Ari was laying in her bedroom, thinking about the talk she had with her parents in the morning. She thought of how her life had turned into a tidal wave of unbelievable events since she woke up and wondered if she'd woken up in a twilight zone. She was lost in her thoughts and didn't notice she had a visitor until the pain of dropped weight on her body broke her thoughts. She screamed and found Sinder bouncing on her gleefully.
'Sinder', she screamed angrily making Sinder off the bed with Ari chasing her angrily around the house. Everyone smiled watching them as the ran around the house into the back gardens.
Sinder landed on one of the hammocks in the garden screaming 'SANCTUARY' but the hammock snapped falling her to the ground. While Ari laughed at her friend who was covered in snow, Sinder looked up at Ari happy to see her alive again.
'What?' Ari asked as she extended her hand to pull Sinder up. Sinder didn't respond and simply hugged Ari once on her feet again saying, 'Don't ever scare me like that again Ari.'
'I won't, I promise', Ari whispers back to her. The girls are distracted when they hear Nana approach with a tray of food and hot chocolate drinks followed by a maid carrying a jacket, scarf and winter boots. Ari smiled as the old lady scolded her for being careless with her health while dressing her like she was still a child.
'Its my fault Nana, I made her chase me here.' Sinder said trying to defend her friend.
'Then you should know better miss Sinder, Ari has just returned to us.' the old lady responded
'We're sorry Nana', both girls said apologetically, making the older woman smile. She hugged them both and went back into house with the maid in tow. The girls engaged in small talk, eating on the hammock which had been set up again by the maid. A few moments later they slept on it staring at each other.
'You cut your hair' Ari says to Sinder who had exchanged her long red locks with a short pixie hair-do.
'Yeah I got tired of my trainer winning our matches by grabbing my hair', Sinder responded.
'So do you win now?' Ari asked
'No, but at least my scalp doesn't sting anymore', Sinder shrugged, making Ari chuckle.
'So' Sinder says not knowing how to continue their conversation. Ari smiles at the awkwardness of her friend in understanding and replies, 'So what's the colour of your wolf?' Ari asks
'Autumn red with white ears and a white belly', Sinder responds.
"Are you serious?' Ari replies excitedly, sitting up.
'Yes', Sinder replies shrugging like its nothing.
'White? As in hasn't been seen in over four centuries colour white.'
'Its not a big deal Ari really, everyone of us that shifted that night got a patch of white on their coats except from Cybele who got thin stripes and ...' Sinder stops looking down but Ari holds her hand completing the sentence.
'And me', she whispers softly and looks out to the horizon.
'Please don't do that', Sinder said
'Do what?' Ari said looking at Sinder
'That thing you do when you don't talk for hours and just stare', Sinder responded.
'Its called deep thinking Sinder', Ari replied.
'Well then you are only allowed to think deeply after I'm gone. I never want to experience talking to you without you responding, ever again.' Sinder responded
'What happened to me Sinder?', Ari asked
'By Selene Ari, I have never been so scared in my life. There was blood everywhere and Alpha ordered that no one was allowed to see you, except from family, but your mum allowed me in when I kept refusing to leave. When I got there, you had tubes, pipes and wires connected everywhere, I had never seen anything like it in my life. We waited with you three months but were rushed out by nurses one morning.'
'Why? What happened?' Ari asked
'Your heart stopped', Sinder replied sadly trying to hold back tears as she tried to continue.
'Your mother was devastated and Alpha Ramos had to come to stop your father from killing Dr Frank. I had never seen them so broken, we thought we would never see you again.'
Ari continued listening to her friend as she looked at her parents, through the kitchen window. Her father who was in discussion with his wife, seemed to sense being watched and looked in Ari's direction. He gave her a thumbs up with a goofy smile making his mate smack him playfully on the chest and he exaggerates the pain by doubling over, making the beta female shake her head smiling. Ari smiled at the them grateful for their love.
'Maybe that why I'm wolfless, maybe my body couldn't take the strain of the shift, and it caused my heart to shut down, forcing my wolf to sacrifice itself to save me. Did you see or feel anything strange on the night of our shift?', Ari ask sadly
'I really don't know Ari, all I remember from the night of our shift was one minute we were all kneeling and listening to elder Nara and the next thing I know, my entire body feels like its on fire. I kid you not I was confessing my sins to Selene', Sinder said making Ari laugh.
'What? I felt my eyeballs crawling out of their sockets, I thought I was going to die', Sinder continued making Ari laugh harder.
'They told us it would hurt', Ari finally said, wiping tears from her eyes.
'Ari, hurt was an understatement, didn't you feel ...', Sinder stops herself again from finishing her sentence.
'Sinder, its really alright. You don't need to walk on eggshells around me, I'm fine. And to answer your question, yes I did feel pain at first but then something strange happened. I heard someone call my name and I followed the voice out of the sacred groove until I reached a beautiful door but I don't remember anything after that.'
That's weird', says Sinder scratching her head.
'Have you told your parents?' Sinder asks
'I would rather keep this between us for now.' Ari responds
'But what if...?' Sinder asks again
'I know what you are thinking but my parents are worried enough as it is, telling them will only worry them more. My best option is to discuss it with princess Nara', Ari responds again.
'Princess Nara is currently in the palace, we have been having visits from royals, since the night of our shift. Apparently they suspected witchcraft was involved and are trying to confirm if Alpha Ramos connived with witches.'
'Alpha Ramos would never! His father was killed by witches', Ari said
'With so many wolves having patches of white on their coats, its no surprise the king is suspicious', Sinder responded but suddenly asked, 'do you think it's all connected? Your vision with the white in our coats?'
'I don't know Sinder, we'll have to wait for elder Nara and seek her wisdom before we can come to a conclusion', Ari responded.
'Till then, have you decided what you are going to do?' I mean your role within the pack', Sinder asked
'Yeah about that, alpha Ramos was here last night?'
'And?'
'And I had a nervous breakdown before we got chance to talk.'
'I'm sorry Ari', Sinder said holding her hand.
'You have nothing to be sorry for Sind' Ari replied, 'And honestly it wouldn't feel so overwhelming if my life didn't spiral out of control so fast.'
'What do you mean?' Ari asked
'Eleven months of my life has passed Sinder. For me eleven months was just two nights ago. I wake up and find out, the love of my life isn't mine anymore. He's my sisters mate; who might I add hates me. And to make matters even more complicated, Alpha is asking for my hand as Ricard's concubine.'
'YES! THANK YOU SELENE, THANK YOU!', Sinder screamed excitedly sitting up
'Sinder lower your voice', Ari whispered pulling her friend back to lie with her on the hammock.
'So you said yes, right. Please tell me you said yes', Sinder responded laying back down.
'Eer...'
'Ari?'
'Sinder please try to understand me, its not that simple to just say yes. If I agree, I will be a third wheel constantly fighting a bond blessed by the moon.'
'You fear Ricard does not love you?'
'I do not doubt Ricard's love for me, what I doubt is the resolve to keep the love alive will remain as the mate bond grows with time. What I fear even more is how my decision will break my family apart.When that happens, what will become of me? When Ricard gets tired of me, I will have no wolf, my family will be broken and I will have no one to protect me.' Ari asked
'You will always have me to protect you Ari", Sinder said softly
'I can't let you take on that responsibility Sinder, I love you too much to ask you to sacrifice your life for me. You already gave up your college scholarship for me, its more than I could have ever asked for. Thank you my friend ', Ari responded and both girls hugged themselves.
'Ari, I can't say I truly understand all of your fears but i do understand some of them. I just need to ask you this and I need you to answer me honestly.' Sinder said
'Ok' replied Ari
'If reverse were the case. If you were the mate and Cybele were the lover, do you think she would care about you or your family?'
‘Yes Sinder, I do. Cybele can be a lot of things but she isn’t heartless.', Ari replied.
Sinder exhales heavily unable to speak at first, but then says, ‘Alpha Ramos is a practical man. He would not make such a decision if it didn't benefit the pack. He knows that by putting you close to Ricard, you will be able to stop her excesses.'
'Even if I married Ricard, I cannot overrule a Luna's law.'
'No, but Ricard can. You can influence him to rule well. You already own his heart Ari, all you have to do now is wield it as your weapon. Only by doing it will we be able to protect those who are defenseless within the pack.'
Ari closed her eyes shaking her head in disagreement.
'Ari, listen to me; we are not children anymore. The little I have seen during the time you were asleep, opened my eyes to several hostile realities. Do you think that if you refuse the Alpha's offer, you sister will give you another chance? She will kill you at the slightest opportunity to secure her position as Luna and in our world, it will simply be the case of a Luna killing a third class citizen to protect herself, and do you know what will happen? Absolutely nothing more than your burial, and I do not want that end for you my friend. With Ricard, my heart will be at rest that you are safe and I will be by your side to protect you and your pups, so you won't be alone in this. I will be with you every step of the way and so will Ricard. I saw first hand how he stood outside your hospital room despite not being able to see you. He waited there day and night, waiting for you to wake up not caring about anything or anyone else', Sinder said.
'At least with these explanations I can now understand why attacked me last night.
'SHE WHAT!' Sinder roared standing up, her pupils instantly turning gold as her wolf took control of her.
'Calm down Sinder', Ari said
'I WARNED HER!', Sinder replied before storming into the house with wolf speed. She sniffed the air to find Cybele's location, before running up a staircase and barging into a room on the first floor. Before long snarling and growling could be heard within the room along side noises of destruction. Ari ran into house followed by warriors who heard the noise and ran into the house trying to pinpoint the exact location of the chaos. Two huge wolves broke through a wall and got up snarling at each other, sizing each other up. One was golden brown with several stripes of white on its coat giving it a beautiful shimmer, while the other which was larger was deep red with white ears and a white underbelly, making it look like an oversized fox. Before anyone could react, the wolves clashed again, breaking the staircase and falling to the floor. Ari's parents rushed in followed by Arnold and his wife and instantly turned into their wolves to stand between the warring girls to break up the fight. Ari's heart broke in despair at the sight with the reality of her powerlessness dawning on her. She realized that she would forever be a spectator, never able to fully integrate into this world that was once hers.
Beta Lionel, asked the girls to shift back and explains themselves. Cybele was the first to change to her human form and was given a sundress by a servant standing by. Ari removed her jacket and handed it to Sinder, who took it without taking her eyes of Cybele.
'My house', whimpered Sarai looking at the damage around her.
'She attacked me', Cybele barked holding her hand over her bleeding temple.
'And I'll do it again, you murderous leech', replied Sinder angrily.
'ENOUGH!', Lionel said using his Beta tone, making everyone in the room excluding Ari flinch. A guard comes in and whispers into the beta's ear making him sigh and hold his nose bridge with his eyes closed. His wife strokes his arm to help him can down and after a few minutes he instructs the warriors to bring three cars to the front of his house.
'Alpha Ramos has called for our presence', he says looking at Arnold who bows slightly before trying to lead his wife and daughter to ride with him but Sinder refuses.
'I'm not leaving Ari alone with her', she says pointing at Cybele who glares at her .
'Sinder, not here', her mother snaps at her but she stands her ground in a defensive stance before Ari refusing to move. Ari touches Sinder's arm to talk to her but Sinder remains adamant saying,
'You don't know her I do, don’t go with her, come with me. I will protect you.’
Ari looks and her father and requests to ride with head warrior Arnold. Her father agrees and they all set out to meet alpha Ramos.
'Alpha Ramos has called for our presence', he days looking at Arnold who bows slightly before trying to lead his wife and daughter to ride with him but Sinder refuses.
'I'm not leaving Ari alone with her', she says pointing at Cybele who glares at her .
'Sinder, not here', her mother snaps at her but she stands her ground in a defensive stance before Ari refusing to move. Ari touches Sinder's arm to talk to her but Sinder remains adamant saying, 'You don't know her like I do, don’t go with her, come with me. I will protect you.’
Ari looks and her father and requests to ride with head warrior Arnold. Her father agrees and they all set out to meet alpha Ramos.