(Aria's POV)
The violet light pouring from my hands is getting brighter.
I stumble backward from the temple door, staring at my glowing palms in horror. This isn't normal. Omegas don't have power like this. We're supposed to be weak, submissive, ordinary.
Inside the temple, chaos erupts. More screaming. The sound of furniture crashing. Someone shouts, "What's happening to the bond circle?"
My chest still burns where Zander shattered our mate connection. The pain is so bad I can barely think. But underneath it, this new power churns like a storm trying to break free.
"Make it stop," I whisper to myself. "Please make it stop."
The violet light flares brighter in response to my fear.
The temple door slams open. Guards pour out, weapons drawn. Their eyes lock on me—on my glowing hands—and they freeze.
"She's using dark magic!" one of them shouts.
"No!" I shake my head frantically. "I don't know what this is—I'm not doing anything—"
"Seize her!"
They rush forward. Terror floods my system. I throw my hands up to protect my face, and violet energy explodes outward in a wave.
The guards fly backward like they weigh nothing. They crash into the temple wall and slump to the ground, unconscious.
I stare at what I've done. My hands are shaking so badly I can barely see them. What am I? What's wrong with me?
More guards appear in the doorway. Behind them, I see Zander pushing through the crowd. His ice-blue eyes are wide—the first real emotion I've seen on his face. He looks... afraid?
"Aria." My name on his lips sounds wrong. Like he has no right to say it anymore.
"Stay away from me!" I back up, and the violet light pulses with my panic.
Zander stops. For a second, something that might be pain crosses his face. But then his expression goes cold and hard again. "You're out of control. Let us help you."
"Help me?" A laugh bursts from my throat, high and broken. "You just rejected me in front of everyone! You said I was weak and worthless! And now you want to help?"
"That power isn't natural," he says, taking a careful step forward like I'm a wild animal. "It's dangerous. You could hurt innocent people."
"I could hurt you too," I spit back. The words taste like poison and satisfaction all at once.
His jaw clenches. "Is that a threat?"
"It's a promise."
The violet light around my hands swirls faster, responding to my rage. I can feel it now—this power wants to be used. It's hungry. And it's been sleeping inside me my whole life, waiting for something to wake it up.
The rejection woke it up.
"Aria, please." Zander's voice softens just slightly. "Whatever you're feeling right now, whatever this power is—we can figure it out. Just come back inside where it's safe."
"Safe?" I laugh again, bitter and sharp. "I'll never be safe around you."
I turn and run.
Behind me, Zander shouts orders to his guards. "Don't hurt her! Just contain her!"
But I'm already gone, sprinting into the darkness beyond the temple grounds. The violet light fades from my hands as I run, pulled back inside wherever it came from. My borrowed dress catches on branches. My bare feet—I lost my shoes somewhere—bleed on sharp stones.
I don't care. I just run.
The broken bond in my chest screams with every step. It feels like someone hollowed me out and filled the empty space with broken glass. But I push through the pain. I've survived worse. I've survived nineteen years of being invisible, worthless, unwanted.
I can survive this too.
The forest swallows me up. I run until my lungs burn and my legs give out. Finally, I collapse beside a small stream, gasping for air.
Silence wraps around me like a blanket. No guards. No Zander. No one.
I'm alone.
The tears come then—hot and ugly and endless. I cry for the mate bond that shattered. I cry for the hope that died. I cry for the girl I was an hour ago who thought tonight might change everything.
She was right. Tonight changed everything. Just not the way she dreamed.
I press my hands against my chest where the bond used to be. There's still an echo of it there, faint and ghostly. Like Zander left a scar on my soul that will never fully fade.
"Why?" I whisper to the empty forest. "Why give me a mate just to take him away?"
The stream babbles on, offering no answers.
I don't know how long I sit there. Minutes? Hours? Time feels broken, just like me.
Finally, exhaustion pulls at my bones. I need to find shelter. Somewhere safe to hide before Zander's guards find me. Before—
A twig snaps behind me.
I spin around, heart racing. A man steps out from between the trees, and moonlight catches his face.
He's not one of Zander's guards. He's tall with light brown hair and warm hazel eyes that crinkle at the corners like he smiles a lot. He's dressed simply—leather jacket, dark pants, boots made for traveling. An Alpha, based on the power radiating from him, but not like Zander. This man feels... different. Warmer.
"Easy," he says, holding up both hands. "I'm not here to hurt you."
I scramble to my feet, ready to run again. "Who are you?"
"Someone who saw what happened at the temple." His voice is gentle. "Someone who's been watching you for a while now, actually."
Ice runs down my spine. "Watching me? Why?"
He tilts his head, studying me with those warm eyes. "Because I sensed something unusual about you months ago. Something powerful sleeping underneath the surface." He gestures to where my hands were glowing earlier. "Looks like I was right."
"I don't know what that was," I say quickly. "I don't know how to control it."
"I know." He takes a careful step closer. "That's why I'm here. To help you figure it out before someone dangerous notices what you can do."
"Someone like Zander?"
"Someone worse than Zander." His expression darkens. "There are people in the Five Realms who would kill to possess power like yours. Or kill you to make sure no one else gets it."
My stomach drops. "What are you talking about? I'm nobody. I'm just—"
"You're not just anything, Aria Thorne." He says my full name with weight, like it means something important. "You're something special. Something rare. And whether you believe it or not, you're in danger."
"How do you know my name?"
He smiles, but it's sad around the edges. "I make it my business to know about outcasts and forgotten people. I collect the ones the world throws away." He extends a hand toward me. "My name is Lyric Ashwood. And I'm offering you a choice—come with me to a place where you'll be safe and learn to control your power. Or stay out here alone and hope Zander's guards don't find you first."
I stare at his outstretched hand. Every instinct screams not to trust anyone. Not after tonight. Not after Zander.
But the alternative is worse. Being dragged back to the temple. Facing Zander again. Having everyone see how broken I am.
"Why would you help me?" I ask. "What do you get out of this?"
Lyric's smile turns genuine. "Let's just say I have a soft spot for people the world underestimated." His eyes flick to where the temple lies beyond the trees. "Besides, anyone who made the great Zander Corvus look that scared is someone I want on my side."
Before I can respond, shouts echo through the forest. Guards. Getting closer.
"Decide quickly," Lyric says quietly. "They're coming."
I look at his hand. At the forest. At the darkness closing in.
And then I hear Zander's voice cutting through the trees, commanding and cold: "Find her. I don't care how long it takes."
Something inside me hardens. Zander doesn't get to reject me and then hunt me down like prey.
I grab Lyric's hand.
"Get me out of here," I say.
He grins. "Hold on tight."
Lyric pulls me against his side. Power surges around us—different from the violet light inside me. This feels like wind and freedom and open sky.
The world blurs.
When it clears, we're somewhere else entirely. A hidden compound surrounded by high walls. People move around in the darkness—rogues and outcasts, I realize. Wolves without packs.
Lyric releases me gently. "Welcome to the Sanctuary."
I stare around at this impossible place. "What is this?"
"Home," he says simply. "For people like us who don't fit in the normal world." He turns those warm eyes on me. "You'll be safe here, Aria. I promise."
Safe. The word sounds foreign.
But before I can respond, pain explodes through my chest again. I gasp and double over as the broken mate bond flares to life—except it doesn't feel broken anymore. It feels... different. Wrong.
Through the echo of the severed connection, I feel Zander's emotions bleeding through: rage, desperation, and something that tastes like fear.
He's not hunting me to contain my power.
He's hunting me because something is happening to him too.
The bond we thought was shattered isn't actually gone. It's changing into some
thing neither of us understands.
And whatever it's becoming might destroy us both.