I stared into his eyes as Arius had a conflicted look on his face, staring back at me.
"What else is there, Arius?" I asked him, curiously.
"Nevermind amare, it's not even important," Arius said, putting a smile on his face.
I stood up and said to him, "If that's all, I'm gonna go."
Walking away before he could answer, I went back to find Rissa. Not hearing footsteps behind me, I knew Arius had let me go to think. Mate, something I thought I would never have again. Knowing that the beautiful man was mine was something unexpected. Arius brought up unexpected feelings back into me, mainly lust after him. Although I am conflicted, scared of giving another man a chance to my heart.
As I was walking to Rissa and Leo, I bumped into both Akoni and Allegra.
Once Allegra saw me she said, "Wait up, Ana."
She turned to Akoni and gave him a peck on his cheek. Unsatisfied with the small kiss, Akoni took control and planted a long kiss on Allegra's lips. Clearing my throat for them to remember that I was here, they stopped and turned to me.
"Te amo, Allegra" Akoni said to her.
"Te amo" she said back to him before Aknoi walked away, giving me a wave before leaving.
Allegra turned to me and said, "Are you free?"
"Yep, not like I have anything else to do," I replied.
She chuckled and said, "Let's go find Karisa and I can show you around the kingdom."
"Sure why not?"
We both walked in silence to find Rissa and Leo heavily making out where I had left them.
"Are you going to fuck me, Leo" Rissa asked, breathing hard on top of him.
"Fuck yeah, baby," he replied.
"Ew gross guys," I said, disgusted from the door of the room.
Leo at least had the sense to look embarrassed, unlike Rissa who just looked at me with no shame.
"Oh hey, Nellie," Rissa said, getting off Leo's lap.
I just rolled my eyes and said, "Allegra wants to show us the kingdom, want to come?"
"Sure" she replied, giving Leo a peck before walking towards us.
As we walked, Rissa asked, "Where exactly is the town? We aren't exactly near any civilization since the castle is on a piece of land in the middle of a lake."
"There is a clearing once we cross the forest, so we have to take a chariot to get there. Arius likes his privacy a lot, " Allegra replied.
"Which country are we in though?" I asked.
Allegra looked at me funny once we reached the stables, "We aren't on Earth."
Rissa and I stopped in our tracks and asked, "What do you mean we aren't on Earth?" Rissa asked Allegra.
"Arius's name might not be Satan or Hades, but those stories were created from him. He rules the underworld, the dead basically. The kingdom is made of the dead and they all refer to Arius as their king. Ana, if you accept him as your coniunx then you'll become the queen of the underworld."
I paled once I heard her explanation, Arius hadn't mentioned anything about becoming a fucking queen. I've always preferred fighting battles rather than ruling a kingdom, one of the many reasons I loved my position as beta. Beta, oh shit, how the hell did I forget about Aiden and Xavier. They must have been freaking the fuck out because of my disappearance.
Bringing me out of my thoughts, Rissa asked me, "You ok, Nellie?"
"Aiden, Xavier," I said panickingly.
Before she could answer, I heard a growl behind me, "Who the fuck is Aiden and Xavier?"
Once I heard Arius, I turned to him and said, "You have to take me back, Arius. I have to let them know I'm ok."
Arius darkly chuckled at me and said, "In your fucking dreams mate, will I ever bring you back to unknown males."
I looked into his eyes and saw the red seeping into his blue eyes. I had always known mates to be possessive, alphas to be more, I guess kings of the underworld are the same. Arius's eyes turned completely blood-red as I saw dark horns elongate from his head along with his wings out.
"Well, I guess we aren't going into the town," I heard Rissa say softly behind me.
Arius turned his head to Akoni and Leo, who I hadn't noticed joined us.
Akoni quickly told Arius in an unfamiliar language, "Mitescere, dimiserunt eam explicare. Subcinctus retro." (Calm down, let her explain. Shift back.)
Arius walked over to the side of the stable and punched the wall, breaking it. He then took continuous deep breaths to calm himself down. Once his horns receded back as well as the red in his eyes, he walked to me and carried me bridal style before pushing into the air. I let out a small squeal as he flew higher into the sky.
"Put me back down, Arius," I said to him.
His once mad face now is showing his usual amused face replying back "You want me to put you down, sure amare."
Arius dropped me as I plummeted to the ground, screaming. Halfway down, Arius flew and grabbed me again in the same position as we were in before.
I tightened my hold on his neck and began to berate him, "What the hell is your problem? You just fucking dropped me, you asshole."
Arius just smirked and said, "You told me to put you down."
"Yeah on solid ground, not while we are 10,000 ft up in the sky."
"Don't worry, mate, I'll always catch you."
"You better not drop me again."
For the rest of the flight, we were silent as I enjoyed the view from up high. Although it was a quick ride, I could see the wondrous palace from up high giving it an even better look. Arius moved down as we glided through the sky to once again touch the ground. Once we hit the ground, I tried to get out of Arius's grasp, but he wouldn't let me go.
"Um hello," I said, poking his shoulder.
He said nothing and just nuzzled the side of my neck, breathing me in. I waited in his arms for about a minute, not that I or my wolf were complaining of his muscular arms around me. He finally let me go, placing me on my feet and towering over me again.
"Now little mate, I will give you one chance to explain to me who these males are before I go to Earth and snap their necks."
"They're my best friends, more like my brothers. They have taken care of me after Axel rejected me as his mate," I replied.
"He is not your mate. You are mine" Arius said, angered after hearing Axel's name.
Ignoring him, I said, "I need you to take me back to them, so I can let them know that I'm okay."
"Are they unmated?"
"Yes," I said.
"Then no you cannot go."
"Arius, please, if I wanted to sleep with them I would have already like the other guys."
"Other guys? What other guys?" he asked.
"Oh, shit," I mumbled.
"Wait, you aren't a virgin?" he asked me.
"Dude, my mate rejected me. I thought I had no soulmate, so yeah."
Arius looked at me pouting almost childishly and said, "My baby has been touched."
"Give me names, amare. I'm going to kill them all for touching you."
Rolling my eyes, I said, "Ok crazy person, can we go now?"
"You know what, let's go. Most of the guys you have sex with are probably in your pack, so I can go and kill them all."
He grabbed my hand, about to transport us, but I stopped him before he could.
"Arius, you can't kill them."
"Why not?" he asked me in all seriousness.
"Look it was just flings, you probably had a ton as well. It meant nothing to me, so no point in killing them," I replied.
"Fine. But I want something in return."
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Just a simple kiss on the lips," Arius said, pointing to his lips.
"Just one?"
"Just one, amare. Unless you want more."
"God, you are acting like a child," I said to him, agreeing nonetheless.
Arius just shrugged and said nothing back to me, not declining what I had said.
"I need to go into your mind to see their faces, to find them."
I nodded, permitting him as he placed his hands on my head.
Arius stood there for a second before telling me, "Xavier is back at the Midnight Pack with Aiden. They're making a plan to come and find you."
"Well, this is perfect timing, to let their minds finally be at ease," I replied to Arius.
Instead of him grabbing my hands, this time around I grabbed his. I readied myself to be transported as Arius's smoke engulfed us.
Thank you for reading the twenty-seventh chapter of Darkened. Thank you for 31k reads on this book and 1k votes. See you guys in the next chapter.
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