Aria's POV
I woke up on the cold stone floor of the dungeon.
My head was pounding. My wrists were bruised from where the guards had grabbed me. But the worst pain wasn't in my body.
It was in my heart.
*Damien kissed Miranda. He denied me. He called me crazy.*
I curled into a ball and sobbed until my throat was raw. This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare.
But when the dungeon door creaked open hours later, I knew it was all too real.
A guard threw me out like garbage. "Alpha says you're free to go. But if you cause any more trouble, you'll regret it."
I stumbled through the dark hallways of Blackwood Manor. My mind was racing. There had to be an explanation. Damien must have been protecting me somehow. Maybe he had a plan I didn't understand.
I needed to find him. I needed to hear the truth from his own lips.
My feet carried me toward his private office. The hallway was empty—everyone was still celebrating at the Luna Ceremony. Celebrating Miranda.
My stomach twisted at the thought.
Then I heard it.
Laughter.
Damien's laughter, coming from behind his office door. And a woman's voice too. But it wasn't Miranda's.
It was Melissa's.
Melissa was Miranda's older sister. She had left the pack two years ago to marry an Alpha from another territory. What was she doing here?
I crept closer and pressed my ear against the door. My hands were trembling.
"I still can't believe you pulled it off," Melissa said, her voice dripping with amusement. "Four whole years with that pathetic omega whore, and she actually thought you loved her."
My blood turned to ice.
Damien laughed again. That laugh I used to love. That laugh that used to make my heart sing.
Now it made me want to throw up.
"It was almost too easy," Damien said. "She was so desperate for love, so starving for attention. All I had to do was say a few pretty words and she melted like butter."
"But why her?" Melissa asked. "Of all the wolves in this pack, why waste your time on a worthless omega?"
There was a pause. Then Damien spoke, and his words shattered everything I thought I knew.
"Because her mother was the secret daughter of the Moon Goddess bloodline. Her wolf carries ancient power. If I can get her pregnant, our child will have abilities no wolf has had in centuries."
I slapped my hand over my mouth to stop from screaming.
My mother? The Moon Goddess bloodline? What was he talking about?
"So that's why you kept her around," Melissa purred. "Not love. Just breeding."
"Of course not love." Damien sounded disgusted. "Could you imagine? Me, actually loving that dirty, pathetic creature? Please. I can barely stand to touch her."
Tears poured down my face. Each word was a knife in my chest.
"But now you have Miranda," Melissa said. "So what happens to the omega?"
"She's useless now. I'll reject her officially tomorrow in front of the whole pack. After that humiliation, she'll probably run away on her own. If not..." He paused. "Well, omegas die all the time. Accidents happen."
My legs gave out. I collapsed against the wall, my whole body shaking.
He was going to kill me.
The man I loved. The father of my baby. He was planning to murder me.
"And if she's already pregnant?" Melissa asked.
"Even better. I'll take the child and dispose of her. A baby with Moon Goddess blood, raised by me? I'll be the most powerful Alpha in history."
Something inside me snapped.
The fear, the heartbreak, the despair—it all transformed into something else.
Rage.
Pure, white-hot rage.
I pressed my hand against my stomach. Against the tiny life growing inside me. *I will protect you*, I swore silently. *No matter what it takes. He will never touch you.*
Suddenly, my skin started to burn. My bones felt like they were on fire. A strange energy pulsed through my veins—the same feeling I had felt when the guards dragged me away.
Only this time, it was stronger.
Much stronger.
My wolf, who had always been weak and quiet, suddenly howled inside my mind.
*MATE BETRAYED US. MATE MUST PAY.*
The door to Damien's office flew open.
Not because anyone touched it.
Because I opened it. With my mind.
Damien and Melissa jumped to their feet. Their faces went pale when they saw me standing there.
"Aria?" Damien's voice cracked. "How long have you been—"
"Long enough."
My voice didn't sound like my own. It was deeper. Stronger. It echoed with power I didn't know I had.
"Long enough to know you never loved me. Long enough to know you want to steal my baby. Long enough to know you want me dead."
Melissa backed away, fear flashing in her eyes. "Damien, what's happening to her?"
Damien stared at me. His expression shifted from shock to something else.
Greed.
"Her powers," he whispered. "They're awakening. This is even better than I planned."
He stepped toward me with his hands raised like he was approaching a wild animal.
"Aria, sweetheart, calm down. Let me explain—"
"Don't."
The word came out as a growl. The windows behind Damien cracked. The candles in the room flickered and died.
"You will never touch me again," I said. "And you will never touch my child."
Then I did something I had never done before.
I ran.
I burst through the window, glass cutting my arms, and sprinted into the forest. Behind me, I heard Damien screaming for his guards.
But I didn't stop.
I ran until my lungs burned. I ran until Blackwood Manor was nothing but a shadow in the distance. I ran until I crossed the border into forbidden territory.
The Nightshade Pack lands.
Where rogues were killed on sight.
Where the most feared Alpha in the world ruled with an iron fist.
I collapsed in the mud, gasping for breath.
And that's when I heard them.
Footsteps. Dozens of them. Surrounding me.
I looked up and saw wolves emerging from the shadows. Their eyes glowed red in the darkness.
And standing at the front, with a face carved from stone and eyes like silver ice, was a man so terrifying that even Damien spoke his name in whispers.
Alpha Kael of Nightshade.
The monster.
And his cold gaze was fixed directly on me.