Chapter 6 – Damien’s Fury

The corridor was cold, narrow, and far too quiet. My footsteps echoed against the stone walls, each one carrying the weight of the Moonlight mark burning across my wrist. I rubbed at it through the fabric of my sleeve, as though I could erase the glowing brand that had chosen me against my will. Whispers still lingered in the hall behind me, faint as ghosts, but I couldn’t bear their eyes any longer.

I thought I’d found a moment of air, a scrap of solitude, when his scent hit me—sharp pine, iron, and something darker. Damien.

“Running away so soon?” His voice slid from the shadows like silk dragged over a blade.

I froze. He stepped into the torchlight, his smile composed—was, until his eyes caught the mark seared into my wrist. The smile cracked, exposing the fury beneath.

“You always did know how to ruin a perfect night,” he said, stalking closer.

“I didn’t choose this,” I whispered.

He tilted his head, wolf-bright eyes gleaming. “Didn’t you? You return from exile, and suddenly the ceremony burns alive with your name? The flames flare, the bond marks you, and somehow—” his gaze darkened, “—I’m left in the ashes.”

I backed a step, the stone wall brushing my shoulder. “It wasn’t me, Damien. The bond—”

“Don’t.” His hand snapped out, caging me against the wall. His touch hovered over my jaw, not tender, not gentle—possessive. “Don’t pretend you’re innocent. You were meant to stand beside me. My queen. My Luna. And now…” His voice lowered, dangerous. “Now you humiliate me before the entire pack.”

His grip tightened. Heat flooded my chest, but it wasn’t desire. It was fear. Fear sharpened by the sick twist in my stomach: I had once loved this man.

“I never asked for this,” I said, forcing steel into my voice. “And I won’t let you blame me for fate.”

He laughed—low, humorless. “Fate? No, Aria. This isn’t fate. This is theft. Riven Cade steals my pack, and now he steals you. Do you think I’ll allow it?”

Something fractured in his eyes. His charm thinned, venom seeping through the cracks.

“You’ll regret this,” he whispered. “I swear you will. If I can’t have the crown, then I’ll take you. One way or another.”

My heart hammered. I shoved against his chest, but his body was a wall of fury and wolf power. “Let me go.”

His lips curled. “Say it. Say you still belong to me.”

The words burned on my tongue, but I swallowed them down, refusing to give him the satisfaction. His jaw clenched. He pressed closer, shadows coiling around us like smoke.

“You think the council will protect you? You don’t know half of what your father left behind. Secrets that could bury you alive.”

I stilled. “What do you know about my father?”

For a heartbeat, triumph flickered across his face. Then it was gone, replaced by something crueler. “Enough to know you won’t survive without me.”

The air grew tight, suffocating. His wolf aura pressed against me, hot and unyielding, until my knees trembled. His hand slipped from my jaw to my wrist, fingers grazing the burning mark. He smirked, as though mocking the bond that had rejected him.

“You think this will save you?” he hissed. “No mark will keep me from what’s mine.”

I yanked my hand back, fury sparking through my fear. “I am not yours, Damien. Not anymore.”

The words cut deeper than claws. His eyes flared, golden wolf light bleeding through.

Then—

A whistle split the air.

Instinct screamed. I twisted sideways just as metal flashed past my face. The dagger sang as it struck stone, embedding in the wall an inch from my cheek.

My breath caught.

Damien jerked back, stunned, his fury interrupted. His eyes snapped to the weapon quivering in the wall.

The torchlight glinted on the hilt. My blood turned to ice.

The crest carved there wasn’t Cade’s, wasn’t Blackthorn’s. It was Shadowfang. My father’s bloodline.

Someone in my family wanted me dead.

I staggered back, the world tilting. Damien’s face twisted with something between shock and savage glee. “Looks like even your own kin can’t stand you.”

But my eyes stayed locked on the dagger. The crest. The betrayal carved in steel. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything but the cold certainty that I was no longer safe anywhere—not even in my own blood.

“Aria.”

The voice rumbled behind me, deep and edged in frost.

I turned.

Riven Cade stood in the shadows, half cloaked in darkness, half lit by the wavering torches. His presence swallowed the corridor whole. His icy aura pressed heavier than Damien’s ever had, commanding, unyielding.

But it wasn’t the assassin he looked at. It wasn’t Damien.

It was me.

His gaze locked on mine, burning with fury I couldn’t decipher. His steps echoed like thunder as he crossed the corridor, each one sharper than the last.

Damien shifted beside me, but Riven’s snarl silenced him without a word.

The Alpha stopped before me, his shadow swallowing mine. His hand brushed the dagger’s hilt, pulling it free from the stone wall with a sharp twist. The crest gleamed red in the firelight. His jaw clenched, hard as iron.

And then his eyes cut to me—cold, accusing.

“What,” he growled, voice low enough to rattle bone, “have you done?”

The world tilted again. My throat closed. He thought I—?

The dagger dripped torchlight between us, heavy with the mark of my bloodline.

And for the first time, I wasn’t sure if Riven had come to save me… or to condemn me.