The inside of the cottage smelled like burning herbs, old wood, and something else — something unfamiliar but oddly comforting.
Magic.
Aria's eyes scanned the dim space. Shelves lined every wall, stuffed with ancient scrolls, jars of strange roots, and small flickering orbs that pulsed with quiet light.
The silver-haired witch didn't speak at first. She simply studied Aria — not with judgment, but with curiosity.
"You've never felt it before, have you?" she finally said.
Aria blinked. "Felt what?"
The witch stepped closer. "The pull. The power beneath your skin. The part of you that never truly fit in."
Aria nodded slowly. "I thought I was just… broken."
"You're not broken," the witch said, her voice low. "You're bound."
Aria's breath caught. "Bound to what?"
"To something older than the packs. Older than the Alpha bloodlines."
She waved her hand, and a glowing sigil appeared in the air — the same as the one now marked on Aria's skin.
"The Lunaris Line," the witch said. "A royal bloodline wiped out generations ago. Betrayed. Hunted. Destroyed by those who feared the moon's true power."
Ronan stepped forward, tense. "And now it's awakening in her?"
The witch nodded. "The blood never died. It only slept. And now, she is the last."
Aria's knees nearly buckled. "I'm… royalty?"
The witch gave a small smile. "You are the lost heir of the moon."
---
Outside, the wind howled.
But Aria was numb. Her heart pounded, not from fear — but from something else.
Destiny.
"And the mark?" she asked. "Why now?"
"Because the one who was meant to protect you," the witch said, "rejected you. The bond broke, and your true power rose to the surface."
Ronan looked at Aria. "So Kael rejecting you… unlocked this?"
"No," the witch said darkly. "It unleashed it."
---
Suddenly, the orbs in the room flickered.
The witch turned sharply. "They've found us."
Ronan growled. "Already?"
The witch raised her hands, chanting in a language Aria didn't understand.
A ripple of magic surged through the cottage, but then — BOOM.
The door blasted open in a shower of splinters.
Smoke.
Footsteps.
And then… a shadowed figure stepped inside, cloaked in dark robes, eyes burning red.
"You should have stayed hidden, princess," the stranger rasped.
Aria froze.
Because behind the stranger… s
tepped someone she never expected to see.
Kael.
---
To be continued...