“That's yes, General Sir,” he teased her and she broke away. She couldn't even stand the light flirting that actors often spat out. She knew it meant nothing, but it reminded her of a time when it did.
How the crowds got to the stage door so fast was stunning to her. It was almost as if some of them had left the show early just to meet her. When she pushed it open, they cheered at the top of their lungs, shoving against her.
Ariel shoved back, snapping at those who got too close. She told herself that she would sign ten autographs – that was it – and then she would go back in. Ten was a significant number; they couldn't blame her for that.
“What name do you want me to make it out to?” she grabbed a tenth one, grateful that it would only be a few seconds. Frankly, she didn't care who they were or what they wanted written, so long as it was short.
“Katianna,” said a voice.
Ariel froze, looking up.
Two different colored eyes looked back at her, a smile on her face. She didn't look anything like the last girl. The only similarities were the eyes and Spencer standing beside her.
Ariel had never been rendered speechless before. Her jaw fell open, and she stared at Spencer, shaking her head.
“No,” she said. “No. This isn't real.”
“And yet the proof stands right in front of you,” Spencer said softly. “Can't you feel it?”
“I felt you,” Ariel said, quickly. “That's it.”
“Well, from what I understand, it's been a while since you honed your skills,” he answered. “You were radiant on the stage, just as we remember.”
“You remember,” she said, looking back to Katianna, “Just one of you remembers.”
“I remember you,” Katianna replied. She had dark skin this time around, and she was taller and curvier than last time. But something about a firm lilt in her voice sent shivers down Ariel's spine. “I used to watch videos of you last time. And this time.”
“No.” Ariel closed her eyes. “No. We went over the possibilities. We investigated–”
“And what did you find?” Spencer asked. “Anything conclusive?”
“No,” she admitted. “But–”
“Ariel, would you do us the honor of having a drink with us tonight?” Spencer asked. “We're across the street, at the Marriott.”
“Why?” Ariel asked. “We weren't close. Why did you seek me out?”
“There's something I need to tell you,” Spencer replied. “For old time's sake, then. For Alexander.”
He used the magic word – the word that he knew she couldn't deny. She nodded silently, agreeing to meet them at their room.
What in the world did he want to talk to her about? What did it matter? What he have to say, she thought?
Still, she couldn't stay away. She rushed through the interview and barely changed before she headed across the street. Her heart was hammering as she got into the elevator, taking it to the top floor.
She knocked on the door to the penthouse with sweaty palms, brushing her hair back from her eyes. The doors were mirrored, and she stared at her reflection for a few moments. She was still gorgeous, her red hair and still a solid color. Her face was more defined, as often happened with age. Her small body was a little wider, her legs a little thicker.
She had a briefly thought of Alexander, seeing the fact that stared back at her. If he was still around, would he still think she was beautiful? Would he still love her? Or would their marriage have given up the ghost a long time ago?
Spencer pulled open the door with a smile.
“Ariel, thank you for coming.”
“Please make it fast,” she said as she stepped into the room. “I don't have long, and I'm tired.”
“Of course,” he said. “You were working. Katianna, Ariel is here.”
She came out of the bedroom, starling Ariel all over again with her face. Ariel looked her up and down hesitantly.
“I heard your death was painful,” Ariel said at last, the only thing she could think of saying. Katianna smiled.
“That part, I don't remember. I only remember good memories of last time. You and I in the palace, staring each other down like this. We were almost friends by the end, I think.”
“Anyone could know that,” Ariel said, clutching her purse with shaking hands. “Anything that you claim to know, anyone could guess, or Spencer could feed to you.”
Katianna glanced to Spencer, who seemed relaxed.
“Yes,” Spencer admitted. “You are right. Everything that she knows, everything that happened with her graves, it could just be logically explained away. But the feelings you know in your heart, Ariel, the feeling you have when you see the person you are supposed to spend the rest of your life with, those don't have an explanation. You just look at someone, and you know, even if they are in a different body.”
“Why I am here?” she asked, at last. “Did you bring me here to throw my sad love life in his face?”
“No,” Spencer said. “I'm sorry. We should have made it clear. Come this way.”
“Why?” she half whined, her shoulders sinking as she followed him to the second part of their suite. Spencer pushed open the door to the bedroom, and Ariel suddenly froze.
It felt like when she saw the wolves in the throne room. Something felt familiar, and yet different. Something was compelling, buried underneath a different coat.
Inside the bedroom was a young man. He had golden hair, falling into his eyes, and he was wearing a suit, well cut to his lanky frame. His cheek bones were high, his jaw was strong, and he was a few inches taller than her.
He met her eyes, and she felt like her chest seized up. She knew this feeling, this magical strain, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
“Hello,” the young man said, staring at her. “I think we know each other.”
“Alexander?” her voice finally cracked. He took a step forward, and she took in a huge breath, feeling the magic.
“You were my wife, weren't you?” he said, softly. “You were my love.”
“Yes,” tears slipped down her face. “But it's been twenty years.”
“You are beautiful,” he said, and she fell into his arms. “Still.”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, laying her head on his chest. “Oh, my God, is this real?”
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I want it to be real,” she sobbed, her walls coming down.
“Then it is real,” he replied, and she said no more, remembering their wedding vows.
“Till death do us part,” they had said.
And beyond.
***THE END***
Loved by Alpha Wolf Preview
Shadow Claw Book 3
Sarah J. Stone
Chapter 1
She stared at the ceiling, her eyes dull. It was the same stone ceiling. How long had she been here? Who was she? These questions came to her every now and then, but she never had an answer for them. The warmth of the wolf inside her comforted her and she wanted to shift back, but they would return soon, and if she was in her wolf form, they would torture her even more.
Every day was the same. She studied the fresh scars on her body which layered over the faded ones. Didn’t they tire of asking the same questions day after day? She still had no answer. Her wolf whimpered in misery, and she shushed it.
She had seen that wolf again in her dreams. His silver fur was so beautiful that she wanted to run her hands through it. He had been running. She had called out to him, but he didn’t stop. Those crystal blue eyes had been hauntingly sad. His size revealed him to be a shifter.
She tried to swallow and realized that her mouth was dry. They hadn’t fed her in over a week. Punishment, she had been told, for being such a stubborn bitch and not giving them the information they wanted.
Her lower body ached, and she tried to distract herself by tracing patterns on the roof with her eyes. Shame, embarrassment – these words no longer meant anything to her. What use was t
here in feeling guilt over something that she couldn’t control? Besides, they would like it if she begged them to stop. They became more vicious when she cried. So, she had just stopped.
The air was stale in her cell, but then again, she was accustomed to it already. She would rather think about that silver wolf. She ignored the shooting pain in her stomach and visualized that wolf again. Wondering if she knew him from somewhere, she felt a tug on her hair. The rat scurried by, and when it came too close, she snapped at it. She wasn’t going to make a meal out of it, but it must have sensed the predator in her because it hissed and ran for cover, squeezing itself under the door toward freedom.
She heard muffled voices, and her wolf snarled. She didn’t know why she still resisted or how she still had any fight left in her. She had nothing to lose now. But a part of her refused to believe that. Even now, something inside of her quivered with determination, but what she was trying to protect, she had no idea.
It was that very determination that made her snarl when the door opened and the men entered. She fought when they grabbed the chain fastened around her neck and pulled.
No, they still hadn’t managed to break her completely.
Not quite far away, a silver streak darted between the trees. It stopped at a rise in the ground which overlooked the forest and waited for its companions to catch up. A large, grey wolf stepped out from among the trees, followed closely by his black companion.
The silver wolf shifted into a naked man, and he leaned down to untie the bundle on his leg. His cropped silver hair stood out against his tanned complexion. Clear blue eyes held signs of exhaustion, but also a fierce determination. He unrolled the thin jeans and tugged them on as his companions did the same. Taking out the map, he studied their location and looked over the trees from the edge where he stood.
“A day’s journey at most. You guys start a fire. I’m going to go check in with Raoul.”
He took out his flip phone and called up his senior lieutenant.
“Fergus. Any update?”
Raoul was in charge of the Tikaanis while Fergus was away. Fergus trusted him, but he never trusted anyone completely. And as an alpha, he always liked to be aware of everything that was going on.
“Getting closer. Everything okay at your end?”
When Raoul hesitated, the alpha immediately came to alert. “What’s going on?”
A sigh. “Gina had some complications with the pup, so the elders took her to the nursery.”
His wolf shifted. His packmate was in pain. He wanted to be there to comfort her. “How bad is it?”
“Don’t know yet. No word has come. Payton wanted get access to the nursery to check up on her.”
Fergus’ tone turned sharp. “Well?”
Raoul sounded annoyed, and he heard the sound of papers being shuffled. “Of course not. I didn’t forget, Fergus.”
The wolf alpha felt the tightness in his chest ease, and he grinned. “Never doubted you for a second, man.”
“Asshole.” His friend’s tone was light. “Tell me when you find Diana.” Fergus was about to disconnect when he heard Raoul say, “There’ve been a few sightings of humans in the area. The wild wolves drew them off. Just thought I should let you know.”
Fergus frowned as he turned around to see the two lieutenants he had brought with him arguing with each other. “Create overlaps in duties. And add one more soldier to the rounds.”
He tucked the phone in his back pocket, the frown still present on his face. Humans. Why would they wander so far into the woods? Even hunters kept to the outer limits. On second thought, he took out his phone and dialed Luke.
The bear alpha was not pleased to be disturbed.
“What do you want, wolf?”
From the background, Cassie called out, “Hey Fergus!”
Fergus smiled. Cassie reminded him of Diana in so many ways, and she had managed to wiggle her way into his heart. He had never had a younger sister, but if he could have chosen one, it would have been Cassie.
“How’s my favorite girl?”
“She’s pregnant. And she’s not your anything. Now what do you want?”
Although gruff to the point of rude, Fergus knew that Luke was concerned about him. He had even offered to tag along. The wolf alpha would have appreciated his strength, but he couldn’t tear him away from his mate who was due any day.
Hearing muffled voices in the background, he got straight to the point. “Have you seen any humans in your area?”
That took Luke by surprise, as it had him. “Humans? Why would they come to the back ends of the woods?”
“Some hunters have been sniffing around our territory.”
Luke’s voice turned grim. “The pups–”
“Safe for now. They’re too deep in.”
“I’ll increase patrols.”
After a few brief seconds where Cassie argued with her mate and grabbed the phone from him to ask Fergus about his mission, he closed the phone and made his way back to their makeshift campsite.
Luke and Cassie were aware of where his pack’s pups were hidden. It was a safety precaution. If he ever got himself captured or killed, Shadow Claw’s alpha pair were to assist the elders of his pack to relocate the nursery. It was a carefully thought out decision. He didn’t know why Diana had sent him that last message before suffocating their mating bond, but he had taken it very seriously.
Alan, their pack healer and one of Tikaanis’ lieutenants, was making a poor attempt at hiding his yawn. His grey hair, which resembled his wolf’s coat, was all mussed up.
“Get some sleep,” Fergus told him. “I’ll keep first watch. You, too, Matt.”
Matt was a broad-shouldered, hulking wolf, and he was already snoring, having shifted back to his wolf form. He had probably only shifted to call his one-year-old daughter, Lizzie, and his mate, Tara. For all his threatening appearance, the lieutenant was tightly wrapped around his mischievous one year old’s finger.
Fergus shifted and settled on the ground, letting his packmates sleep.
Two wild wolves came out from behind the trees and watched him warily. Fergus gave them an unblinking stare and they bared their throat submissively and settled down near him.
The next morning, he heard the scraping of something along the ground and opened his eyes to see Matt dragging along a freshly killed deer. He lifted his head and watched from his spot as Alan got up and stretched in wolf form. His mouth opened in a yawn, displaying all his teeth. Those grey ears perked up in interest at the prospect of a meal. Both his packmates looked toward him. Being an alpha, he had the first right to everything.
Fergus turned his head away in disinterest.
He had no appetite.
He got up and walked away from his packmates. Shifting, he dug in his jeans that lay on the ground to study the map again.
Ten years.
Did she know that he had thought her dead all this time? That he had stopped searching for her when he had found her skinned fur? That he had mourned for years, but he hadn’t looked for her?
His heart clenched as he recalled the day he had stumbled across her skin. He had buried it as his wolf had howled and howled. He had broken down and held – what he had thought – was all that remained of her, to his chest. It was like somebody had ripped out his heart and clawed through it until it was in shreds.
If not for the pups, he would never have returned. He had let no one touch him but the pups, his grief so tangible. His world had become a broken shell in which nothing mattered. He wouldn’t even play with the young pups who tried to offer comfort for a sorrow their young minds were too innocent to comprehend. They had licked him, tumbled over him, clambered on him, and tried to engage him, but his heart had become numb after months of that wild grief.
When the pack started crumbling, he had been forced out of his grief, and he concealed his heart under layers of stone. He once again led the pack. He became the alpha they needed. And Diana became a taboo topic. When he fought
, it was with wild abandon as if he had nothing to lose. Because he didn’t. Every battle he went into, he hoped it was his last.
But the gods had not decreed it so.
The wild wolves that were now consuming the remains of the deer ignored his presence as he stalked past them.
His voice was quiet, filled with unrestrained impatience. “Let’s go.”
This time, the wolf alpha didn’t shift. He was faster in both forms. His silver fur belied his association with the Tikaanis. He belonged to one of the northern packs which claimed to be royalty, or so he had found out from the archives. Although why royalty would dump one of their own was beyond him. Not that he cared. When he had been old enough, he and Diana had gone roaming together, and they had looked for his old pack. Their claimed territory had been abandoned and destroyed, which had made him question back then whether he truly was an orphan now. Of course, Diana hadn’t liked his tone, so she had kicked his ass.
A sad grin flitted over his lips.
His mate was a wild creature in her own right. She had been the one to find him. He had been a one-year-old pup when she had stumbled onto him. A three-year age gap between them had done nothing to diminish his feelings for her.
From a childish devotion to a teenage crush and settling into a firm determination to make her his, the fact that she had been more dominant than him when they were young had not even been a deterrent. He had grown into his dominance, and where he had once chased her, the other pack females chased him. A fact that had bit at Diana.
His heart thumped as he remembered all the antics he had done to get her attention. He had even recorded him howling her name as her ringtone.
She had been so mad.
His eyes flipped to the map in his hand, and he stopped, raising his hand.
His packmates froze and sniffed the air. There was a strange scent – a very familiar one, like rotting corpses. Fergus frowned. What would ghouls be doing in this part of the forest? They stayed to their graveyards or underground hubs.
He studied the ground, but there was no upraised earth, no rotting flowers. Just the scent.
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