Alpha Jace’s Salvation

Where Was Ariana?

ALPHA JACE SLAVO

Do I look like a joke to her? She must have thought I was a clown to play such stupid tricks on me. How could she believe it? Argh! This tiny half-human was making me mad, and she was pushing me gradually to a place I didn't want to be.

I was here, belittling myself and dragging my standards to her low level because of what I wanted, but she was making a fool out of me. A whole me!

“What are you saying, man? Cut her some slacks. She was scared to see you shift. You didn't even prepare her mind before showing her who you are. You know, She didn't grow up among our kind.”

“What have I gotten from being patient with her? She’s trying to escape, Lev!”

I cut my wolf banter off. Lev was still licking his bruised ego after Ariana gazed at him with fear in her eyes, and I understood that she needed some time to adapt, but I didn't have that time. Well, I wasn’t sure I had much time on my side.

“Please l-let m-me go. I won't say a word to anyone.”

My half-human, half-wolf mate stuttered, avoiding me and my eyes. Her fear smelled delicious, and somehow I was pleased that she was scared of me even though Lev didn't appreciate that. I have always liked perceiving fear from my victims or opponents.

I told Alison to give us some privacy even though she already knew what I was about to do. Ariana didn't seem to like being left alone with me, and she protested immediately, running to Alison’s side.

“Don’t leave me with him! H-he’s planning to kill me.”

Alison might look charming and innocent until she reveals her witch face. I was scared the first time I saw it, and I was sure that Ariana would die from shock if she realized that Alison was no better than I was.

“Shush, Ariana. He won’t kill you. Trust me.”

My petite witch assured my scared mate before leaving the sitting area for us. Ariana was shaking like a wet rat with her gaze on everything in the room except me.

“I can kill you if you stress me. I would have killed you if I didn’t need you to give birth to my heir.”

I revealed evilly and watched Ariana’s eyes meet mine. Her orbs were flexing as her fear multiplied. If possible, I chuckled darkly, sitting and motioning for my fated mate to sit.

“You’ve got the wrong person. Please let me go.”

Ariana's hazel eyes pleaded with me along with her voice. She refused to sit, though. My fated mate didn't understand that I had never been wrong. Maybe that once, but I believe Alison's spells couldn't have gone wrong.

Alison was my loyal subject, and whatever she said always turned out to be the truth. So Ariana was my mate.

“You’re so slow, dammit! I can't let you go. I need you for one thing.”

I barked. It was tiring to think I needed someone my kind hated to bring my son into the world. My fated mate flung away from me when I raised my voice, whimpering just as she had done countless times after she fainted.

Humans are pathetic because they allow fear of the unknown to rule over them. They were too weak to understand that the world wasn’t created for them alone. The few who found out about werewolves and other living creatures evolved and called themselves Hunters.

It would have been better if Ariana was a Hunter. At least she would have some fire in her. The more I looked at my fated mate, the more I wondered if her weak genes won't affect my son. I couldn't afford to have a worthless son.

A weak son could never uphold the strong legacy I had built since I was born.

“You can get anyone else to birth your child. I can't be that person. I'll return all the money you gave me and my family.”

“Shut up! How do you intend to pay me? By working in a shabby cafe? And have you forgotten that you signed a deal? Isn't that supposed to be some binding means among humans?”

Ariana stared at me like I was a ticking time bomb she had to escape from by all means. There was no way she was running, though. I came this far to find her, and I would do everything to take her back with me if I had to kidnap or command Alison to cast a spell on her.

“We can nullify the deal. I didn't know what I was getting into before I signed, so we might as well call the whole thing a scam.”

My fated mate said, composing herself so she could achieve her goal, but that wouldn't happen because I would never allow it. She was brilliant for someone as poor as she was, but sadly, I didn't need to be wise to get what I wanted.

All I needed was power, and I had it.

“Okay. Let’s nullify the contract between us.”

I responded, shocking Ariana, but I said nothing as I picked up the documents from where they had been lying on the table and tore them into pieces. My fated mate gawked at me as I proceeded with the nullification process.

“Every benefit that I had stated here no longer applies. I won't help you to college, I won't find your mother, nor will I take care of your family, and I will take my money back from those that I had paid for when you were traveling through the nightmare world in the most brutal way they have ever endured.”

I emphasized every part of my statement without breaking eye contact with Ariana’s captivating Hazel eyes.

“All those are the benefits you would have endured if you accepted my terms, but now that you have rejected me without hesitating, I would snatch you away without hesitating,” I added, revealing the wicked plans I had in store for her.

“What! You can’t do that–” My fated mate yelled, irritating me further, and I cut her off before she could finish.

“I can do whatever I want, young lady! And you are coming with me to the dark land whether you like it or not!”

I yelled right back. Maybe the wake half-human wasn't as weak as I thought, or did I see the tiny flake of fire blazing in her eyes wrong? It had to be in my head because the fire was absent from her cold teary eyes when I checked again.

Something pricked my chest from within when I saw the tears I had caused, and I knew it was the mate bond at work again. I had also blocked my mate from reaching me because I knew he wouldn't let me use this method on his weak mate.

I could sense wheels and bulbs going off in Ariana’s head as she shifted away from me, shaking her head and constructing ideas on how to help herself out of the hotel. I didn't want to use this method, either, but I couldn't go on my knees to beg a seventeen year old weakling.

I‘m Alpha Jace Slavo. I wasn’t known for begging, and I wouldn't start with a half-human, half-wolf that I could quickly force to do my bidding.

“Don't think about running away or screaming because you can't outrun me, nor can anyone hear you because this suite is soundproof. Thanks to Alison’s magic.” To clarify, and scared Ariana. It was wicked, but it was fun for me.

“And yes, Alison is just like me. She is a witch, too, so try not to make her furious. You won’t like the outcome.”

I added before leaving the sitting room for my room but not without telling Ariana to rest well through the night because we had a long road trip tomorrow. Ariana sobbed for hours, probably thinking I couldn't hear her since I said.

“You should be working on how to make her less terrified of you. How do you plan to impregnate someone that hates you?”

Lev lectured like always when I finally let my guard down. He was right, though, but I wasn't thinking about bedding Ariana until she clocks eighteen. I hoped that was soon, though, because it might be too late for me and my pack.

All I was working towards was getting my fated mate out of the human environment. Alison and I also have limited time left. The hunters might have picked up our scents by now, and they would come for us.

I wasn't in the mood to fight, and I didn't want to face the hunters after sustaining a wound that had refused to heal as a normal wound would have.

“Talk to me, Jace.” My wolf called out.

“I will do whatever it takes when the time comes. Now, let's worry about how to get her home without complications.”

I replied, and surprisingly, my wolf didn’t ask any more questions. That was unlike him, but I couldn't complain because I liked the peace I enjoyed. I prepared myself to sleep, but my attempt was interrupted when the fire alarm resounded throughout my room. Or, more appropriately, throughout the hotel building. How on earth did fire break out?

It wasn't possible because the hotel was well known for being extra tight with their security, according to what Enzo told me when he explained things to me before I left the pack. Unless someone intentionally starts the fire!

“Alpha! She did it!”

Alison's voice rang alarmingly in my mind. It couldn’t be my weak half-human mate. f**k!

I rushed out of the room to get a hold of Ariana because it was only a matter of time before the hotel management came running in to get everyone out. I tried to follow her scent, but it wasn't dominant yet because she was underage, and the smoke of the fire she started invaded my nostrils instead.

“Where is she, Alison!”I yelled through the mindlink, but I didn't get a response from Alison.

It was as if she had vanished to a faraway place that even the mindlink couldn’t reach. I searched through the suite, and when I finally went to the entrance, thinking both Ariana and Alison might have somehow left the suite without the key card.

Alison could, but Ariana could never, so she had to still be inside the suites with me. The entrance door barged open before I could reach it, and four men in firefighters' suits came into my suite without my permission.

“Evacuate the building! Is there anyone here with you?” Someone questioned, but my eyes were hell-bent on the figure that slipped out of the suite through the open door.

It was her. Ariana! I followed her out without answering the questions fired at me. Alison wasn’t in the suite anymore, and if she were somehow there, she would find her way out. She was a witch, after all.

“How dare you start a fire just to escape! Do you know how many human lives you just endangered!”

Not that I cared, but I still barked at Ariana when I caught up with her. She didn't stop walking, so I had to halt her positive steps by placing my arms on her shoulders.

“Stop fighting our fate!” I shouted as I turned my fated mate around to face me, only it wasn't the face I expected to see, and the clouded eyes that stared into my soul weren't the hazel ones that belonged to my half-human, half-wolf mate.

Where was Ariana?