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chapter 7
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2025-09-16 19:22:47Chapter 7 – Eavesdropper
Sleep never came. Aria lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling beams until her chest ached. Kael’s words rattled in her skull like a chain she couldn’t break. Once you know, there’s no going back. She had been kidnapped, hunted, nearly killed. And now she was supposed to sit quietly while everyone whispered about her? No. She deserved the truth. When the lodge finally stilled and the fire burned low, she rose. Barefoot, she slipped through the hall, each board groaning too loud under her weight. The night air chilled her skin as she crept outside. The camp was restless even in the dark. Torches still burned along the borders, and sentries moved like shadows between the trees. But Aria kept low, hugging the edges of the clearing until voices carried to her. From the stone meeting house. Its windows glowed faintly. Shapes moved within—Kael, Rowan, Lyra, and two older wolves she didn’t know. Their voices were sharp, tense, echoing through the crack in the half-open door. Aria crouched in the brush, heart hammering, straining to hear. --- “She’s the reason Lucien strikes so boldly,” one elder snapped, his voice gravel thick. “Bring a human into the heart of our pack? Madness!” “She’s not just human,” Rowan said, his tone clipped. “Lucien wouldn’t risk war for nothing.” “Exactly,” Lyra cut in, venom in her words. “And if she stays, she’ll cost us all.” Aria’s nails dug into the dirt. Kael’s voice came then, low and steady, the sound of command. “Lucien wants her because of her blood. He can sense what she carries. If he gets her, he gains more than a mate—he gains power.” Aria’s breath caught. Blood? Power? The elder snarled. “Then destroy her before he does. End this now.” Silence crashed over the room like a blade drawn. Aria pressed her hand over her mouth, bile rising. Kael spoke at last, his voice iron. “No. She’s under my protection. Anyone who touches her answers to me.” The room erupted—growls, protests, the scrape of chairs. Rowan’s voice cut through: “And when the Council hears of this? They’ll demand her death, Kael. They won’t care what protection you offer.” Kael didn’t flinch. “Then let them come.” --- Aria backed away from the door, her pulse thrumming so loud she was sure they’d hear it. Her blood. That was what they wanted. That was why Kael had taken her, why Lucien called her treasure, why her parents’ deaths had always been wrapped in silence. Tears stung her eyes, but she forced them back. She wouldn’t cry here, not where wolves could scent weakness. She stumbled through the trees, branches clawing her arms, until the campfire glow faded. She pressed her back to a trunk, her chest heaving. “Not just human,” she whispered to herself. The forest answered with a low, drawn-out howl in the distance. Her head snapped up, heart freezing. That wasn’t Shadow Fang. --- Cliffhanger (Chapter End): Red eyes glinted between the trees. The rogues had found her.
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