Chapter 2 – Stolen into the Night

The world blurred.

Aria didn’t understand how fast he moved—one moment she was on the forest path, the next she was slung over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. His stride was long and powerful, cutting through the trees as though they bent out of his way.

She pounded against his back with both fists. “Put me down! Do you hear me? Put me down!”

Her words bounced uselessly off the night. He didn’t flinch, didn’t even grunt under her struggles. It was like hitting stone.

Terror clawed at her chest. No man should be this strong. No man should move like this.

Branches whipped past, moonlight flashing between trunks. Her stomach lurched with every impossible bound. She tried to scream, but the forest swallowed her voice whole.

Finally, the trees parted.

The clearing before her stole the breath from her lungs.

Massive wooden lodges rose in a wide circle, their windows glowing with firelight. Smoke curled upward, carrying the scents of pine and roasting meat. Shadows moved between the buildings—large figures, too large, their eyes catching the firelight with an unnatural glow.

Her pulse stuttered.

He carried her straight into their midst.

Dozens of heads turned as he passed, eyes narrowing, nostrils flaring. Some of the strangers were men and women, but others were half-shifted—fur bristling along arms, claws glinting at their fingertips, teeth too sharp for human mouths. They looked at her with hunger, with suspicion… with something darker.

“Alpha,” one of them murmured, bowing his head as they passed.

The word cracked through her mind like lightning. Alpha.

Stories. Whispers. Tales told by drunks and gossips back in Cedar Hollow. Werewolves that ruled in secret, packs that answered only to their Alpha.

She had laughed at those stories. But the way these people lowered their heads, the way their glowing eyes followed him… this wasn’t a story. This was real.

The man—Kael, she would later learn—finally lowered her to the ground inside the largest lodge. His hand never left her wrist, his grip unyielding.

Aria stumbled back until her shoulders hit the wall. Her chest heaved, eyes darting wildly. The room was huge, lit by a roaring fire. Antlers crowned the walls, ancient runes burned into the wood, and the air reeked of smoke, musk, and something primal.

Her voice cracked as she forced the words out. “What the hell is this? Who are you people?”

He stepped closer, towering, his presence filling the space. His eyes glowed gold in the firelight, steady and merciless.

“I am Kael,” he said, his tone like steel wrapped in velvet. “Alpha of the Shadow Fang.”

Her stomach dropped.

Alpha. Shadow Fang. It was all real. The warnings, the whispers—every story she had dismissed as nonsense.

Her hands curled into fists, though they trembled. “You can’t just drag me here! I’m not yours. I don’t belong to you!”

Something flickered in his gaze—amusement? Frustration? It was gone too quickly to name. He leaned closer, voice low enough to raise goosebumps along her skin.

“You’re wrong, Aria.”

She froze. “How do you know my name?”

His lips curved, not quite a smile. “I’ve always known.”

Her breath hitched. A chill spread through her bones, colder than the night outside.

He straightened, releasing her wrist at last. But instead of relief, fear surged sharper, because she realized he had only been restraining a fraction of his strength. If he wanted to keep her, nothing could stop him.

Aria’s eyes darted toward the door. Escape. She could make it if she ran now.

But before she could move, a shadow detached from the far wall. Another man—taller, leaner, his eyes a stormy gray. He stepped into the firelight, arms crossed.

“Alpha,” the man said, his tone edged with warning. “Bringing a human here? You’ve doomed us all.”

Kael didn’t turn. His golden gaze never left Aria.

“She’s not just human,” he said.

The gray-eyed man’s jaw tightened. His gaze slid to her, cold, appraising. “She’ll be the end of us.”

Aria’s heart hammered so loud she could barely hear the fire crackle.

She wasn’t sure which was worse—the man who claimed her, or the wolves who already wanted her gone.

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Cliffhanger (Chapter End):

Kael’s eyes burned brighter as he stepped between her and the gray-eyed wolf.

“She stays.”