chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The Wolf’s Den

The firelight painted Kael’s face in gold and shadow, but his voice carried the weight of command that silenced the lodge.

“She stays.”

The gray-eyed wolf’s jaw tightened, his nostrils flaring. His gaze swept over Aria, cold and cutting, as though he could strip her down to bone just by looking.

“Alpha,” he said, voice laced with contempt, “the pack will never accept this. A human in our den? She’s a liability. The Council will demand blood.”

Aria’s stomach knotted. Blood. The word rang like a death bell in her mind.

Kael didn’t flinch. His stance was calm, but there was a tension to him, like a storm barely held at bay. “The pack will obey me,” he said simply. “As they always have.”

The gray-eyed man stepped closer, his voice dropping to a snarl. “Not this time.”

For a moment, the air thickened, heavy with something primal. Aria felt it push against her skin, a force that made the hair on her arms stand on end. Kael’s golden gaze clashed with the other man’s storm-gray, sparks of power sparking invisible and raw.

It wasn’t just an argument. It was dominance.

Aria’s heart pounded as she realized she was caught in the middle of something ancient and dangerous.

Kael broke the silence with a growl low in his throat, one that rumbled deep, too deep, not entirely human. The sound made Aria’s chest vibrate, her instincts screaming at her to run.

The gray-eyed wolf bared his teeth, then finally looked away, bowing his head in stiff submission. But the promise in his voice was unmistakable. “She’ll bring ruin to us all.”

With that, he vanished into the shadows.

Aria sagged back against the wall, her lungs dragging in ragged breaths. Every instinct screamed to bolt out the door, to find her way home, to pretend none of this was real.

But Kael turned back to her, and those golden eyes pinned her in place.

“You’ll be safe here,” he said.

She laughed, sharp and broken. “Safe? You kidnapped me! Your people want me dead! How is that safe?”

Something unreadable flickered across his face—regret, maybe, or something softer, gone as quickly as it appeared. He took a slow step toward her. She pressed tighter against the wall.

“You don’t understand yet,” he said. “But you will. The forest brought you to me for a reason.”

Aria shook her head, panic clawing at her throat. “The forest didn’t bring me. You did. Against my will.”

Her voice cracked, but she forced herself to keep going. “And when the people in town realize I’m gone, they’ll come looking. You can’t just keep me here.”

Kael studied her for a long moment, then his lips curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Let them come. They’ll never find this place.”

The certainty in his tone sent a chill down her spine.

Before she could argue again, the lodge doors creaked open. A young woman entered, carrying a tray with a bowl of steaming broth and bread. She had long dark hair, braided down her back, and her eyes—amber, glowing faintly in the firelight—flicked over Aria with open hostility.

“Alpha,” the woman said, bowing her head to Kael before setting the tray down on a low table. Her gaze snapped back to Aria. “This is the human?”

Kael gave a single nod.

The woman’s lip curled. “She doesn’t belong here.”

Aria’s pulse spiked. Not her too.

Kael’s growl was instant, sharp enough to cut the air. “Enough, Lyra.”

The woman dropped her gaze, though her fists clenched at her sides. Without another word, she turned and stormed out, her braid whipping behind her.

Aria swallowed hard. “She hates me.”

Kael’s expression softened just slightly. “They all will. At first.”

Her chest tightened. “Then send me back.”

His jaw hardened, and his voice dropped into something final, immovable. “I can’t.”

Aria’s eyes stung with frustrated tears. She shoved past him, heading for the door. But before she reached it, the wood burst inward with a deafening crash.

A man stumbled in, half-shifted, blood streaking his chest. His eyes glowed wild, his voice a broken snarl.

“Rogues,” he gasped. “At the border.”

Kael’s entire body shifted in an instant—shoulders squaring, power crackling in the air. He turned to the wounded wolf. “How many?”

“Dozens. Maybe more.”

Aria froze, her fear sharpening into something colder. Rogues. The word carried the weight of death in it. She didn’t know what it meant exactly, but every muscle in her body screamed danger.

Kael’s gaze snapped back to her, fierce and protective. “Stay here.”

Before she could answer, before she could beg him not to leave her alone in this den of enemies, his body began to change.

Bones cracked. Fur rippled across skin. His form exploded upward and outward until where Kael had stood, a massive black wolf now towered, golden eyes burning like fire.

Aria’s breath caught. He was beautiful. Terrifying. Impossible.

The Alpha wolf bared his teeth, a low growl vibrating through the floorboards. Then, with a blur of motion, he was gone into the night.

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Aria alone in the lodge with nothing but the echo of his growl and the realization that the world she thought she knew had shattered beyond repair.

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Cliffhanger (Chapter End):

Outside, the howls of battle rose—wild, savage, unearthly—and Aria knew this was only the beginning.