Once we landed on our feet, I took my body out of Arius's grasp and pushed him as hard as I could; him being a 6'10 giant barely moved a muscle when I pushed.

"What the hell is your problem?" I said, angry at him.

Arius ignored me and walked forward toward the enormous castle in front of us. Taking a break from my frustration, I looked around to our new scenery. I noticed that not only had Arius brought me, but Leo and Rissa too. We were under a night sky filled with bright stars and snow lightly falling from the sky. The palace was fitting with the dark theme was the same shade of color as Arius's hair. It was surrounded by a lake where it was in the middle of and the rest of the kingdom was on land. The mountains were all covered in snow, but his castle must have been surrounded by magic because not even a drop landed on the castle.

Following Arius, we walked into the building to see that the rest of the interior matched Arius's aesthetic, black and red. He walked into a large dining room where a woman and man were sitting inside having their dinner. Must have heard us come in. They looked up from their food to us. The woman sitting looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen her before.

"Ari, you didn't tell us we were going to have guests this evening," she said.

Pointing towards us, Arius answered, "Karisa Baros, Leo Baros, and Analise Kade."

He then pointed to the people at the table and said, "Akoni and Allegra Gallus."

Showing for us to sit down, he went to the head of the table to take his seat. Once we were all seated, he flicked his hand to see that a plate of food in front of us. We all warily took a bite, and it surprised me with the different amounts of spices they had in their food. For a few minutes, we all ate in silence before Arius broke the silence.

"Tomorrow you will have to be accepted into my kingdom to stay. We have precautions for outsiders to come here so if not in twenty-four hours you will perish without the bond with the king."

"There's no need, we won't be staying long," I said to him.

"I don't think you understand, if you go back the smoke will begin its search once more," Arius said to me.

"Why don't you tell us what this goddamn smoke is for and then we can all be on our merry way," I said.

Arius clenched his jawline before turning his head towards the couple and asked, "Anything to report?"

"Nope, it has all been smooth sailing since you've been gone," Akoni answered.

"I'm sorry, do I know you from somewhere?" Rissa asked Allegra, staring at her in confusion.

"Oh, I don't think so, you must have mistaken me for my brothers" Allegra answered.

"Brothers?" Leo asked her.

"Sinclair and Adonis Royal."

"Wait, you're the sister they announced?" I asked.

Allegra gave me a quick nod before Rissa pointed at Akoni and said "And you must be the demon spawn."

Akoni chuckled and smirked then saying "So that's what he's calling me nowadays, huh."

"My brother didn't accept the bond between the two of us so he disowned me from the family making Adonis, my twin, stay away from me too. Sin has always been jealous of the power Arius has so he hated me for being close to him due to my mate being his best friend" Allegra explained to us.

"He hated you for falling in love with your mate," I asked her, in disbelief that Sinclair could have been so cruel.

She nodded, and I could see the hurt underneath her eyes for being abandoned by her family. I looked over to Arius, who just looked mad.

"Allegra just told you guys the simplified story, there many parts of the story that he betrayed his sister in unspeakable ways, but that is a story for another time. I have accepted Allegra into my family, not only being my best friend's mate but also like a little sister to me."

I looked down at my plate, embarrassed that I so quickly had feelings for a man I barely knew. Sin was kind to me and better than Axel ever was. I was so quick to trust him before I even got to know him.

How could someone just abandon their family for falling in love?

Excusing myself from the table, I walked out of the room that we had sat in. Hearing thuds of footsteps behind me, I knowingly knew that Arius was following me. He caught up to me and directed me to follow him to my room since I don't know my way around the palace yet. I ambled behind him as I took in Arius's back muscle. I would not deny that he was the most handsome man I have ever seen, and it was also a plus that my wolf liked him. With Sin, she never really moved or did anything with him around. Maybe that was my first red flag because she is always moving in me if she likes someone, for example, Rissa and Leo.

Reaching a door Arius said, "Here we are, this is your room for now."

"Thanks" I replied.

"It's not your fault that you didn't see the signs with Sin," he said.

"No, I usually have a gut feeling about people and I had it with him, I just ignored it so it's on me. It's just it was the first time I felt something for another person other than my family, Xavier, and Aiden," I replied with no filter in my mouth.

When I looked from the door to Arius, he was fisting his hands with clear rage on his face.

He quietly asked me, "You loved him?"

"What? Wait no, I just liked him a little."

"Good, you can't love another man romantically other than me, he said, bringing my chin up closer to him "You're mine, amare."

Staying in that position for a second, feeling absolute pleasure with his hands on me and him looking at only me.

Realizing I was still in his grasp, I walked back and said, "No I'm not."

"You'll know soon enough" Arius replied, smirking before walking away.

Going into my room, I saw it was a dark aesthetic with hints of red around the room. In awe of how beautifully decorated it was, I then walked into the bathroom to wash off the excess amounts of dirt that couldn't be removed whenever we showered in the creeks. The water ran down my body and I stood there confused about what the dark king made me feel. Whenever he touched me, it filled not only me but my wolf with excitement. The only time I have ever felt sparks was with........no way impossible. That night I laid awake unable to go to sleep with my racing thoughts. Finally, three hours after lying in bed, I was hit with exhaustion knocking me out.

The next morning I walked to breakfast, sitting next to Rissa. Arius looked annoyed at my new seat from last night that was next to him. I glanced away from his crystal blue eyes to look down at my chocolate croissant. Savoring the creamy chocolaty flavor, I devoured it in time for the ceremony to be accepted into the kingdom so the three of us don't die.

We walked into the throne room where there was a chalice placed in the middle of it with a knife next to it. Arius walks over to it as Akoni and Allegra stand on either side of him as they make themselves look like a powerful dark court.

Making our way over to them, Arius said, "One of you give me your hands so I can cut you and place the blood in the chalice."

We nodded as he cut all dripping drops of blood into the cup for whatever spell he was about to do. It was wrong of me to think it was so simple. Of course, it wasn't a spell. After all three of our bloods were in the chalice, Arius picks it up and takes a sip from it.

He then cuts his wrist and says, "You have to drink my blood to finish the bond."

Each of us was disgusted as both Akoni and Allegra were amused by our expressions. Leo walked up to Arius, talking the first lick of blood before Arius's healing kicked in. He cut it again for Rissa and then for me. Once I metallically taste filled my mouth as several visions popped in my head. The most prominent picture was me in a red ball gown with a stunning crown on top of my head.

"Nellie, Nellie," Rissa said, snapping me out of my head.

"You ok," she asked me, concerned.

Giving her an assuring nod, I turned to look at where that amazing smell is coming from. When I was little, I used to go to the field to pick and smell lavenders since they were my favorite flowers. The same smell was the one I was sniffing right now when I finally found the owner of the smell.

I looked to Arius as he stood there with his arms crossed and his signature smirk as my wolf was screaming into my head. Widening my eyes in complete surprise, I backed away a little from him before I could clearly hear what my wolf was saying.

"MATE. MATE."

Shit.