ARIA'S POV
The warehouse smelled like rust and old blood.
I pressed my back against the cold metal door, counting heartbeats in the darkness. Uncle Ryker's message had been clear: Come alone. Midnight. Don't be followed.
Something felt wrong.
My wolf, Luna, stirred restlessly inside me. She'd been on edge since we got Ryker's text two hours ago. Wolves had instincts for danger, and mine were screaming.
"Uncle Ryker?" My voice echoed in the empty space.
No answer.
I pulled the silver blade from my jacket—my father's blade—and crept deeper into the warehouse. Moonlight filtered through broken windows, casting shadows that moved like living things.
Then I heard it: breathing that wasn't mine.
I spun, blade raised.
"Still jumpy, I see." Uncle Ryker stepped from behind a stack of crates, hands raised peacefully. "Good. Paranoia will keep you alive in Blackthorn's territory."
My heart slammed against my ribs. "Don't do that! I could have killed you."
"But you didn't." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Because you recognized my scent before you struck. That's the difference between you and the other fighters in the Blood Pit—you think before you act."
I lowered the blade but didn't sheathe it. "Why the secret meeting? You gave me the folder yesterday. What else is there?"
Ryker's expression turned serious. He pulled out a thick envelope and tossed it to me. "Everything you need to infiltrate the trials. But there are things we need to discuss before you walk into the lion's den."
I caught the envelope one-handed and opened it. Inside: fake identity documents, pack credentials, a detailed map of Blackthorn Fortress, and—
My breath caught.
A photograph of Kade Blackthorn.
Not the grainy images I'd found online. Not the blurry shots from old pack gatherings. This was recent. Professional. Like someone had been watching him.
He stood on a balcony, arms crossed, staring at something beyond the camera. Five years had changed him. His face was harder, his jaw sharper, his shoulders broader. Dark hair fell across his forehead, but those eyes—
Those burning red eyes—were exactly the same.
The eyes from my nightmares.
"Where did you get this?" My voice came out rougher than I intended.
"I have contacts inside his pack." Ryker moved closer. "People who remember what he did to us. People who want justice as much as you do."
Justice. The word tasted bitter.
What I wanted wasn't justice. It was revenge.
"The trials start in three days," Ryker continued. "You'll enter as Silver Moonborn—rogue wolf, no pack affiliation. Your fighting reputation is legitimate, so they won't question it. The trials last one week, culminating in a final challenge during the full moon."
"And that's when I strike." I touched the silver blade at my hip. "During the chaos of the final trial."
"No."
I blinked. "What do you mean, no? That's been the plan for five years—"
"Plans change." Ryker's tone was sharp. "Killing Kade during the trials would make you a target for every wolf in his pack. You'd be dead before his body hit the ground."
Anger flared in my chest. "Then what's the point? I didn't spend five years training just to—"
"You spent five years training to get close to him." Ryker grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to meet his eyes. "The trials are your way in. Win them. Earn his trust. Make him believe you're loyal. Then you strike when his guard is down."
Every instinct I had screamed that this was wrong. "You want me to join his pack? To pretend I'm loyal to the man who murdered my father?"
"I want you to survive long enough to kill him." Ryker's grip tightened. "Aria, listen to me. Kade Blackthorn is the most dangerous Alpha in the territories. He didn't get that reputation by being careless. If you want him dead, you need to be smart."
I jerked away from him, my wolf snarling inside my head. Luna hated this plan. She wanted blood now, not later.
But Ryker was right, and I hated that even more.
"How long?" I asked quietly. "How long do I have to pretend?"
"As long as it takes." He pulled out another photograph—this one showing Kade surrounded by wolves in what looked like a strategy meeting. "He trusts no one. His Beta, Garrett, is loyal to a fault. His pack is filled with wolves who'd die for him. Getting close won't be easy."
"Nothing about this has been easy." I stared at Kade's face in the photo. "But I didn't come this far to fail."
"That's my girl." Pride flickered in Ryker's expression. "Your father would be proud of what you've become."
The mention of my father sent a sharp pain through my chest. I closed my eyes, seeing his face the way it had been before that night—laughing, strong, alive.
"Would he?" I whispered. "Would Dad be proud that I became a killer?"
"You became a survivor." Ryker's voice was firm. "There's a difference. And yes, Marcus would be proud that you didn't give up. That you didn't let fear break you."
I wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him.
"Three days," I said, focusing on the mission. "What happens between now and then?"
Ryker handed me a phone—prepaid, untraceable. "You'll receive final instructions the night before the trials. Memorize everything in that envelope, then burn it. Don't bring anything that connects you to the Silverpaw Pack. As far as anyone knows, Silver Moonborn has no history before the Blood Pit."
I nodded, tucking the envelope inside my jacket next to the silver blade.
"One more thing." Ryker's expression turned grave. "Once you enter Blackthorn territory, you're on your own. I can't contact you. Can't help you. If something goes wrong—"
"Nothing will go wrong," I interrupted.
"If something goes wrong," he continued firmly, "you run. Forget revenge. Forget the plan. You run, and you survive. Understood?"
The weight of his words settled over me. This was real. In three days, I'd be walking into enemy territory with nothing but a fake name and five years of rage.
"Understood," I lied.
Because running was never an option. Not after what Kade took from me.
Ryker studied my face for a long moment, like he could see through the lie. Then he sighed. "Your father made me promise to protect you. I've kept that promise for five years. Don't make me break it now."
"I'll be careful," I said.
He pulled me into a sudden, fierce hug. "Come back alive, Aria. That's all I ask."
I hugged him back, breathing in the familiar scent of pack—family—that I'd lost five years ago. When he released me, I saw tears in his eyes.
"I'll come back," I promised. "After Kade Blackthorn is dead."
That night, the nightmare was worse than ever.
My father on his knees. The black wolf looming over him. Blood spreading across stone floors.
But this time, I could hear what my father was saying.
"Aria, run! Don't trust—"
The black wolf's jaws closed around his throat, cutting off the words.
Don't trust who? What was he trying to tell me?
I screamed, but no sound came out. My father's eyes found mine through the cellar cracks—wide, desperate, terrified.
His lips formed one final word before the light left his eyes.
A name.
But I couldn't hear it. Couldn't understand it.
The black wolf—Kade—lifted his massive head and looked directly at the cellar.
Directly at me.
His red eyes burned like hellfire.
"I know you're there," he growled.
I bolted upright in bed, gasping for air. Sweat soaked my sheets. My wolf was howling inside my head, terrified and furious.
But that wasn't what made my blood run cold.
It was the realization that crashed over me like ice water:
In five years of nightmares, Kade had never looked at the cellar.
Never acknowledged my presence.
So why was the dream changing now?
And what had my father been trying to tell me before he died?
I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and pulled up the photo of Kade that Ryker had given me. Those red eyes stared back at me from the screen.
"I know you're there."
The words from the nightmare echoed in my head.
Three days. I had three days before I faced the monster from my nightmares in person.
Three days before I walked into Blackthorn territory and put my life on the line for revenge.
My father's blade gleamed in the moonlight on my nightstand, waiting.
Don't trust—
Don't trust who?
The question burned in my mind as I stared at Kade's photograph, and for the first time in five years, doubt crept into my certainty.
What if there was something about that night I didn't know?
What if my father's final words were a warning I'd never heard?
I shook my head violently, banishing the thoughts. No. I knew what happened. I'd seen it with my own eyes.
Kade Blackthorn was a murderer.
And in three days, he'd pay for what he took from me.
Even if it killed me too.