ARIA'S POV
"Three days isn't enough time."
I pace the enormous bedroom, ignoring how my legs shake with each step. Outside the window, Ashenfort spreads below—a fortress of black stone and ice, protected by mountains on three sides. Beautiful and terrifying, just like its king.
"You need to rest," Sera says from her chair. "You've been awake for two hours and you're already pushing yourself too hard."
"Damien's coming in three days with the Alpha Council behind him. He's going to claim I'm a thief and demand my execution." My voice rises with each word. "How am I supposed to rest?"
"By trusting that Kaine won't let anything happen to you."
"Why would he risk a war for me? I'm nobody. I'm—"
"If you say 'worthless' one more time, I'm going to hex your mouth shut," Sera interrupts. "You're Moon's Chosen. That makes you possibly the most important wolf alive. Kaine knows this. The whole court knows this. The only person who doesn't seem to know is you."
I stop pacing and face her. "Then explain it to me. What does Moon's Chosen even mean?"
Sera's expression turns serious. "Centuries ago, the Moon Goddess blessed certain bloodlines with special power. These wolves could command any rank—alpha, beta, omega. They could speak directly to the Goddess herself. They were meant to keep balance between the packs, to prevent tyrants from rising."
"What happened to them?"
"They were hunted down and killed. Alphas feared wolves they couldn't control. So they worked together—the only time in history alphas truly cooperated—and wiped out the Moon's Chosen bloodline. Or so everyone thought."
My hand moves to my chest, where the strange silver light had exploded when Kaine touched me. "But I'm alive."
"You're alive because someone hid what you were. The curse on your bloodline didn't just suppress your power—it disguised you as an omega. Made you invisible." Sera leans forward. "Think about it, Aria. Omegas are rare. How many did Silvercrest Pack have?"
"Just me and Lila. Sometimes three or four total."
"Exactly. Because real omegas are rare. But you were never a real omega. You were hidden in plain sight, suppressed so completely that even you believed the lie."
The room spins. My whole life—the abuse, the rejection, the pain—was based on a lie someone cursed me with as a baby?
"Who cursed me?"
"Someone who knew what you'd become. Someone powerful enough to curse a bloodline and smart enough to keep you close where they could watch you." Sera's eyes narrow. "Someone in Silvercrest Pack."
Damien's father. The old Alpha who died four years ago.
I remember him watching me sometimes with an expression I couldn't read. I remember him keeping detailed journals. I remember Damien spending hours in his father's office after he died, reading those journals.
"Damien knows," I whisper. "His father cursed me and wrote it all down. That's how Damien knew to keep me weak, to reject me but hold the bond. He was keeping the curse strong."
"Which means he knows exactly what you are and what you can do," Sera confirms. "And now that you're here, away from Silvercrest territory, the curse is breaking. You're becoming what you were always meant to be."
Fear and anger war inside me. "I don't want this. I don't want to be special or powerful. I just want to be free."
"You can't have one without the other." Sera stands and moves to the window. "The Alpha Council supports Damien because they're terrified of you. If you come into your full power, you could command them all. You could destroy the current system where alphas rule through strength and fear. They'll do anything to stop that."
"Including killing me."
"Including killing you."
The door opens and Kaine enters with the scarred warrior from earlier. Both look grim.
"Damien's sent another message," Kaine says. "He's moving up his timeline. He'll be here in two days, not three. And he's bringing fifty warriors plus three members of the Alpha Council."
My knees give out. I sink onto the bed. "Two days."
"Two days to teach you enough to survive," the scarred warrior says. "I'm Thane, by the way. The king's second-in-command and apparently your new combat instructor."
"I can't learn to fight in two days."
"You won't," Thane agrees bluntly. "But you can learn to defend yourself long enough for us to protect you. And you can learn to use your command voice."
"My what?"
Kaine crouches in front of me. "Moon's Chosen can command any wolf with their voice. It's instinctive—you don't need training to access it. You just need to stop being afraid of your own power."
"I've been afraid my whole life. I don't know how to stop."
"Then we teach you." Kaine's ice-blue eyes hold mine. "Starting now. Get up."
"I just woke up from—"
"Get. Up." His voice carries alpha command, but I feel something else underneath it. A challenge. He's testing me.
Anger flares hot in my chest. I'm tired of being ordered around. Tired of being pushed and broken and told what to do.
"No," I say.
The word hangs in the air. Thane's eyebrows shoot up. Sera grins. Kaine's expression doesn't change, but something gleams in his eyes.
"No?" he repeats softly.
"I'll get up when I'm ready. Not because you commanded me to." My voice shakes but I keep going. "I spent four years obeying Damien's every order, swallowing my pride, accepting abuse. I'm done being a dog that rolls over on command."
Kaine's smile is slow and terrifying and somehow approving. "Good. That's the first lesson. Never submit unless you choose to." He offers his hand. "Now get up because you want to learn how to destroy everyone who hurt you."
I take his hand.
The moment our skin touches, that silver light flares again—smaller than before but still there. Warmth spreads through my chest, pushing back the exhaustion and pain.
"What is that?" I breathe.
"A bond," Sera says. "Not a mate bond—something older. Your bloodlines recognizing each other as equals. As partners."
"But I'm not his equal. I'm not anyone's equal."
"You will be," Kaine says. "In two days, when Damien arrives, you're going to stand beside me as my queen. Not cowering, not hiding. Standing tall and showing him exactly what he threw away."
"I can't—"
"You can." His grip on my hand tightens. "Because you're Moon's Chosen. Because you survived twenty-two years of abuse and you're still fighting. Because you're stronger than you know."
I want to believe him. Want to believe I could be strong and powerful and everything Damien said I wasn't.
"What if I fail?" I whisper.
"You won't. I won't let you." Kaine pulls me to my feet. "Now come. We have two days to turn you into a queen."
---
The training starts immediately.
Thane takes me to a courtyard where Lycan warriors practice. They stop and stare as I walk past—a werewolf omega in their sacred training grounds.
"Ignore them," Thane says. "Show weakness and they'll never respect you. Show strength and they'll follow you anywhere."
He hands me a wooden practice sword. It's heavy and awkward in my hands.
"I don't know how to—"
"Your body knows. Your bloodline remembers." Thane raises his own sword. "Now defend yourself."
He attacks.
I barely block in time, the impact jarring my arms. He attacks again and again, driving me backward. I'm going to lose. I'm going to fall and everyone's going to laugh and—
Something shifts inside me.
My body moves without thinking, blocking and dodging like I've done this a thousand times before. The sword becomes lighter. My movements flow like water.
Thane grins. "There it is. Muscle memory from your ancestors. They were warriors, girl. So are you."
We practice for an hour until my arms scream with exhaustion. But I don't stop. Can't stop. Because in two days, Damien comes, and I need to be ready.
That night, Sera teaches me about my command voice.
"It's not about volume," she explains. "It's about authority. About believing—truly believing—that you have the right to be obeyed."
I try over and over, but nothing happens. My voice stays weak and uncertain.
"You're still thinking like a victim," Sera says gently. "Like someone who needs permission to speak. But queens don't ask permission. They take what's theirs."
"I don't know how to do that."
"Then remember. Remember every time someone hurt you and told you to be silent. Remember every moment you swallowed your words because speaking up meant pain. Remember all that rage you've been hiding for twenty-two years." Sera's purple eyes glow. "Now let it out."
I close my eyes and remember.
Damien's rejection. Celeste's cruelty. The pack's mockery. Twenty-two years of being nothing.
Rage builds in my chest like a living thing.
"Now," Sera says. "Command me to kneel."
I open my eyes and look at her. The rage pours into my voice.
"Kneel."
Power explodes from the word. Sera gasps and drops to her knees before she can stop herself. The windows rattle. Frost spreads across the floor.
And from somewhere deep in the castle, I hear Kaine roar in response to my power.
Sera climbs to her feet, eyes wide. "Well. That worked."
Before I can respond, alarms blare through Ashenfort.
Thane bursts into the room. "They're here early. Damien and the Alpha Council just entered our territory with an army. They're demanding Aria's immediate surrender."
My heart stops. "But we have two more days—"
"They lied," Kaine's voice says from the doorway. His eyes glow silver with barely contained rage. "They were always planning to attack early. This was never about justice."
"What do we do?" I whisper.
Kaine looks at me, and I see a decision being made. "We fight. And you're going to show them exactly what Moon's Chosen can do."