Time drifted past, five winters like smoke among the trees, quiet, cruel, and all consuming.Aria Nightwind had become a ghost in the eyes of the packs, her name fading into whispers and bedtime warnings.Don't betray your Alpha, they said. Or you'll end up like Aria.But the truth was far from those myths. She wasn't dead.
She was rebuilding.
Somewhere deep within the eastern forests, beyond the borders of the five great packs, stood a fortress of black stone and silver banners. The Crescent Keep, forged from moonlight and rage, hidden from the eyes of those who had exiled her.And within it,Aria ruled.She stood on the training ground her body covered in sweat, her cloak abandoned, her sword glinting in the morning light. She sparred,not like a Luna but like a warrior queen and swift merciless, silent and unpredictable.Across from her, a massive male wolf in human form grunted as she knocked his blade aside and pressed her dagger to his throat.
"You're dead," she said flatly.
Ronan Blackclaw grinned despite the blade. "You're getting faster."
"I'm already faster."
He chuckled and raised his hands in surrender. Aria stepped back, sheathing her dagger and wiping her brow."You need to stop holding back," she said, turning to face him. "If I can't beat you at full strength, I'll never be ready."
"You are ready," Ronan said. "You've been ready."
But Aria wasn't convinced.Her nights were filled with dreams of Kade's betrayal, of the look in his eyes as he turned on her, and the silence of her pack as they let it happen. It wasn't just Kade she wanted to face. It was all of them.She hadn't come this far to be a myth.She would return as a storm.Later that day, she sat in the war chamber of the Crescent Keep with Ronan and her generals wolves who had once been rogues, exiled, cast aside like her.They followed her not because she was mated to a powerful Alpha. They followed her because she was powerful.Because she gave them hope.And because she had a plan.
"We've gathered enough support in the eastern borderlands," Ronan reported. "The Shadowfang Pack is ready to swear allegiance. Red Vale will follow if we show strength."
Aria nodded. "What of Dark Moon?"
Silence followed. The name still cast a shadow over every room.
"They're weak," said Garren, her war advisor. Too many wolves defecting. Crops failing. Alpha Kade is losing control.Ronan leaned forward, arms on the table. "They expect a rebellion. But not you."Aria's eyes narrowed. Then let's make sure they see me coming.That night, Aria stood at the cliffs overlooking the valley that led into Dark Moon territory. The moonlight bathed her armor in silver, the crescent mark on her collarbone glowing faintly beneath the fabric.Ronan approached quietly."You never told me why you stayed," she said without turning.
"I watched you train," he said. "Watched you bleed for people who never raised a hand for you. You weren't just trying to get stronger. You were changing the story."
"She looked at him then, really looked and realized he wasn't the enemy she thought he was."
Ronan had been a rogue Alpha when they met—scarred, stone-faced, mistrusted by all. But over the years, he had become her shield, her confidant, and, though she refused to admit it aloud, the only one whose presence soothed her wolf.But she wouldn't allow herself to feel more. Not yet.Aria looked away. "This isn't just about revenge anymore."
"I know."
She took a deep breath, letting the mountain air fill her lungs."I'm going to walk into that pack gathering with my head high. And when I do, I want the Council to see me not as a castaway but as the Luna they should have feared all along.""You'll be more than that," Ronan said. "You'll be their Queen."Two days later, the message was sent. An official scroll sealed in lunar wax delivered to the Council of Packs and Alpha Kade himself.To the High Council of the Western Territories,From Aria Nightwind, Luna Sovereign of Crescent Keep.I invoke the Rite of Retribution. I will appear at the next Gathering to claim what is mine.The scrolls burned with silver flames upon opening a sign of Luna blood magic, unmistakable and binding.The packs would have no choice but to let her speak.In the Council chambers far to the west, Kade sat frozen as the flames died out.
"She's alive…" he whispered.
The scroll dropped from his hands. Around him, the elders whispered in disbelief. His Beta looked pale."I thought she was dead," Kade said, voice hollow. "We searched the borders for months after her exile. There was no trace.""She wasn't hiding," said one of the elders. "She was becoming."Kade rose abruptly, storming from the chamber.But he couldn't outrun the guilt in him,the way she had looked at him that night. Broken, bleeding, betrayed.Now, that same look would return.But it would be aimed like a blade.Back at Crescent Keep, Aria stood before a mirror, lacing the silver plates of her armor across her chest. The crescent rune glowed like a beacon.She had waited five years for this moment.The wolf they cast out was gone.Now, only the Luna remained.And she was bringing the fire with her.