THIRD PERSON'S POV.
Alpha Ares was proud of his doings. He has grown up to become a very strong and powerful Lycan and Alpha who was widely known around the world.
But lately, he had been feeling really... empty, putting it lightly. He looked at the sky, the Moon Goddess was really testing his patience. It has been thousands of years and still she hasn't given him a mate. It was really getting to him.
He looked beside him to find his Beta, Czar, looking as sullen as ever. Czar had lost his mate but it was almost a damn year and he still hasn't gotten over her death. Was this how he was going to be for the rest of the damn year? Ares thought with pity.
But he didn't say it out loud. Probably because he didn't know what it felt like to have a mate, hence he kept his mouth shut.
They were both sitting on a bench in the garden with a bottle of Cheval Blanc between them. While Czar was still nursing the loss of his mate by getting drunk every single time, Ares was nursing the absence of a mate in his life.
Could it be a form of punishment from the Moon Goddess for the law he put up?
If so, she was doing a shitty job at laying it out. Ares was damn sure he could live without a mate for the rest of his life.
He knew he had the looks and could get pussy without any fuss.
"So why do I feel so damn empty?" Ares mumbled to himself.
He gave Czar a shrug when the man turned to look at him questioningly.
Ares was going for another shot when a guard hurriedly walked to them.
"Alpha," The guard bowed down before straightening. "We found a girl on the borders of the North."
Ares barely looked at him. "What do I do with that information?" He drly asked.
The guard wasn't surprised at his Alpha's attitude. "She's beaten up pretty badly, said she escaped from a sex slave ring."
Ares tensed up before looking at Czar who was already up on his feet.
He knew it was such a touchy subject for Czar because his mate was kidnapped and taken to a sex slave ring before she was killed.
"Where is she?" Ares demanded.
"The dungeon, Alpha." The guard responded.
Czar was already walking ahead of them. He couldn't save his mate but there was no way he wasn't going to other victims to die like that. His mate wasn't going to forgive him.
"Let's go."
They all walked to the dungeon where Ares found a girl curled up into a ball close to the wall. She was backed into the cell that Ares and Czar couldn't see her.
"We're not here to hurt you, you can come out," Czar spoke up.
Ares knew not to intervene when he wasn't asked. This was Czar's scene but as the girl crawled forward and into the light and locked eyes with Ares, he didn't register when his legs walked him forward.
His breath hitched as he stared into her green eyes, hypnotized. Ares was sure he must've been hypnotized because one minute he was standing behind her cell, and the next minute he was opening up her cell and walking towards her. He squatted by her side and moved her white hair behind her ears so he could see more of her face.
"What's your name?" Ares couldn't help but ask, she was the prettiest woman he had ever seen. He didn't know what was happening or why he was doing what he was doing, he just did what his body told him to.
"Lenora." She responded.
Jesus. Ares's breath hitched. He had never heard a voice as soft and innocent as hers. "Lenora." Her name rolled off his lips like butter.
Czar and the guard exchanged looks. Did their Alpha just find his mate? They thought to themselves.
But Ares knew she wasn't his mate. His heart wasn't pounding with love neither was his Lycan howling with joy. And he couldn't even recognize her scent. She definitely wasn't his mate.
But there was one prominent feeling. The feeling of lust. Ares knew he was incredibly attracted to her.
He couldn't shake the feeling off. He quickly stood up and backed away from her trembling form.
"Take care of it." He said shakily to Czar. "I'll be outside."
And Ares stood outside the dungeon for minutes, thinking about what just happened inside. It was foreign and he was shaken by it. He waited until Czar stepped out before bombarding him with questions.
"What is she?" Was the first question Ares had asked. He wanted to know what she was. He knew she wasn't human but she also wasn't a werewolf or Lycan. Neither was she a vampire.
Czar shook his head. "I can't seem to figure it out. I asked her if she could remember where was taken to and who was running the ring but she couldn't answer. She only said she was the only person kidnapped."
"Maybe she's shaken by everything." Ares blurted out.
He frowned. He didn't know why he was suddenly defending her inability to speak. He couldn't seem to figure out why he became suddenly defensive about her.
What was going on?
"Do you think she's telling the truth?" He asked Czar.
And for a while, Czar looked lost. "I... I don't know. Everything just feels off... But then, she looks roughed up."
Czar looked at Ares, asking him the same question with his eyes and for the first time in a while Ares was left speechless.
He also didn't know.
"Invite the doctor to check her out," Ares instructed before walking away from a worried Czar.
Czar didn't know what was happening or what Ares was doing but he had this feeling inside of him telling him this was wrong and for the first time since he found out his mate went missing, an unsettling feeling was brewing deep inside of him.
And he had a feeling Lenora was going to stay for a while.
~
'A while' turned into days, days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months but Lenora was still in the mansion.
Ares had decided to keep her and they were closer than ever. His lust for her was insatiable and they were always fucking like rabbits around each other.
Czar was extremely worried. They still haven't figured out who Lenora was or where was from but Ares didn't care.
Infact when Czar had mentioned to Ares that something was fishy about Lenora, Ares had explicitly told Czar to 'mind his fucking business'.
But Czar couldn't mind his fucking business, not when the affairs of the pack were visibly falling apart because Ares couldn't keep his dick out of Lenora. He was so smitten by her.
There have been numerous attacks on the borders of the pack but Ares still hasn't given the go-ahead to find the perpetrators and kill them. Even after the killings of pack members.
And Czar had a feeling that Lenora had something to do with those attacks. She was a manipulative and evil bitch but Ares couldn't see it. Probably because she was meaner behind his back but acted like a fucking angel whenever Ares was around. Everyone in the mansion knew how mean Lenora was and whenever it was mentioned in the presence of Ares he made sure to lock the person in the cell, hence the reason why nobody was speaking up.
But it all made sense one day. The day the whole pack was attacked. The day nobody ever speaks of. The day Lenora's whole scheme was revealed.
There had been an attack on the border that morning, but as usual, when Czar burst into Ares's office to inform him, he had found Ares balls deep inside Lenora.
"We have to do something, Ares." Czar didn't care anymore, he walked into Ares's office as he pounded into Lenora from behind. "These rogues are closing in on us again. I have a feeling we're going to lose lives today."
"If they're not attacking my guards, then I say we forget about it," Ares replied, panting and pounding harder without a care in the world.
"I can't." Czar snapped. "I am so fucking tired of you brushing off the deaths of your people like it's nothing. People are fucking dying, Ares."
Lenora whined out of frustration. Sending a glare to Czar and Ares finally paused, releasing a huge sigh as if Czar was becoming a nuisance to him. To them. "Leave us, Czar. This will be discussed some other time, as you can see I am attending to other prominent matters."
Czar walked towards them and slammed his hands on the table. "Prominent? Are you fucking stupid?! The people are dying, Ares. The earlier you realise you've pushed us to the brink of collapsing the fucking better!"
"I-"
A guard barged into the office, panting and sweating hard. "Alpha, Alpha! We're being attacked!"
That made Ares withdraw from Lenora and zipped up his slacks. "What do you mean?" He snapped at the guard. Tucking his dress shirt into his pants he then walked to the guard.
Czar watched as Lenora arranged her clothing with disgust etched all over his face. The little bump that was her tummy made him question how they all got here.
Yes, Lenora was pregnant for Ares.
"The rogues and the vampires are attacking the villagers, Alpha. They're heading towards the mansion now!" The guard stared at Ares, waiting... "Alpha, we need to fight back."
A commotion came from downstairs causing everyone to keep quiet. The screams maids and grunts of the guards had everyone running downstairs, including Lenora.
The sight they all met was a shock to them. Right in the middle of the mansion was a group of vampires, with blood splattered all over their grinning faces.
"What are you doing here?" Ares barked at them.
Czar including the rest of the guards stared at him with shock. Why was he questioning them instead of attacking them?
What was wrong with their Alpha?
"I'm here for my love, Lenora baby, come to me." The bulkier vampire, the one who was their leader spoke up. A tiny smirk on his bloodstained lips.
Salvatore. That was his name. A longtime enemy of Ares.
Ares who was standing in front of a trembling Lenora got into a defensive stance. "She's not going anywhere. What do you want from us, Salvatore?"
Salvatore chuckled. "I'm here to kill you and your little mutts. I think that's pretty obvious. And I'm here to take my mate back to where she belongs."
Ares furrowed his brow. His mate? What was he talking about? "What the hell are you going on about, Salvatore?" He was fuming this time.
Salvatore smirked and in a flash, he came to stand directly in front of Ares. "Lenora here is the only way I could get to you. We all know how insatiable unmated Lycans can get, what other to bring your defences down than a beautiful seductress?"
"Seductress?" Ares whispered. His patience was thinning and he needed answers fast.
He turned to face Lenora. "Do you know him?" He asked, fuming.
Lenora turned mute. She was shaking as she stared at Ares.
He grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'm asking you again, Lenora, do you fucking know him?!" He barked out.
Salvatore appeared beside them and when he looked at Lenora's protruding tummy he tensed up. The veins in the neck pulsed and he glared at the swollen stomach.
"You're pregnant for him," Salvatore stated. His voice was surprisingly calm.
He tugged her out of Ares's grip. "You fucking got pregnant for him? Are you fucking serious, Lenora?!"
Tears began to stream out of Lenora's eyes. "It wasn't supposed to be like this... I fell in love with him, Salvatore... Please don't do this."
Ares felt his heartbeat quicken. "What?" He whispered harshly.
Czar could only stare at the scene. He wasn't surprised. He knew something was up with her since the first day.
They all watched as Salvatore ordered someone to hold her still before putting a necklace around her neck.
Lenora suddenly changed. Her long white hair became longer but her green eyes turned to a striking blue colour that filled her whole eyes, and her fingers turned into webs.
"Salvatore!" Lenora gasped, revealing sharp teeth.
"Jesus." Ares gasped. She was a fucking siren.
Everything suddenly made sense when Salvatore spoke again.
"Lenora here hypnotized you. Immediately you looked into her eyes she made you a little pawn in her palm, I instructed her to make you fall in love with her, to weaken your defences and make you look like a fucking fool. And she did good," He smiled proudly then sneered, "Until she messed up until she got pregnant for you like a fucking slut!"
Ares sucked in a sharp breath at the same time as Czar.
"I fucking told you," Czar murmured.
Ares didn't respond, he watched as Lenora begged Salvatore but all her pleas fell on deaf ears because one moment Salvatore smiled cruelly the next moment he swiped his fingers over her stomach, slitting it open and the scene in front of them turned gruesome.
"Jesus," Czar breathed out harshly. As werewolves, they had seen every gruesome scene in every way but this... this was entirely different. This was downright evil.
They all watched as Lenora struggled to breathe before she fell to the floor in a heap.
"That was for betraying me," Salvatore whispered, looking down at his dead mate without any remorse.
Salvatore signalled the others and they all disappeared. It was almost as if they were never here.
Czar, the guards and everyone present all turned to look at Ares. Trying to depict his emotions, trying to figure out what he was going to do next.
But Ares did nothing. He was completely numb. It wasn't even because of the death of Lenora, no, he didn't give a fuck about her. It was the death of his unborn child that had him numb, the fact that he had been deceived by a woman, he had let his pack down.
He had let everyone down.
He looked at the body on the floor, before speaking to no one. "Get rid of it."
And he left.
With his heart in his throat.