± Carter said yawning. The spirit wolves have been keeping watch in the woods but there was no sign of them so far. They have even stopped lurking around the house at night these past days. It feels way too calm though. Why would they disappear suddenly after trying to kill our members and giving warnings? They sure are taking their time to attack. We have been waiting for them to attack but so far there is no sign of them. We made our way inside and took our ces on the table after setting the food that we had already prepared before. I could see the sun sinking from the window. Cassidy came out of her room looking all happy. She had finished forging the sword yesterday. She still hadn¡¯t told me how to work it properly to kill Soran. ¡°I need to talk with you about the sword after dinner.¡± Cassidy said to me. Did she read my mind again? ¡°Yes I did.¡± She replied. I red at her yfully and focused on stuffing the delicious food in my mouth. After dinner, I followed Cassidy to her room where she exined to me everything about it and how to use it but I have only one shot at it. The sword will disintegrate after one use so I don¡¯t even have a way to practice. I am also quite scared about it. What if I couldn¡¯t do it? What if I failed to kill Soran? Everything will be in vain. No. You have to do your best Amara. You can do this. ¡°You alright love?¡± Steven asked as I entered our room. ¡°Just worried. What if we failed? What if I failed?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t possibly know that now. The only thing we can do, is do our best.¡± He said pulling me to bed. ¡°Rest up for now. Don¡¯t think about it too much.¡± I hummed and snuggled into him but the sleep just wouldn¡¯te. My body felt restless. I don¡¯t know why but all my senses were in high alert. Iid there in Steven¡¯s arms for I don¡¯t know how long but the sky outside had turned ink ck. There wasn¡¯t any light outside. It is new moon after all. I was jolted up by some noise outside the house. It felt like people were talking in whisper. I got up and peeked outside the window from the side so that I would be hidden from the outside view. That¡¯s when I saw it. Red eyes. Hundreds of them in the tree line and they were getting closer to the house. I quickly woke Steven up and told him what I saw. We dashed out of our room and started waking everyone up. I ryed the message to the spirit wolves through mind link as we gathered in the living room. ¡°They are everywhere.¡± Zeno said as he came running from the kitchen. ¡°I checked. They areing from all sides. We are surrounded.¡± ¡°We had discussed this already. We will go by it. We will split in two groups first then take our positions. Half of us will go through back door. Half groups through the front.¡± I said in a whisper. ¡°The spirit wolves will attack from outside. I have already ryed the message to them.¡± Leo, Steven, Stanley, Mathew, Alex, Archer, Fabian, Hudson and I made our way to the front door as the others went to the back door. A bottle of kerosene, lit with fire came soaring at us as we opened the door but it bounced back at them, exploding on the demon that threw it. Cassidy and Greyson had done a great job with the spells. Soon we realized that they had thrown multiple of those kerosene bottles at the house as the house was surrounded by burning demons. They had tried to burn the house down with us in it. Well the same trick won¡¯t work all the time, will it? We filed out of the house but stopped inside the shield. It was one and a half foot away from the house wall. We spread out in a straight line so we were all protected. We watched the gloating faces of demons peering at us as we looked at them with fear. They were too many. Everywhere I looked there were red eyes staring back our way. ¡°Inoltare.¡± A cold voice rang from the darkness of the trees but it was impossible to locate where the voice came from. (Forward) It was ringing all around us. The demons jumped out of the trees once they heard themand. They Belongs to ? n0velDrama.Org. were soaring out of the woods one after another. It felt like they were never ending. We didn¡¯t move from our position and let them advance. They were only five feet away from us when it happened. They all froze in their ce. We shifted at once and marched in. My only goal was to find Soran and kill as many as I can on the way. I heard the panic filled voices of the demons as I tore my way into the woods. They were being hunted from both ends. I kept killing them as I looked around for the sign of the damned demon lord but he was nowhere to be found. So I started killing the demons in the woods more. They were too many and they just kept I don¡¯t know how long I was killing them. It felt like it had been hours. Thend around me was filled with their ashes. But their number had decreased or maybe I hade too deep. I stopped to take a breather. I plopped down and shifted into my human form. The woods looked too dark with no moon to give light. Where is everyone? I should get back to the house to check up on everyone. I got up and shifted back into my wolf skin. I started running in my house¡¯s general direction when I heard voices again. I halted my steps and stood as steady as I could. They weren¡¯t talking in English. I think I found him. Chapter 54- Amara Chapter 54- Amara ¡°Hanno iso piu de meta di noi. Ne restano solo un centinaio.¡± A male voice said. (They have killed more than half of us. Only a hundred or so are left.) ¡°E il camminatore spirit?¡± A cold voice asked. (What about the spirit walker?) The same voice that hadmanded the demons before. I think I found Soran. He doesn¡¯t sound happy. ¡°Nessuno spettacolo. Non sappiamo dove sia.¡± The first voice said with a little tremble in his voice. (No show. We don¡¯t know where she is.) I should get out of here and get back up. I will need the sword as well. I moved a little but due to the darkness, stepped on a dry twig which snapped loudly and they stopped talking. ¡°Ryder find me. I think I found Soran.¡± I said in the mind link as I started running again. I skidded to a halt as a group of demons blocked my way. I don¡¯t have time to kill them. I turned around to go the other way but it was also blocked. Not by more demons but by two men. One of them was simr to the low level demons but the other one was¡­ beautiful. He was my height in wolf form. Which means he must be at least seven feet tall. His eyes were ck as charcoal and hair as red as blood. His face looked beautifully carved. Almost angelic. His ck eyes ¡°What do we have here?¡± He said smirking. The Italian ent was very less noticeable in his voice but it was there. ¡°An Alpha that wondered around alone. You are bigger than the other Alphas I have seen so far but are you more powerful?¡± He said looking at me with his head tilted to the side. Where are they? I need the sword. ¡°How about you shift? I don¡¯t think you can take over all of us alone. These are my most trained men here after all.¡± He said in a teasing voice. The astonishment I felt before from his looks was slowly melting away with every word he spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t want to shift.¡± Papa¡¯s voice came out firm. ¡°Who are you?¡± Let them get the benefit of doubt. The beautiful guy looked shocked at first but quickly covered it with an amused look. ¡°I will tell you if you shift.¡± He said tauntingly. I could feel the other demons creeping closer to me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell those demons behind me to stoping closer to me first? I will kill them if they moved even an inch.¡± ¡°You will kill fifty demons on your own?¡± He looked at me like I have gone mad. The other guy started more like single pawed.¡± Zaff, I think his name is, started cackling and the demons behind me joined him but the guy I think is Soran, kept looking at me coldly. ¡°Do it and I will let you go. I might even tell you who I am.¡± The supposed Soran challenged. His voice was taunting. What is he up to? I looked at him suspiciously. Demons ae known for being cunning. I shouldn¡¯t fall into Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org. his trap. ¡°Aww don¡¯t give me that look. I am not going to go back on my words.¡± He said with a malicious smirk. I still looked at him suspiciously. ¡°Carica.¡± He said in a bored voice. (Charge) I had only half a second to understand what he said as the demons started attacking me at once. I started killing every demon I could reach. Few of themtched onto my back and legs and dug their ws and teeth into me but it didn¡¯t faze me one bit. Yeah it hurt but I have no chance to lose focus. The adrenaline was keeping me from feeling the pain I think. The demons had reduced to half by now as I had crushed their heads without second thought. The ones on my body were starting to slow me down. I quickly shifted into my human form making them collide into each other with theck of bulk of my body. I shifted back to wolf from before anyone could see that I was a female and killed the confused demons that had fallen of my body. By now I am sure the tall handsome one is Soran from the way he wasmanding them. I hope I won¡¯t lose him in the midst of this. I tore through the rest of the demon and faced the two shocked Soran and Zaff with the head of thest demon in my muzzle. I crushed it looking in Soran¡¯s eyes. I would have to brush my teeth with an entire tube of toothpaste after this is over. Demons taste gross. ¡°Sporco bastardo.¡± Zaff screamed and lunged at me. I side stepped him making him collide into a tree. He tried to sh my face with his nails but I was faster and ripped his arm off. Before he could collect himself, I ripped his head off of his body and his body turned into ashes. ¡°We will be there in no time. Hold on a little while longer.¡± Ryder said in the mind link. ¡°Be quick.¡± I was about to turn towards Soran when I felt his long nails plunge into my back making me whimper in pain. I shook him off but I couldn¡¯t tolerate the pain anymore. It was too much to handle. I turned towards the smirking bastard to see him holding a ck dagger which had blood on it. He had stabbed me with that. It wasn¡¯t talons that pierced my back. I could feel my body shift back to human form. The appearance of Soran had also changed. He was no longer the beautiful man like before. His ears had turned pointy and he had grown two jet ck horns. His eyes had turnedpletely ck and his skin looked like it was covered in a sort of blood red scaly material. His bulk looked more pronounced now. His smug face changed into a shocked one as I shifted backpletely. ¡°What sorcery is this?¡± He growled. ¡°What are you? No shifter is ever a woman.¡± I stood leaning on the tree behind me, butt naked looking at him with a nk face. My back felt like something scorching was spreading from the wound around it. My back was burning. ¡°ANSWER ME.¡± He snarled lifting me by my neck. I wanted to speak but I couldn¡¯t utter a word. He pressed on my neck more but all that happened was that it got difficult to breath. Dark spots started to swirl in front of my eyes. His lips were moving but I couldn¡¯t hear anything. I screamed as I felt his long nails pierce my neck. Everything came back to focus again. ¡°I ASKED YOU WHAT ARE YOU.¡± He screamed in my face. ¡°I¡­I¡­¡± ¡°AMARA.¡± I heard Steven¡¯s voiceing from a few feet away. Soran pressed me into the tree even more but I felt something in my hands. It felt like the hilt of a sword. I closed my eyes to focus all of my spirit energy on the sword taking advantage of Soran¡¯s distraction. I channeled thest needed part for the sword to into it. He was looking around wildly when I opened my eyes. I kicked him with all might in his stomach and lunged on him making him fall to the floor. I lifted the small sword with my both hands and looked at his petrified face. I was about to plunge the sword in his heart when he startedughing making me stop midway. Ryder had pinned his arms above his head by digging his ws in them and Xander was holding his legs down the same way. ¡°If you kill me now, you won¡¯t be able to see the ones that are hiding in Scond.¡± He said smirking. I smirked back at him. He looked at me confused and with a hint of fear. ¡°The rest of my people are not in Scond Soran.¡± I grinned at him. ¡°They are in a safe house in a totally different ce and don¡¯t worry about the demons you sent there to kill them. They were taken care of by the witch coven we asked for help.¡± His face morphed intoplete fear. ¡°But Zaff saw them with his own eyes entering the ne andnding at Scond. We waited two days to confirm that we had them under our whim whenever we needed.¡± ¡°Slow aren''t you? It¡¯s called deluding someone into believing they saw something which never really happened. We fortunately have very talented witches as our friends.¡± He looked like he had seen something really terrifying. "You are an utter dimwit for a demon lord. I am kind of disappointed in you." ¡°Ahhhh! I had everything under control. I was this close to eliminating the shifter race. You are the reason why I failed. Who the fuck are you?¡± He screamed, ring at me murderously. ¡°I am Amara. The spirit walker.¡± I plunged the sword into his heart pouring all of my spirit energy into it. He started screaming and writhing under me as the light travelled through his body. Within a few seconds his hard blood red skin turned ck and he stopped moving. One moment I was sitting on a solid body and the other, a pile of ck ashes. The sword vanished as soon as his body turned to ashes. I got up and tried to walk but I plopped back down. I saw Steven run towards me before everything went ck. Epilogue Epilogue Arabe It¡¯s been almost six months since the attack. We won in the attack but we lost something precious. The after effects of the loss are still not fading but it is creating a sort of depressed atmosphere around us. I don¡¯t think anyone could ever forget that day. I still remember the day as clear as it was yesterday. Everything was a chaos when we came out of the safe house. It wasn¡¯t in Scond but right under our house. We didn¡¯t know till then that the house had a working basement with hidden entryway before we were shoved in there from under the table in dad¡¯s office. Cassidy and Greyson had performed a number of spell on it and the Knights had repaired and stocked it with supplies for us to stay there. Greyson had also made the basement sound proof and sort of unable to plot. We met there with the others who were considered dead in the fire. They had already moved everyone before the fire. Cassidy had had a vision about the fire and that made it possible for them to take action before the disaster happened but they didn¡¯t have a safe ce then and had no choice but to repair and put spells on the basement and use it as one. I saw dad run inside with mom wrapped in his shirt when I came in the living room. She was bleeding badly from her neck and a ck substance was dripping from under her. Cassidy ran in right after him. I followed them upstairs. She flipped mom over her stomach and removed the shirt as soon as dad put mom down on the bed in their bedroom. The scene was horrific. Mom¡¯s entire back had turned ck and her skin looked like it had melted around what looked like a stab wound. I felt winded. It felt like someone was squeezing my neck and cutting my air flow. Dad pulled the bed cloth up to mom¡¯s waist as she waspletely naked. ¡°Come on. Let them work.¡± Zeno said softly and tried to pull me outside. He was looking at everywhere but where mom was. He looked like he saw a very bad ident. ¡°No we need her here. Rest leave.¡± Cassidy said in a firm voice. I didn¡¯t realize that my siblings were in the room as well. Uncle Ryder was looking at mom with a horror filled look. ¡°She will need me here.¡± Zeno mumbled looking nauseated. That¡¯s when I noticed the cuts on his arm and chest. ¡°You need to get checked. Go.¡± I told him trying to push him out as others left the room except dad and Ryder. ¡°No. I will stay here with you. They will heal. We need to focus on Aunt Amy first.¡± Zeno said firmly. ¡°Tell me what needs to be done. I will help as much as I can.¡± ¡°Just stay here with her while she heals Amara.¡± Cassidy said as she started to wipe the ck substance off of mom¡¯s back. Zeno looked at Cassidy with a puzzled expression but didn¡¯t say anything. I threw Zeno a towel from the bathroom to press on the wounds and told him to take a seat. He did so withoutint. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± I asked Cassidy. ¡°Heal her neck while I get this poison out as much as I can.¡± What if I couldn¡¯t heal her? What if I messed up? I nced at dad who looked utterly terrified. I shook my head to clear the bad thoughts from my head and took a deep breath to help with focus. I imagined healing the muscles and skin as my hands started to glow and I ced them on her neck. A few minutester when I removed my hands, the skin didn¡¯t even look like it was ever damaged. I looked at mom¡¯s back and sighed in relief as I saw the ck thing that was spreading in her back was retreating slowly as Cassidy muttered something under her breath. There was a ball of the ck substance forming under her outstretched hand. I squeezed dad¡¯s hand to reassure him. He threw himself at me and started sobbing loudly. I pulled him to his feet and walked him to the couch beside Zeno as I didn¡¯t want Cassidy to be disturbed from removing that thing from mom¡¯s body. I let dad cry on my shoulder. After a few minutes, his sobs died down and his breathing became a little even. I looked over at Zeno to find him gawking at me in astonishment. ¡°You can heal?¡± He asked in a whisper. ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied confused. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me before?¡± he asked looking offended. ¡°Um¡­you never asked?¡± He red at me in reply. ¡°What if she doesn¡¯t wake up?¡± Dad asked startling me. ¡°Of course she will wake up. Don¡¯t think like that dad. Mom is a very strong woman. Surely I don¡¯t need to tell you that.¡± I told him firmly and wiped his face. Dad nodded and went to sit beside mom on the bed. On the inside I am scared as hell. What if she really didn¡¯t wake up? What if she¡­ she died? No. She will fine soon. Don¡¯t think like that Aria. ¡°Ariae here quick.¡± Cassidy snapped me out of my thoughts. I ran towards the bed to find the wound clear of the ck substance but now it was gushing out blood. Whatever she was stabbed with had left quite a big hole in mom¡¯s back. ¡°Heal her as fast as you can. The poison had stopped her healing momentarily.¡± Cassidy said urgently. I quickly sat down and started healing mom¡¯s wound. It was harder than the other wounds as I had to regrow her tissues, muscles and skin. Fortunately, none of her bones were broken by the blow. I poured all of my spirit energy into the healing and slowly but surely it started to heal. Once the wound was healed, Cassidy flipped mom on her back. ¡°Check for any other injuries.¡± I nodded and checked over mom¡¯s entire body but there wasn¡¯t anything to worry about but her body wascking in blood and spirit energy. I told that to Cassidy. ¡°Steven I need your blood. Amy has lost too much blood. I don¡¯t think her body will ept any other blood than yours.¡± Dadplied without anyint. Greyson had shown up only a second after Cassidy talked about the blood transfusion carrying IV¡¯s and other equipment. Cassidy set to work as Greyson cleaned the nasty cut he had on his cheek. I went to sit near Zeno but it felt like the world was spinning around me. I think I used too much spirit energy. But for some reason I knew mom was going to be alright. ¡°Zeno take Aria to her room. She must be exhausted.¡± Cassidy said as she attached an IV to mom¡¯s arm. ¡°Get yourself cleaned after that.¡± She checked how much the blood bag had filled from dad¡¯s blood. ¡°Ryder sit down. She will be fine.¡± I had totally forgotten about uncle Ryder. I looked at him to find him frozen in ce with his eyes fixed on mom. I was about to walk to him to give him a hug but Zeno picked me up and walked out of the room. ¡°Close your eyes.¡± Zeno said as he ced on my bed. His wounds were still in a bad shape. I tried to tell him to get himself checked but my eyes fluttered close and I was out like a light. When I woke up, I found out that I had slept through the day. I also found out that Hudson and Francis were badly injured while fighting and we also had two casualties. We had lost Alexander Knight in the war. He got killed while saying Francis and Hudson when they were swarmed by the demons. I didn¡¯t know what to think about it. I felt numb inside. We had just met again and I had lost him. Eros didn¡¯t even know that he was his biological father but we told him on the funeral that we conducted a week after. The Knight family left after that. Hudson and Francis healed to full health. The others with minor injuries also healed up in no more than a few days. The pack members rebuilt their houses. They just finished construction a month ago. The second casualty we had was the spirit alpha from Lucas¡¯s pack. The sword needed more spirit Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org. energy to finish the demon off and the spirit alpha had volunteered for it. Mom has channeled his energy into the sword and we lost him a month after the war as he had grown too weak. His eldest son took over now and is looking over the remaining pack. They are staying in the Greycoast woods permanently. Mom on the other hand wasn¡¯t so lucky. She went into aa. Dad and uncle Ryder stayed by her side day and night. The energy in the house seemed to have been sucked and it had turned gloomy but it¡¯s slowly starting to change. Uncle Austin, Aunt Cloe and Zahra are visiting us every month and their ne will bending at the airport in an hour now. Zeno ising with me to pick them up. They will be staying here for a few days this time. I entered mom¡¯s room to find dad right beside her. Eros was curled up on the other side and Uncle Ryder was sitting beside the bed with his eyes focused on mom. She had woken up three days ago. She is weak and can¡¯t move for now. She can¡¯t even speak properly as it hurts her throat. The lower part of her body is more or less paralyzed. Cassidy said mom will heal faster now that she is awake. Mom gave me a weak smile which I returned with a bright grin. Zeno and I ¡®officially¡¯ started dating four months ago. Hudson found his mate in school. She is adorable and is on the brainier side. Hudson is head over heels for her. So yeah, everything is going slowly to normal now. We lost someone on the battle field but we also found our strengths. Now we know that we can fight anything that wille our way. Even in the future if we faced difficulty like these, we will stand together and put an end to everything and anything that will try to destroy or harm us. Nothing can break us apart. THE END. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!