THE TRUTH IN HIS EYES

CHAPTER 5

Aria’s body locked in place.

The cold night air suddenly felt too thin. Her eyes stayed fixed on the enormous wolf standing only a few feet away, the wolf that had just spoken.

“My Alpha.”

The words echoed through her skull again and again.

This was not possible. Wolves did not talk. They could not. And yet she had heard it clearly. She was not drunk. She was not dreaming. And from the tension carved into Damien’s face, neither was he.

The large wolf lowered its head with respectful precision.

“We’ve been searching everywhere for you, Alpha King.”

Aria’s heart stopped.

Alpha King?

Very slowly, she turned toward Damien. His shoulders were rigid. His jaw locked. For the first time since meeting him, he looked genuinely worried, not for himself. For her.

“Damien…” Her voice shook. “What is he talking about?”

Silence.

The forest seemed to hold its breath. The wolves remained motionless, waiting, watching.

Damien closed his eyes briefly, as if accepting something unavoidable. When he opened them again, there was no escape left in his expression. Only truth.

“Aria.”

The way he said her name twisted something in her stomach.

“What?”

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“No kidding.” A nervous laugh broke from her, sharp, fractured, almost hysterical. She pointed at the wolves. “Start with the talking wolves.”

None of them moved. None looked surprised. As if speech were ordinary, and she was the strange one for reacting.

Damien took a step toward her. Aria stepped back at once.

His expression darkened. The reaction hurt more than he expected.

“Please,” he said quietly. “Just listen.”

She stared at the man she had spent hours talking with, laughing with, beginning to trust, beginning to want. And suddenly she was no longer sure she knew him at all.

“Talk.”

Damien drew a slow breath.

How was he supposed to explain centuries of secrets, ancient bloodlines, pack politics, moon blessings, mate bonds to a human actress who thought she was spending a harmless evening with a billionaire?

There was no soft version. So he chose honesty.

“The world isn’t exactly what you think it is.”

Aria folded her arms. “That sounds like the opening of a horror movie.”

One of the wolves snorted. Actually snorted. Aria nearly swayed.

Damien shot the animal a glare. The wolf lowered its head immediately. “Sorry, Alpha.”

Aria looked between them, then toward the lake, then the sky, searching for cameras, producers, some rational explanation. Anything.

“This is a prank.”

“It isn’t.”

“Hidden cameras?”

“No.”

“A hallucination?”

“No.”

“A mental breakdown?”

Damien almost smiled. “No.”

Aria pressed her palms to her temples. “Oh, my God.”

This could not be happening. Every instinct told her it was real, and that terrified her.

Several minutes later, they sat inside the lake house.

Aria had refused to remain near the wolves. The wolves, wisely, had stayed outside. She clutched a mug of tea she was not drinking. Damien sat across from her. The distance between them felt farther than a few feet of floor.

“Tell me everything.”

His gaze softened. “You might not believe it.”

“Try me.”

Another pause. Then Damien spoke.

“There are creatures living among humans.”

Aria groaned. “We’re really doing this?”

“Yes.”

“Werewolves?”

“Yes.”

She stared. He stared back. Neither moved.

Finally, she laughed, then laughed harder, then stopped, because Damien was not laughing. Not even a little. The realization sent ice through her veins.

“Oh.”

Damien nodded slowly.

“Oh.”

For the first time all night, real fear entered her eyes not fear of the wolves but fear of him.

And Damien hated it.

Far away, in her penthouse, Isabella smiled as another report arrived.

Her investigator had uncovered something useful. Photographs. Dozens of them. Aria is leaving with Damien. Aria is arriving at the lake house. Aria is smiling beside him.

Isabella’s eyes darkened. The mate bond was growing faster than expected. That could not be allowed.

She dialed a number. The answer came at once.

“My Lady.”

“Prepare the council,” Isabella said.

The man hesitated. “The council?”

“Yes.” Her smile widened, cold, cruel, deliberate. “If Damien insists on choosing a human mate…” She looked down at Aria’s photograph. “…then let’s see how long she survives the attention.”

Back at the lake house, the conversation continued.

Aria had finally stopped trying to convince herself she was dreaming, which unfortunately meant accepting reality, or at least part of it.

“So let me get this straight.”

Damien nodded.

“You’re saying werewolves exist.”

“Yes.”

“You know werewolves.”

“Yes.”

“You work with werewolves.”

“Yes.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re a werewolf.”

Silence filled the room until it felt smaller, tighter.

Damien held her gaze. Then, slowly:

“Yes.”

Aria’s breath caught. Shock, confusion, fear, disbelief, and, strangely, relief hit all at once. Because despite everything she had learned tonight, Damien was still Damien. The man who listened. The man who made her laugh. The man who noticed when she frowned. The man who looked at her as if she mattered.

And somehow that mattered more than it should. Dangerously more.

Damien watched the emotions move across her face. Then came the question he had been dreading.

“What are you really, Damien?”

He leaned forward slightly. Firelight caught in his eyes, red, powerful, ancient. When he spoke, his voice carried a weight that seemed to settle over the entire room.

“I am Damien Blackwood.”

A pause.

“Alpha King of the Mooncrest Kingdom.”

Aria’s heart skipped.

For the first time since meeting him, she understood why people looked at him differently. Why Isabella feared losing him. Why did the wolves obey without question? Why does power seem to follow him wherever he goes?

And deep beneath the shock, a more dangerous question began to form:

If Damien Blackwood were the Alpha King. Then why did he look at her as if she were the most important person in his world?