Novels by Maxpher1

Aria's POV The forest changed that morning, as I noticed it while sparring with Dorian. We were deep in the southern woods—farther than the usual training routes. Dorian was on his usual quiet, intense self, pushing me to move faster, strike cleaner. Every time I landed a hit, he grunted in approval like I’d passed some unspoken test.We paused for water near a cluster of black-stone ridges I hadn’t seen before. Something felt... off. I tilted my head, catching a shimmer in the air like heat waves—but the air was cold. Still.Then I saw it.The trees just ahead had curved inward, unnaturally so, their branches twisted like they were reaching toward something—or protecting it.“Dorian,” I called, my voice low but sharp.He turned and followed my gaze. Without a word, we moved toward the clearing.The moment we stepped through the trees, the temperature dropped.At the center of the glade there's a rock wall that seems as nothing more than a collapsed cliffside, but the longer I stared

Aria's POV The Blood Moon rose, red and heavy in the sky. I watched it from the edge of Crimson Pack territory, the cold wind brushing against my skin. Everything was too quiet. I didn't hear a single bird call, and I didn't hear a whisper from the trees. It was like the world was holding its breath.One of the elders said the Blood Moon brought change. Magic. Madness. Death.I didn’t believe in his old stories. Not really. But something about tonight felt wrong. The air had a pulse. My blood felt hotter. As my skin tingles.Suddenly Elias appeared beside me without a sound, as usual. “You feel it,” he said. Not a question.“Yes.” I didn’t look at him. My eyes were locked on the moon.“The pack gathers on the high ridge during the Blood Moon. Tradition,” he said. “Come with me.”I nodded, though my body screamed to run the other way.We climbed the narrow path in silence. Below, the forest was a sea of shadow and silver mist. Above, the Blood Moon seemed to pulse like a heartbeat.Th

Aria's POV When Lilith appeared, I shook my head as our gaze met.I didn’t even have any expectations when Elias led me through the gates of Crimson Pack’s stronghold. High walls made of stone, guards were on every tower, and warriors who didn’t smile.This wasn’t a place for the weak. And right now, I was barely holding together.Elias keeps his hand gently on my back, guiding me through the wide courtyard, where warriors sparred under the early morning sun. Everyone stopped to look. Their eyes tracked me—stranger, outsider. Untrusted.We passed through heavy oak doors into a grand hall. The scent of firewood and iron filled the air.Two men waited inside.One stood like a mountain, his arms crossed, with long blond hair tied back. His eyes were sharp steel. That was Dorian, the warrior Alpha.The other sat behind a long table scattered with maps, books, and carved pieces like a battlefield. His fingers moved slowly, precisely. Eyes pane treating and thoughtful. Cato, the strategi

Aria's POV Inside the forest, there was quietness as everyone seemed to be hiding. And the forest was colder than it should’ve been.Every branch felt like it reached for me, every shadow like it was watching. I kept moving slowly, I restarted one of my hands on my stomach, and the other gripping the small knife I’d stolen from an abandoned cabin two nights ago. I hadn’t eaten anything in a day. My vision blurred. My legs barely moved. Left with me, still no other alternative.Still, I ran.I didn’t hear the wolf until it was later.It exploded from the trees, teeth bared, snarling. Not the shadow wolf—this one with had eyes, and hatred in every inch of its body. A rogue. Starved, desperate, deadly.I spun, and raised the knife, but in a slow mood.It slammed into me, knocking the wind from my lungs. Pain shot through my side. We rolled across the forest floor, snarls and screams tangled together. I kicked, sliced blindly, and felt something tear.Then a second blur streaked past.A

Aria's POVI shook my head, “What is going on here?” I never meant to find any prison here.I was chasing silence, trying to escape the noise in my own head—the whispers, the sideways glances, the way Kael had started avoiding my eyes. The halls under the packhouse were damp and smelled like rust and rot, but I walked anyway, barefoot and restless, torch in hand.I turned a corner. The cell.He was slumped over, chained to the wall, blood dried around his mouth. I would’ve looked away—if he hadn’t moved. Just slightly. Just enough to make my heart trip.And then he looked up.The world broke.“Dad?” I whispered, imagining what my eyes were gazing at.His face was bruised, eyes sunken, but it was him. My adopted father. The man who’d raised me when no one else would. The man Kael said was dead.He stared at me like I was a ghost. Then his mouth moved. “Aria…” My knees gave out. I gripped the bars for balance, for reality. “You’re supposed to be dead.”“I almost was,” he said, voice cr

Aria’s POVThree days. That’s all the time I had to pretend I was fine. To pretend I wasn’t drowning under the weight of a bond that had changed everything—and a pack that wanted nothing to do with me.Kael had barely spoken to me since the moment Jake delivered the news of the Alpha King’s arrival. I understood, in theory. An unexpected royal visit wasn’t something a pack could take lightly but part of me… a small, aching part, felt left behind again.I’d spent the last two days confined to my room, just as Kael ordered. The stone walls felt like they were closing in on me, and the silence grew heavier with every hour that passed. I was a caged thing, simmering with restlessness.The door creaked open just after dawn on the third day, and Nessa, one of the few pack members who didn’t treat me like a disease, stepped inside carrying a folded set of clothes.“You’re to wear this,” she said, setting them gently on the edge of the bed. “Formal ceremony attire.”“Ceremony?” I asked, blink