My Cinderella Luna: Tests and Temptations

Chapter 3: Sadness and Fear

Ari woke as early as she could and took a bath excitedly. Arcus would be showing her around as they go horseback riding and she couldn’t wait to see the rest of the seemingly endless fields of Eternal Moon Pack. 

With a robe wrapped around her body, she feverishly searched for her riding clothes. But her heart skipped a beat when she realized that her riding clothes were not in the cabinet. She remembered it being carefully placed by her maid in her travelling bag but why was it not among the neatly folded and hanged clothes there? Ari wanted to cry, what would she wear? 

She was walking back and forth when she heard a knock on her door, “Ari? Are you ready? Can I come in?” 

Oh Council of Gods, why is he there so early!?

Ari didn’t know what to do but she had to answer the persistent call of the young man at the other side of the door. 

Ari nervously reached the doorknob and let Arcus in with a tight smile and bloodshot eyes.

“Hey what happened?” Arcus immediately reached her face, concerned. Instead of answering him, Ari looked down ashamed.

“I’m so sorry, Arcus, but I cannot go with you to see the field today.” 

“What? What happened?” His knuckles brushed her cheek and when she still did not lift her face, he forced her by tipping her chin. 

“Ari, what’s wrong? Tell me, please tell me, little one.” Her violet eyes once again melted Arcus' heart when she met his gaze. He couldn’t stop taking a deep breath as her worried eyes reached his soul. He felt her pulling him without her doing anything at all, but Arcus dropped the thoughts away, because Ari, this little sweet girl, was sad. He never wanted her to feel it. He wanted her to smile all the damn time and to just be simply her and enjoy her stay in their pack

Ari was hesitant to tell Arcus her problem, but she didn’t want to lie and so she told him.

“I-.” She paused. 

“Yes, little one, tell me, what is it?” He encouraged her. 

“I have no riding clothes, Arcus.” She blurted. 

Arcus wanted to laugh but he didn’t. But his laugh was evident in his eyes, which curled Ari’s eyebrows. 

“Are you trying to hide your laughter, somehow?” The little girl inquired. There was nothing funny about not having riding clothes. So she followed her question by stating that. 

Arcus’ shoulders started to shake, he really could not help the hilarity of Arinya’s problem. 

“Ari, Ari… and I thought you lost a tooth or something.” His shoulders were still shaking when he grabbed her shoulders, but he abruptly froze when an idea came to his mind.

Ari looked hurt, she couldn’t get it why her problem would be funny for Arcus. When Arcus snapped out of his trance, Ari’s eyes were already watery, her tears were about to fall. 

Arcus’ eyes grew wide.

The little girl turned her back from him and walked towards her bag. Since she didn’t have anything else to wear she would be stocked at what was left in her bag but before she could grab it, slender fingers curled her arms and forced her to turn. 

“Ari, let me explain.” 

Ari crossed her arms trying to look pissed. Her tears were already at bay. She waited for Arcus to speak. He better make his explanation a good one.

“I laugh, because, you see. Yesterday you mentioned horseback riding in the show of skills, but it turned out that you didn’t bring riding clothes with you. Well, wasn’t that funny? I mean, Ari, you were strutting yesterday about your horseback riding skills.” He released another short laugh once more. 

“I’m sorry, but, I couldn’t just stop myself remembering your face from yesterday as you proudly say that horseback riding is your skill to show.” 

“Haha, that’s very funny, Arcus, go ahead and laugh to your heart’s content. If that would make your day, I have no right to stop you.” 

Arcus’ fake a frown, “so, the little one has a sharp tongue after all, what kind of sharpening do you use?” His voice was teasing and his boyish look won Ari over. 

She suddenly burst out laughing. When their mirt subsided, Arcus gently tso that he raced Ari’s elegant face and watched her violet eyes. 

“Listen, wait for me here, I will grab riding clothes for you, I will try to be quick as much as I can, okay?”    

Ari’s eyes grew wide, “really? Aww, thanks, Arcus!” She naturally circled her arms around his waist and pressed her head on his chest, while Arcus fondly patted her head. 

Arcus left hurriedly. To kill time, Ari remembered calling Blake. 

She had to ring him thrice before he answered. 

“What the flying sky, Ari, it was still too early!”

“I’m sorry, your majesty, but an urgent call begs your attention.” Ari tried to sound serious. 

Radio silence. Ari laughed. “Blake!” She shouted. Blake turned off the call. She ended up calling him again, on the third ring he answered.

She accused him of dropping the call which he never denied. She asked him how things were in the pack which he answered with have you been  gone for ten years, Ari? Council of Gods, you were just gone two days.

But Blake still ended up telling her some happenings in their pack. Her favorite horse finally gave birth who had been in labor when they went to travel. His big brother Kevin already found his mate, and many other things. The two friends talked on and on, until Arcus came back. Ari told Blake that she had to go, turned off the phone and headed to the closet. 

The riding clothes were a little larger for her slim size. Ari was only 13 and the owner of the clothes was older than her. But Ari was tall for her age, she was even taller than Dessa, thus, Arcus thought that he was never wrong to ask ‘her’ for some riding clothes to lend Ari. 

“Thank you, Arcus. This is quite comfortable for riding.” 

“Shall we?” Arcus offered the crook of his arm to Ari.

She sweetly smiled at him before saying, “we shall.” 

Arcus took Ari to many beautiful places in their territory. 

To their farms where they enjoyed servings of sweet fruits and vegetables. To the cave where he used to hide away. To the clear spring in the forest, and Ari's favorite spot, the clift. She felt somehow connected with the cliff. 

The view below was spectacular and scary at the same time as the sea below was also embedded with sharp rocks attached to the foot of the cliff. But she didn't mind her fear, the cliff was a beautiful place to be. It was a place that she could stay all day. Sadly she could only visit it while she was in Eternal Moon Pack and they could not stay there forever.

Longing for an older figure that gave her the time of day, Ari grew fond of Arcus. She never wanted their tour to end, thus, she felt a little bit down when Arcus finally saw her to her room. 

"Thank you for your company, little one. I really enjoyed it."

"I did, too, Arcus. I will never forget your kind hospitality. Please take care of Altis, for me, please!" Ari childishly requested. Altis was the white horse she rode during their horseback riding. Altis carried her with grace through their journey and she found him very likable. Ari felt already strongly bonded with the horse. 

"I will. Altis was one of our newest horses. I would make sure to take care of him until he grew old and had a family of his own." 

"Haha, Arcus, here we go again with your corny jokes."

Arcus' smile grew bigger. He couldn't help but touch her cut cheek lightly before he left. 

Three days soon came to pass. Ari enjoyed her morning horseback riding with Arcus, while her two sisters tried their might to capture him after his time with Ari. 

Arcus would relent for a few minutes of chat with the two girls, but in the short span of time, he quickly learned their personalities. Both the two older sisters were so unlike Ari in many ways. They did not have her charm, kindness, and wit. Arcus' time with Arinya were not forced but rather ones that he looked forward to. 

The little girl's company brightened his days. Ari's presence simply turned their castle sunnier, Arcus suddenly realized. In reality, Arcus' whole life seemed to stir differently when he was looking at Ari or whenever he was smelling her scent. 

When he first met the little girl, he could immediately pick up her flowery scent. She was different. She felt different. But Arcus only thought that he was just fond of the little girl as he did not have a little sister. 

It was the last day of the Olympian's Pack visit. Ari's heart was heavy and so was Arcus'. As a long tradition, they would never see each other again until Arcus came to his right age of 21 to get married. The second time that they would meet, it would be at the Olympians Pack and Arcus would choose the one he would marry. 

Arcus was detached to the fact that he would marry one of the girls. Afterall, he had to wait for five more years. It was a long time and for some sick reason, he thought he'd get away from it. Or maybe, some kind of miracle would happen that he would never ever need to marry someone he didn't love. 

Arcus looked fondly at Ari as she walked towards him with a sad smile. He already knew her too well. He knew that the little one was sad to leave. A hollow in his chest grew bigger and bigger as Arin drew closer. He hated seeing her sad. He hated to see her eyes turning a deeper shade of violet because she was trying her best not to cry. 

Arcus would miss her quips, her expressions, her mannerisms, her songs, her sweet, sweet scent. 

Despite his misery though, Arcus never showed his pain in front of everyone. He cheerfully chatted with the visitors and subtly comforted Ari by constantly caressing her hair lightly. He fondly watched her pretty though with a healing wound. The wound had improved a lot and was a dry small scar now, which amazed him. 

When lunch was over, the two Alpha's and Luna's made their way to the study room for a brief meeting before they parted ways while the four younger ones were left pondering their short get to know days. 

"I hope you grow up well, Arinya. I will see you in five years." Arcus said who was not trying his best anymore to cover his irritation towards the other two sisters. 

Meanwhile, because Isbeth knew that her efforts were ineffective to grab Arcus' attention, she decided to play her last card. She signaled Dessa to do the task. 

Dessa grabbed her purse where three large spiders were kept. 

She released them carefully. Ari was ever since very afraid of spiders. She would cry and cry when they were near, but the two sisters would always catch spiders in their homes and put them in plastic containers and would place them beside Ari as she slept. 

As Dessa was sitting near Ari, one of the spiders easily crawled up her knee, its creepy feet swiftly catching her attention. 

When she saw the crawling thing, Ari jumped out of fear, seeking comfort in Arcus' lap. 

"Ah! Arcus, please take it away, take it away!" She kicked and screamed while Arcus desperately held her not knowing what happened. 

"Ari, there are two more spiders!" Isbeth fueling Ari's fear. 

Ari never wanted to look around because she never wanted to know where the spiders were. 

"Hey, little one, calm down, they were just spiders." Arcus already caught up with what was happening.

"No, Arcus. I'm afraid of spiders. Take them away!"

Arcus, effortlessly stood up, carrying Ari in his arms. 

He then barked at their butler to kill the damn spiders. He was fuming. Ari's fear was evident by her trembling small figure.

He walked towards the hall to put her on her bed for a while and keep her company when he felt her bones cracking, her skin hair becoming fur. 

"Ari!"

It happened too quickly, he watched her change in his arms. He heard her bones shifting and her image turning to their another form. Ari's wolf was as white as a snow, but its tails had a shade of purple.