Aria
The night air tasted like electricity.
The full moon hung heavy above the trees, so bright it felt like it was watching me… judging me. I wiped my sweaty palms against my worn-out dress and tried to steady my breathing. Everyone in the pack yard had already shifted. Bones cracking. Wolves howling. The earth humming under our feet.
Everyone except me.
"Go on, Aria," someone hissed behind me. "Stop wasting our time."
I pretended not to hear. Being ignored was safer than fighting back.
Tonight was supposed to be my beginning — my first shift, my first step into finally belonging somewhere. But the weight in my chest wouldn't go away. I'd been unwanted all my life… and the pack never missed a chance to remind me.
"Aria, you okay?" Mira whispered from my side, her eyes full of worry. The only person who still spoke to me. "You don't look good."
"I'm fine," I lied. "Just nervous."
But it wasn't just nerves. Something beneath my skin felt… awake. Like a heartbeat that wasn't mine.
The Alpha hadn't arrived yet, but everyone was tense. He never missed a first-shift night. Especially not for someone like me — the daughter of the pack's so-called traitors. The girl the council told everyone to avoid.
A sharp pain pierced my spine.
I gasped, bending forward.
"Aria?" Mira grabbed my arm.
"I— I think it's happening," I choked out.
The pain spread like wildfire, burning through my bones. My knees hit the ground as the air left my lungs. My vision blurred.
Then—Everything inside me snapped.
My wolf roared awake.
But before I could shift, before I could even scream, the world around me trembled…And the scent hit me.
Strong. Fierce. Dark. Like storms and cold night air.
My heart stuttered.
No… no, please, not that. Anything but that.
Even before he stepped into the clearing, I knew.
I felt him.
The pull. The spark. The bond.
Mate.
"Oh Goddess," Mira whispered, eyes wide. "Aria… the Alpha—he's—"
A shadow moved at the edge of the trees. The entire pack bowed instantly.
Alpha Kael Blackthorn.
Cold. Powerful. Deadly.
And walking straight toward me.
My breath caught in my throat.
His eyes — silver, sharp, and merciless — locked onto mine. The world stopped.
My soul knew him.
My wolf screamed for him.
But the expression on his face…
It wasn't surprise. It wasn't wonder. It was something far colder.
Hate. Pure, burning hate.
"No," Kael growled under his breath. "Not you."
My chest tightened painfully. The bond flared between us — bright, undeniable, cruel.
And then he spoke the words that shattered my world.
"I reject you."
Just like that.
In front of everyone.
The crowd erupted into whispers, gasps, disgusted laughter. My vision swayed. My lungs refused to work.
The bond constricted around my heart like a burning rope.
"Alpha—" Mira tried to step forward, but someone yanked her back.
Kael didn't spare her a glance.
His eyes stayed on me — cold, sharp, unforgiving. Then he turned to walk away as if I was nothing.
The bond screamed, tearing through my chest.
Something hot exploded under my skin. My limbs shook violently. My vision went white.
And then—
I collapsed.
Kael
The moment her scent hit me, I knew I was damned.
I'd spent years training myself to be unshakable, unreadable, unbreakable — but nothing prepared me for the force that slammed into me the second I stepped into the clearing.
Warm honey. Moonlit fire. A scent too rare. Too fated.
Mate.
My jaw tightened. I forced myself to breathe, to control the rage swelling inside me.
The Moon Goddess was mocking me. That was the only explanation.
Of all the wolves in my pack — of all the women in the world — she tied me to her?
Aria Hale.
The girl who carried the blood of traitors. The girl half the pack despised. The girl whose very existence sparked old wounds and old anger.
No. No, I wouldn't accept it.
She lifted her head, eyes shining with pain and confusion. Beautiful eyes… too beautiful. Something in my chest twisted.
I crushed the feeling immediately.
I couldn't afford weakness. Not now. Not ever.
"I reject you," I said, each word cold enough to freeze the air.
But the second I said it, the bond snapped violently, slicing through both of us. Aria gasped, her hand flying to her chest, her legs buckling.
Then she fell — eyes rolling back, breath catching, body trembling.
A ripple of panic shot through me. Unwanted. Uninvited.
"Aria!" Mira screamed.
I moved before I could stop myself.
My wolf surged forward, snarling at the sight of her crumpled on the ground. Her pulse was too fast, too erratic. Something wasn't right.
Her skin glowed faintly — a strange, shimmering mark spreading along her collarbone, pulsing with light.
My breath hitched.
What the hell was that?
The council elders rushed toward her, confusion turning to fear.
"She's reacting badly to the rejection!" one shouted.
"No," another hissed. "This isn't normal— look at the mark!"
The mark burned brighter.
Aria cried out in pain, back arching.
Something ancient stirred in my blood — a warning, a whisper of fate I didn't want.
Damn it.
Damn everything.
Against every instinct, I scooped her into my arms. Her body was burning, trembling against mine. The bond — severed, yet screaming — clawed at me.
I ground my teeth.
This girl…This unwanted mate…She shouldn't affect me.
But she did.
Too much.
"Clear the way!" I roared.
My pack obeyed instantly.
I carried her toward the pack house, her breath shallow, her pulse weakening. Every step tightened something in my chest.
I didn't want her. I didn't choose this. I didn't accept this.
Yet as her head fell against my shoulder, soft and fragile, a terrifying thought broke through the walls I'd built my entire life:
If she dies… a part of me dies with her.