I made it exactly forty-seven minutes before the rage became unbearable.
Forty-seven minutes of pacing around my room like a caged animal. Forty-seven minutes of replaying every humiliating second of that meeting. Forty-seven minutes of feeling the mate bond twist in my chest like a knife every time I thought about Kai's arm around Madison's waist, his lips on her temple, his complete and utter dismissal of what we were supposed to mean to each other.
The birthmark on my shoulder blade had been pulsing steadily since I'd left the dining room, each throb accompanied by a flash of silver light that made the shadows dance across my walls. Whatever was happening to me was getting stronger, and I was starting to understand why everyone had looked so terrified when it first manifested.
A knock on my door interrupted my mental spiral.
"Aria?" Sophia's voice was cautious. "Can I come in?"
"I'm fine," I called back, though we both knew that was a lie.
"The Shadowmoon delegation is leaving. Your dad sent me to check on you."
Leaving. Of course they were leaving. Now that Kai had made his dramatic rejection and paraded his girlfriend around like a trophy, there was nothing left to discuss.
"Aria, please. Let me in."
I unlocked the door and pulled it open. Sophia took one look at my face and immediately pulled me into a fierce hug.
"That bastard," she muttered into my hair. "That absolute, complete bastard."
"It's fine," I said, though my voice cracked on the words. "He made his choice."
"His choice was cruel and public and designed to humiliate you." She pulled back to look at me, her dark eyes blazing with fury. "The way he kissed her in front of everyone, like he was marking his territory—"
"Stop." I couldn't bear to hear it described again. "Please, just... stop."
"Aria—"
A commotion outside made us both turn toward the window. Cars were pulling away from the estate—expensive black sedans with tinted windows that screamed 'important supernatural business.' The Shadowmoon delegation was making their dramatic exit.
And there, standing beside the lead car, was Kai.
Even from three stories up, I could see him clearly. He was saying something to Madison, his hands on her shoulders, his body angled protectively over hers. She was nodding, smiling up at him with those bright blue eyes.
Then he helped her into the passenger seat of a silver convertible—her car, I realized—and closed the door with the kind of careful gentleness that made my chest feel like it was caving in.
"Aria," Sophia said quietly. "Don't watch this."
But I couldn't look away. It was like witnessing a car accident in slow motion—horrible but somehow impossible to ignore.
Kai walked around to the driver's side of Madison's car. He was going to drive her home. He was going to spend the rest of the day with her, probably consoling her about the awkward supernatural politics she'd been dragged into. Maybe they'd grab dinner. Maybe they'd—
He looked up.
From three stories down and half a football field away, Kai Blackwood looked directly at my bedroom window. Our eyes met for exactly three seconds—long enough for me to see something that might have been regret flash across his face—before he got into the car and drove away.
That's when something inside me snapped.
The rage that had been building all day, all night, maybe all my life, finally found its target. Not just at Kai, but at the unfairness of it all. At a universe that would give me a fated mate only to make him hate everything I represented. At a Moon Goddess who thought cosmic jokes were hilarious.
At myself, for being stupid enough to hope.
"Aria." Sophia's voice seemed to come from very far away. "Your eyes..."
I turned to look at her, and she took an involuntary step backward. "What about them?"
"They're glowing."
I spun toward the mirror above my dresser, and she was right. My violet eyes were lit from within, as if someone had replaced my irises with amethyst flames. The effect was beautiful and terrifying.
"What's happening to me?"
Before Sophia could answer, my bedroom door flew open without anyone touching it. Dad stood in the doorway, his face pale with something that looked like fear.
"Aria, I need you to come downstairs. Now."
"Why?"
"Because Elder Patricia is having some kind of vision, and she keeps saying your name."
The silver light pulsing from my birthmark grew brighter, and I saw Dad's eyes widen as it became visible through my dress.
"Dad, I think something's wrong with me."
"I know, sweetheart. That's why we need to talk to the Elder. She might have answers."
I followed him downstairs, Sophia close behind. The dining room had been cleared, but I could hear voices coming from Dad's study. As we got closer, I could make out Elder Patricia's voice, high and strained.
"The bloodline awakens... the Moon's chosen daughter... power beyond reckoning..."
Dad pushed open the study door, and we found Elder Patricia sitting in one of the leather chairs, her eyes rolled back in her head, speaking in the otherworldly voice that meant she was deep in a prophetic trance. Several other pack officials stood around her, their faces tight with concern.
"She's been like this for twenty minutes," Beta Samuel whispered to Dad. "Started right after the Shadowmoon cars left the property."
"What's she saying?"
"See for yourself."
Elder Patricia's head suddenly snapped up, her eyes—now completely white—fixing on me with unnerving precision.
"Daughter of the Moon," she said, her voice echoing strangely in the confined space. "Child of silver light and ancient power. The time of awakening has come."
"Elder Patricia?" I approached her carefully. "It's me, Aria."
"Aria Montenegro." My name sounded different when she said it, weighted with significance I didn't understand. "Last daughter of the Moonlight Bloodline. Born to break the bonds that bind, born to forge the bonds that free."
"I don't understand."
"You will." Her white eyes seemed to look right through me. "When the moon rises full again, when rage becomes power, when love becomes weapon... you will understand everything."
A chill ran down my spine. "What do you mean?"
"The rejected mate... the broken bond... the awakening power..." She was speaking faster now, the words tumbling over each other. "Beware the silver light, child. Beware the power that answers to pain."
That's when I felt it—a sudden, overwhelming surge of emotion that wasn't entirely my own. Through the mate bond, I could sense Kai's conflicted feelings, his guilt and regret and the way he was fighting against his attraction to me. I could feel Madison's innocent confusion about the supernatural world she'd stumbled into. I could even sense his father's grim satisfaction at having successfully blocked an unwanted alliance.
But strongest of all, I could feel their journey back to Seattle, could track their location like a GPS signal in my head.
They were stopped at a red light about two miles from the estate.
The realization should have been impossible. Mate bonds didn't work that way—they allowed you to sense your partner's general emotional state, maybe their physical pain, but not their exact location. Not their thoughts. Not—
"She's manifesting," Elder Patricia gasped, her eyes suddenly returning to their normal brown color. "Right now, she's manifesting!"
"Manifesting what?" Dad demanded.
But before Elder Patricia could answer, the silver light from my birthmark flared so brightly that everyone in the room had to shield their eyes. The sensation was unlike anything I'd ever experienced—power flowing through my veins like liquid starlight, every nerve ending alive with energy that felt both foreign and completely natural.
And with that power came knowledge.
I knew exactly where Kai was. I could sense the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, the warmth of his skin, the way his hands gripped the steering wheel of Madison's car. I could feel his guilt and his stubborn determination to ignore the mate bond in equal measure.
I could also sense his complete shock when he felt me touch his mind.
Aria? His mental voice was stunned, disbelieving. How are you—
You made your choice, I projected back, surprised by how easy it was. Now live with the consequences.
Then, because I was apparently beyond caring about subtlety or restraint, I reached out with my newfound power and squeezed.
Not enough to seriously hurt him—I wasn't a monster, despite what I was feeling—but enough to make my point. Enough to let him know that rejecting me didn't mean he got to walk away unscathed.
Through our connection, I felt his hands jerk on the steering wheel. Felt the car swerve slightly before he regained control. Felt his sudden, acute understanding that he'd underestimated exactly what he was dealing with.
Aria, stop. His mental voice was strained now, tinged with the first hint of real fear. You're going to hurt someone.
Good.
I squeezed harder, and this time I felt him gasp aloud. Madison's voice came through the bond, worried and confused: "Kai? Are you okay? You look pale."
"I'm fine," he lied, though I could feel the way his throat was tightening, the way his vision was starting to blur around the edges.
This is what rejection feels like, I told him. This is what you've done to me.
Aria, please. There was genuine panic in his mental voice now. I'll pull over, I'll explain, just please stop—
"ARIA!"
Dad's shout snapped me back to the present. I blinked and found myself standing in the middle of his study, silver light pouring from every inch of my skin. The air around me shimmered with power, and every piece of metal in the room—picture frames, letter openers, the brass handles on the filing cabinets—was vibrating like tuning forks.
Elder Patricia was on her knees, staring at me with a mixture of awe and terror.
"The awakening," she whispered. "It's happening faster than I thought possible."
"What's happening to her?" Dad demanded, though he kept his distance. Smart man.
"She's becoming what she was always meant to be." Elder Patricia struggled to her feet, her legs shaking. "The last true daughter of the Moon Goddess. The one who can break and remake the sacred bonds."
"I don't understand."
"The mate bond," Elder Patricia said, never taking her eyes off me. "She can manipulate it. Break it. Strengthen it. Redirect it. In the old days, before the bloodlines were diluted, the Moon's daughters were the ultimate arbiters of werewolf relationships."
Through my connection with Kai, I felt his car pull over to the side of the road. Madison was asking him what was wrong, why he looked like he was in pain. He was trying to reassure her while simultaneously fighting against the invisible force wrapped around his throat.
A part of me—a very small, very distant part—was horrified by what I was doing. But a much larger part of me was reveling in it. Finally, finally, I had power over the man who'd humiliated me. Finally, I could make him feel even a fraction of the pain he'd caused me.
Please, Kai's mental voice was barely a whisper now. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Aria. Just please let me go.
The apology should have been enough. Should have been what I wanted to hear.
Instead, it just made me angrier.
Sorry isn't good enough.
I poured more power into the connection, feeling his panic spike as his airway constricted further. Through the bond, I could sense Madison getting out of the car, could feel her hands on his face as she tried to figure out what was wrong.
"Kai? Kai, talk to me! Should I call 911?"
Stop, he managed to project, though even his mental voice was getting weaker. You're scaring her.
Good. Maybe she needs to understand what she's dealing with.
"ARIA MONTENEGRO!"
Elder Patricia's voice cracked like a whip, infused with the kind of spiritual authority that made every werewolf instinct I possessed snap to attention. The silver light surrounding me flickered, and my mental grip on Kai loosened slightly.
"That's enough," the Elder said, approaching me slowly with her hands raised. "You're going to kill him."
"Maybe I should," I said, and was shocked by how cold my own voice sounded. "Maybe the world would be better off without another Blackwood."
"And maybe it would be better off without another Montenegro driven mad by power."
The words hit me like a slap. "What?"
"This is how it starts," Elder Patricia said gently. "The corruption. The madness that drove your grandmother to try to reshape the entire werewolf world according to her will."
"My grandmother?"
"Luna Celestine Montenegro. The last Moon's daughter before you." Elder Patricia's eyes were sad now, compassionate. "She could do everything you're doing now, and more. Break bonds, create bonds, command the loyalty of any werewolf she chose. And it destroyed her."
I felt the power wavering, my concentration slipping. Through the bond, Kai gasped in a shaky breath as my mental grip loosened further.
"What happened to her?"
"She tried to use her gifts to end all werewolf conflict. Forced matings between enemy packs, broke bonds that she deemed 'unhealthy,' reshaped relationships according to her own vision of what was best." Elder Patricia stepped closer, her voice gentle but urgent. "In the end, the combined packs had to stop her. Your own grandfather led the coalition that stripped her of her power."
"Stripped her of her power?"
"Bound it with silver chains and ritual magic. The trauma of it drove her completely insane. She spent the last twenty years of her life in a mental institution, convinced that the moon was speaking to her." Elder Patricia reached out slowly, as if approaching a wild animal. "Is that what you want, child? To become a cautionary tale?"
Through the bond, I could feel Kai recovering, could sense Madison's relief as his color returned to normal. He was trying to explain away what had happened—stress, overwork, anything but the truth.
Aria, his mental voice was stronger now, but still shaky. We need to talk.
No, we don't.
But I released my hold on him completely, the silver light around me dimming to a manageable glow.
"I'm not her," I told Elder Patricia, though I wasn't entirely sure I believed it. "I'm not my grandmother."
"I hope not. But power like this..." She gestured to the silver light still emanating from my skin. "It changes you. It makes you think you know what's best for everyone else."
"Maybe I do know what's best."
"Maybe you do. But who gave you the right to decide?"
The question hung in the air like a challenge. I looked around the study, taking in the faces of the pack officials who'd watched my display of power. Some looked awed. Some looked terrified. All of them looked at me like I was something other than human.
Something dangerous.
"I need some air," I said, the silver light finally fading completely.
"Aria—" Dad started to follow me, but Elder Patricia caught his arm.
"Let her go," she said quietly. "She needs to process this on her own."
I walked out of the study, through the house, and onto the back terrace where Kai and I had talked just hours earlier. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold, and the first stars were beginning to appear.
But the moment I stepped outside, the exhaustion hit me like a freight train.
The power that had been surging through my veins was gone, leaving behind an emptiness that felt like I'd been hollowed out from the inside. My knees buckled, and I had to grab the stone railing to keep from falling.
"Aria!" I heard Dad's voice behind me, felt his strong arms catch me as my legs gave out completely.
"I'm okay," I tried to say, but the words came out slurred. "Just tired..."
"The power drain," Elder Patricia's voice was closer now, urgent. "I should have warned her. The first manifestation always takes everything you have."
"What's wrong with her?" Dad's voice was tight with panic as he lifted me into his arms.
"Nothing permanent. But awakening that much power at once... her body needs time to recover." Elder Patricia's weathered hand touched my forehead. "She'll sleep deeply tonight. Probably for twelve hours or more."
I tried to protest, tried to tell them I was fine, but my eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. The last thing I remembered was Dad carrying me upstairs, his voice soft with worry as he called for Sophia.
"Watch over her," he said. "And if anything else happens—if there's even a flicker of silver light—you call me immediately."
Then darkness claimed me, and I knew nothing more.
I woke to sunlight streaming through my bedroom windows and the sound of my phone buzzing insistently on the nightstand.
For a moment, I couldn't remember why I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Then the memories came flooding back—the rage, the power, the way I'd nearly killed Kai with nothing but my thoughts.
I sat up slowly, testing my strength. The bone-deep exhaustion was gone, replaced by a strange, humming energy just beneath my skin. The birthmark on my shoulder blade still tingled, but it was a manageable sensation now, like a song played at low volume.
My phone buzzed again. I reached for it and saw seven missed calls and twelve text messages, all from the same unknown number.
The messages were all from Kai:
Are you okay?Aria, please answer me.I can feel through the bond that something's wrong.I'm coming over.Your father told me to stay away, but I need to know you're all right.I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything.Please just let me know you're alive.
The last message had been sent three hours ago.
I stared at the phone, a dozen different emotions warring in my chest. He was worried about me. After everything—after the rejection, the humiliation, my near-attempt at murder—he was worried about me.
Either he was genuinely concerned, or he was afraid of what I might do next.
Probably both.
I typed back a simple message: I'm fine.
The response came within seconds: Thank God. Can we talk?
I stared at the message for a long time, remembering the way his mental voice had sounded when I'd been choking him. The panic. The fear. The desperate apology.
Soon, I typed back. But not today.
Aria—
I turned off my phone before I could see the rest of his message.
The silver light pulsed once beneath my skin, and I smiled.
Let him wait. Let him wonder. Let him understand exactly what he'd awakened when he decided to reject me.
The game was just beginning.