Aidan's hand still held its warmth as we returned inside the hall, leaving behind the garden... and the broken silence that Gabriel had left like an open wound.
Inside, the noise, the forced laughter, and the elegant music seemed part of another world. A distant one. Superficial. Unreal.
Without a word, we went up to the second-level terrace. To that corner of the hall where the views couldn't reach us. From there, the moon hung motionless above us, like a silent witness unwilling to intervene.
The air was fresh. Sober.
Like the truth that was about to be revealed.
I turned to him, without beating around the bush.
"What are you doing here, Aidan?"
He didn't pretend surprise. His expression tightened just a little, as if he had been waiting for that question from the moment he appeared in the garden.
"I knew you'd notice," he replied, his voice deep and controlled, with a mischievous little smile on his face.
"This gala isn't for students," I insisted. "Nor for humans. Nor for just anyone. Only alphas, heirs."
The silence that followed was more eloquent than any words.
"You're not what you said you were… right?" I hurried to say. I saw how he twisted his fingers in his tousled hair with golden highlights that invited me to touch them.
Aidan looked at me then. And under the pale moonlight, his eyes shone with an impossible golden hue. Wild. Undeniable. As if the beast inside him could no longer hide.
"I'm a wolf, Sofía," he finally confessed.
The world seemed to stop for a moment. Laisa tensed inside me, alert, distrustful. Because his presence was not like other wolves' and that had confused us.
"But not an ordinary one," he added before I could speak.
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"I was born outside the pack system. My lineage... is older. Older than what the pack chronicles teach. Older than most remember. We don't answer to the moon like the others. We are… different."
His voice echoed inside me like a forgotten story. A primitive echo.
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
Aidan lowered his gaze. For the first time, I saw him hesitate.
"Because I needed to keep you safe. And if you had known what I am… you would have asked questions. Questions I couldn't answer yet. Not without putting you at risk."
"And why now?"
His eyes rose to mine, so serious it hurt to look at them.
"Because what happened tonight changes everything. Gabriel isn't just still bound to you, Sofía. What he feels… what you feel… it's something that must change. Also, you are…" He stopped abruptly, hesitating whether to continue.
I swallowed hard. The weight of his words was more real than any threat.
"What are you saying?"
Aidan stepped closer. His tone grew lower, firmer. As if summoning something long asleep.
"There are movements in the shadows. Something is brewing among the packs. And it smells like betrayal. A war. And you're at the center, whether you know it or not. Whether you want to be or not."
My chest tightened.
"And you? What role do you play in all this?"
"To protect you," he answered without hesitation. "Even if that means getting closer than I thought. Even if I have to show you what I really am." But then he added something he hadn't dared say to Sofía, about what she meant to him...
The tension between us had changed. It was no longer romantic. Not even emotional. It was older. Deeper. As if our stories had known each other long before we did.