ARIA I was trying to keep my nerves in check when Tobias suddenly stopped walking. I nearly bumped into his back. “What pack are you from?” His voice was low, but I could feel the responsibility behind the question. Why would he ask that? I thought they made their research… I hesitated, my palms growing clammy. There was no reason to lie, not about this. “Ashen Pack.” Tobias groaned, long and deep, like I had just told him I was carrying the plague. He rubbed a hand down his face. “Of course you are,” he muttered. I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Tobias stopped walking and turned to face me fully with his arms crossed. Whatever he was thinking was beyond me. “It means you came from a pack that doesn’t take lightly to runaways and rogues.” His amused eyes studied my face gauging my reaction. “They will kill you if we hand you over.” My stomach recoiled. “You know that, right?” He accused, daring me to deny it. I swallowed hard. “I know.” “
ARIA Lucian smirked. “That’s better.” Then, his expression shifted to concern. “You look like you forgot how to breathe.” No, no, no… But immediately, I let out a sharp breath—against my damn will. Damn it. He had too much influence over me. I didn’t like that. It was too easy, too effortless… I forced myself to meet his gaze. Best to get this over with. “Tobias said you were in a bad mood.” He certainly didn’t look in a bad mood. Not with his eyes hungrily raking over me… entertained. Lucian hummed, tapping his pipe against the ashtray. “Did he?” Then he did it again—that slow, heavy gaze trailing down my body before flicking back up. The heat in my stomach tightened. I rubbed my thighs together. Fuck! “And what do you think?” What? I wasn’t sure how to answer. On the surface, he looked… relaxed. But there was something underneath those icy eyes—like a predator at rest, waiting. Or maybe I was overthinking. I cleared my throat. “I think Tobias likes
ARIA “Fine.” I lifted my chin. “But you go first.” His lips twitched. “Clever.” I held my breath as he took a step closer, looming over me now. “Alright then,” he said. “Since you’re so eager, I’ll start.” I waited. But he held my gaze for a long time, looking really serious. “I’m from a royal bloodline,” he said softly. I almost didn't hear him. “What?” Lucian smiled lazily, like he hadn’t just dropped a fucking bomb. “That’s one of my secrets,” he murmured. “Now tell me yours.” My heart pounded. He was fucking with me. Right? I let out a breathy laugh. “Bullshit.” Lucian’s smirk remained. “Believe what you want, sweetheart.” No. No fucking way. I scanned his face, searching for any sign that he was joking, but he looked too damn serious. Holy shit. “Are you telling me this just so I’ll trust you?” I demanded. “Is this some kind of manipulation tactic?” Lucian chuckled. “You think too much, Aria.” My mind spun. A royal bloodline? What th
LUCIAN I barely registered Tobias sprinting like lightning. “What the hell is going on, Lucian?!” he yelled, his eyes darting around. “Are you planning to tear down the whole building?” Yeah, I was. I needed to find the intruder. Who dared to eavesdrop on my conversation? Who dared to act special, breaking the pack’s rules? I had to find them and destroy them. I didn’t know why I felt this inexplicable anger—at Aria’s expense. She was the one with the secrets. But I was the one who had asked her to play the game this way. If I hadn’t, that fool wouldn’t have heard. That was Aria’s secret. No one else had the right to know. And I swear to the Moon Goddess, whoever was responsible wouldn’t be spared. They would be executed. “Look, you’re scaring her. Just stop!” Tobias gestured toward Aria, who was still shivering, pressing herself as close to the ground as possible. I squeezed my eyes shut. Fuck. How could I have forgotten she was an omega? But her tolerance wa
LUCIAN What was he getting at? Aria’s eyes fluttered open. Realizing the question was directed at her, she slowly nodded. There. She was hesitant. Thank the goddess. “What is the mating pull?” Aria asked instead. Tobias let out a heavy sigh. “It’s the connection that proves they’re your mate. It comes from within your soul… Come on, haven’t you been reading?” Aria just stared at him like he was the dumbest person alive. “She didn’t have time to read, you idiot!” I snapped, stepping between them to shield her from Tobias’s dagger-sharp glare. He really was an idiot for asking an omega from the Ashen Pack something like that. Finally, Aria lifted her head and looked up at me. Her eyes met mine, wide and doubtful, the green flecks in them catching the light like tiny leaves… My breath hitched. Why was she so beautiful? It wasn’t just her eyes, her plump lips, or the soft curls of her dark hair… it was an unexplainable feeling that made my tho
LUCIAN A muscle ticked in my jaw. Tobias was testing my patience. Again. I turned slightly, just enough to catch Tobias in my peripheral vision. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling in frustration. “Tobias, I appreciate the concern. I do. You’ve been my right hand for years, and I know you always have my back.” This was me being in control, and he wasn’t going to fuck this up for me. “But this isn’t about what people will fucking say. I just need to speak with Maren.” It was a lie. And we both knew it. He scoffed behind me. “Bullshit, Lucian. You don’t just want to speak to her. You’re pissed off, and when you get like this—” I ignored the rest. I didn’t have time for his warnings or his attempts to reason with me. My patience was already running on fumes, and I wasn’t about to waste the little I had left on a damn lecture. My footsteps echoed through the hall as I made my way to the room Tobias had supposedly locked her in. What the fuck was she doi
LUCIAN "I was supposed to be the one you trusted the most. I was supposed to be the one by your side, helping you make decisions, fixing things. And now, I feel like I don’t fucking matter anymore. You gave my room to a stranger. A fucking rogue." Aria. Her name is Aria… or Albena… fuck! I stared at Maren, my heart hammering against my ribs. She just admitted she wasn’t in love with me. All this time, I thought she harbored some twisted, possessive attachment to me, but it wasn’t that. It was fear. Fear of being replaced. Fear of losing whatever purpose she thought she had in my life. "You—!" Maren let out another sob, rubbing furiously at her face like she was pissed at herself for crying. "I didn’t mean to— I just thought if she wasn’t here, then things would go back to the way they were before." She let out a humorless laugh. "But I was stupid, wasn't I? Things were never going to be the same." "No," I admitted. "They weren’t." The moment my gamm
ARIA The way things turned out, Lucian handed me over to Tobias, and Tobias, being the practical man he was, dumped me on Clara. Unlucky for her, she just happened to be at the Alpha’s quarters at the wrong time. Now, she was storming ahead of me, clutching a tray like it had personally offended her as she made a beeline for the kitchen—the same damn path she had dragged me through yesterday. “I can’t believe I’ve been saddled with the responsibility of taking care of a rogue,” Clara muttered furiously. “This has to be a fucking joke.” And there it was again. That fucking word. Rogue. The word was practically tattooed on my forehead at this point. No, scratch that. It was a damn brand slapped across my face. Every turn, every look, every whisper in this damn pack—I had heard it at least a hundred times since I got here, and each time, it got under my skin. Maybe the Bloodfang Pack wasn’t as kind as I thought. Maybe they needed someone like me to teach them that emotion
ROWAN Rowana would be fine. That’s what I told myself as I adjusted the fur lining around my shoulders. I needed to get to Aria. Reaching Ashen Pack by horse would take too long. But in wolf form… I might make it before the ceremony ended. If I planned to return at all.Shit. My father had always insisted that we, the Alphas of the Frostbite Pack, maintain proper decorum at all times. No shifting in public. No abandoning our responsibilities. I scoffed. Well, he wasn’t here, was he? Without a second thought, I let the shift take over. My bones cracked, my skin stretched into fur, and before I could blink, I was no longer standing on two legs. I was running. The moment I burst through the doors in my silver wolf form, gasps filled the hall. Okay, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here—the timing should have been perfect. So why were my guards scrambling, their faces twisted in shock and confusion? Someone shouted my name, but I didn’t turn. Fuck. My sister would hear abou
ROWANThree weeks.Three weeks since I had seen her. That was all it had been. Three weeks since stepping into the Ashen Pack’s hall, since the scent of sweetness and orange had caught my attention. Three weeks since setting eyes on the omega with quiet stubbornness in her stance.Aria Moonstone. The omega with no wolf. The moment I had seen Darius parading her, I knew she wasn't with a wolf. No one to defend her. I had almost made a mistake. I had almost rejected her. The words had already been on my tongue. If Darius Blackthorn had not stopped me, I would have thrown away the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. A familiar agony ripped through me.Was I destined to be lonely? Shit, Rowan, you are just as pathetic as…“Rowan...” Rowana sighed, stepping closer. The harshness in her eyes had softened. “Are you alright?”Alright was an overstatement. I quickly wrapped an arm around her so she wouldn't think otherwise. We were twins, but her frame was smaller than mine. One could say sh
Killian’s POVMy assistant shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I can't say. But I do know that Darius knew about the omega’s location before you asked me to call him. He was already on his way before you even decided to involve him.”A strange chill passed through me. Yeah, right. I should have known Darius wouldn’t take no for an answer. The day I let Aria out of his prison by mistake, we nearly had a pissing contest over who got to keep her.I could take Darius down if I wanted to, but the problem was his unpredictability.That fucker was a psychopath, a trickster, and a wildcard. If it came down to it, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me just to prove a point.And I had no intention of dying.“How long until he gets here?”"I don't know," my assistant said. "But it's possible."Possible.That fucking word irritated me more than anything else.I ran my tongue over my teeth, considering the implications. If Blood Fang was letting Darius in, then they were either playing a game, or Aria wa
ARIAOf course, I felt it. That unbearable warmth whenever he was near. The way his scent clouded my thoughts. The way my body responded, even when my mind screamed at me to resist.It was always the same with Killian, Darius, Rowan, and Lucian—only worse. But I couldn’t trust it. I couldn’t trust any of them. Only my wolf could tell me what was real.And she wasn’t here.My silence seemed to please Killian.“You don’t have to admit it,” he murmured, his fingers brushing against my wrist again—a featherlight touch that sent a shiver down my spine. “It doesn’t matter.”That snapped me out of it. Having a wolf matters!While others were naming their wolves, I was busy searching for mine. While others were shifting for the first time, I was being called a freak—born with unique physical traits but no wolf, no special abilities to back them up.People whispered that I was a true descendant of some rare wolves from the far north. But there was no proof.No parents. No wolf.No fucking noth
ARIABut to my disappointment, he was already lowering himself back to the floor. He wasn’t going to fight…Fight for what exactly? Me?I shook my head. Snap out of it, Aria. My gaze fell to my hands—where Killian was still holding me. His grip didn’t loosen, his fingers wrapped around my wrist like iron bands. The heat of his skin pressed against mine, grounding me in reality. This wasn’t some dream I could wake up from.Killian was right here, waiting for me to accept him. But as my eyes flickered back to Lucian—his slumped posture, the bruises forming along his jaw, the weakness in his gaze...I felt trapped. I had spent too much time being dragged around, claimed, ordered. And now, seeing Lucian’s defeated expression, seeing Killian loom over me with that arrogant smirk, fury boiled inside me.Aria was about to do what no one else had dared.Aria was about to tell Killian, an Alpha… off.With a sharp yank, I tore my wrist free from Killian’s grasp. Okay, I hadn’t planned that. The
ARIAAs for Tobias…One second, he was down the hall. The next, he was standing between them, a low, warning growl vibrating through his chest as he squared up to Killian.“Step back,” Tobias ordered. “Now.”With all the dominant pheromones in the air, I could only stay still. It was overwhelming. My head dangled as their scents made me dizzy. Unfortunately, Killian didn’t move. His gaze flickered to me for half a second—just long enough for my stomach to flip—before locking back onto Lucian. Of course, he couldn’t bear to be ordered by a Beta. But Tobias was no ordinary Beta. Maren had told me he trained hard. Funnily, not every trained Beta was chosen.But Tobias was chosen. That alone spoke volumes of his dominance.“You laid hands on Lucian,” Tobias snapped, baring his teeth now. “You don’t get to do that in his own pack.”I sneaked a glance at Lucian—who was still out on the floor, eyes unfocused, breathing heavily. Oh shit. He looked the most miserable today. I raised a leg, but
Aria’s POV I wasn’t sure what I had expected when I opened the door. But it sure as hell wasn’t this. Lucian stood before me, his bare chest rising and falling with shaky breaths with sweat trapped to his skin. His muscles were tense as if he had just fought off something— someone. And then there were his hands. They weren’t just trembling. They were bloody. Oh my Goddess…Fresh blood. He… “Lucian…?”“What the hell happened to you?” Lucian blinked, his eyes unfocused, like he was still trapped in whatever nightmare had just consumed him. For a moment, he looked completely lost. I didn't like that one bit. Then, slowly, he exhaled. “It’s nothing.” Nothing? That wasn't nothing. I narrowed my eyes. “You’re bleeding.” His jaw tightened. “It’s not my blood.” “Then whose is it?” No reply. His lips had pressed together, but he didn’t answer. A sinking feeling settled in my chest. It was obvious that something was terribly, horribly wrong. Lucian had always been col
Lucian's POVI went to bed early.But the darkness found—surrounding me, suffocating…like the arms of an octopus wrapping around my body, dragging me into its endless depths.I gasped for air, but my lungs found nothing.Fuckfuckfuck… not again! My body trembled violently, drenched in sweat, while my hands clawed at the emptiness, desperate for something—anything—to hold onto. Suddenly, a flash of light encroached the emptiness. It fluttered in and out like a dying flame, taunting me with its fucking relief before disappearing again. Then a deep and familiar voice followed.“Lucian.” The sound struck deep inside me, pulling me away from the abyss that threatened to swallow me whole. My father. “Father!” I cried out, blindly. “Is that you?”I missed him so much. “Albena’s birthday is today. Why don’t we go see her?” Albena? Albena… the name echoed in my mind. A bell tolled in the distance, ringing louder and louder until it was brighter.As bright as the sun… laughter. And
ARIAThat he had somehow walked away from a brotherhood of monsters who took what they wanted and left destruction?My eyes squeezed shut. I couldn’t believe that. Not when I still remembered the feeling of being paraded like a prize in front of them. Maren must have noticed, because she quickly changed the subject. “You know, most people don’t get kissed because they ‘smell bad.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “That’s gotta be a first.” A laugh wanted to break out of me, but it got stuck somewhere in my throat. “I don’t think that’s why he did it,” I said quietly. Maren nodded, her tone turning softer. “Neither do I.” We walked a little farther until we reached the edge of the stone path. The garden beyond was quiet, and getting cold in the late evening air.My thoughts were too loud, my head too full. “Aria.” Maren’s voice broke the silence again. “Can I ask you something?” I gave her a look. “You’re already asking.” She smiled sheepishly, then dropped her ey