♡Arielle’s POV♡
‘Ugh! Why does my head hurt so bad?’I groaned, rubbing my temples as I dragged my weary body to sit up. My head ached like I had continuously slammed it against the wall before I had gone to sleep.‘I need water,’ I tried throwing my legs over the edge of my bed so I could stand up, but instead, they just fell on more bed, which was odd. My bed was tiny, barely containing me, and yet what I was on did, and was softer too.My eyes finally fluttered open, and my breath hitched as I took in my environment.‘This isn’t my room!’ I gasped and rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the illusion sleep gave me. I opened them again, and nothing changed.Instead of seeing my dingy, tiny, cramped room with an ugly faded brown wallpaper that Brielle and I shared, I was in a simple yet fancy one that looked like I was in a hotel.‘How?! How did I get here?! I was in the bar with Jake. He asked me to sleep with him for money, and I refused. I wanted to go, but he called me back. I took a sip of my drink and… and…’ I gasped as the reality dawned on me. ‘That perverted old bastard! He drugged me and brought me here! Did he—’My hands roamed my body, checking if there was any sign that he had touched me.‘He did not; thank the moon goddess. I can’t believe he—’The door swung open, and a beautiful, mesmerising scent filled the air. It was earthy and woody, spicy, yet had a hint of sweetness. It was dominant, yet warm and homely. It was divine, the best thing I had inhaled in my life.My head snapped in the direction it came from; my eyes fell on a man, and they widened. Heat and electricity flooded my entire nerves, and it was like I came alive.‘Alpha!’ My breath hitched, and I gulped. I had never met one before in my life, but my soul knew he was.The omega in me yearned and begged for him. Wanting him to touch me, to hold me, to be with me. The feeling was ecstasy; I wanted more of it, and it terrified me. I closed my eyes, trying to calm the raging storm in me.He was the type of man I was warned about when I was a child. My mother had always told me and my sister to stay away from Alphas. They were monsters to Omegas like us. Even though the moon goddess had blessed us with a special bond, they treated us as nothing but playthings for their pleasure. The dangers of Alphas were carved in my head, and yet, just meeting one had thrown me off balance and sent crazy feelings rushing through me.“Are you ok?” The Alpha asked, his voice gentler and closer than I expected, and I opened my eyes. He was standing before me, his green eyes gleaming with worry, and I almost melted.“Stay away from me!” I screamed, snapping out of my trance and rolling to the other side of the bed. I jumped to my feet, grabbing the bedside lamp and holding it like a baseball bat, ready to bash his pretty face.“Whoa, calm down! I’m not going to hurt you.” He said, surprised by my outburst and taking tentative steps towards me.“Stay back.” I glared at him, tightening my grip on my weapon. “Who are you? What do you want? Do you know Jake? Are you working with him?”‘I won’t be surprised if Jake had sold me to him; if he can drug me, then he can do worse, but why did he unless he knows I’m an omega?! Impossible! There was no way he would know!’“Don’t rope me in with a man who is shameless enough to drug a woman for sex.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I saved you from him.”“You did?” My glare became less intense, and I tilted my head to the side. “Why did you?”“Why won’t I?” He asked, surprised at my question. “You were in danger, and so I decided to help you.”‘Nothing in this world is for free, especially from an alpha.’ My mom’s words echoed in my head. I wasn’t going to believe he had helped me just because I was a damsel in distress. If my mother’s friend could drug me and try to take advantage of me, who says an Alpha couldn’t do worse?“I don’t believe you. Nothing in this world goes for free, and you don’t look like the kind of person who would help somebody out of the goodness of his heart.”♦Raphael’s POV♦“Haven’t you heard of don’t judge a book by its cover?” I chuckled at her defensive nature.I didn’t think the lady could become more interesting, but she proved me wrong.Her philosophy was understandable given the place she was born. She was wise to be on her guard and cautious of people’s intentions. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt that she didn’t trust me on first glance. I didn’t know why, but it just did. After all the trouble I went through.“Despite what you think, I’m not the type of man who idly stands by and watches a perverted old man take advantage of an innocent young lady. If I had a sister in your position, I would have wanted someone to help her.”“So you really helped me? No string attached? You’re going to let me go out that door without collecting anything from me?” She asked, her form becoming a little bit less rigid, and I could feel a bit of her defensive wall coming down.“Yes, I will, but I have a little proposal for you, something that will benefit you since it involves a lot of money for you.” I said, and her walls came back up again.“How do you know I need money?” She narrowed her eyes at me, her fingers clutching the lamp, ready to throw it at my face if I made one wrong move.“You blurted it out when I was saving you. You said your mother needed money or else she would die. I promise you what I have in mind will isn’t anything bad.” I explained to her, trying to calm her down.It wasn’t anything bad, depending on how it was looked at. I hoped she would see it from my perspective. She stared at me for a few seconds, her plump lips pressed in a thin line, and hesitation was written all over her.“What is this… proposal you have in mind?” She finally asked, and my lips tipped to a smile. Little by little, I was getting through to her.“Why don’t we take a seat and discuss the details?” I nudged at the couch. She remained where she was, not moving an inch and just staring at me.I sighed and walked to the couch. Taking a seat, I stared back at her, waiting for her to do the same.Slowly, without taking her gaze off me, she walked to the one farthest from me and closest to the door. She sat at the edge of it, and she placed the lamp, still in her grip, across her lap.“So, what do you want from me?” She asked.The moment had come for me to ask probably the strangest question she had heard from a stranger. I wouldn’t blame her if she slammed the lamp on my head, because I would do the same in her shoes.But despite how strange I knew my request was going to sound, I was still going to say it because I wanted to find out why I felt connected to a woman I hadn’t met before.I took a deep breath, relaxing my nerves, and put on my serious businessman look.“I want you to be my wife.”♡Arielle’s POV♡‘His wife?! He wants me, a woman he has never met before, to be his wife?!’I gaped at him, waiting for him to tell me that that was his attempt at a joke to break the thick tension in the room but his face remained serious.‘Why would he want me, a stranger, to be his wife? Does he suspect that I’m an omega?’ I shuddered at that thought and threw it away. If he knew I was, he wouldn’t be asking me; he would be commanding me. I wouldn’t have a choice even if I didn’t want to.“You want me to be your wife?” I broke the prolonged silence, repeating his statement so he could hear the absurdity of it from my mouth if he couldn’t in his.“Yes. I want you to be my contract wife.” He replied, his voice as serious as it was the first time.‘What kind of sick game is this?’ I glared at him. That was the only reason he would ask me that. It was a cruel joke to mock my predicament.Typical Alpha behaviour, turning anything that didn’t affect them into a joke. He knew I was despe
♦Raphael’s POV♦ The door slammed shut, and the smile on my lips grew broader. ‘And I thought saving her was a bad idea. She just keeps getting interesting and interesting.’ I flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I liked her feisty yet cool spirit. She knew I was an Alpha, and I smelled her fear and panic, yet she stood her ground and didn’t cower away. She wasn’t afraid of expressing herself when most would tremble in fear. I liked that. She was going to make the perfect wife, worthy of standing beside me as my Luna, even though it would only be for five years. I was going to make sure she was. I slid my phone out of my pocket and dialled my lawyer’s office. “Good morning, Alpha.” Mr. Cain’s voice came through at the third ring. “Good morning. I would like you to draft a contract for me.” I said. “It’s for my five-year contract marriage.” “Your contract marriage?” He replied; his usual monotone voice had a surprised edge, and I grinned. Was I impulsive and acting overco
♡Arielle’s POV♡The soft ding of the bell rang as I stepped into the small café. The delicious aroma of fresh bread and baked treats wafted through the air, and my mouth watered and my stomach gurgled in response. Coming to the café was both a blessing and torture. I loved anything baked—cakes, cookies, buns—and seeing them made me happy but also made me sad because I was too broke to afford anything. The last time I ate cake was when Brielle and I turned eighteen, six years ago, when mom wasn’t sick and we weren’t in debt. But with our current predicament, even bread was considered a luxury we couldn't afford.“Hello, welcome to— oh Arielle, it’s you.” May, Agnes’ granddaughter, said from her place behind the counter. “Here for your box of chocolate cookies?”To anybody else, a box of chocolate cookies met exactly what they were: a box of chocolate cookies, but not really. Only a few knew the true nature of the owner and the store, and they used codes to make special requests when o
♡Arielle’s POV♡ “I’m home.” I announced my arrival, swinging the door home and stepping into my very humble abode. “Finally,” Brielle jumped off the worn-out couch and turned to me. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and a small frown tugged on her lips. “Where were you? I called you about a million times, but you didn’t pick up. Mom and I were worried something terrible had happened to you. Do you know how far my mind had gone? I was afraid you were kidnapped or worse.” “As you can see, I’m fine. I wasn’t drugged, kidnapped, and enslaved by a mafia Alpha who forced me to be his pet and do his bindings.” I joked, throwing myself on the couch, and I stretched my body. Her frown deepened, and the corner of my lips twitched to a smile, knowing I had successfully predicted what she was thinking. Brielle was my identical twin, after all—two bodies, one soul. We were identical, yet unidentical. We looked the same; we had the same amber eyes, coily brown hair, and caramel skin, but I
♡Arielle’s POV♡“Any luck?” Brielle asked as I walked into our room. She looked up from the homework she was grading, and she grimaced at my terrible countenance. “Not good, huh?”“Yes, not good. Finding a job is harder than I thought.” I sighed, throwing my bag to one side of my bed and crashing down on it too.I knew getting a new job would be hard, but I never expected it to be extremely difficult.“After spending all day jumping from one building to another, all I received was ‘we are sorry, but we don’t have any vacancies’ or ‘you don’t have the experience we’re looking for’ or ‘we’ll get back to you’ when they knew they wouldn’t. It’s so frustrating. How am I going to get experience if no one will hire me?” I complained, lying on my back, and I shut my eyes.“And do you know what makes the entire situation even more frustrating and annoying? It’s the fact that most of those jobs are at the end going to go to some already preselected persons, whether or not they deserve it becaus
♡Arielle’s POV♡‘I just want to go home, sleep, and forget everything that ever happened today.’ I sighed, leaning my head on the window of the cab as the driver drove through the dark road. Day three of searching for a new job turned out to be more futile and frustrating than the previous ones. At least the people I met those days had the usual professional politeness, but the set I met seemed to be demons out to get me. All through the day, I interacted with people with different levels of attitude and hauntiness. Their snarky mouth had no filter and let out snide and demeaning comments almost as freely as they breathed. It was irritating and tiring to keep my cool and remain polite and composed. I needed to. Too many things were at stake to act rude and snap because someone else was being a pain.My mom’s condition had gotten worse. It seemed she had gotten better since the Jake incident, but it spiked up again before I left home in the morning. The drugs that were making her cond
♡Arielle’s POV♡“I’m glad you could make it, Miss Wilson.” Raphael said, his lips curled to a small, cocky smile as the waiter and I arrived at the table reserved for us.“I wish I could say the same, but I can’t. I’m only here because I’m desperate.” I said plainly, not hiding how I felt as I sat down and took a good look at him.Something was different about him. His alpha pheromones weren’t as strong as I remembered; I still felt the connection, but the alpha aura he gave off before was almost nonexistent. For that moment, he seemed like an ordinary Beta—well, almost. He tried to look the part by wearing a simple, plain shirt and jacket. Dark shades covered his eyes, and his platinum-blond hair was tousled and let down to cover part of his face.Even with what he did, they only helped to tone down his good looks a bit, and he still radiated confidence that not many Betas in Shadowmere had.He tried so hard to blend in, but though no one would be able to tell he was an Alpha, anyone
♡Arielle’s POV♡There, I said it plain and simple. There would be no kind of sexual intimacy between us. Period. And I wasn’t compromising either. His action and reply about it would either make or break my decision because one thing was certain: I wasn’t going to sleep with him, and I wanted him to know that.Even though he was drop-dead gorgeous and my omega genes wanted him, it was still a big no. Marrying an Alpha was bad, but sleeping with one… That was the gravest sin I could imagine. It would ruin everything my mom had done for me, trying to keep me safe. If he was going to kick against it, I was going to walk away, no matter how desperate I was. A deep part of me hoped he wouldn’t.“The first is completely understandable, and I agree, but the second and third…” Raphael mused, crossing his arms over his chest.My lips moved, ready to spew out words, but I pressed them shut. It would be foolish for me to jump to conclusions again without allowing him to speak.“You can have your