Ariana's POV

I woke up the next morning, finding myself engulfed in Daniel's arms while we lay on the bed with the duvet covering both of our bare bodies. I moved a little to look at his face and at the same time, he half opens his eyes looking at me sleepily before he pulls me flush against his bare body -skin on skin- while nuzzling my neck as he breathes in my scent. My heart stops at the tenderness in his actions but when I think back to what happened last night, I feel my cheeks heat up on realising how hot things had turned out yesterday and what we had actually did....

I shake my head to get rid of those unholy thoughts early in the morning.

"What are you shaking your head at, early in the morning?" Daniel whispers against my neck in his sexy morning voice, practically still half asleep.

"That....nothing." I try to avoid the topic while he places a tender kiss on my neck before moving his face a little back to look at me.

We both stare at each other for a minute without a word reminding me of every single of his touches and kisses, and my own moans and screams of ectasy. I look away from his eyes, all of a sudden, feeling really shy.

A chuckle eludes Daniel's lips as he places his index finger below my chin raising my chin so that I could look back into those ocean blue eyes.

"Are you really being shy right now?" He asks as a smirk etches onto his lips.

"It's not that..." his smirk breaks into a grin as he inches his face closer to mine, "Then what is it, sweetheart?"

"Its...uh...you know..." my words falter as Daniel's hand glides slowly almost seductively from my waist to behind my back pulling me more closer to him if that's even possible.

"Yes?" He asks innocently while drawing circles on my back with his finger, clearly distracting me.

"Danny, stop distracting me!" I swat his hand away while he starts laughing loudly showing off those deadly dimples.

The sound of his laugh brings an unknown joy to my heart but I maintain a hard front managing to bring a frown to my face, "What are you laughing at?"

"This is the first time you're calling me by my nickname except . . ." He let's his sentence hang while his face moves even closer to mine with mischievousness in his eyes as he whispers into my ear, "when you screamed out my name while I-"

I quickly push him away and clamp my palm over his mouth preventing him from completing the sentence, "You're such a-"

"You could've used your mouth instead of the palm to shut me, you know. That would've been much much better." He complains pouting like a two-year-old after removing my hand off his mouth, "No problem, I'll do it myself."

"You-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Daniel moves on top of me in one swift movement and clamps his mouth over mine, cutting me off.

Thank to the moon goddess, we werewolves don't have the thing called 'morning breath' unlike humans or else my mouth would be a stinking mess right now. And don't even begin with what would've happened to the kiss or lack of it.

I almost squeaked. Almost. when Daniel started positioning himself on top of me after he had let go of the kiss.

"Ah, Danny, no. Not early in the morning when you'd already done it the whole night," I protested pushing him away while he pouted again before backing away and slopping down on his back on the bed beside me with a sullen look on his face.

What's with the pouting and making faces? He's acting as if I've deprived him of basic human -well in this case, werewolf- rights.

"By the way, Ari, you don't see time when you want to make love to your own wife. Do you understand?" He blew his nose dramatically, acting like Grumpy the dwarf from Snowhite, making me bite my lips to control myself from falling into a laughing fit at the mental picture.

Honestly, he looked really cute and comical at the same time.

I scoot closer to him, seeing that he still has a sullen look on his face, as I extend my hand to pull his cheek a little too hard, "Awww. Look at you. You look so cute, Danny! Just like Mr. Grumpy the dwarf from Snowhite."

Daniel shoots me a glare but I didn't miss the smile threatening to fall on his lips as he pushes my hand away and gets up from the bed taking the duvet off his body, "Forget it. I'll go have a bath since you are not interested."

I want to laugh at how kiddish he was acting right now by throwing tantrums like a child who didn't get his berry. It wasn't like I was pushing him away just for fun. He had already had numbers of rounds yesterday night to begin with another one in the morning, besides I was still sore between my legs from yesterday's intense love making.

My initial laughter died down and I gulped nervously as I saw him standing in front of me completely bare while he still seemed oblivious about the fact that he was practically 'naked' in his full glory, as he doned the same sullen and deprived look on his face. I looked away from his body feeling my cheeks heat up. Gosh, he's one hell of an attractive man!

Daniel turned around, heading towards the bathroom when he saw me making no move. Just when he was in front of the bathroom door, he quickly turned around to look at me, longingly?

I raised an imaculate brow at him acting ignorant and saw him sigh profusely in return before he walked straight towards me and scooped me up in his arms, carrying me from the bed along with the duvet which was wrapped around my body, taking me by surprise.

"I'm not bathing alone." Daniel declared loudly as he walked towards the bathroom with me in his arms.

I giggled at his actions but then I realised something was amiss about my surrounding, "This is not your room in the castle. Wait, there's no room in the castle such as this one."

"We're not in the castle, Ari. This is my mom and dad's penthouse." Daniel opened the door to the bathroom by kicking it open as he made his way inside the bath.

"Penthouse? Why are we here? Where are we exactly? Which place?" I questioned clutching onto the duvet to my chest while he set me next to the basin.

"I'll tour you around the house, okay? Now let's have a bath first." He mumbled the last sentence with urgency as he took the duvet off my body.

I chuckled knowing very well why he is so restless to have a bath.

Daniel, you're such a child. Who would believe that this man is the same arrogant and rude werewolf prince I married a few months ago.

◇◇◇

"You can cook?" I ask shocked by how skillfully and expertly Daniel was preparing the food for the both of us and how tasty the food actually looked as he stood in the kitchen making them while I sat on the kitchen island opposite him, looking at him with awe and shock.

I wonder how the food would taste. Mmmmm....might be wonderful.

After we had a bath, Daniel was again trying to hit on me by openly flirting with me while I tried to dress-up but when things started getting heated, my stomach grumbled at the wrong time which made him laugh loudly while all I wanted was for the ground to swallow me whole because of the embarrassment. He then quickly helped me wear one of his white shirts here that reached my mid-thigh-- Daniel seemed really eager to see me in his clothes, although there were a few dresses of mine already in the cupboard-- before he led me straight to the kitchen and made me sit on the counter top while he started making the food.

"You look surprised." Daniel chuckled at my gobsmacked expression as he leant towards me and pecked my lips, "Darling, your husband is full of talents and surprises."

Indeed, he is. But not that I'm going to admit it to him.

"I just hope the food is eatable enough." I gave him the most sugar coated smile as he looked at me, amused.

"You don't believe my skills. I'm severely hurt." He placed his hand on his chest displaying mock-hurt as I
bit back the smile threatening to fall on my lips at how dramatic he was being.

"Nuh-uh. Not even a bit," I teased him some more.

He kept aside the bowl which contained a batter like thing he was stirring with a whisker and stepped closer to me. And then more closer until our faces were inches apart.

"I thought I proved you one of my many skills yesterday night," Daniel winked at me. I gulped down the lump forming in my throat at the close proximity and the way he was staring at me right now--his eyes occasionally fleeting over to my lips but his lips never connecting to mine even though I could feel his breath on my lips.

I was so preoccupied by staring back into his ocean blue to notice he had cunningly picked the bowl of batter and poured it on my head. It wasn't until the creamy mixture started dripping down my hair and Daniel started laughing his ass off at my flabbergasted expression did I realise what he had done. Cuniving Idiot!

Daniel steps back as he continues to laugh loudly. I glare at him before my eyes dart to the packet of flour and a box of milk placed on the counter next to me. A smirk etches onto my face as I pick them up--ready to attack him back. Daniel seems to get a whiff of my intentions as he sprints off. I get off the counter top and run after him, throwing the flour in his direction.

The flour falls all over the place as he runs around the house not bothering to use his werewolf speed and I do the same as I chase him like Tom chasing Jerry. Our laughters are the only thing echoing in the house while some of the flour falls on his neck and other parts of the body.

I take the time and throw the milk at him which takes him offguard as he trips near the sofa in the living room and falls down on the tiled floor flat on his butt. I quickly run over to where he is and stare down at him before bursting into a laughing fit. Instead of extending my hand to help him up, I place both of my palms on my cheek making a puppy face,

"Awww. How did you fall down, Danny?" He glares at me while I try hard not to laugh anymore but failing miserably as the laughter doesn't seem to go looking at him so dishevelled--hair a mess of flour powder and milk flowing down his locks to down his face and body. Whatever, he still manages to look hot.

In the next spur of moment, things happen so fast as I feel a hand tug me forward towards the ground before I'm falling down on top of Daniel. I close my eyes ready to feel the impact of the fall but two large arms wrap around me just before I could hit the floor. My hands are flat on Daniel's chest as I lift my head up to look at his face.

"Awww. How did you fall down, Ari?" He imitates me from earlier-- smirking-- making me roll my eyes back at him.

"That's my line!" I retort defensively.

"I don't remember you claiming those words to be yours a few minutes ago."

"But that's not fair-"

One of Daniel's hands moves from around my waist down to my lower back. In one swift movement, he flips us over, hovering on top of me. Before I could utter anything, he crashes his lips to mine, shutting me.

I smile against his lips as I wrap my hands around his neck pulling him closer. Just when his hands move to unbutton the buttons of the shirt I'm wearing, we hear his phone ringing loudly from the table next to the couch.

Daniel ignores the phone call and continues to unhook the buttons of my shirt whilst kissing me but for some reason, I feel a really strong urge to pick up the call. Hence, I back away from him, breaking the kiss. He stares at me with confusion and uncertainty in his eyes. I smile at him placing my hands on his face as I give a quick kiss to his lips,

"Danny, as much as I don't want to stop you, I have this weird feeling that something is wrong. Please pick up the phone." I frown at the sudden ill feeling in my gut.

"Hey, there's nothing to worry about. It's just a random phone call maybe. Don't fret about it, Ari." He strokes the frown between my brows managing to calm me a bit but that strange feeling still remains.

"I don't know....it's just...strange-"

"If it really bothers you, I'll pick up the call, okay? Now, don't frown, princess. You look pretty when you smile." He drops a lingering kiss on my forehead before getting up to pick the call.

"It's Marlon." Daniel informs me before picking the phone and placing it to his ear. Marlon is the butler of the castle. I don't understand why he'd call Daniel all of a sudden, early in the morning.

"What is it Marlon?" Daniel asks, his eyes trained on me.

I try to listen to the conversation as I see a frown forming between Daniel's brows but all I hear is the butler asking Daniel to come to the castle as soon as possible in a very panicked voice. Daniel ends the call running his hand through his hair, seemingly annoyed by the butler's lack of response.

I get up from the ground and walk towards him, "What happened?"

"I don't know. I think you're right. Something is wrong. I need to go check in the castle."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not." He said sternly, "If something is really wrong in the castle, I can't put you in danger."

"I'm coming with you, no matter what. I care for you too and I can't leave you to go there alone." I replied even more sternly resulting him to sigh as he engulfed me in his arms.

"Okay, fine. But I just want you to know that I love you and if anything happens there, you have to save yourself first. Don't wait for me, okay? Although I'll make sure I protect you well." He rubbed my back while I smiled muttering, "I love you too."

How can he even think that I'll leave him on his own? If I were to chose between him and myself, I'd always chose him. Because I love him more than anything in this world. And I can't live without him. His life is more precious to me than my own.

◇◇◇

After getting dressed into my own clothes and leaving the penthouse, the first thing I saw when I and Daniel entered the castle doors, hand in hand, was; Ariel crying profusely in James' arms while he tried to comfort her. Little Cami was sitting next to her mom on the couch, staring at her tiny fingers with a worried look on her cute little face.

My brows furrowed and I felt Daniel's hold on my hand tighten a bit as I spotted Anthony leaning on the wall, his face for the very first time holding a really worried look. His gazes fleets over to me and he gives me a small smile which doesn't even reach his eyes.

There's also Kiana who has an indifferent look on her face, and Giovanni? What is he doing here? He's crouched down on the floor next to Anthony with his knees folded upto his chin and his head between his hands as I hear occasional whimpers coming from him. He's crying? Why?

What's wrong? Why does everyone seem so distressed? Something is definitely wrong. It's like all of them are waiting for something or maybe someone. I don't know.

James informs about our arrival to Ariel whilst rubbish her back comfortingly. After what seems like a minute or two, she backs away from James and gets up from the couch to walk straight towards Daniel.

The moment she's in front of her brother, Ariel hugs him tightly as fresh tears run down her cheek. Daniel hugs her back with his other hand that is not holding mine as Ariel starts sobbing.

"Danny...Carla, she..." her sobs turns louder as she hugs him tighter, "She's...dying." Ariel says in a choked voice.

I freeze on the spot and so does Daniel.

_________

How's the chapter?

So that turned from being all happy bubbly typo to being saddening real quick, huh?

I'm sorry for the little delay in update. I was out with mom, dad and my sibblings since its the weekend. I really dont like travelling though😒
Honestly, I would rather prefer to stay at my house, on my bed and sleep for the rest of the day instead of getting ready and going for shopping or other fiasco. The only thing I like about getting out of my house is, Food. Yeah, typical I know. But FOOD IS LIFE!

Anyways, enough of my stupid talks. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will be updated on Sunday:)

Goodbye ^_^
Have A Nice Day:)