6- Broken Beings

(ELYN)

"Yeah, please, tell me, Elyn," Ares said with a sullen look in my direction, his lips pressed together, his arms crossed across his chest, and I knew if Azalea wasn't here, he might probably bite my head off for this.

I quickly averted my gaze away from him, laughing as I did. I just couldn't stop myself.

Azalea, not knowing why I was smiling, tugged at my shirtsleeve and looked at me with big blue eyes and I ruffled her hair.

"Well, that is the story. She has already told you everything," I said to the Alpha, and he grumbled under his breath.

"Story. Huh! What a vexing creature you are!" he murmured so that only I could hear it. I flashed him a smile, and he didn't look pleased about it.

"No, Elyn, there is one bit about how Princess Elle puts Draconian peppers in his coffee, until he is all-" 

This little girl was going to get me in trouble. Her uncle was already itching to push me out of the pack, or kill me!

Ares grumbled under his breath and she stopped and blinked up at her uncle, her eyes curious.

"Don't you like the story, Uncle? It is a funny story."

"No, cookie, I love the story," he said with a constipated look on his face, and I burst out laughing, which made Azalea giggle. Ares glared at me before he turned to her and shook his head, smiling a little, and my breath hitched. He tenderly patted her hair before pushing her golden curls behind her ear.

He looked so tender, so unlike the man I had the misfortune of meeting. Who was he? Where was the Ares I was forced to meet, and who was this man?

He was truly breathtaking when he smiled like that. With his entire face. It was like a magical transformation, and it made me feel strange all over. My body tingled.

I stared at Ares, my heart making a weird tumble. This wasn't right, to have a smile like that. Illegal. Amoral. 

His hot as hell eyes met me for a brief second, and I wanted to beg him to tie me to his bed and take me. Hard. Take me, until his scent filled my breath, my lungs. Until I forgot everything that would still wait for me once this strange vacation was over.

I knew this here would not be permanent, of course. This was only a short pit stop. One day or the other, I had to leave.

A small voice in me begged to stop and step back. But the other side didn't want to.

Ares ran his fingers through his dark brown hair as he met my eyes, and his eyes heated in response. Somehow, I had a feeling that he knew what I was thinking right now... my n*pples tightened in response to his looks. I could see his mouth parting and his eyes flicking to my breasts. His gaze softly, seductively traced me and I was lost.

"Uncle? Uncle?"

Her voice pulled me out of the stupor and I blinked my eyes as Ares stared at me for a hot second before he cleared his throat and looked away.

I realized I had never thought about anyone like that, not even Liam. Yes. I had wanted to kiss Liam, but I had never thought about dragging Liam to my room.

 I quickly stood up. "I should get going. It is getting late. Goodnight Azalea."

"Good night, Elyn," she said with a smile.

"Where do you even sleep? I don't think I have given you a room in MY pack house?" Ares looked at me with furrowed brows as he bit the tip of his tongue and studied me.

Was it so wrong to want to bend down and bite his tongue?!

I had been a virgin for too long. F*ck. Loving your best friend was a guaranteed way to stay a virgin. But no way in hell was I pure. I knew everything, second hand.

What are books for?

I frowned at him and shook my head. "Of course, you haven't. You are an indecent brute. However, there is an amazing gentleman here. Your beta, and he was kind enough to get a room ready for me."

After unceremoniously dumping me in front of his Alpha, Kai Jenkins, the Beta, fed me, and then showed me to a room when I refused to get out of the pack house and go back to the hell I had come from. They thought I would change my mind soon, but after three days, Ares got prickly and started complaining.

William, the idiot who had kidnapped me, had even driven me closer to my pack land, and dropped me off.

Of course, these idiots didn't know how far a desperate woman would go. And me, I was the most desperate.

I was standing in front of the pack house even before William came back. And that was the last time he had attempted to drive me out of his pack, and I continued to stay in the room Kai had shown me the first night.

It's my room now. Almost. My room. And the room here was bigger than the one I had in Turquoise Falls.

"You cursed him and his future family, and now you are calling him a gentleman?!" Ares quirked his brows.

I smiled abashedly. "Well, that was before. He was only doing it because you are an ass, but now... I know how amazing he is."

He really was an amazing guy. Soulful eyes full of smiles.

"And those eyes... Goddess, one could easily get lost in them."

A dark rumble left his chest as Ares bared his teeth at me in a vicious smile. He sniffed, his eyes indignant as he shook his head and stood up and took a threatening step closer to me.

I showed him all my teeth in a smile before I shrugged and took a step back from him.

"What are you going to do, Alpha?"

He jerked his shoulder as he took a step back, his eyes glinting.

"You are going to regret this one day, you witch!" he growled the words out.

"Oh, is that a threat or a promise, Alpha?" I licked my lips, and he shuddered. "My room is just two doors down from yours. Don't sleepwalk into mine," I said, with a salacious smile in his direction. He squinted his eyes...

"Why- you frustrating-" he took a predatory step towards me, cursing softly under his breath, and I shook my head and laughed and ran up the stairs.

"Little girls here, Alpha." That made him stop from running after me, or I was sure he would have chased me to my room and made me regret the stunt.

I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, panting, a smile still on my lips.

Opening the windows, I sat on the sill and stared at the endless land. At that moment, it felt infinite. I knew Turquoise falls was just on the other side, but it felt like they were oceans apart.

Liam... what would he be doing right now?

He must be with Reyna, probably. I didn't know why I kept hurting myself with the thoughts of him. It was not like he was ever mine, but I just couldn't- couldn't stop myself from thinking about him, or all those what ifs. It was torture, and I would rather not think or feel anything.

I hated it, hated feeling so helpless. I was anything but helpless.

Even with a mom, I barely see, a father who didn't care if I lived or died, and my father's mate who was just a basic typecast, I had survived. No, more than that. I had lived.

But now, I felt like I was trapped. No, not in this place, but inside my own head, and I wanted it to stop. I wanted to get the hell out of there. A loud sigh left my lips as I stood up and stretched, staring at the moon, wondering if the moon goddess would be looking down at me right now.

"Oh, I know you won't be looking. You must be too f*cking  busy, right?" I whispered with a twinge of irritation.

Feeling shitty, I walked to my bed and lied down, staring at the ceiling. I could hear people walking in and out of their rooms, doors closing and opening. And soon, everything was quiet except the buzz of the broken piece of glass on the table, and the loud ringing of thoughts running wild inside me, in sync with the hum of the broken glass.

I stood up when my stomach grumbled. I quietly opened the door, making sure not to make too much noise. 

Opening the refrigerator, I grabbed a bottled juice. I was guzzling my juice down when I heard footsteps. I spun around to see Ares walking in, a glass of golden wolven whiskey in his hand.

There were worry lines on his forehead, and he looked tired. Beaten.

"Is everything alright?"

A long, disturbed sigh left his lips as he looked at me and took a sip of his whiskey, wincing as he did.

"It is nothing," he said, but I knew it was not nothing.

"I know it is not nothing. Tell me, tell me what is bothering you? We can go back to how we are once dawn comes. For now... let's pretend to be strangers meeting in a bar, never to meet again."

I wanted to help him. Offer something in return, even though the gifts I had received from him were stolen than offered. 

"It is you," he snapped. "Okay."

I took a step back with a frown.

"Okay."

"That is all?" He narrowed his eyes as I slammed the refrigerator close. 

"What did you expect? For me to graciously offer to get the hell out? No. You want me. You don't want me. I don't care about any of that." This was survival, mine, and for now, I couldn't go anywhere else. This was my only safe space. I knew that. "Like I said, Alpha Ares, I am here now because you made a mistake, and if I want to get out of this place, I would do it in my own time."

***

(LUNA AMELIA)

Anger and irritation twisted inside me as I stared at the man standing in front of me.  The night was cold and dark and it was freezing. The whole pack was sleeping, and that was the time I could meet him.

"What do you mean you can't find her?" 

"I went to every place you asked me to go, Luna," he said, scratching his stubble. "I couldn't even find a hint of her scent. Her scent ends in the back of the woods, and then none."

"How could it be possible? She is a nobody, and she couldn't have disappeared without someone's help. I want you to find her and then-" I glared at the man and he gave me a quick nod. "After you do this, I will give you everything you have ever wanted." 

"I tried, Luna. I have been doing everything you asked me to-"

"Are you complaining now?" I asked with a snarl and he shrunk back from me, shaking in fear.

"No, my Luna." 

"Now, go and find her." 

The man stared at me and then nodded. 

"I will find her, Luna."

And he would. I knew what was hanging in the balance for him. His mate. That was how I had made him do all my biddings from the very first day. 

Elyn Frost was everything that was wrong in my life. No matter what I did, she was like a fucking roach, always coming back, stronger. Even without a wolf, she survived every time. If she was anyone else other than the reminder of my mate's betrayal, I would have been truly impressed. 

A sneer twisted in my lips. "AND HURT HER." 

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