ARIA'S POV
The black wolf's eyes meet mine, and the world explodes.
It feels like lightning striking directly into my chest. Like every nerve in my body catching fire at once. Like the Moon Goddess herself just reached down and grabbed my soul.
Mate.
The word slams into my brain, absolute and undeniable.
No. No, no, no—
The massive black wolf jerks backward like I burned him. His ice-blue eyes go wide with shock, and I see the exact moment he feels it too. The bond. The connection. The impossible, horrible truth.
He shifts.
Bones crack and reform. Black fur recedes. A man appears where the wolf stood—tall, powerful, completely naked and covered in blood that isn't his. He stares at me with those same ice-blue eyes, and his face is the most beautiful and terrifying thing I've ever seen.
Sharp features. Dark hair. A jaw tight with fury and confusion. This is Kael Nightshade. The Alpha who's slaughtered hundreds of my pack. The enemy I've been taught to fear since childhood.
My fated mate.
"No," he growls, his voice rough and dangerous. "You can't be—"
"Mate," I whisper, the word ripping out of me against my will.
Around us, the battle still rages. Wolves dying. Blood soaking into the earth. My packmates screaming their last breaths.
A brown wolf lunges at me from the side—one of my own squad, eyes wild with panic, probably trying to save me from the enemy Alpha.
Kael moves faster than anything that size should move.
He shifts mid-leap, his black wolf form crashing into the brown wolf with devastating force. There's a sickening crack. The brown wolf drops, neck broken, dead before he hits the ground.
Kael killed him. Killed one of my packmates to protect me.
"Stop!" I scream, shifting back to human form without thinking. "Stop, they're my pack!"
Kael shifts human again, whirling on me. "Your pack sent you here to die!" His voice is raw with anger. "Or are you too stupid to see this was a slaughter?"
Another Silvercrest wolf charges. Kael's hand shoots out, catching the wolf by the throat mid-air. He snaps her neck with casual ease and drops the body.
Horror floods through me. These are wolves I grew up with. Trained with. They're dying, and part of me knows Kael's right—they're dying because my father sent them here knowing they would. But they're still mine.
A massive gray wolf tackles Kael from behind, jaws snapping for his spine. Kael rolls, throws the attacker off, and kills him with one brutal bite to the throat.
Three more Silvercrest wolves attack together. Kael tears through them like paper.
"Please!" I beg, but I don't even know what I'm begging for anymore.
The last of my squad—an older wolf named Marcus who always shared his food with the omegas—tries to run. A Nightshade warrior brings him down. I watch Marcus die, watch his eyes go empty, and something inside me breaks.
Silence falls.
I'm the only one left. Twenty wolves crossed that border. Nineteen are dead.
Just me. The weakest. The one who was supposed to die first.
I'm standing in enemy territory, naked and shaking, surrounded by bodies and Nightshade warriors who want me dead. And the only thing keeping me alive is the monster who killed my packmates.
The monster the Moon Goddess chose for me.
Kael stands a few feet away, chest heaving, covered in blood. His pack surrounds us—dozens of massive wolves with death in their eyes. Every single one is staring at me like I'm prey.
"Alpha," one of them growls, a dark brown wolf with scarred ears. "Let us finish her."
Kael's power explodes outward. The air itself seems to shimmer with his dominance. Every wolf—even the biggest warriors—drops low, submitting instantly.
"She's my mate," Kael's voice cuts through the dawn like a blade. "Anyone touches her, you answer to me."
Shocked silence.
"Your mate?" A huge gray wolf shifts into a man—handsome, brutal-looking, with the same ice-blue eyes as Kael. Has to be family. "She's Silvercrest. She's the enemy!"
"She's MINE," Kael snarls, and the possessiveness in his voice makes my wolf whimper. "The Moon Goddess chose her. Question it again, Theron, and challenge me for Alpha."
The gray-eyed man—Theron—stares at Kael for a long moment, then drops his gaze. "Understood, Alpha."
A horn sounds in the distance. The second wave. Silvercrest reinforcements coming to finish what the first wave started—except now they'll find their wolves slaughtered and me still alive.
Still alive with the enemy.
They'll call me a traitor.
Kael turns to me, his expression fierce. "You have ten seconds to choose. Come with me or stay here and wait for them to kill you for surviving."
"You murdered my pack," I whisper.
"Your pack murdered themselves by attacking us," Kael shoots back. "Your Alpha sent you to die, Aria. Every single one of those wolves was a sacrifice he was willing to make. You think he'll welcome you back with open arms when you're the only one who lived?"
My father's face flashes through my mind. Cold. Dismissive. The way he looked at me this morning like I was already dead.
"Why?" I ask desperately. "Why would you save me?"
Something in Kael's expression shifts. For just a moment, beneath the Alpha power and deadly grace, I see vulnerability. Confusion. Maybe even fear.
"Because you're mine," he says quietly. "The Moon Goddess chose you for me. And I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse, but I won't let you die before I find out."
The horn sounds again. Closer. Silvercrest warriors will be here in minutes.
"Now, Aria," Kael commands, extending his hand. "Choose."
I look at his hand. At the mate bond thrumming between us like a living thing. At the Nightshade warriors watching with hostile eyes. At the bodies of my squadmates cooling on the blood-soaked ground.
Behind me lies Silvercrest. My father who sent me to die. My brother who smiled about it. My sister who hugged me goodbye knowing I wouldn't come back. A pack that's never seen me as anything but worthless.
Ahead lies the enemy. The monsters I've been taught to fear and hate. An Alpha covered in my packmates' blood.
An Alpha the Moon Goddess says is my destiny.
I take his hand.
The moment our skin touches, the bond flares white-hot. Power surges between us, and I gasp at the intensity.
Kael's fingers tighten around mine. "Hold on."
He shifts, and I shift with him. His massive black wolf and my small silver one. The size difference is almost comical—I barely reach his shoulder.
He doesn't seem to care. He nudges me with his muzzle, a surprisingly gentle gesture from a wolf who just killed nineteen of my pack.
Then he runs, and I run with him.
Away from Silvercrest. Away from everything I've ever known.
Into Nightshade territory. Into enemy lands.
Behind us, howls erupt. Silvercrest reinforcements have arrived and found the massacre. Found me missing.
They'll hunt me now. Hunt me like a traitor.
Kael's black wolf slows his pace so I can keep up, staying close enough that his body shields mine from any attacks. Protecting me. Guiding me deeper into his territory.
I don't look back.
But I hear it—the sound of dozens of Silvercrest wolves giving chase. Howling for blood.
Howling for mine.