Aries

Hey there! I know, another update. What can I say... I am finding a little more free time nowadays.

Anyway... this might be the last chapter free of blood and war. from next, we will plunge into the war (battle) and let me tell you, more than writing romance, I love writing about bloodshed and the feeling of the heartbreak of the survivors of the side that is lost. (If you have read Winter’s Dance, you know what I am talking about)

Enjoy :)

*********

The second we stepped out of that conference room, most of the people who were waiting for us, stood up. No one said a word as I walked across the room. It was unnerving. That power, I meant. I had no idea what power could do. Now that I felt it coursing in my veins, I wanted nothing more than to revel in it.

I wanted to soak myself in that power until I was lost. It was like an addiction. An addiction that was more dangerous than any drug in the world.

Two familiar faces greeted me as I passed Brent and Jed. While it was a while since I saw one, I could nearly not recognise the one I saw just six days ago.

Although his beard was trimmed and his hair was an artful mess, his eyes lacked life. I had seen this male with so much life when I had accepted him in my pack. So much vivacity when he proudly announced Nash was his son. And so much vigour when they became a family.

Now he was hesitating to enter his own house. His shirt and pants clung to his body due to the wetness. His hair was literally dripping water.

“Alpha,” he rasped.

He had come out, no, he had pulled himself out of his solitude because of my arrival.

I would not know what I would do if I was in his place. I know I will never have the strength this male has. If my mate was to abandon me when my child had died, reporting when my alpha arrived would not be my priority.

Aislynn should understand. As much as she lost a son, Varian had lost his son too. She could not leave him now, but then again, what use would it serve if she was here and toxic words were exchanged between them? Would it not tarnish the bond more?

I hugged this grieving male. I wish I could offer him more, but I could not. If all of this was over and we made it out unscathed, I would do much more to him.

“Varian,” I whispered.

He sniffed as though that would take his tears back into his eyes. He deserved much more.

I knew it killed Aries to see me hug another male, but he understood that Varian needed that comfort now. And I was thankful for that.

I released him and looked into his tired eyes. “Good?”

He clenched his jaw. “As good as I can be.”

Miguel stepped forwards. “I will fill him with what had happened.”

Varian looked at me and then at his friend. As his gaze flickered between us, he licked his lips and he played with his fingers by his side. His throat bobbed and his breathing became heavy, though it was subtle.

He is conflicted, Aries said.

I get that, I replied. Is it because he wants to be in the loop, yet he does not want to leave his Alpha?

Ask him, Aries said. I don’t know how he is holding together.

“Go, Varian,” I said firmly. “I will be here. I don’t plan to go anywhere.”

“If you do plan to go somewhere,” Aspen said, punching my shoulder. “Take someone fun with you. Jed must have been a boring company.”

Jed opened his mouth to protest when a female with short, black, pixie hair quipped. “She isn’t wrong, Jed. Facts, when presented at worse timing, could be a bit sour.”

Jed mumbled something under his breath.

Aspen grinned at the female. “She is Rye, my Delta’s mate... and Jed’s-”

“No one asked,” Jed said, shooting from his seat.

“Ex,” Rye finished, grinning at him. “Ignore him, Alpha Lyra.”

“How?” Rhaze asked, putting her elbow on my shoulder, using me as though I was a stand. “I meant-”

Rye’s smile was the reincarnation of a devil. The lip ring she had did not help, nor did the three rings she had near her left eyebrows. Not to mention the ink she had on her dark skin. Her skin was something many girls would be envious of. Despite the scars and ink interrupting, I could see how smooth it was.

Rye bit her lip. “It was my fault. I thought I was into males. But when Shiela walked into my life, everything I thought was thrown into a storm.”

“Your delta is female, Aspen?” A warlock asked, his eyebrows meeting.

“Problem?” Rye asked, folding her arms and giving him a glare.

The warlock appeared to be taken aback. “No. No. I meant... a few months ago, it was-”

“-Daniel,” Aspen finished. “I am aware. But he no longer wanted to be the Delta, so he resigned.”

“Apologies,” he said. Then facing me, he gave me a polite smile. “Wayne, Alpha Lyra. I am the Reish of my tribe.”

I nodded at him. “Good to meet you.”

“Aspen,” I said, turning to her. “Will you fill in with what happened with your brother?”

Aspen nodded. “I will try my best. At most, he will be heart-broken. But he will recover.”

With that, she spun around and headed towards the stairs that led to the basement. What could Alpha Eric be doing there? Playing Billiards?

I gazed at the male who held his mate’s hands. The male who came in along with Varian. Miguel had pulled his friend out to explain him.

“Silas,” Gemini’s voice cut through. “Nice to hear that you are doing well.”

“Since when did you know how to come to Laukris?” Silas asked.

Gemini pouted. “Why is everyone being mean to me right now?”

“You should show your face often for us to support you,” Silas said.

Gemini sighed. “Does that means if I leave now, you will hate me more?”

Silas closed his eyes and opened it. “Leaving again?”

Gemini nodded. “I have to. I have to leave for Summer Tribe.”

Silas frowned. “Why?”

Putting an arm around the vampire, Gemini walked out, pulling the unwilling male behind him. Seeing this, Aries followed them. Riga’s eyes flitted between her companion and me and she finally decided I would not kill her and stayed behind.

Kaina scrutinised her. “I must say, she does have Moria’s eyes.”

“Who is Moria?” Rhaze asked.

Kaina smiled sadly. “She was Priscilla’s mother.”

Rhaze inhaled sharply. “You still talk with Priscilla?”

Kaina sighed. “Her brother wronged me. She stood with me till the end. We are good friends.”

I turned to them. “Its a good thing that your friendship was not broken because of him.”

As she shrugged, a female vampire came closer. “I am Nadia. I belong to the Coven under Omicron Riley. My sibling is the Theta of the coven.”

I frowned at her. “Am I missing something?”

Rhaze gulped. “Lyra... did you know that Mina had marked Nash when he was about to die?”

I nearly scoffed. “Of course I do!”

Rhaze slouched her shoulders and looked down. “Then you must know the pain she would have gone through when nash died.”

“I do.”

“To save her.” Rhaze paused for a second. “Theta Silver marked her.”

I glanced at Nadia who gave me a nod. “My sibling did do that.”

“He-”

“Ze,” Nadia corrected me.

Gender was not a problem here. “Ze... has not met zirs mate?”

Nadia shut her eyes closed and shook her head. “Ze did not.”

“What will ze do when ze meet zirs mate?” I asked. Would that Theta Silver abandon Mina? “Leave Mina?”

Nadia looked around. “If ze had marked Mina, would that not mean ze would not meet zirs mate? Would that not mean... ze has chosen Mina as zirs mate?”

I exasperated. “You think mate bond is that easy? That... it will be resolved like that?”

They fell silent. Of all the things, why did they decide to meddle with mate bonds? Did they not have better things to do?

Rye coughed. “It is not?”

“No!” I snapped. “You do not know what is happening out there-”

“That’s because you did not tell us,” Nadia fired.

I looked into her brown eyes as I stepped forward. For each step I took, she took a step back. I had seen this feeling in many people and I never thought that one day I would elicit this feeling in someone. Fear. A dangerous emotion. It could either break someone or make them.

“I did not even know your name until now,” I said forcefully as though I was teaching a kid. “And you expect me to trust you just like that?”

“You did,” Nadia nearly spat. I had to give to this female for standing her ground. “You took-” she gestured at Riga, “-her and not us?”

I glanced at Riga who bit her lips and appeared nervous, but her body did not tell me any hint of fear. If anything, she was one of the two who did not give any scent of fear apart from Corvus, of course.

“She came in with a Warrior,” I said. “Who did you come with?”

Nadia gasped. “Is this how you will treat us? Like we are beneath your feet?”

I gave her my cold grin. “I said I did not trust you. If I was going to treat you as though you are beneath my feet, then I would have thrown you out of this house the second I saw you.”

“How dare you!” Nadia snarled. As her eyes glowed gold, she sneered. “I control water! Don’t forget, blood is water too.”

I smirked. “Then go ahead. Control me.”

Even before she could use her powers over me, Aries’ spirit blanketed over me, protecting me. It was like a koala, hugging me close. I had to coax the spirit to let go of me to check what I was capable of. As much as it was difficult to convince the spirit, it understood what I wanted to do. It begrudgingly loosened its hold over me, with a promise that if things were to get out of hand, it would not simply protect me, but bring Aries here.

Her energy hit me, but I felt nothing. Nothing at all. I was waiting for her to control that red viscous fluid that was flowing in my blood vessels, but she was unable to do so.

Nadia gasped as she withdrew her powers. It was then I noticed how much she was sweating.

“What?” she whispered.

“She is a pulsar,” Riga said and when everyone’s eyes fell on her, she shrugged. “Whatever that is.”

Corvus smirked. “If you know what stars are, Nadia. If you know how dangerous they can be, I would advise you to stay away from Lyra. She is not far away from them.”

Then his spirit and soul washed over me, hugging me as though he was next to me. I turned around just in time to see Aries, Gemini and Silas walk in.

“She is us,” Gemini said. “Like, a pulsar is opposite of a star. If any astrophysics geeks are here or if someone who simply loves to learn is here, I am sorry if our definition of pulsars varies. To you, a pulsar may be a neutron star, but to us, a pulsar is a creation of Chaos as a star is a creation of cosmos. In other words, she is equal to us in every way. One of the major difference, while we emit light... energy, she can suck in energy.”

Nadia’s breath deepened and its pace increased. “Impossible.”

“Possible,” Gemini said. “In the world under Aelius and Quila, they have no stars. Only pulsars. It is a reflection of the earth. And just think, you just offended the Soul-Bound of Aries, the Warrior under Amaris. We Warriors do not listen to even Amaris. We listen to Qamar, Surva and Cosmos and no one else. We listen to the Royal family only because The Moon told us to listen.”

“Huh?” Riga frowned.

Gemini gave her a tight smile. “Don’t worry, I will tell you all about it when we leave.”

Aries came and stood next to me as he gave Nadia a blank look. “You think your powers will be of any use when you are attacking her?”

Nadia stiffened. “N-no, Warrior.”

Rhaze narrowed her eyes at her. “Look, you may be Aspen’s friend, but you don’t get to slander Lyra.”

Jed tilted his head to expose his neck. A sign of submission. “I apologise on behalf of Nadia, Beta. She did not know who she was riling up.”

Kaina rolled her eyes. “Don’t apologise on behalf of someone else, Jed.”

Aries’ face was blank but I could tell the anger he was harbouring in him now. Just for trying to hurt me, he wanted her gone. I just hoped that this protectiveness would not turn into an obsession.

No! Aries said and if no one was present, I knew he would be pouting. I am protective. It could be a bit more because you still did not come into power. When you do, trust me, I will allow you to do all this power work and I sit behind and bask in your light.

I snorted.

Trust me, Aries said. I won’t hold you back. Ever.

I held his hand and gave it a squeeze.

You think that this will calm me down? Aries asked.

It wouldn’t? I asked in my innocent voice.

My alpha, please, he said. You and I know what will work.

It was really hard to not laugh in front of these people. When this meeting is over and after I grab some food.

I will hold on to it.

Hold on to whatever you want until then, I said.

He shook his head. I should have known how my life was going to be the second I saw you.

What do you mean by that?

Nothing, he said. How about, we retire early today and I shall tell you?

Sounds good.

“If Aspen was here,” Jed said. “She would not allow her friend to talk like this.”

“Of course, she would not!” Nadia cried. “Aspen is marked into Alpha Lyra’s pack. Her loyalty will be with that pack!”

Jed sighed. “Nadia, do you realise that you are making it worse for yourself?”

Rye’s lips curled as she commented. “You sure have great control over yourself, Aries. I have seen so many Alphas who were riled up for the slightest slander against their mate. I must say, I admire your temper.”

“The last time I checked, Ryanne Drury,” Aries said, keeping his hands in his pocket. “You don’t have the right to call me by my name. If you have read your history lessons correctly, you will know how to address me. You don’t belong to my pack to call me intimately.”

Rye’s face flushed. “I-I am sorry-”

“Pack?” another vampire asked. “If my memory serves correct, you Warriors cannot belong to any pack, coven or tribe.”

“True,” Aries said, with a secretive smile lingering on his face. “But my mate happens to be the Alpha of a pack, and as she has not yet found the right heir to pass on the title, she is still the Alpha of the pack, and as her mate, I belong in her pack.”

Silence prevailed over us again and this time, Aspen came up with her brother following her. When she saw how tense the situation was, she frowned.

“What happened?” Aspen asked, raising her voice.

“Nothing-” Nadia began.

“She somehow managed to offend Lyra,” Jed said, while Brent face-palmed.

Aspen glanced at Rhaze and my sisted nodded her head. In the pack link, Rhaze replayed what had happened earlier.

“Nadia!” Aspen said. “What is wrong with you?”

“With me?” Nadia asked. “What’s wrong with you? You act like-”

While they bicker, can I take my leave? A voice that only my ears have heard echoed in my mind.

His voice, like Aries had a touch of untouchability in them. Like he was out of the world.

I frowned. You can link me?

Of course, he scoffed. We, twelve Warriors, are kin. Like a pack, you can say. We can link with one another. And now you are Soul-Bound to Aries. You are automatically a part of this family.

Gemini, Aries warned.

I shook my head. Travel safe.

Stay connected, Aries said.

With the slight nod of his head, he went near Riga and whispered something in her ears. With that, he went out, with Silas and Zahra following him.

Riga said her goodbyes to us and literally fled to catch up with her companion.

I could see that the argument between Jed, Aspen, Nadia and surprisingly Brent was not over.

This would take a while.

**********

After the meal set by a few witches, many left to either talk out on the beach or went to the basement to play an indoor sport that was there. I could not care anymore about those people who had judged me without knowing me. Let them be wherever they want to be.

Right now, being cuddled in Aries’ arms with a blanket over us as we sat - he sat on the sofa, I was sitting on him, was the best feeling out there. My sister had her head on her mate’s lap while Aspen sat close by Miguel, but I could see a hair’s breadth of the distance between them. Varian was sitting near Brent on the sofa next to us. Jed and Eric had a cup of coffee as they sat next to their ex-alpha.

“What is that you want to tell me?” I asked my sister.

Aries’ arms tightened around me before he allowed his fingers to wander. Not that my fingers were any innocent.

“In West pack,” Rhaze began. “Harper is creating an army.”

“I know,” I said.

“Not just any army, Lyra,” Rhaze sighed as she shared a look with her mate. Kaina nodded and Rhaze continued. “Do you remember the project you were working on?”

I frowned. “I was working on transformations.”

Rhaze closed her eyes and opened them. “Before that. With Aurelia. Transformations were something you wanted to work with Corvus and Pyxis. Before that, you were working with Aurelia about something.”

“Mind control,” I muttered. “Controlling someone’s mind.”

“Yeah...” Rhaze said. “Now combine it with the other project, transformations.”

I would have exploded in fury if Aries was not holding me back. “There are somethings that we are not supposed to trample with.”

“What would happen?” Brent whispered.

“You get hybrids,” Rhaze whispered. “Who can... I am not sure of their race, someone who Harper controls. They don’t know how they are born all they know is that they have to serve Harper. Not to mention, from what Reece managed to tell me, they are difficult to kill. Very difficult. And... she has an army.”

“By Amaris above!” Aspen gasped.

I did not know if it was an instinct, Miguel just placed his hand over hers and slightly bumped his shoulder against hers. Were they chosen Mates or were they true mates? Who knew?

“From my finding,” Kaina said. “I have been scrying and I found that many in Harper’s army, many are werewolves.”

I closed my eyes and tried to press myself against my Soul-Bound. “This is bad.”

“Very bad.” There was a resignation in her voice.

As Aries’ fingers began to trace patterns and massage my hips, a part of my tension vanished. If he kept this up, no matter what they spoke about the war, I would want another round with him.

“These allies are enough?” Aspen asked.

“Should be,” Rhaze said. “I hope it does not get too much gory.”

“I doubt it would be like that. With Silas supporting us, we can have hope,” Kaina said. “Don’t forget my tribes too.”

“We won’t,” Rhaze said.

I opened my eyes to see them stare at each other uncomfortably.

“Is there anything more?” I asked. “Anything I should know?”

“What about this?” Brent asked.

I sighed. “I can... to a point take back the control Harper has over the mind-control project. But on that transformations? I cannot control genetics just like that.”

Brent sighed. “We can’t?”

Aries shifted a little. “I will see what I can do. But I have to see at least one of them for me to tell what I can do.”

“Can’t you just burn the entire pack down?” Aspen asked. “Not necessarily burning. Just eliminating the entire pack?”

“Even if it means killing the innocents?” Aries asked. “It does not work that way. Even if I selectively killed, Amaris would notify Qamar and he will ground me.”

“Ground you?” Miguel asked in wonder.

“Yeah,” Aries said. “Once... I don’t know the reason why, but Cancer flooded an entire Tribe. South tribe, I think. Because of that, she was grounded for ten years.”

“Is that long?” Jed asked in fascination.

“We stars hate confinement,” Aries said. “Especially in a prison that does not have a connection to the universe. In other cases, ten years is merely a blink of an eye, but when you are put in such confinement, we hate it. Imagine living ten years in a hell customised for you.”

“How did Alioth-” Miguel began.

“You were in the Dungeon designed by the Moon,” Aries said. “The prison is grounded to the universe. That connection is enough.”

Silence fell over us. Brent and Jed were whispering about something, while Eric was staring at his coffee cup. I could not tell how he took the news of the death of his possible mate.

If things had gone right, if Chris had been his mate, Eric would have been my brother-in-law. How funny fate was sometimes.

“About these prisons,” Kaina began. “You told that some could navigate them, right?”

Aries nodded. “Yes.”

“Who are they?” Kaina asked.

Aries sighed. “There may be many others, but Cathan was the best navigator. He was a pulsar belonging to another world. Like Warriors this world has, he was a part of Knights. No one knew what happened to him, but his comrades say he fell.”

“Fell?” Rhaze asked.

“Fell...” Aries trailed off. “Is the word we use when we don’t know what happened to them. It’s been more than two thousand years since we heard from him.”

I inhaled his scent. “Same time around Luna’s disappearance?”

Aries frowned and nodded. “Yeah... it’s weird that none made the timeline connection. But if I am being correct, he disappeared about twenty years prior to Luna. I mean, Luna was the one who told me about his disappearance. In the long run, their instances do seem quite close.”

“How good?” Kaina asked.

“Very good,” Aries said, his voice light. “I remember us navigating the universe through the Chasms. He was so flawless. It was like he was born with it.”

“Can it be passed down?” Kaina asked.

Aries shrugged. “It could be, could be not. After all, it is a rare but powerful trait.”

I asked. “Why sudden curiosity, Kaina?”

Kaina played with Rhaze’s hair. “Don’t know. I just got this burning need to know more. Hope I was not prying too much information.”

Aries shook his head. “No. You weren’t.”

Silence measured over us again, but this time, it was more comfortable. As I melted into his arms, I yawned.

Aries threw the blankets away from us and stood up, carrying me. “We will leave for tonight.”

“Should I even comment on it?” Miguel asked with a dry smile.

“Do that,” Aries challenged. “And when it is your turn, you will have it worse.”

Unexpectedly, Aspen smirked.

“Worse?” Miguel scoffed. “How could my life be worse?”

As an uncomfortable silence fell over us, so did Aspen’s smirk.

“You are marked, Miguel,” Aries said. “It is not long before both will crave each other and succumb to the half bond. We will see then.”

Leaving them awkward, Aries carried me to our room.

I laughed at that.

“Why this laugh?” he asked softly.

“It was your room,” I said, chuckling. “Then you gave it to me. And then it became ours.”

Aries laughed with me. “That’s right.”

I took in a deep breath. “By the way, whenever you wanted to rest in this house, where did you rest?”

He kicked the door open and clocked it behind us after he dropped me on the bed.

“Here,” he mumbled.

“Here as in?” I pressed.

“In this room.” He scratched his head.

I blinked. “Say what?”

“You scent, Lyra,” he groaned as he came closer. “It drove me crazy ever since I saw you. And when I gave you this room, I will admit, I was being selfish.”

When he came closer, I fell on the bed and he on me. “Selfish how?” My voice was so soft, as though it was darkness itself that did not want to be disturbed.

His lips skimmed over my skin. “I wanted your scent to soak on my sheets, fill my room so that each time I come to my room, for a while I could take it all in.”

“That’s not selfish,” I argued. “I wanted the same thing.”

A moan left my mouth when he kissed over the mark. His fingers being quite crafty, began to work on my skin, drawing patterns in order to bring me to the edge of delirium.

He then kissed me on my tingling lips, hard and fierce like the raging fire he represented. His kisses left me breathless and this one was no special.

When he broke off the kiss, I saw that my hands had a mind of their own as they had removed his shirt and was moving towards his jeans. And his hands had already stripped me to by bra and had unbuttoned my jeans.

“Will we get through this?” I whispered.

He kissed me hard again as if to remind me of what we were.

“As long as we are together, Lyra,” he said in the same soft voice. “Nothing will harm us and the ones we love.”

“Nothing?” I asked. “I have already lost too many.”

He sighed. “If this is about Aislynn-”

“She will return, won’t she?” I asked.

“She will,” Aries said. “While Varian lost his son, Aislynn lost someone who gave her hope to survive. She told us, remember? When isolation was getting the better of her, Nash’s existence was the only thing that grounded her from committing suicide. He was her hope. And now her hope had died, what would she do, Lyra?”

“I just...” I swallowed. “I just hope she comes back.”

Aries smiled. “She will.”

“She will,” I echoed.

With that, we decided to have the night we deserved and worry about the war the next break of dawn would bring to us.

*******

A/N: Any thoughts about the characters?

Anything about Nadia? Anything about Rye? (I am liking this character. She will survive the upcoming war (I am not sure about others though ;) ))

And... I regret to tell you. After a maximum of seven to eight chapters, Aries will get over. Next chapter will be from Liv’s pov to tell a few things on what is happening in West pack. And then you will have two more bonus chapters. One from Alioth’s pov (For there is a *cough* battle *cough* going between the stars too) and other from Aspen’s pov.

I am getting quite a few comments about these bonus chapters. Like why is the author giving these bonus chapters without even completing the story? And do these bonus chapters matter?

Look, I appreciate that you care about Lyra and Aries but I am trying to tell many stories in one book. Like literally, I can pick three stories told in this book, each of which will have its own continuation. I know what I doing (Please trust me on this). I don’t get it why people comment on it when I clearly said it was your wish to read it or not.

Anyways, after these bumpy eight chapters, Aries will be over and Taurus will begin. Hopefully, I can finish Aries by the end of October.

Until the next update,

~Quill