Arielle’s POV:I don’t know how long it took for Ethan to return, but soon, a knock came on the door, followed by him unlocking the door and entering.“Hey,” he said to me, “It’s time for you to go.”“You mean, I can finally be anywhere but here,” I replied pointedly, to which he responded by looking away. “Your move,” I said, folding my hands over my chest.“Dr Grey, don’t make his any harder than it has to be. Come on,” he seemed to be pleading with me now. “I cannot go against Leon.”“You mean to tell me that you trust his words,” I shot back and he looked shocked at me. “I’m not asking you to denounce the Rogues. I just need to leave.”“You’re Leon’s mate-““No. I am not. Not now and not ever,” I retorted.All I wanted to make Ethan see was that Leon was the one manipulating the entire situation. This had nothing to do with me and everything to do with their leader.How could only me see that?Meera seemed to think that it was my fault that I was trapped in this room.Ethan did no
Arielle’s POV:The floor met me suddenly, and I landed with an “Oof,” with my knees bent and my body trembling badly.Breathing in and out heavily, I began to slowly stand up, remembering my lessons from medical school and putting it into practice. I couldn’t afford to injure myself now, so I let my legs relax and recover from the shock of jumping down two floors.Looking up at the open windows, I was glad to note that I saw no one looking down at me. Great, I sighed in relief. No one had noticed my escape yet.But my relief turned to horror when I saw that there was a singular shadow right at the corner, looking at me. I cringed, mentally running through possible actions I could take right then and there, so that Leon would not be alerted to my action.The shadow moved, coming closer and closer to where I was, and as it did, I began to identify who exactly it was.Ethan.My horror simmered down a bit, and I straightened up, tense as ever as I met his eyes.“Dr Grey,” he looked just a
Richard’s POV:“Not so fast,” a strange voice said.Darren and I whipped our heads to see who it was that had spoken those words, and out of the corner of my eye & noticed how Arielle paled all of a sudden.What was going on.I took in the man who had spoken. He looked like he had been running, and his chest heaved as he breathed in and out heavily. His eyes were dark, and focused on our dear doctor.This was a Rogue, I recognized, going into defense mode almost immediately.“Arielle is not going anywhere with you,” was what the man said next, before I heard the girl in question say one phis name. “She will be returning with me.” He sounded so certain of that, and it grated in my ears. I tended, clenching my hands into fists. Who the hell was this?“Leon,” she sounded absolutely angry, yet I could still detect the hints of fear in her voice. “What more is there that you want me to say? I refuse to entertain any more of this nonsense, especially now.”I suddenly understood as soon as s
Arielle’s POV:I was still in the room, that Leon had locked me in. It was dark, and no light shone there. My fears increased ever more as I heard a growl emanate from somewhere, echoing in my head.I was weak, a voice told me in my head. You are so weak, Arielle, that you cannot even protect yourself.You were unable to defend yourself against Leon, the voice told me.You were unable to even land a punch on him. Oddly enough, the voice sounded like Darren’s, like Ethan’s c like Meera’s, like mine. It was taunting me. And I could not shut the noise out. Why couldn’t I? Why was I so helpless against this?I kept pacing the room, trying to find a light switch to light up this darkness. But as I moved closer to the walls, the walls seemed to get farther and farther away.All at once, I felt a hand clamp on my wrist.I screamed.My eyes opened as I sat up with a jolt. My breaths came out faster and my heart was beating so rapidly in my chest.I was having a nightmare, my mind supplied, ev
Arielle’s POV:“Okay,” Darren drawled, with a lot of curiosity inflected in his voice. “Shoot.”I breathed in and out deeply, trying not to sound nervous as I talked. Perhaps it was Alpha Richard’s presence that was making me nervous, but I felt like I was going to break out in sweats as I made a request.“I wanted to ask if I could get some training,” I finally said. “Maybe from Lilian, since she’s a Hunter Wolf.”I did want to train,, because the way I had a nightmare that morning made me feel weak. Despite me not wanting to believe those voices that haunted my dream last night, it was certainly true that I had been helpless. I had not been able to fight back in any way but my words. Leon had not had any problems with grabbing my arm and dragging me to the room and locking me inside.O never wanted to feel that helpless ever again in my life.Some training might do me some good.Darren broke out into a grin, looking a little relieved.“Is that all? With how your face went a little s
Richard’s POV:The ringing stopped when I finally pressed the button. Looking at the window, I noticed how the sun had already begun its travels on the way to setting.It was time.I stopped working at exactly five o’clock in the evening this time. I even had to set an alarm to make sure that I would, and despite he work in front of me, I dropped my pen, closed the files and stood up from my desk, moving straight from the study to the door leading to my adjoining bedroom.Why did I do this? Because I had to prepare to go to dinner at Darren’s and Lilian’s home. I had promised that I would be on time this time, as well as not arrive laden with work (a story for another day). This time, I also felt a slight pressure to be on my absolute best behavior, because this time, Arielle would be there as well.I swiftly removed my clothes and jumped into the shower, turning the knobs so that the water that came out of the shower head would be hot and nearly scalding. I really enjoyed hot water s
Arielle’s POV:The dinner had been... interesting, to say the least.Not in a bad way though; just that, I had never laughed that hard in my life before.Once again, I arrived right on time for dinner - this time, I didn’t even get lost. And for someone bad with directions, it was a boon for me to get there without having to stop and wonder if I was going down the right road or worse, ask someone who was rude and insensitive the directions to my destination.But dinner had been fun in so many other ways - for one, Alpha Richard had been in attendance. Darren has mentioned it being a sort of replacement ‘welcome to the pack’ dinner thy should have happened the first time around - but the Alpha has been unavailable.When I first agreed to the dinner, a part of me had thought that with the Alpha being in attendance, I would be unable to open up and probably just sit at the table and not say anything, and be the shy wallflower that I was when I was much younger.But that was certainly not
Richard’s POV:I held her waist, looking into her surprised blue eyes. Why did holding her feel this wonderful? Why was I thinking of leaning in and linking her lips with mine?Why was Arielle doing his to me?What was she doing to me?Why was she the only one I knew who could ever make me feel this way? I was not inexperienced with women, not had I ever met a woman that would ever make me confused such as Arielle was doing to me right then. I had no idea what to do with her. She was the most infuriating woman I had ever met, because somehow she had the ability to stir up feelings where there used to be none.But I had to push her away, or at least keep her at arms length until I could figure out why she was the only one capable of making me feel this way.I needed to know why this doctor was always invading my thoughts, my mind.I blinked slowly, trying my hardest to focus and let go of her.Finally, I managed to say, “Ypu should be on your way inside, Arielle. It’s going to be a col