Aria's POV
Flashback- three months ago
Gasps rattle through the silence at my announcement.
“The Blood Oath?” my father questions.
The Blood Oath was not to be taken lightly. An ancient and sacred oath. Known by very few, the Alpha was surprised I knew about it. He pulls his me aside, away from the pack.
“How do you know about the Blood oath?” he whispers under his breath, trying to stop the pack from overhearing them.
Folding my arms across my chest, I heave a sigh, “Father, you know that I like to research our history,”
I glance over at Ryan who is sitting with his face in his hands. I knew the Blood Oath was the only way to protect him. To stop the pack ganging up on him. At the same time, he had to be willing to hold up his end of the oath. Breaking the oath would mean he would suffer. No one knew how because it was different for everyone.
My father turns to Ryan, pressing his lips into a thin line.
“Ryan Conri, do you consent to taking the Blood Oath, to forever link yourself to Moon Bay Pack. To promise that you will submit to me as your Alpha, to devote your life to Moon Bay?”
It was a huge ask of Ryan! He had already pledged allegiance to Moon Bay but this oath would be different, he would become an official part of the pack. Forever bound to us!
Ryan’s eyes found mine, the amber shining brightly. Were they tears that I could see? He nods his head. “I agree.”
The pack continues to gasp. Many are still disgusted by Ryan’s behaviour towards the Beta’s daughter, but now they would have no choice. They would have to accept him.
“Very well. The Blood Oath will take place on the night of the next Blood Moon. Two weeks from now.” The Alpha tell’s everyone to go back to their business. His shoulders raise with the deep breath he takes as he turns back to me.
“Are you certain that this is what you want?”
“Yes.” I mutter. His question had me second guessing myself.
“You understand what happens if he breaks his oath? If he so much as causes harm to any member of this pack?”
I nod my head again and move towards my father. Wrapping my arms around him, thanking him for siding with me. It was rare that the Alpha chose my side, but at least he was giving Ryan a chance.
As Ryan and I waited for the day of the Blood Moon, our relationship continued to blossom. We spent all our free time together,my feelings for him growing day by day. Although we were together a lot, I began to feel like something wasn’t quite right with Ryan. When I asked, he would not speak of it and on the morning of the Blood Moon, he finally opened up to me.
“Why do you want to be with me Aria?” There was no emotion in his voice as we laid side by side, our fingers entwined, staring up at the cloudless blue sky.
“What do you mean?” I let go of Ryan’s hand and prop myself up on my elbows, a frown forming on my face as I watched him.
“I’m nothing, I have no ranking here. When you turn eighteen, you will find your mate, then all this would have been pointless.”
“I thought you loved me?” I try to keep my tone of voice level, fighting back the urge to sound desperate. Something my sister had always called me.
“I do, but what if…” Ryan trails off. Rolling onto his side, he runs his fingers through my dark hair. “You will be eighteen in a few months.”
I can’t help but laugh, “You’re worried about my wolf?”
“No, not at all. It’s just that you will be able to leave and find your mate.” his fingers cup around my chin and he tilts my face towards him “What if I am not your mate?”
“Then whoever it is, I will reject them.” I was confident, I knew that I didn’t want to be with anyone else. As far as I was concerned, no one would be better for me than Ryan.
“That’s what I was hoping you would say.” He gives me gentle kisses.
Rolling himself on top of me, he pins me to the ground. As he stared into my green eyes, I wanted it just as much as he did. My arms wrap around his shoulders, pulling him in for another kiss, his tongue darting into my mouth. His hand slips under my top, teasing the band of my bra.
“Uh, sorry guys.”
I knew that voice well, it belonged to my closest friend, Bea. Ryan groans and rolls off onto the grass. The annoyance was plain to see on his chiselled face. His amber eyes refusing to look at Bea, focussing on the sky.
“Perfect!” Ryan moans, clearly being sarcastic
Bea apologises again “Guys, I am so sorry. Aria, your mum sent me.”
“Why, she could have just linked me” I stand up looking at my redheaded friend, waiting for her to speak. Bea had been my best friend since we were small pups. We had stuck together through thick and thin. Bea always came to my side when Charlotte was harassing me.
Today she was standing in a light blue summer frock, it was actually quite funny to see. Bea normally stuck to jeans and a tee. Her outfit could only mean one thing. It was almost time for Ryan to take his oath.
“It’s time.” Bea glances over to Ryan “You ready for this?”
Ryan nods his head. “As ready as I will ever be, I guess”
I couldn’t help but notice how off Ryan was. He wasn’t excited for the oath, if anything, it seemed like he hated the idea.
“If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to,” I was giving Ryan a way out, but secretly hoped he would still go through with it. But I also knew that if he rejected the oath, he would have to leave Moon Bay.
Ryan shakes his head, a smile appears on his face as he tells me that he would do anything for me. He would die for me and he meant it too.
Heading back to the pack, I get pulled aside by my sister, Seren. Bea and Ryan carry on walking, Ryan still has to get ready for the ceremony.
“Are you sure you want Ryan to do this? What if he turns out to be someone else's mate?”
I shrug my shoulders. “We have made a promise to each other.”
As the pack waited for the Blood Moon to rise, whispers still travelled among the pack. The pack were questioning each other about how strong the Blood Oath really is. They were concerned that no one had made a Blood Oath in centuries and that it may not work. The Alpha reassures them, telling them that it was the reason why they had to wait. They had to wait for the Blood Moon to be at its highest point. Then it would open a connection to the Moon Goddess.
As the sky darkens and the Blood Moon rises, it gives off an eerie red glow. Ryan stands in front of the entire pack alongside the Alpha. I have to stand to the side with my mother and my siblings.
For the ceremony, Ryan was wearing a thin white t-shirt and a pair of white linen trousers. The white didn’t suit him at all. The white cloth combined with his amber eyes made him look ill.
The Alpha orders Ryan to his knees. As Ryan kneels, the Alpha kneels opposite him, taking Ryans hands in his own. A woman with long white hair down to her hips walks forward from the darkness. A woman that I had never seen before.
The woman brings out a small knife, first slicing into Ryan’s hands and then into the Alpha’s hands. Whatever was on the knife was stopping the men from healing. She brings their hands together, binding them in a white cloth, muttering a language that I had never heard before.
The entire pack was silent as the woman continued to chant. The Blood Moon was growing brighter by the second, until the light disappeared entirely. We were plunged into darkness, the light of the Moon had somehow been removed.
After a few minutes the Blood Moon was its normal eerie colour. The woman with the white hair was gone and Ryan was out cold on the ground.
“Ryan!”
Aria's POV Flash back- three months ago Racing to Ryan’s side, I drop to my knees and lean over him. Tears stream down my face as I try to shake him. He wasn’t breathing, his chest still in the moonlit grounds. “Aria” my father rests his hands on my shoulders. “Aria, he will be fine, it’s just what happens” The Alpha summons Kyle and his Beta to help move Ryan back inside. He tries to reassure me that by morning Ryan will be his normal self, but I didn’t believe him. Refusing to listen to my father, I follow Kyle and my fathers Beta. Both men were huge and they were struggling to carry Ryan. A complete change to the day I had brought Ryan home. The men carry Ryan to his room. A room on the opposite side of the house to my bedroom. It didn’t stop me from following my brother in. As they lay Ryan down, I sit by his side, holding on to his hand. Kyle hovers for a moment, like he wanted to say something, his eyes darting about. “You think it failed?” I ask Kyle, hoping that it was
Present Aria's POV Exactly one hour later, I hear the turn of the key. I hadn’t moved from the spot where he had left me. My original plan was to escape, but when trying to figure out how to get out, it dawned on me that Ryan was expecting it. That's why he had locked me in, that’s why he had given me a time, he wanted to see what I would do. He had a scent unlike anyone else, and it had already found its way into the room under the door. Before he had even got through the door. His eyes settle on me, but in the same way as before, not quite looking at me. But I could see how annoyed he looked that I was still here. His wolf is a hunter and he had always enjoyed the thrill of the chase. I had ruined his fun! “Get up!” When I don’t move, he rips me up to my feet. I try to keep myself from whimpering, but some squeals escape. My body ached and he was making it worse. “You will listen to me Aria. Things will only get worse for you” “Maybe you will listen to me when you find out t
Aria's POV He doesn’t return again and I end up crying myself to sleep. When I open my eyes, I’m in bed properly. Wrapped up in the blankets, the door closed and Ryan was nowhere to be seen. Hung on the outside of the wardrobe was a long black dress. With thin spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline with a leg slit that probably went as high as my panty line. It wasn’t anything that she would have chosen for herself, it was far too revealing for me and yet I couldn’t help but run my hands over it. The material was silky smooth as it grazed over my skin. “It’s yours to wear tonight” his voice makes me jump. “I’m not going” I whisper as I reach out and touch the dress again. It was far fancier than anything I had ever worn. “You will be there, it’s not a request, it is an order.” I catch his gaze in the mirror, it was the first time he had really looked at me and I felt it, the twisting knot in my stomach, the one I had felt in the dungeons. Why did it have my stomach turning this
Aria's POV My heartbeat speeds as I realise that the very man I had come to hate was my mate. Tears spring to my eyes and I blink them back, worried that they are going to ruin everything. “Who was he Aria?” Ryan asks me again. I feel a lump in my throat because honestly, I didn’t know. The stranger had just stopped me from hitting the ground face first. I back away from Ryan, a stupid mistake but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t accept him as my mate, not after everything. “Stop!” he growls at me, but I find myself steadily backing away. He was purposely keeping his voice low. Not wanting to attract attention and I’m grateful when people step in between us, ignoring me and trying to talk to Ryan. Escaping from everyone, I quickly hurried out into the hallway, eagerly pulling off the shoes I could barely walk in. I tried to breathe deeply, as I realised that everything was now a hundred times worse. Running through the hallways, I receive odd looks from those standing
Aria's POV It happened every night for the next week. The vivid dreams of Ryan and I. Somehow a part of me enjoyed it while the other part of me hated it. At least Ryan was sleeping elsewhere! They always woke me at the same point though. With Ryan saying he thought I was a good girl. I didn’t know what that meant, I had no control over my dreams. When he unlocks the door, he seems different. Happier almost. Today I notice that he hasn’t brought me breakfast. “Come Aria, we are having breakfast downstairs today?” I was surprised and even more confused when he smiled. The smile was genuine, there was no force behind it like the other times. Nodding my head, I followed him out the room. Over the last week, I had learnt that it was better not to say anything, not to give him any clues about how I was feeling. He didn’t need to know that I had practised shifting every night. He certainly didn’t need to know that it was getting harder and harder for me to not act on the mate bond.
Aria's POV The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Ryan reluctantly agrees with the doctor that I take a course of pain medication. The medication doesn’t agree with me or maybe it was the whisky that Ryan gave me. It has me slurring my words and fighting against Ryan as he tries to keep me in bed. I try hurling things at him, but they never make it any further than a few feet, not even close to hitting him. At first he laughed at me, making jokes about how I was too weak to do anything, but that just angered me more. I was fed up with being the weak one. “Aria, get into bed!” “Make me!” I snap back at him as I stumble around the bedroom. Was this what it was like to be drunk? It wasn’t a nice feeling. I hear the growl. Instead of backing down, I turn to face him, dropping into a defensive stance. He seems surprised when I growl back. Throwing his hands up in the air as he rolls his eyes at me and walks out. “Where are you going?” I call out down the hallway but he keeps walking
Ryans POV I know what I saw, I don’t care if she wants to deny it. She has her wolf. She has met her mate. He was at the Moon Ball and I had let him leave. There is pure fear in her green eyes as she peers up at me. Her body was trembling, I hadn’t seen her this way before, even when I punished her. She was truly scared. Aria drove me mad. I don’t know why, but she did, I wanted to punish her and care for her at the same time. Here in this moment, she really thought she was telling me the truth. Reaching down I grab her hand. There were no marks, no signs that she had shifted before, but she definitely had claws. To be able to partially shift, she needed to have fully shifted.. “I will ask you once more, Aria. Did you meet your mate at the Moon Ball?” She shakes her head, her dark hair fanning out as she bites on to her bottom lip. I wasn’t going to get answers from her, not now. Not why she was refusing to tell me anything.. Rolling my eyes, I drop her hand, and walk to the bat
Aria’s POV He leaves me standing alone, as he hurries from the room. I was gobsmacked, not only was Ryan my mate, but he was hiding something from me. Wolves couldn’t heal other wolves, it was just impossible. So how had he done it? I take a moment to look in the mirror, confused by how easily I had healed. Thin pink lines sat on my skin which were quickly fading. Rummaging through Ryan’s closet, I pull out one of his t-shirts, and hastily yank it on. It was big on me, almost reaching my knees, but it did the job. I had to get out of here! Hammering on the door, no one answers, not immediately. I start screaming for help when I hear a female voice on the other side, a voice that I recognised. “Please stop Aria, you will make it worse” “Bea?” I didn’t understand, the Doctor had told me that Kyle had gotten away with Bea. How was my best friend here?. “Yes, please just keep your voice down!” “I thought you escaped with Kyle” I whisper through the locked door. “I did, but they fo