SONIA’S POV

I took a dip in the water, and a moan of satisfaction escaped my throat. The cool liquid enveloped my body like a soothing embrace, washing away the lingering tension from the previous days.

"It feels good, doesn’t it?" I heard Ivy scream from behind.

I whipped my face behind, and gave her a positive smile, followed by a thumbs up.

She laughed, and continued sipping her morning juice, her feet dangling lazily in the water.

From my position, she didn’t seem like a maid. There was some royal distinction about her that warmed my heart, the way she carried herself, the confidence in her laugh, the ease with which she commanded the space around her.

"Maybe she’s meant to become a Luna someday," I muttered, as I returned my attention to the water.

It had been a while since I swam. The water looked vast and motivating, the sunlight dancing on its surface like scattered diamonds.

I wondered how far I could swim, and tried to test out the theory.

I dropped, and began to swim underwater. Ivy seemed engrossed with her breakfast. She wouldn’t miss me if I was just gone awhile.

I swam underwater without exactly knowing the direction I was headed.

At intervals, I’d come up to catch my breath, and dive in again, the cool rush of water against my skin refreshing and invigorating.

The surrounding trees grew thicker every time I came up for breath.

Even the water began to feel less fresh, which told me I had swam way past my starting point.

I began to feel like I had enough of the water already, and should return back before something happened.

As I was gearing to turn, I felt something bump across my leg.

My heart leaped to my mouth in fear, as I tried to turn around even faster, my limbs thrashing in the water.

Whatever it was that had bumped into me, suddenly grabbed my legs.

I couldn’t move, no matter how hard I tried.

Reflexively, I opened my mouth to scream, when my body was turned, and I came face to face with Ramon.

"Shhhh," he placed a finger on my lips, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath hitch.

My eyes bulged with both confusion, and surprisingly relief.

Out of all the horrible things that crossed my mind, his presence wasn’t that bad.

His hand went to my hair, and he patted it to the side, so my face was clearly visible to him, his touch gentle yet possessive.

"What are you doing here?" I asked after finding my voice, my heart pounding against my ribs.

"Swimming. You?"

His tone was light, and very playful. My ears twitched in disbelief.

Last time we saw, I chased him out of my room, and in a way, my life. I guess none of that mattered now.

"Alpha Liam is swimming at the other end, so I think we should be quiet," he continued when I didn’t respond to him.

It wasn’t because I had lost my voice again. I just didn’t know what to say to him.

"Are you still mad at me?" He asked, his thumb brushing lightly against my cheek.

I tried to turn around, and leave, but his hold on me only tightened, his arm wrapping around my waist.

"Seriously Sonia, are you just going to keep me quiet?"

"Punish me then. You’re good at that, anyway. You could just be brutal and force me to speak to you," I replied maliciously, my voice sharper than I intended.

To my surprise, he smiled. A full on smile that brightened his eyes.

"Is that really what you want?" He filled that smile with a question that made him just sound like a maniac in my head.

"I want you to leave me alone," I replied boldly.

I honestly couldn’t tell where the boldness came from. Perhaps, it was just exhaustion from being burned one too many times.

"Well you see, I can’t do that. It’s practically impossible to do that. You’re still a prisoner in my pack. How can I leave you alone?"

"Wait, that doesn’t even make sense! You can just ignore me. Imagine you’ve thrown me in a cell. Well technically, you did throw me into a house that’s basically a cell," I said, and somehow he found that funny, because he chuckled.

"What’s so funny?"

"You’re pretty," he replied, and I stupidly couldn’t help the rose hue that instantly formed on my face.

"I like that," he continued.

"Like what?" I asked, burying my face to the waters.

"The way your eyes sparkle. You’re very beautiful, Sonia."

I was losing myself to his words. They felt really good to listen to. Like I was floating above water.

But as quickly as that feeling formed, it faded into darkness.

"Nope," I said, and shook my head.

"No?" He lifted a rather fine brow.

I was almost distracted again, but I stood my ground.

"You’re just trying to distract me from the fact you got Lorena pregnant, and then slept with me without telling me you got her pregnant. I’m not going to fall for it."

He sighed, and I gloated inwardly. If he thought he was just going to swoop into the waters like a shark, and try to weasel his way into my heart, then he had something else coming for him.

"Alright, how can I make things right with you? You won’t even look at me."

He tried to lift my face, but I refused to budge.

"Why do you want to make things up with me? You’re acting very weird. You’d usually just punish me, and get your way. There’s never been a time you’ve been civilized with me. Why now?"

"You really want to get punished, don’t you? I mean you keep asking for it."

"Well maybe because that has always been the way you treated me. Go to Lorena if you’re not going to do it. She’s pregnant with your child, and needs you in what I know must be a very difficult moment for her," I said, anger creeping up on me with every word that came out of my mouth.

Anger, and jealousy. I hated those emotions. Thought I was above them, but unfortunately, I wasn’t.

"You owe me," he said after a few seconds of silence.

"Owe you what?" I lifted my head, and he smiled.

"Moon. I know he’s in your house."

"Well you can’t prove it. And if you’re so desperate to find out, then punish me, and you may get the truth, or whatever you want to believe to be the truth from me." I shrugged.

"Since you want to be punished so badly, let’s start with your guest lesson."

He pushed my head to the side, and his lips came crashing down on mine, like a hurricane.