Chapter Twenty-Two

"Woah, little wolf," Cai said, looking stressed that he'd accidentally upset me further.We had walked into a communal gathering area outside of the hall by this point and I was grateful that no one was around to see me in this state.He strode up to one of the couches and gently put me down, crouching in front of me so we were eye level."Do you want me to tell me what that was all about?" Cai asked.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Once I managed to convince my mother to let me go home, I began to think through my options. There was a lot of risk involved and I didn’t exactly have much knowledge in the area.Unfortunately, I didn't end up having much time to myself though as my father came home and immediately told my mother what had happened in the meeting.…Naturally, she was furious.I wasn't sure if it was anger directed at my desire to not be Luna, or maybe just due to the fact I had completely kept them in the dark about the whole thing, but they were frustrated over the entire ordeal. By the end of the argument, I realised that the only thing I took away from the conversation was that it had cemented my decision to not tell them my plan. The plan to take up new training.They also tried to ask me about my Goddess mark, but I remained purposely vague and uncertain with them about it all until they eventually dropped it. It was something I would need to keep closel

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Caius... Knight...?" I could hear myself ask in a strained voice. I hadn't heard that name in an incredibly long time.I'd tried so hard to forget it."Are you okay? You suddenly look really pale again. Are you still too weak from before?"I couldn't hear him. Emotions were overcoming me. Guilt, shame, disbelief... regret.Caius Knight, future Alpha of the Silver Lake pack, had risen to power after his father had been killed; or, more accurately, once he had been killed by Aleric. It was debatably one of the craziest political moves Aleric had ever done during his Alpha reign.It started with Caius' father, Tobias, who had managed to lead his pack up the ranks until their power was arguably on par with the Winter Mist. As such, negotiations were required to amend the terms of the alliance. Tobias came to our territory for a meeting with the intention of continuing the friendship between us... and he returned home without a head inside a body bag i

Chapter Twenty-Five

His shining eyes stared directly at me and I had to fight the urge to look behind to see if someone else was standing there. But no, I could feelthe touch of his hand against my cheek, even the warmth emanating off his skin. This was real, he could see me."Aria...," he said weakly."I'm here," I replied.I wasn't sure how to react. I was still unnerved by the whole situation. All I could do was stare down at him confused and uncertain. Was this part of the vision or had something changed?"...Aria," he called again."Cai? Can you see me?"I wrapped my fingers around the hand he was using to touch my cheek. Maybe he was too weak to see me."...Aria."I frowned at him. It was starting to feel more than just being unable to see me as he persisted in trying to call out for me."Can't you hear me? I'm right here."His eyes continued to bore into mine intensely before, finally, it was like he saw me. I w

Chapter Twenty-Six

"M-miss, please don't make me do something illegal," Lucy stuttered, taking a step back.I held up my hands to calm her down."Relax! Relax, jeez," I said and ran a hand through my hair, sighing at her dramatics. "I'm doing them a favour really."She still looked incredibly uncomfortable."Do you trust me, Lucy?" I asked.She was silent, hesitating over how to reply back. Probably trying to figure out how to not offend me."Okay, okay, don't answer that," I laughed. "Do you want to get paid while saving a young girl's life?"She took a few seconds to consider before nodding."See? It's not that bad. I promise nothing will go wrong. Just please ensure this gets to Alpha Raymond as soon as possible."She shakily took the letter from my hands."Just don't think of it as blackmailing...," I said, trying to reassure her. "Just look at it more as... exploiting a situation for the benefit of both parties... and then mayb

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Aria!?"He had understandably been surprised to see me, so had the girl under him who was also missing her shirt.She was laying down on a school desk, legs wrapped around him, and I quickly averted my gaze before I saw anything else."What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled. I could hear the sound of him zipping his pants back up and tugging a shirt on."What am I doing here?" I repeated incredulously. "You mean why am I here after you made me wait for over an hour?!"I turned back around to face him having assumed it was safe to do so now."Oh shit, was that today?""Oh, really? You don't recall even though I literally reminded you only a few hours ago?!"He rubbed at the back of his neck staring at the ground. At least he looked a little guilty. But it didn't matter because I was furious. Nothing he was going to be able to say would make me calm down. It was like something inside me had been triggered and I could feel

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.My mind kept trying to justify his actions, justify how he'd treated me. Really, it was probably my fault for thinking we were closer than he felt we were. I'd realised too late that I'd built up some sort of reliance on him without even knowing.It was such a bittersweet feeling to have had something I craved so close, only for it to be taken away having never realised it was there. And the worst part was that the entire time I'd been back, I'd been telling myself not to get close to anyone again... and yet here I was, crying over a stupid teenager of all people.It had been self-indulgent of me to begin with given the circumstances. I didn't know why I felt I deserved to feel validated by him. Did I think that, if we became friends, then what I did in my past life to him would be forgiven? I still carried that burden around with me, one which still weighed heavily on my shoulders. It was something I'd comple

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Within the hour, I found myself at a clothing store in town with one very over excited Myra by my side.The look of her complete unabridged joy when I'd shown up at her door to ask if she wanted to hang out, had been worth the bribe to skip out on Luna studies.I didn't particularly need clothes, nor have any desire to impress anyone, but spending time with the one positive presence I could always count on was refreshing. Seeing her flutter around looking at the different outfits while gushing about how good they'd look on was so simplistic and easy. I was able to relax and shut my mind off to everything that had gone wrong the day before.However, after we'd gone to several shops, I started to notice a trend with Myra. She seemed to love so many of the clothes she would try on, which was a fair amount of them, but every time she would leave the store without buying anything.When we had reached the fifth shop, I watched her coming out of the changing roo