Chapter Six: Pack of Wolves, Bed of Lies
POV: Aria (Selene Reborn)
Lucian didn't touch me again that night.
Not after the shrine.
Not after I whispered that the moon knew my name.
He had stared at me like I was a threat and a temptation bound in one a woman he'd claimed with his teeth, only to discover she might be the one thing his bite couldn't control.
Now, I sat at a long oak table in the heart of the pack house, surrounded by wolves with blood on their hands and suspicion in their eyes.
The alphas of the outer regions had returned.
They'd come for war, or for power, or for me and I wasn't sure which yet.
"Is she the reason the moon twisted?" one growled, his voice thick with distrust.
"Lucian marked her," another added, "but she doesn't smell like one of us."
I stared at my plate, untouched.
Venison. Raw. Bloody. Disgusting.
No vegetables. No wine. No water. Only meat and blood as if I were a thing to be fed, not worshipped.
Lucian sat at the head of the table, a goblet in one hand, his stare trained on me with surgical stillness.
He was watching me the way a wolf watches something it doesn't know how to kill.
Not because he didn't want to but because part of him didn't want to try.
I lifted the goblet I was offered. Wine, finally. Something familiar. I sipped.
But my mouth froze.
Bitter. Spiked. Foul.
Not wine.
A sedative.
Or worse.
I smiled anyway. My lips curling in amusement as I met Lucian's eyes.
Poison wouldn't kill me.
Not now.
Not with her awake.
After dinner, the wolves dispersed some to shift, others to hunt, and a few to brood in the shadows of the courtyard, smoking from bone pipes and muttering about omens.
I wandered the hallways alone, barefoot, cloaked only in silk and moonlight. The walls whispered secrets. The portraits bled power. And yet, I didn't feel fear.
I felt hungry.
Not for food.
Not for sex.
But for vengeance.
These wolves had taken something from Selene. From me. I didn't know what yet, but I could feel it. It thrummed under my skin like a second heartbeat. And every time I passed a snarling male or a leering guard, I wanted to tear out their throats with teeth I didn't havebyet.
I turned a corner and collided with fur.
Warm, golden, alive.
"Careful, little moon," a deep voice purred.
Luca.
Lucian's younger brother.
He was lounging against a pillar like he was born there, shirtless, tattoos across his chest, and a smirk sharp enough to carve open secrets.
"I hear you lit up the sky last night."
I arched a brow. "Jealous?"
He grinned. "Aroused."
His hand brushed mine. Bold. Too bold.
But I didn't pull away.
Not yet.
I tilted my head. "Shouldn't you be with the others? Sniffing trees and howling into nothing?"
He chuckled. "We're wolves, not idiots. Something is happening here. Something sacred. You're not just a girl. You're a symbol. A prophecy. And Lucian… well. He's trying to control a storm that was never meant to be chained."
His fingers lingered on my wrist.
I let him.
Until the hall darkened.
A shadow moved at the far end.
Lucian.
Silent. Still.
Watching.
Again.
I stepped closer to Luca.
Let my lips graze his ear.
Let my voice fall into a sultry, slow whisper.
"I don't belong to him."
Luca's breath hitched.
Lucian vanished.
Just like that.
Gone.
Later that night, the dreams returned.
Not mine hers.
Selene's.
Naked in a garden of moons. Painted in silver and blood. Surrounded by howling beasts on two legs. Her wrists bound by vines. Her mouth covered in ash. Her legs spread by claws that shimmered with stars.
And in the center the Alpha with silver eyes.
Lucian.
He touched her like worship, but his hands were shaking.
He bit her again. Lower this time.
Between her thighs.
And the sky bled.
When I woke, the sheets were soaked.
Not with sweat.
With blood.
My blood.
The bite mark on my chest had reopened, glowing again.
And I was wet between the legs. Aching. Pulsing. Hungry.
The magic was surging through me faster than before.
I stood and made my way to the mirror.
Naked. Wild.
I studied myself.
My eyes glowed faintly blue now. Like her.
My skin shimmered with soft silver veins, barely visible.
But the most terrifying change?
My teeth.
One had sharpened.
A single, deadly fang.
Not wolf.
Not vampire.
Priestess.
I dressed in white.
No undergarments. No armor. Just silk.
I knew he'd come.
I didn't have to wait long.
Lucian entered without knocking.
He closed the door behind him like he was locking the world out.
Then stared at me like I was his final breath.
"You touched my brother," he said quietly.
I met his gaze. "You marked me. That doesn't make me yours."
He crossed the room in three strides, grabbed my throat not hard, just enough to remind me he was still the Alpha and pinned me against the wall.
His breath was hot. Furious. Wanting.
"You glow when you lie."
I smiled. "So do you when you're jealous."
He shoved me harder, his thigh slipping between mine.
"Are you trying to break me?" he growled.
"No," I whispered, arching into him. "I'm trying to make you kneel."
His grip tightened.
Then loosened.
Then he dropped to his knees.
Not in surrender.
In hunger.
And his tongue found the moonlight between my thighs once more.