ARIA'S POV
The army crashes against Nightshade's southern defenses like a wave of teeth and fury.
I watch from the fortress window as Kael's warriors meet my father's forces. The sounds of battle—snarling, screaming, dying—echo through the stone halls.
"I should be out there," I say.
"You should be alive," Kael counters, strapping on leather armor. "That's what matters."
"They're coming for me. People are dying because of me."
Kael stops, turns to face me. "People are dying because your father is a monster who'd rather slaughter his own daughter than let her have power. Don't you dare take responsibility for his choices."
The words hit hard. True.
Theron bursts in, covered in blood. "They've breached the outer wall. We're holding, but barely. There's too many."
"How many?" Kael demands.
"At least two hundred. Maybe more." Theron's eyes cut to me. "They brought an army to kill one wolf."
"She's not just one wolf," Elder Mira says from the corner where she's been sitting silently. "She's the future. That's why they're terrified."
An explosion rocks the fortress. Dust rains from the ceiling.
"They have fire,Theron snarls. "They're burning us out."
Kael's jaw clenches. "Evacuate the young and wounded through the northern tunnels. Everyone else fights."
"We can't hold against two hundred—"
"WE FIGHT!" Kael roars, Alpha power flooding the room. "This is our home. Our territory. I don't care if they brought a thousand wolves. We. Don't. Run."
Theron bows his head. "Yes, Alpha."
He leaves. The sounds of battle grow louder.
Kael turns to me. "There's a safe room in the lowest level. Mira will take you—"
"No."
"Aria—"
"NO." I step closer to him. "You said we fight together. Or was that a lie?"
"I said that before I knew they brought an army!"
"I don't care if they brought ten armies!" My wolf rises, pushing power through my voice. "I'm done hiding. Done being the weak one. Done letting people die while I cower in a corner!"
Kael stares at me. Something in his expression shifts—surprise, respect, maybe even desire.
"You don't have your full power yet," he says quietly. "If you go out there—"
"Then I die like a wolf, not like a coward." I meet his ice-blue eyes. "Your pack already thinks I'm a spy. A weakness. If I hide now, they'll always see me that way. But if I fight beside them, maybe—just maybe—they'll see me as one of them."
"You want their respect."
"I want to earn my place." My voice drops. "I lost my pack, Kael. Silvercrest is gone. If Nightshade won't accept me, I have nothing. I am nothing."
Kael's hand cups my face. "You're everything. Don't you see that yet?"
The mate bond flares between us, hot and desperate.
"Then let me prove it," I whisper. "To them. To myself. Let me fight."
He searches my eyes for a long moment. Then he nods.
"You stay with me. Every second. You don't leave my side."
"Deal."
Another explosion shakes the fortress.
"We need to move," Kael says. "Now."
We run through stone corridors filled with wounded wolves and panicking pack members. Children crying. Women rushing to hide the young. Old wolves grabbing weapons with trembling hands.
This is what war looks like behind the battle lines. The terror. The chaos.
We burst outside into hell.
Fire everywhere. Wolves fighting in brutal close combat. Blood soaking into the earth. The sky is dark with smoke.
I see my father's massive brown wolf tearing through Nightshade warriors like they're nothing. Dante fights beside him, just as vicious. And there—Vivienne in human form, bow in hand, shooting silver arrows into the crowd.
Shooting Nightshade wolves. Shooting anyone between her and me.
"ARIA!" Kael shoves me sideways.
An arrow whistles past my ear, so close I feel the wind of it.
Vivienne smiles from across the battlefield. Nocks another arrow.
Rage explodes through me. White-hot and consuming.
My sister. The one person I thought loved me. She's been trying to kill me all along.
I shift. My small silver wolf erupts from my skin, and I run straight at Vivienne.
"ARIA, NO!" Kael roars behind me, but I don't stop.
Wolves try to block me. I dodge, weave, use my speed to slip through gaps bigger wolves can't fit. A Silvercrest warrior lunges. I duck under his bite and keep running.
Vivienne sees me coming. Her smile widens.
She fires.
I leap sideways. The arrow grazes my shoulder—burning, silver cutting through fur and flesh. Pain explodes, but I don't stop.
Twenty feet. Ten. Five.
Vivienne drops her bow and shifts. Her wolf is huge—golden and beautiful and everything mine isn't.
We collide mid-air, snarling and snapping.
She's stronger. Bigger. Better trained.
But I'm faster. And I'm furious.
We crash to the ground, rolling, biting, clawing. She goes for my throat. I twist, sink my teeth into her leg. She howls and kicks me off.
I hit the ground hard, ribs screaming.
Vivienne stalks toward me, limping but not done. Her golden wolf towers over my silver one.
Weak, her eyes seem to say. You were always weak.
I struggle to stand. Everything hurts. Blood runs down my side from the arrow wound.
She lunges for my throat, jaws open wide.
A massive black wolf slams into her from the side.
Kael.
He and Vivienne tumble away from me, a blur of black and gold fur. He's bigger, stronger, but she's desperate and has nothing to lose.
I force myself to stand, limping toward them.
That's when I see him.
My father's brown wolf, charging straight at Kael's exposed back while he fights Vivienne.
A killing strike. Kael will never see it coming.
I don't think. Just move.
I throw myself between them, my smaller body taking the hit meant for Kael.
My father's jaws close around my throat.
Pain. Blinding, white-hot pain.
I hear Kael roar. Feel the ground shake as he moves.
My father's teeth pierce deeper. I'm dying. I can feel it—the blood leaving my body, the strength draining away.
This is it. This is how I die. Killed by my own father.
Then something inside me breaks.
No. Not breaks.
Wakes up.
Power explodes from my body like a bomb going off. Silver light erupts from my fur, so bright everyone around us freezes.
My father's jaws release me. He stumbles backward, eyes wide with shock.
I feel it—the dormant power Mira talked about, surging through every cell. My wolf grows larger, stronger. The arrow wound in my shoulder heals before my eyes.
And my eyes—I can feel them blazing pure violet, burning with ancient power.
The Moonborn bloodline, finally awake.
Every wolf on the battlefield stops fighting. Turns to stare at me.
The small, weak, pathetic Silvercrest wolf is gone.
In her place stands something else. Something powerful. Something that makes even Alpha wolves drop their heads in instinctive submission.
I look at my father. At Vivienne. At Dante.
And I speak—my voice carrying supernatural command that makes wolves tremble.
"You wanted me dead because you feared what I'd become." I take a step forward, and my father backs up. "You were right to be afraid."
My father shifts to human, naked and bleeding. "Aria, listen—"
"I'm done listening to you." Power radiates from me in waves. "You sent me to die. You sent armies to kill me. You made me believe I was broken when really you just needed me weak."
"You don't understand—" Vivienne shifts, clutching her wounded leg.
"I understand perfectly." I look at her. "You wanted my power. My birthright. You were willing to murder your own sister for it."
Vivienne's smile is bitter. "You were supposed to die that first day. Supposed to die on that battlefield. But you survived. You always survive, and I hate you for it."
The honesty is almost refreshing.
"The feeling's mutual," I say coldly.
Kael appears beside me, shifting to human. His hand finds mine, and the mate bond surges, amplifying my new power even more.
Together, we're unstoppable.
"Leave," Kael commands the Silvercrest forces. "Tell your Alpha that if he comes for my mate again, I won't show mercy. I'll burn Silvercrest to ash and salt the earth where it stood."
My father's eyes flash with rage. "She's MY daughter—"
"She WAS your daughter," I interrupt. "Now she's my own. You gave up any claim to me when you sent me to die."
I feel it then—the connection to Silvercrest pack severing like a cut rope. The bond I've had since birth, linking me to my father's pack, just... breaks.
And in its place, something new forms. Fragile. Uncertain.
A bond to Nightshade.
Kael feels it too. His hand tightens around mine.
"Go," I tell my father. "Before I decide you don't deserve to leave alive."
For a moment, I think he'll fight. Think he'll challenge me.
Then he sees my eyes—violet and blazing with Moonborn power—and something in him breaks.
He shifts and runs. Dante and Vivienne follow, along with what's left of the Silvercrest army.
They retreat, leaving their dead behind.
Silence falls over the battlefield.
I'm still standing, still glowing with silver light, still holding Kael's hand.
The Nightshade wolves stare at me. Not with hatred now. With awe.
Theron shifts to human, drops to one knee. "My Luna," he says quietly.
One by one, the other Nightshade wolves kneel. Bowing to me. Accepting me.
I look at Kael, overwhelmed and terrified and powerful all at once.
"What just happened?" I whisper.
Kael smiles—actually smiles, warm and proud. "You became who you were always meant to be."
The silver light fades. My wolf shrinks back to normal size. Exhaustion crashes into me like a physical weight.
I collapse.
Kael catches me before I hit the ground.
"I've got you," he murmurs. "I've got you, little mate."
Everything goes black.
When I wake up, everything will be different.
I'll be different.
The war has only just begun.