Aries

Chapter 24 ∘ Eric

Recap

Ariel

•All i want is a second chance.•

The hours kept dragging on and my wrists began to hurt. The cuffs were so tight, i could hear them scraping my skin off, before my body began to re-heal itself.

Alpha Blake hadn't stopped by once since his first visit. I wondered what happened to him. I hope he's drowning in a bath of his blood.

Aries

Alpha Harris was furious. He had all the right to be. I was angry myself. It's been six days since she disappeared and we weren't even close to finding her. We searched uncharted lands, dungeons, and all the graveyards. There was no sign of her.

"The question i keep asking myself, since you informed me of this conundrum, is how could she have gotten kidnapped right under your noses?! How could this have happened? She was in the house of the strongest werewolf ever created, with her own Beta, as well as Beta Jake and all the patrollers that tread your territory!" He growled, and repeated over and over again, his eyes dark as coal and his body shaking with fury. He kept walking back and forth. "I should not have trusted you with my daughter! Neither of you!" He roared accusingly pointing at Michael and i.

I couldn't answer him. I had no answer. How did this happen? How couldn't my patrollers catch the culprit? None of them had sniffed for an intruder or heard anything. But how?

"Please, Alpha Harris, try to calm yourse-" Jake began before being interrupted with Alpha Harris' hand around his throat.

Jake choked and squirmed in the Alpha's grip.

I knew he could've taken him on if he wanted to, but he didn't want to harm Ariel's father.

"Alpha Harris," i called out coldly as i slowly approached them, "Please, we need to find her, let's concentrate on what's important. Killing my Beta will do no good. It'll only terminate any alliances we formerly agreed upon, and cause a hassle that is not needed right now."

Alpha Harris growled before letting go of Jake and walking away to sulk on the couch in my office. See Ariel's parents came as soon as i told them about what happened, and they've been like this ever since. Katherine, Ariel's mother, was constantly balling her eyes out next to her husband.

A part of me wanted to sit next to them and do the same.

But the other more logical part of me, said otherwise.

"I've called all the Alphas of state, and they all agreed to step in and help, should we need it." I informed everyone, "All except one, Alpha Blake who is not returning my calls. I've decided to travel along to Nightcrawler territories and contact him. I have an odd feeling about that man, and i want to get to the bottom of this." I stated clearly.

Jake nodded at me, and headed out to get some of our men ready. We were shifting because we needed to get there. Fast.

Michael stepped up, "I'm coming with you."

"No you're not," i growled.

"If Alpha Blake took her. I want to be there to rip his insides to shreds."

I quirked an eyebrow up at him, "Why would you assume that he took her? What would he want with her?" I asked curiously.

"It's nothing." He said, hesitation lingering in his voice, "I mean, I don't know if it's important."

"Spit it out," i growled, my patience wearing off.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking hesitantly, "Ten years ago, when i was eight, Blake was 18, he had found his mate, and his late father Alpha Drako, hosted a party to celebrate her. He invited our pack leaders, us included. And as pups, we were only happy to be involved in such a celebration." He said, before swallowing nervously, "Ariel, Liz, and i, we were kids back then and when we went, we snooped around the mansion. We were looking around and came across a room. We heard weeping and decided to check it out. Inside of the room, sat the most beautiful, enchanting girl. She really was gorgeous, but there was something sad about her. She was crying, and she was miserable. She was Blake's mate, and she hated him. Liz was interested to find out more but i discouraged her to do so, so she decided otherwise, but Ariel, she wouldn't leave the girl. She went to her, comforted her, the best an eight year old could do, and told her she'd help her escape if that's what she wanted. The girl told Ariel that she reminded her of herself and that she looked just like her when she was a child. Ariel was elated and flattered to have gotten such a compliment. The girl's name was Melody, and she was ready to reject Blake. She said he was a twisted monster and a manipulator. That he was sick, and not mentally stable. Ariel couldn't believe that the beautiful man she saw standing outside could be so twisted on the inside. She gave Melody the best smile she could muster, and encouraged her to do what she thought was right. We ran off out of the room and quickly snuck back out between our parents and the guests. Everything was ok, until, Blake excused himself to fetch his mate. We followed him, curious of what was going to happen. Little did we know that nothing good could come out of our snooping. Blake and Melody fought in the room, she spat the words any werewolf would dread to hear from his mate. 'I reject you'. Then came his voice, laughing hysterically. We got so scared and we ran back out. When we got to the backyard where everyone was laughing and mingling. There she was, Melody, standing on the rooftop of the three story mansion, her white dress flowing as the air danced around her. Ariel screamed in horror, as we all stood and stared in panic. And right After Ariel's screeching scream, came Melody's as she took her own life, and leaped off the roof, landing on the ground in an odd angle, with her white bloody dress. After that day, we never saw Blake again. Not until the last Lycanthrope meeting. The one you ditched. Blake looked at Ariel in a hungry way, i've never seen before. Ariel didn't recognise him. After Melody's accident, it was like that night never happened. Ariel either forgot it or she chose to forget. In the beginning she stayed for weeks in her room, all she could remember was Melody's tragic death. I guess she felt guilty for encouraging the girl to do what she wanted. She never knew that what Melody wanted was to end her life. But then after it, Ariel was cold, she acted as if nothing ever happened. And i suppose with time, her subconscious concealed that night from her mind completely. From that point on, Ariel's been afraid of ending up like Melody, all because of the uncanny resemblance between them. Now that i think of it, the only difference was Melody's fiery red hair. Other than that, they looked exactly alike. Now if Blake has been dodging your calls for the past 6 days, then he probably, took her, because he probably thinks she's his mate," Michael concluded.