
{"id":29672,"date":"2026-02-06T12:45:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/melting-the-ice-princess-novel-chapter-31\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:45:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:45:57","slug":"melting-the-ice-princess-novel-chapter-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/melting-the-ice-princess-novel-chapter-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Melting the Ice Princess Novel Chapter 31"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Shadows Of Passing Time \u2013 Carter Hughes 31<\/h1>\n<p>Chapter Thirty-One: Alpha Ceremony (Part Five)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Emerald\u2019s POV:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>+25 Points\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Before I could step forward, I remembered the twins were still there. I looked towards them, pulling at Azreal\u2019s hand and at the hand that Zeke was holding. They were looking right back at me. Before I let go of their hands and made my way toward the twins, the quads let out a low snarl and stiffened slightly. I rolled my eyes internally. They should be kissing the twins\u2019 bums right now; if it weren\u2019t for the twins convincing me and telling me that my soul would know if they were lying, they would probably not even be here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I walked toward the twins, stood in front of them, and looked into their green eyes. Bold move I know, especially knowing they were the future Supreme Alphas, but I had this feeling they would never hurt me, that they were in a way my protectors. I let out a little smile and said,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you for helping me in the dining hall, I don\u2019t think I was in the state of mind to defend myself. I appreciate it, and thank you for helping me see reason; if it wasn\u2019t for you two, I probably wouldn\u2019t have worked out the problem with my mates,\u201d I finished, trying my best not to hug them, even though my body was screaming for me to do that. I didn\u2019t need the quads going bat s**t crazy and the twins to think I was crossing some boundary that they might not want me to.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t need to thank us, Luna; we would have done it for anyone. Just be careful next time,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>said Josiah, smiling down at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not wrong to defend yourself when you think the situation is getting out of hand. You are the to be Luna of the most powerful pack after ours. You hold great power, show it!\u201d said Isaiah, also\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>giving me a smile at the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That would probably take time. I was used to staying invisible and only wanted by my close group of friends. From the look of it, the pack wasn\u2019t ecstatic to have me as Luna as well; I hope I can\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>measure up to what the quads want. Because, honestly, as much as I knew I would need to change my behaviour, I didn\u2019t want to. I didn\u2019t want to be someone or something that I wasn\u2019t. Even if it took years to get the pack to like me, I would eventually make them, but by my way, and not by becoming a ruler that people perceived as entitled and unworthy. However, I just nodded at the twins\u2019 words, sending them a small smile and making my way back to the quads,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On the way back to the packhouse the quads seemed relatively quiet. I could see they were mind-linking, probably amongst themselves. I didn\u2019t disturb them. They were probably stressed with the ceremony, and the added drama today was probably making them feel more uneasy. As\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>soon we reached our room, I turned to face the quads and said,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&lt;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>175\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chapter Thirty One Alpha Ceremony Part Five\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>+25 Points\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to apologize again, and before you say don\u2019t need to, I do! It\u2019s for my sanity. I do not doubt your loyalty towards me, and I trust you all. So please forget about whatever happened today and focus on tonight. I promise I\u2019ll be more careful next time when interacting with a similar\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>situation and notify one of you, Hannah or Luca. Over time, I believe I\u2019ll be able to handle these\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>situations myself as well,\u201d I finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I just hoped that I didn\u2019t need to.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dealing with bat-s**t crazy exes didn\u2019t come with the job description of having mates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLittle Luna, please, no more apologizing. We\u2019ll only believe you once you stop,\u201d said Ezekiel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, my love, Ezekiel is right. It is our fault; as we said, our past made you believe what you were\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>told. But let\u2019s forget that this happened and focus on tonight,\u201d said Azreal smiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, angel, and we have no doubt you\u2019ll be able to manage a situation like this by yourself if the need ever arises again. But we can assure you that you\u2019ll never be in any kind of similar situation again for the rest of your life,\u201d said Zeke, leaning down and kissing my forehead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow get in there before Hannah decides to kill us before we even get to be Alphas,\u201d said Sam,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>easing the stiff atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I laughed and nodded, kissing each quad on the cheek. I turned to head in as the quads left to go downstairs when I remembered something, and quickly turned around and called for them. Hearing their names, they all turned and rushed back, surrounding me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou okay, my love?\u201d asked Azreal, concern etched on his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I blushed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They were literally with me not even ten seconds ago, and they\u2019re acting like a bunch of concerned mother hens, but hey, I wasn\u2019t complaining; I was slowly coming to love their attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I chuckled, controlling my blush and nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat will you do with Aria, Cassandra and Ivy?\u201d I asked, worried for the three she-wolves\u2019 lives. I know what they did was hardly forgivable. But it was, in some way, not their fault. Lead on or not, the quads were with them, and they abruptly broke up with them and excepted them to be all happy and dandy with it. I didn\u2019t want them getting killed for it, and I knew by the looks the quads had back at the clearing, that they were planning just that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The moment those three names came out of my mouth, all the quads\u2019 expressions turned from concern to rage. They all fisted their hands and closed their eyes, probably trying to reel in their\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>wolves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is not your concern, our little Luna; accordingly, they will be dealt with,\u201d said Ezekiel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No! No!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>2.5\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chapter Thirty-One Alpha Ceremony Part Five\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I knew they would kill them, I had to do something.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Think Emerald, think.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>+25 Points\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEzekiel, look, I\u2019m not saying to let them off the hook. They deserve to be punished so they won\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>do that to anyone else ever again. Bullying in general is bad, but please do not kill them\u2026,\u201d before I\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>could finish, I heard Azreal speak,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t up for negotiation, my love; not only did they assault and hurt their future Luna, they\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>attacked their future Alphas. In itself, defamation and assault of the Luna are punishable by death,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>his voice held so much hatred it was scary.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, please. Look anything but death. I won\u2019t be able to live with their blood on my hands. Please, if\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>not for anything else, do it for me. Please!\u201d I said, tears brimming in my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All the quads looked down at me, seeing my tears their expressions changed from rage to worried. They all tried holding me, but I stepped back and shook my head.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPromise me, Alphas, promise me you\u2019ll spare their lives. You said yourself, Azreal, we need to forget about this day. If you put their blood on my hands, I\u2019ll never be able to forget that,\u201d I said, with all the confidence I could conjure while holding the tears at bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Shaking their heads and sighing, they all nodded in agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOkay, little Luna, we will spare their lives. However, do not expect us to go easy on them,\u201d said\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ezekiel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I looked up into their eyes to see if they were just saying it to get me to quiet down, but their expression told me they were telling the truth.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you,\u201d I said, wiping my tears and going toward them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re welcome, my love. Just never let those eyes hold tears,\u201d said Azrael.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After another round of kisses, this time not cheek ahes, but mouth-eating, tongue-sucking, hair-grabbing kisses, the quads let me go and I went inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But my love daze and kisses high was crashed when I came face to face with my very annoyed and\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>mad best friend, Hannah.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Well, mushrooms!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She looks ready to wolf out on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know I\u2019d seriously kick that not-so-small ass of yours if I didn\u2019t know what had happened in the dining hall this morning!\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crap! She knew! It wasn\u2019t like I was going to hide it from her, but I wanted to be the one to tell her. \u201cBefore you ask, Luca was the one who told me, and the pack members that were uselessly sitting\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>3\/5\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>III\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chapter Thirty-One Alpha Ceremony Part Five\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>on their assess were commanded never to mention the incident by Sam,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>+25 Points\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Well, that makes sense; Luca was sort of off there, just don\u2019t know for how long. At least I didn\u2019t need to worry about the drama spreading like wildfire. I didn\u2019t need people thinking I was easily picked on; I would probably be getting more run-ins like it if Sam hadn\u2019t commanded them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow dare those sluts accuse you and then try to act like Virgin Marys, and they dared touch you; to touch my best friend, their future Luna. They are so lucky they\u2019re locked up right now, or otherwise they\u2019d have to deal with me. Seriously, Em, why didn\u2019t you stick up for yourself?\u201d asked\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hannah.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I chuckled at her red face that heated up with anger. That was my best friend for you, we would go to hell and above for one another, and today was a reminder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalm down, Han, come, let\u2019s get ready. We have an hour before we\u2019re expected down. I\u2019ll tell you everything as we get dressed,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hannah didn\u2019t look happy. I knew she wanted us to sit down and solely talk about this, and she would want every detail to the tee, but she knew that her brothers would probably lose it if they didn\u2019t see me in the banquet hall in an hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So after the usual hair tugging, layers of makeup, the debate on dresses and me filling in Hannah about what happened; what Aria said, how the twins intervened and what happened down at the clearing, we were ready. Hannah wore a purple bodycon dress that reached mid-thigh with her hair up in a sleek ponytail. She had cat eyeliner, lashes curled to perfection with a think coat of mascara, light brown nude lip-gloss, and her cheekbones highlighted to perfection. My best friend was the werewolf version of the actress Meghan Fox in the human multiverse. For myself, I was dressed in a long shoulderless turquoise gown with a split running up my thigh; it was sexy, but not provocative. Hannah had my hair in an updo, with tiny tendrils of hair falling on either side of my face. I had a light coat of mascara and eyeliner, nude light brown lip-gloss like Hannah, and my cheekbones highlighted to perfection as well. I looked good, Hannah did a great job. I hoped the quads liked it too, but I noticed they even liked me when I was in pyjamas, so maybe they weren\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>the best gauge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I was broken out of my thoughts and self appraise when I heard Hannah say, \u201cHonestly, Em, I don\u2019t even blame you for acting the way you did. Hell, if I were in your shoes, I\u2019d probably think the same if my mate, or in your case mates, had a track record like my brothers. What they did over the years was undoubtedly disgusting and uncalled for. They knew they had a mate out there, and still they would be seen jumping from she-wolf to she-wolf. There is no excuse whatsoever, so don\u2019t feel bad about anything. But, Em, what I want to say is that they are changed men, well wolves, since they found you. Their day starts with you and ends with you, I can bet my life on it and say whatever that b***h Aria said was indeed a lie. My brothers are many things, but they don\u2019t degrade women like that,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>r\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>4\/5\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chapter Thirty-One Alpha Ceremony Part Five\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the look in their eyes\u2026,\u201d I started, but Hannah cut me off,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>+25 Points\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShould be taken as a positive; it shows how much they care for you and their feelings are genuine. I know it hurts seeing your mate like that; it\u2019s in our Instincts to nourish and care for our mates. But\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>know they aren\u2019t upset anymore. Em, you\u2019re their everything, their happiness. Trust me when I say\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>this, if you are happy and content, so are they. It\u2019s just how the bond works, hun. So now get rid of\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>that frown, or you\u2019ll have a worry line in your foundation, I\u2019ll have to redo your contour, and I don\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>want to deal with four ragging Alphas on why it took their beautiful mate this much time to get\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>ready,\u201d she said, laughing the last part.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This was my best friend for you, she always knew what to say and when. She was right; I just needed to look at it differently, in a positive way. I nodded and laughed with her. We made our way downstairs where I hugged her and thanked her for always being there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On the way, I heard her ask,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s up with the twins though, they have been staring at you like since they got here yesterday? Now they just happened to be around the dining hall while the triplet Kings, my brothers, dad and Luca were in a meeting? As much as I know the meeting was regarding the pack and alliances in the lycan multiverse. Being the Supreme Alpha representatives, they should have been there as well. Do you think they were out looking for you?\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I was just stunned. I didn\u2019t know what to say. If that was the case, why were they not with the rest? If so, why were they looking for me? It was true they had been stealing glances at me since yesterday, we\u2019ve caught eyes a couple of times. What could all this mean?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>33\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shadows Of Passing Time \u2013 Carter Hughes 31 Chapter Thirty-One: Alpha Ceremony (Part Five)\u00a0 Sunday\u00a0 Emerald\u2019s POV:\u00a0 +25 Points\u00a0 Before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-melting-the-ice-princess-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}