A heart worth loving is one you understand, even in silence.
~ Shannon L. Alder
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Run.
Run, that’s all Ariana could think of as she pushed her legs to move faster, dodging people in her way. She could feel the man behind her as she took a sharp right turn, avoiding a cluster of children.
She pushed through people as they screamed and cursed at her for blocking their path. She ended up getting blocked by a cart. Sending an apologetic look towards the old woman with the cart, Ariana jumped over it with astonishing ease as she used the cart for her leverage, sending the goods it contained spiraling out.
Her heart pounded in her chest with a thrill she had never felt before. What was wrong with her? She wondered to herself, confused by her emotions as she felt her skin prickle with a sense of excitement.
Thinking the man would have slowed down due to the chaos she had created. She also decided to slow down to hide behind a large pile of wood on a deserted street.
She waited for a few minutes behind the pile of wood, not wanting to get caught. Seeing that the man hadn’t passed by, she took it as a cue to leave the place, hoping he had lost her trail.Quickly turning around to leave.
Her eyes widened as a large hand clamped down on her mouth, catching her scream. Her heart felt like it had caught on fire as she stared into obsidian black eyes that resembled the moon. Her mind felt hazy as her eyes drifted over the face of her captor, thinking that it was her end. Her knees slightly gave out from underneath her, causing her to lean into the pile behind her.
As the man’s grip on her loosened, she looked at him again, this time with hooded eyes, hoping for her demise to come quickly.
She was sure that the man was going to kill her because the power he emitted was so potent that it made an Alpha’s power look like a baby in comparison.
He wasn’t just taller than the average male but was also much more pleasing to the eye than the average male. With his sun-kissed brunette hair that fell over his forehead in curly waves and his sharp jawline accompanied by his high cheekbones, he could make any woman go weak on her knees with just one look.
Ariana felt faint just by looking at the male in front of her. She thought it must have been a dream because she didn’t believe it was legal for any wolf to look as ravishingly good as he did.The male in front of her stepped forward, causing her to shrink backwards into the pile of wood in alarm. He raised his hand towards her face with his merciless eyes covered in an emotionless shadow, making her flinch back in fear.
Instead of the hard prints of a slap, she felt a gentle coupled hand softly envelope her right cheek, causing her chest to flutter and her stomach to dance in delight. What was wrong with her? She wondered to herself.
She would have found the man’s gesture endearing if he hadn’t been a stranger and hadn’t just tried to molest another woman. But still, she couldn’t help but be drawn in by the man’s obsidian black eyes, which caused her skin to heat up under their intense stare.
When she looks closely, she notices that his eyes aren’t obsidian black, but rather a deliciously alluring midnight blue.
Feeling spellbound by the man’s eyes, Ariana doesn’t notice when his feather-light touch begins to trace her delicate features.
He lightly traced the seam of her cheek, then her beautiful gray eyes while whispering out in a dark husky voice that sent shudders through her whole being, “So pretty...so very pretty.”
The man’s fingers slowly trailed down, landing on her plum-red lips. He traced them as if he had never seen anything so soft and plum, causing Ariana to heave breathlessly as an ache of need built in her lower groin.
“So beautiful... and all mine.” The male whispered in a deep husky voice as he leaned in and gently nibbled on her ear, causing her to squeak in surprise and fall out of the weird trance that she was in seconds before.
Looking at the man as if he were crazy, Ariana used both of her hands to push the man away, causing him to stumble back and growl at her in disapproval.
“Get lost you brute!” She said in her most threatening voice as she sidestepped the man and pushed off the pile of wood, running as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the devilishly handsome man.
Running as fast as she could while looking backward to see if the alluring man was after her wasn’t one of Ariana’s smartest decisions as she went crashing into a hard mass of muscle.Ariana turned her head and looked up, half hoping it was the same alluring man from earlier, only to see a very furious Nathaniel.
“You,” he said while pointing a finger at her with his voice radiating anger, “Where on earth were you, Ariana?”
“I...I got lost, I couldn’t find you. ” Ariana stuttered breathlessly, she felt like a small pup being scolded for misbehaving. She purposely kept the information about the strange male disclosed to herself, knowing her brother’s temper well.
“Where are you running?” comes Charlie’s voice, laced with worry, standing slightly behind her brother.
“No... no, I just saw you over the crowd and thought that if I didn’t run after you, I’d lose you again,” Ariana lied as convincingly as she could, causing her brother to narrow his eyes at her in suspicion, “What?... you don’t believe me?”
“No, no I do,” Nathanial said as he tried to reassure her, “It’s just that your scent seems a little different from before.”
“What?” Ariana asked in bewilderment, “Oh, it may be because I crushed into a drunk man.”
“What? You crushed into a drunk man!” Nathanial said as he gripped her wrists in anger, “You know how dangerous that is, he could have taken advantage of you.”
“Oh come on Nate, the man was too drunk to even see,” Ariana said, trying to reassure him as she pleaded for Charlie to help her with her eyes.
“I am sorry, Ariana, but I agree with Nate. A drunken man is no safe option for anyone to be near, especially for a female,” Charlie said, giving her a pointed look before adding, ” I think we should head back to the palace.”
Nathanial responded with his agreement, causing them to return to the palace.
As they took the short walk back to the palace, Ariana couldn’t help but feel as if they were being followed. She turned around to look back, only to notice no one following them. She turned back around and rubbed her eyes in frustration as she felt tiredness seep into her bones.
“Are you alright, Ariana?” Nathanial asked, his brow furrowed.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just tired,” Ariana replied
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