Avenging The Triplet Alphas
Chapter 48

Arielle's

POV

I couldn't believe what I heard. Jonathan had finished the riddles flawlessly beating my expectations. The entire ground was silent, everyone remained mute. I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn't form the word. Eventually, I forced myself to turn around, Ethan was staring into space, at nothing in particular. His eyes were wide and he knew everything we'd worked for, everything we'd planned had come crumbling down.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Loki began, forcing me to momentarily look away from Ethan. "No one has moved a muscle ever since Jonathan gave his reply to the last question. We deserve to know our fate and we demand an answer."

My shoulders sagged in defeat. The Book of Impossible Tasks had failed me and most importantly, I had failed both Ethan and myself. This wasn't how I envisaged this to go.

"He was right," I whispered under my breath.

"I couldn't make out your words, Arielle. You haven't lost your voice now, have you?" Loki was taunting me and I knew he had every right to gloat. I had put them through the worst tests and they all survived. "Jonathan got them right," I said again, a lot louder this time. "You three finished the tasks, you've won."

Loki beamed a huge smile as he stared at me, appraising me from head to toe. In his eyes, I was a trophy won after a long-fought battle.

"The Moon Goddess worked in our favor and that only goes to prove to you all that you belong to us. You and our child deserve a place to call home and it's not here in a strange land." Loki added, his voice rising. "Get your things ready, we're leaving here soon." I opened my mouth to speak but out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Ethan storming off towards the mansion. He was visibly angry and I understood how he felt right now.

"I can't deal with the three of you right now, please excuse me."

I hurriedly walked away from the Van Tyson's before they had the chance to say anything else.

I tried to catch up with Ethan but he was moving too fast for me and I eventually lost track of him as soon as he entered the mansion.

A few minutes later, I made my way through the front doors and went in search of him. He wasn't in our bedroom and his study was locked and so was his office. I tried to speak to Luciana but she confirmed that she hadn't seen him either and none of his guards could figure out his whereabouts.

He wanted to be away from the rest of the world and there was only one place I knew he often found solace in.

I made my way towards the woods to our favorite spot where I knew he would be and just like I predicted, Ethan was sitting on the log of wood that had fallen across so many months ago. His head was in his hands and from the posture of his body, I knew he was dejected. My eyes became teary instantly as I felt my heart ache.

"Ethan, I'm sorry." I reached out my hand to touch him but I quickly recoiled. I knew he detested the sight of me right now and I didn't want to escalate it further. "Believe me, I didn't mean for this to happen. All I wanted was to make them pay for everything they ever did to me but I messed up terribly and I'm sorry for-"

"Sorry isn't going to fix anything, Arielle," Ethan yelled at me. "So please, if you don't mind, don't bug me with that anymore. I've heard enough."

"Ethan, I messed things up but I'm going to fix it. I promise." I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand.

"There's nothing you can do. There's nothing I can do either, you brought this upon yourself and I suffered the casualty as well." Ethan began, turning to stare at me. The hatred in his eyes forced me to back away from him.

"I shouldn't have listened to your convincing words." He spat out bitterly. "My generals warned me repeatedly, they warned me not to make decisions based on emotions over wit but I ignored them choosing to put my trust in you but you've ruined me and made me a mockery in front of everyone in my pack. How do you expect me to go back there and face them with the same you brought upon us?"

I was going to let things happen his way. My future was here next to him with my son Ethan. This was what I've always wanted ever since I accepted his proposal but my thirst for revenge had rendered my dreams shattered. "Give me one more chance to set things right, Ethan. I can't let go of everything just that easily."

"Anything you decide to do henceforth will be of your own volition and my pack will take no part in any of it," Ethan stated, his voice cold and empty.

"Ethan," I began, my voice cracking. He wasn't breaking off our engagement, was he?

"I should've gone to war when I had the chance. They were there for the taking but I decided against that and I ended up losing the respect of my pack and the neighboring pack as well. I'll be known as the Alpha who couldn't protect his supposed-to-be Luna for years to come."

"They can't force me to go back with them," I stated. "I'm going to hold them for as long as it'll take you to forgive me and help fix this mess I created for us both."

"I'm sorry, Arielle. I can't help you."

"You can't leave me hanging, not when I need you more than ever. They're going to end up using me like they did previously and this time, I might end up in a worse state than I had been the first time you saw me." I pleaded with him.

"Everything we had together died the moment they completed all the tasks you were so certain they would fail. Every time I brought it up, you brushed it away considering my worries as insignificant or down to jealousy of your ex-mates being present in our pack." "Fine, I admit my mistakes. But I need your help, Ethan." I cried out. "You promised to be there for me no matter what."

"That was before you made a deal with the devils themselves and lost!" Ethan roared, slamming his fist into the nearest tree. "Don't you get it? Your deal is official and real. We all signed off on it and we each have a copy of the agreement."

The tears were streaming down my face. I tried to speak but the sobs were choking, forcing me to swallow my words. Never in a million years did I picture this happening.

"The moment Jonathan replied, everything we had together was broken. Our engagement, our love, everything. You now belong to them once again and they'll take you home when they're ready to leave."

"You've given up," It wasn't a question but a statement. I could hear the defeat in his voice, he had accepted the verdict and there was nothing I could do to change his mind, not when he was like this. "You're ending things with me." "It took me a long time to figure this out but I finally realized why you couldn't bring yourself to love me completely."

I knew where he was headed. "Please, don't do this. I don't deserve this from you."

"It breaks my heart to admit but you never truly loved me, Arielle."

"I did. I had my restrictions at first but I became more open towards you, Ethan. Why the hell would I accept your proposal?"

"Because you wanted to do me a favor and the attraction of being a Luna was a lot to turn down." Ethan laughed bitterly and my jaw hung open in shock.

I understood he was hurting but he didn't have to go so low.

"It's a no-brainer that they would leave here tomorrow," Ethan began, he wouldn't look at me anymore and while I couldn't blame him, my heart couldn't take all the hurt. "And when they're prepared to leave, I want you to join them." "Ethan..."

"As of this moment, your ties to this pack have ended, our marriage has been called off and you will return home with the Van Tysons without any further questions."

I fell to my knees as I sobbed, clutching my chest and trying to rid the pain inside of me. I was hurting a lot, it was so difficult that I found it hard to breathe. My life was a mess and it seemed like I had no control over any of it.

My fate had been sealed. For the second time in my life, I was heartbroken and that wasn't all, I was going back a year later with my child to the place where it all began.