ARIEL’S POVI slowly made my way toward Vera, making sure I made as little noise as possible. When I got close enough to where she was, I crouched down in a nearby bush to watch her.I needed to come up with a plan to get Gio and her little siblings out of her hands.Vera was looking from left to right, trying to maintain her composure and stay alert to her surroundings.I couldn’t make any sudden movements on her because she had Gio and the little ones in her reach. If I tried to take her with any sudden move, I was sure she wouldn’t hesitate to snap the neck of any of them.Just then, Vera locked her gaze on the bush I had decided to crouch in, “Come on out, Princess. I registered your scent the minute I ran into you.”“Come on out, right now! or one of your friends drops to the ground in the next second!” She shouted in my direction.“Okay, okay,” I sighed, “I am coming out right now. Don’t hurt any of them.”I stood up and came into her view.“Hands up! Claws where I can see the
ARIEL’S POVI led my trail into town, still holding on tightly to Gio, and Melvin followed closely behind us.I could hear the paces and quick feet of two other people behind us. That was definitely Niko and Darius. We weren’t in their view but they were hot in pursuit and were not that far off behind us.“They are right behind us,” Melvin said as we were about to come out from the woods and enter the Silver Moon pack area, “The woods are what has been hiding us from them. Once we move into an open space, we will directly be in their line of sight.”“Yeah, I know, but we really don’t have a choice,” I called back to him.“The only place I know we can hide out from them is in town and we have to go there. We just have to go faster so we can lose them in town.”I ducked under a branch, “Watch your head, Gio.”Gio could only mumble back in response as she ducked under the branch behind me.We came out from the woods and houses came into view. It was already getting dark so we got no ques
MELVIN’S POV“Ikea, I don’t have your number and even if I did, I don’t have a phone.” Ariel rolled her eyes at the woman I now knew to be Ikea.Ikea pursed her lips and watched Ariel for a moment before she spoke again.“Okay, so here is what I can do for you. I can take these three off your hands." She pointed at Gio and her little siblings.“And for you two,” she pointed two fingers at Ariel and me and jammed them into each other rapidly, “For you two I will—”She abruptly stopped what she was saying and squinted at Ariel and me. She angled her head and brought her fingers like she was trying to hold on to something in the air but she couldn’t find or reach it.I turned to look at Ariel with a questioning look but she just shrugged and mumbled, “I don’t know, she’s always weird.”She moved slowly towards us until she was eventually standing right in front of us, “You two—”“Yes, what about us?” I poked my head forward in question, “What happened to us? Hey, umm, Ikea?”But she di
ARIEL’S POVWe sat in silence after Gio talked about the half-moon emblem. It was quite a very unnerving reveal for me and it could only mean one thing. Joharres had started invading the other packs.I couldn’t quite place my hand on what I was feeling but I could tell I was feeling a mix of anger, sadness, and guilt. There was another feeling eating away at my heart. This feeling…It was a betrayal. I looked up at Melvin with pain-struck eyes. There was no way he didn’t know his Father had started invading the other packs. If he knew when his Father was planning the invasion, then he definitely must have known when it would happen.So why didn’t he tell me?“Melvin,” I called slowly.He looked up at me, “Yeah?”I blinked once and swallowed the lump in my throat, “I think we should head out now.”He nodded in quick succession, “Yeah, yeah.”I stood up and Melvin followed suit. I watched him closely as he moved away from the chair towards the door. He turned around and his eyes locke
MELVIN’S POV“Yes, please. I just need you to do something for me,” Ariel said and walked across the room to Ikea.“Well, spit it out.” Ikea threw her hands out in front of her, “What can I do for you? I don’t have all night.”Ariel stopped in front of Ikea, “I need you to cancel out our scent. I don’t want them getting a whiff of us as we sneak out of Silver Moon.”That was easy. I already had mine and only she had to worry about that. I smiled as I stared at them.For some reason Ariel looked so beautiful with her messy her and flushed face. I knew she was angry about something but for some reason I couldn't stop my heart from flipping each time I caught sight of her eyes.“That isn’t a problem,” Ikea snapped her fingers three times around Ariel’s body, “miznút!”Ikea looked over Ariel’s shoulders to me, “Get over here so I can do yours too.”I smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I’m good. Mine has been canceled out for a while now.”Ikea angled her head, “I knew something was off about yo
MELVIN’S POVI felt a hard push against my back and I stumbled out of the house and onto the porch.Ikea was being very stubborn. It was not a big deal. We were not kids. All she had to do was tell us whatever it was she saw and we would handle it!“Hey!” I tried to run back into the house but the door closed faster than it opened.Shit!This was not fair. She was not being fair at all. My mother was a witch too. She told me whenever she saw something. And I never disappointed her.“What do you think you are doing?” I heard Ariel’s voice behind me, it was calm but also stern at the same time, “We need to get going. Jada’s still waiting for us.”I turned and walked off the porch to join her on Ikea's lawn, “Yeah, I know, but Ikea is hiding something from us. Something I think we should know or at least hear about.”Ariel sighed and started walking when I almost got to her, “It doesn’t matter. She already told us we would find out sooner or later. I think that made it clear that she was
ARIEL’S POVI felt a jolt in my entire body as Melvin’s lips collided with mine. My lips responded and opened up almost immediately as I kissed him back.Butterflies developed in my stomach and I felt my head soaring. This was wrong, yet so right.My hands left my side and grabbed onto his face, roaming around into his hair.My body liked it —I liked it.My feet pushed against the ground and I raised myself to crush against his lips harder. His lips vibrated against mine as he moaned into them.He took one step back and stepped on a tree branch. The sound of the branch snapping into two was enough to snap me out of the sick but delicious moment we were having.I hurriedly backed away from him. I hugged myself and kept my eyes on the ground to avoid eye contact with him.We stayed still and didn’t utter a word for a short while. Melvin shifted his body a couple of times in an awkward manner.He cleared his throat, breaking the silence, “Umm, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I don’t know wh
MELVIN’S POVI was happy to drive home rather than spend the night at Jada’s place. Even though I thought it was a good idea to not be in the same space Ariel currently was right now, it was also a good idea for me to get home tonight because that would absolve me of any suspicions.To the best of their knowledge, Ariel and whoever they thought helped her, was still trapped within Silver Moon. So if I was here, that meant I was not there. My name would be scratched off the list of suspects. It was as simple as that.I drove through the castle gates and went to park my car straight in the garage rather than in the parking lot. I walked into the castle and made my way to the kitchen because I was starving.When I got to the kitchen, Valerie was there, standing beside the large brown centre cabinet that also served as the kitchen’s workstation, drying and arranging some dishes.“Val, Hi.”She looked up from her task, “Your Highness, you’re welcome.”I scoffed, “Stop that.”She laughed