CHAPTER SEVEN — THE SUMMONER'S MARK
Aria's POV
The world blurred into a smear of trees and icy wind as whatever force held me dragged me across the forest floor.
Branches whipped at my skin. My lungs burned. I kicked, clawed, screamed but the invisible tether only tightened, pulling me faster, harder, deeper into the woods.
"LET ME GO!" I cried, though my voice was swallowed by the rushing air.
Behind me, far behind me, I heard it:
Declan's roar.
Unmistakable.
Terrifying.
Desperate.
"ARIA!"
The sound punched through the night like thunder, shaking leaves from branches.
The bond flared in my chest so violently I thought my heart would burst.
But I couldn't reach him. I couldn't stop the magic.
It dragged me as though I weighed nothing, like prey already captured.
The forest grew darker. Thicker.
Too quiet.
Even the usual nocturnal sounds the owls, the crickets, the rustle of animals had vanished.
As if the forest itself feared where I was being taken.
The pulling force jerked me upward suddenly, hurling me through the air. I braced for impact, expecting to slam into a tree trunk but instead, I stopped abruptly mid flight.
Suspended.
Held in place by nothing.
Or by… something I still couldn't see.
My feet dangled several inches above the ground. The air hummed around me, vibrating with power, thick enough to taste.
"S-stop…" I whispered. "Please…"
A laugh answered me.
Not loud.
Not booming.
Worse.
Soft. Amused. Wrong.
"I've waited a long time for you."
My breath caught.
A figure stepped out from behind a tree as though he'd been carved from shadow.
Tall.
Clad in a dark cloak that rippled even though the wind had gone still.
A hood hid most of his face, but his eyes
Gods.
His eyes glowed with a slick, swirling silver, almost liquid, like mercury alive with purpose.
The same silver as the sigil carved into the wraith wolf.
I couldn't breathe.
"You're the one who sent them," I said, voice cracking. "The wraith wolves."
He tilted his head. "Of course."
"Why?"
A slow smile spread beneath the hood.
"Because I needed to confirm something."
My heart hammered. "What?"
"That the lost bloodline still lives."
My stomach dropped.
Declan had said the same words back at the house. But hearing them now in this cold, deliberate voice made it real in a way nothing else had.
The man took a step closer. The forest seemed to shrink around his presence, recoiling from him.
"You look like her," he murmured. "Almost exactly. Same eyes. Same stubborn chin. Same power humming beneath the skin."
Ice flooded my veins. "Who?"
"Your grandmother."
I froze.
"My my grandmother? She died before I was born. She wasn't"
"She was Aldric's mother," he said gently. "Your true bloodline. The last great Seer of the North."
My pulse stuttered. "My grandmother wasn't a Seer."
"Oh, but she was," he said. "One powerful enough to rip open the veil between worlds. One powerful enough to terrify kings."
He took another step closer.
I tried to jerk away nothing moved.
"Her power passed to her sons," he continued. "One wasted it. The other your father let it consume him."
My chest tightened. "My father wasn't"
"A monster?" The stranger's voice grew soft. "No. Not at first. But power changes people. Especially power made of prophecy."
My breath hitched. "Prophecy?"
"Mmm," he hummed, circling me like a predator examining a rare specimen. "Your bloodline is woven into one. A prophecy so old even the Alphas pretend it never existed."
I swallowed hard. "What prophecy?"
The man stopped behind me.
So close I could feel the hum of magic radiating from his skin.
"The prophecy of the Moon Split," he whispered.
The air trembled.
My pulse pounded.
"What… what does that mean?"
"It means," he murmured, "that every hundred generations, a wolf is born with the power to either destroy the packs… or unite them."
My blood turned to ice.
He stepped into my view again, hood still shadowing his face.
"You," he said softly, "are that wolf."
I shook my head violently. "No. No, I'm not. I've never I can't even shift properly, I"
"You shifted early," he cut in. "Earlier than any wolf in three centuries. Your power manifested the moment you touched the sigil on the wraith wolf's hide. You felt it, didn't you?"
I swallowed hard. "That was I don't know what that was."
"It was your birthright," he whispered.
My stomach twisted. "Why me? I'm nobody. I'm nothing."
The man laughed again dark, musical, chilling.
"You're the most important wolf alive."
"No," I breathed. "Declan he's the future Alpha. He's"
"And you," the man said with razor softness, "are the future Queen."
The world tilted.
Queen.
He said it like it was already decided, already written in some ancient script carved into the bones of fate.
"No," I whispered again, louder. "I don't want that. I don't want any of this."
He stepped close enough that I could feel his breath against my cheek.
"Destiny doesn't ask for permission."
A flicker of motion behind him caught my eye.
A ripple of shadow.
A heartbeat later
Declan burst into the clearing with a roar so primal it cracked through the silence like lightning.
His wolf eyes glowed molten silver. His chest heaved. His fists were clenched hard enough to draw blood.
And when he saw me suspended midair
Something inside him snapped.
"PUT. HER. DOWN."
The Summoner didn't turn.
He didn't even flinch.
"Ah," he said softly. "The mate arrives."
Declan bared his teeth. "Touch her and I'll rip your spine out."
"You could try," the man murmured.
The bond between us surged hot, violent, burning.
Declan took a step forward.
The Summoner flicked a finger.
Declan flew backward.
Slammed into a tree.
Hard.
"NO!" I screamed, thrashing against the magic holding me.
Declan pushed up from the ground, snarling, already shifting not fully, but his claws elongated, his eyes glowing brighter, the wolf and man merging in fury.
"You're going to die," he growled, voice low and feral.
The Summoner sighed. "Always so dramatic, these young Alphas."
"Let her go."
"No."
Declan lunged
The Summoner began to chant.
The ground beneath me lit with silver symbols.
My body arched in agony as power crackled through me, sharp and searing.
Declan froze mid-lunge, howling as his body seized in place.
The Summoner whispered, "The bond between you is… strong. I felt it from miles away. Impressive."
"Get away from her!" Declan choked out.
The Summoner leaned close to me again. His voice was almost gentle.
"When the time comes, you will choose a side," he murmured. "And whichever side you choose… wins the war."
My breath trembled.
"I'm not choosing anything."
"But you will." He lifted a strand of my hair, examining it like a trophy. "And when you do, remember this moment."
He dropped the strand.
Then he placed a hand over my heart.
White hot agony exploded through me.
I screamed.
Declan roared.
Magic flared so intensely the trees bent inward.
A mark scorched itself into my skin—a burning, twisting sigil that pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Then
All at once
The spell shattered.
I fell.
Pain crashed through my limbs.
Declan was there before I hit the ground, catching me with shaking arms, pulling me tight against his chest.
The Summoner stepped back into shadow.
"Until next time, Moon Split."
The world blinked
And he vanished.
Gone.
Leaving only silence.
Only darkness.
Only the mark burning beneath my collarbone.
Declan held me tighter, breath ragged against my hair.
"Aria," he whispered, voice breaking, "I thought I lost you."
I clutched his shirt, shaking. "He marked me."
"I know." His voice was low, furious. "I'm going to kill him."
But I wasn't looking at Declan anymore.
I was looking down at my chest
Where the glowing mark pulsed like a second heartbeat.
Silver.
Alive.
Waiting.
And deep in my bones…
My wolf whispered a truth I wasn't ready to hear:
This is only the beginning.