ARIA'S POV
Blood sprayed across the arena floor as my fist connected with my opponent's jaw.
He went down hard—two hundred fifty pounds of muscle and arrogance crashing into the dirt. The crowd's roar shook the stone walls, but I barely heard it.
All I heard was my father's voice in my memory: Never hesitate. Hesitation gets you killed.
"Get up," I told the wolf at my feet. His name was something forgettable. They were all forgettable. Just obstacles between me and the one wolf that mattered.
Kade Blackthorn sat on his throne thirty feet away, watching.
He'd been watching since the moment I threw back my hood yesterday. Hadn't looked away once during the opening ceremony. And now, during my first actual trial fight, those red eyes tracked my every move like I was prey he was deciding how to hunt.
Good. Let him watch.
Let him see exactly what his massacre created.
My opponent struggled to his feet, spitting blood. "You fight like a male," he growled.
"I fight like someone who wants to win." I dropped into a ready stance. "There's a difference."
He charged—predictable, angry, sloppy. I sidestepped and drove my elbow into his kidney. He gasped, stumbling. Before he could recover, I swept his legs and put him on his back again.
This time, I didn't let him up. My knee found his throat, my fist pulled back for the finishing blow.
"Yield," I said quietly. Just for him. "Or I'll make sure you never get up again."
Smart wolves knew when they were beaten.
"I yield!" he choked out.
The referee's whistle blew. "Winner: Silver!"
The crowd erupted—half cheering, half shocked. A female rogue who just destroyed one of their strongest warriors in under three minutes.
I stood and turned toward the Alpha's throne. Toward Kade.
Our eyes met across the arena.
Something electric passed between us—something I didn't understand and didn't want to. His expression was unreadable stone, but I swore I saw something flicker in those red eyes.
Recognition? Respect?
Or was he just calculating the best way to kill me once the trials ended?
I held his gaze, refusing to look away first. Refusing to show the fear that lived under my skin like a second heartbeat.
Finally, Kade's lips curved into something that might have been a smile. Cold. Sharp.
Then he nodded once—the barest acknowledgment—and looked away to address his Beta.
Dismissed. Like I was nothing.
Rage burned hot in my chest, but I forced it down. Forced myself to walk calmly out of the arena while the next competitors were called.
Maya grabbed my arm the moment I entered the waiting area.
"That was insane!" Her eyes were wide. "You destroyed him! I've never seen you fight like that in the Blood Pit."
"The Blood Pit didn't have stakes this high." I grabbed a water bottle, my hands shaking with leftover adrenaline. "How many fights left today?"
"Two more rounds. If you win both, you advance to tomorrow's trials." Maya lowered her voice. "But Aria... did you see the way he was watching you?"
"Who, Kade?" I took a long drink, trying to sound casual. "He's probably trying to figure out if I'm actually a threat."
"That's not what it looked like." Maya's expression was worried. "It looked like... I don't know. Like he couldn't look away even if he wanted to."
A chill ran down my spine, but I shook it off. "You're imagining things."
"Am I?" She nodded toward the arena entrance. "Because he's still watching."
I turned.
Kade stood at the edge of his elevated platform, hands braced on the railing, staring directly at me even though the next fight had already started below him.
Our eyes locked again.
This time, I was the one who looked away first.
I won my next two fights before sunset.
Neither opponent lasted longer than five minutes. One yielded after I dislocated his shoulder. The other didn't yield—kept fighting even after I'd clearly won—so I put him down hard enough that the pack physician had to carry him out.
By the time the day's trials ended, whispers followed me everywhere.
"Did you see her move?"
"She fights like she's been training for war."
"Where did a rogue learn to fight like that?"
"Silverpaw blood. They were always stronger than they looked."
That last comment came from an older wolf—gray-haired, scarred, old enough to remember my pack before the massacre. When our eyes met, his expression held something between respect and grief.
He'd known my father. I was sure of it.
The realization made my chest ache. There were wolves here who remembered. Who knew the Silverpaws weren't traitors. Who might even question what Kade had done.
But questioning an Alpha's orders was suicide. So they stayed silent.
Just like I'd stayed silent for five years.
Not anymore.
"Silver." A guard approached as I headed toward the competitors' quarters. "Alpha Blackthorn requests your presence in the strategy room."
My blood ran cold. "Why?"
"He didn't say. Just said to bring you." The guard's expression was carefully neutral. "It's not optional."
Maya grabbed my arm. "I'm coming with you."
"Rogues aren't allowed in Alpha meetings," the guard said.
"Then she's not going." Maya's wolf flashed in her eyes—protective, fierce.
I squeezed her hand. "It's okay. If he wanted me dead, he wouldn't send a polite invitation."
"Aria—"
"I'll be fine." I pulled away and followed the guard, my heart slamming against my ribs.
This was it. He'd figured out who I really was—what I really wanted. He was going to confront me privately, away from witnesses.
Maybe kill me before I became a bigger problem.
My hand instinctively went to my hip where I usually kept my father's blade. But weapons weren't allowed in the competitors' quarters. I was unarmed.
Defenseless.
Good, the dark part of me whispered. Let him try. I'll rip his throat out with my bare hands if I have to.
The guard led me through the fortress—stone corridors that had once been neutral territory but now bore the Bloodmoon crest everywhere. Every step reminded me that I was in enemy territory.
That I was utterly alone.
We stopped in front of an ornate wooden door. The guard knocked twice.
"Enter." Kade's voice sent ice through my veins.
The guard opened the door but didn't follow me inside. The door clicked shut behind me, leaving me alone in a room with the man who'd murdered my father.
The strategy room was exactly what I'd expected—maps on the walls, battle plans, pack territories marked in different colors. But what I hadn't expected was how small it felt with just the two of us.
Kade stood by the window, his back to me. Moonlight caught his dark hair, made his shoulders look even broader.
"You wanted to see me, Alpha?" I kept my voice steady. Respectful. The perfect obedient competitor.
"Drop the act." He turned, and those red eyes pinned me in place. "We both know who you really are, Aria Silverpaw."
Hearing my real name from his mouth felt like a slap. "I don't know what—"
"Don't." He moved closer, and I fought the urge to back away. "I knew the moment you threw back your hood. Silver-blonde hair, violet eyes—you're Marcus Silverpaw's daughter. The girl who was supposed to have died five years ago."
My hands clenched into fists. "And yet here I am. Surprise."
"Why?" The single word held genuine confusion. "Why enter these trials? Why reveal yourself? You could have stayed hidden. Stayed safe."
"Safe?" The word tasted bitter. "You destroyed my pack. Killed my family. Took everything from me. And you think I want to be safe?"
"So this is revenge." He nodded slowly, like I'd confirmed something. "You're here to kill me."
There was no point denying it. "Yes."
"Then why haven't you tried yet? You've had opportunities. The forest between the arena and competitors' quarters. The hallways. Even now—we're alone, and you could shift and attack."
"Because I'm not stupid enough to attack an Alpha in his own fortress." I met his gaze without flinching. "I'll wait for the right moment. When it matters. When everyone can see."
Something flickered across his expression—was that respect? "You've changed. The little girl I remember was gentle. Afraid of blood."
"You turned me into this." My voice shook with rage. "Every scar, every skill, every nightmare—that's your legacy, Kade Blackthorn."
Silence stretched between us, heavy with five years of grief and rage.
Then Kade did something unexpected.
He looked away first. Looked down at his hands like he couldn't stand the sight of them.
"I think about that night," he said quietly. "Every day. Every night. Your father's face when—" He cut himself off. "You have every right to hate me."
"I don't need your permission to hate you." But his admission threw me off balance. Monsters didn't feel guilt. Didn't regret. "Why did you accept my trial application? You knew who I was. You could have rejected it. Banned me from your territory."
"Because you deserve the chance to face me." He finally looked up, and the raw honesty in his eyes made my breath catch. "I took everything from you. If you need to take everything from me to find peace, then so be it."
"This isn't about peace." My voice was barely a whisper. "This is about justice."
"Justice." He tested the word like it was foreign. "Your father said the same thing before I killed him. He said, 'The Moon Goddess knows the truth, even if you don't.'"
My father's last words. Words I'd never heard because Uncle Ryker had covered my mouth.
Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "He was innocent. Whatever the Council told you, whatever evidence they showed you—it was lies."
"Maybe." Kade's jaw clenched. "Or maybe we were both pawns in something bigger. Either way, it doesn't change what I did. Doesn't bring them back."
"No," I agreed. "Nothing will."
We stared at each other, and I realized something that made my skin crawl: this was the most honest conversation I'd had in five years.
With my father's killer.
"The trials continue tomorrow," Kade said finally. "You'll face stronger opponents. They won't underestimate you anymore."
"Good. I don't want easy wins."
"And when you reach the final trial?" His eyes searched mine. "When it's just you and me in the arena under the full moon—what then?"
"Then one of us doesn't walk away." I turned toward the door. "That's what justice looks like."
"Aria."
I stopped but didn't turn around.
"I won't fight back," he said quietly. "When the moment comes. When you're ready to strike. I won't stop you."
The words hit like a physical blow. I wanted him to fight. Wanted him to be the monster I needed him to be.
Not this broken Alpha who thought he deserved death.
"You don't get to make this easy for me," I said without looking back. "You don't get to play martyr and pretend that makes it better."
"Then what do you want from me?"
I want you to tell me my father deserved it, I thought desperately. I want you to be evil so I can hate you without guilt.
But instead, I said, "I want you to survive long enough to watch everything you built crumble. Just like I did."
I left before he could respond. Before the tears I'd been holding back could fall.
Because the worst part wasn't that I hated Kade Blackthorn.
It was that some small, traitorous part of me understood why he looked so haunted.
And that made me hate myself almost as much as I hated him.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Tomorrow was day two of the trials. More fights. More blood. More opportunities to prove I was strong enough to stand against an Alpha.
But all I could think about was Kade's face when he said, "I won't fight back."
He wants to die, Luna whispered in my mind. Our enemy wants us to kill him.
Good. That's what we came here for.
Is it? My wolf's doubt felt like betrayal. Or did we come here looking for answers?
I rolled over and stared at the ceiling of my quarters—a room in the competitors' wing that was far nicer than anywhere I'd slept in five years.
A room in Kade Blackthorn's fortress.
Enemy territory that somehow felt safer than the Blood Pit ever had.
Through the window, I could see the balcony of the Alpha's quarters. Could see a silhouette standing alone in the darkness.
Kade, staring at the same moon I was.
Unable to sleep for the same reasons.
Haunted by the same ghosts.
I pressed my hand against the window glass, cold and solid. Tomorrow, I'd fight again. I'd dominate again. I'd earn the respect and fear of his pack.
And then, during the full moon trial, I'd end this.
I'd get my revenge.
So why does it feel like I'm about to lose something instead of win?
I didn't have an answer.
And that terrified me more than any Alpha ever could.