chapter Three

Chapter Three

~~Aria pov~~

I walked away before Kaelen could say anything else. I could feel his eyes on my back with every step I took. When I finally turned the corner and knew he could no longer see me, I leaned against the wall and pressed a hand to my chest. My heart was racing too fast.

Kaelen had been like this for two years now. Ever since the night I was attacked by rogues near the pack border and he drove them away. Back then I had been grateful. He had saved my life.

But something changed after that night.

What started as protection slowly turned into something else. He began showing up at my door without warning. He asked who I spoke to and where I went. He commented on my clothes and my schedule. Every time I tried to question it, he smiled and called it concern. He said it was care. He said it was protection.

To everyone else, Kaelen was the kind Beta in training who looked after a helpless packmate. To me, it felt like living in a cage with Kaelen holding the key.

I pushed myself away from the wall and returned to my desk. His words repeated in my head. Do not talk to anyone else about your pain. Only I understand you.

Maybe he did understand. Or maybe that was exactly what terrified me.

The rest of the day moved painfully slow. I kept my head down and focused on my work, doing everything I could to avoid attention. By the time five oclock arrived, I felt drained. Not from work but from spending every hour trying to stay invisible.

I packed my things quickly, hoping to leave before anyone noticed.

"Leaving so soon?"

I swallowed back a sigh. Kaelen stood near the elevators with his jacket draped over his arm, clearly waiting for me.

"I am just heading home," I said as I pressed the elevator button.

"I will walk you."

"That is not necessary."

"I insist." His smile was calm and familiar. "It is getting dark. You should not walk alone."

The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside. Kaelen followed me in. The space felt too small and the air felt heavy. I stared at the numbers as they counted down. Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve.

"You know", Kaelen said casually, "your life would be much easier if you accepted my help. Really accepted it. Stop fighting me."

"I am not fighting you," I said carefully. "I just value my independence."

"Independence." He repeated the word like it did not belong to me. "Aria, you are wolfless in a world of wolves. Independence is not something you can afford."

Eight. Seven. Six.

"You make it sound like I am helpless."

"I am saying I care about your safety". His tone hardened. "Do you know what would have happened that night if I had not been there? Do you know what those rogues would have done to you?"

"I did know." The glowing eyes and snapping teeth still lived in my nightmares. "I am grateful."

"I know you are grateful, but can you not see that I care?" He cut me off. "Stop pushing me away. Stop pretending you do not need me."

The elevator reached the ground floor. I stepped out quickly but Kaelen was right behind me. We crossed the lobby and stepped into the cool evening air. The city buzzed around us but the tension between us felt thick and suffocating.

"Kaelen", I said as we stopped under a streetlight. "We need to talk about boundaries."

He frowned. "Boundaries."

"You have always been kind to me, but sometimes it feels like too much. I just need space."

"Space." He laughed but there was no humor in it. "Space for what? To be harassed? To be hurt? To be alone? He stepped closer. Do you know how much I have done for you? How many times I stopped Clara from humiliating you? How many rumors I shut down? How many wolves I warned to stay away from you? And this is how you thank me?"

My stomach twisted. "I did not ask you to do those things."

"You did not have to ask. That is what protection means." His voice rose. "You need to understand that."

He ran a hand through his hair and took a slow breath. When he looked at me again, his expression softened, but his eyes remained intense. "I am sorry. I just care about you more than you realize. It hurts when you push me away, especially when I am the only one who truly sees your worth.'

Something about the way he said it made my instincts scream. I stepped back. "I should go. It is late."

"Let me drive you."

"No thank you. I will walk. I need the air.'

Before he could argue, I turned and walked away. I did not run, but it was close. I could feel his gaze on me until I turned the corner and was finally out of sight.

By the time I reached the pack house, I felt empty. I slipped inside through the side entrance and climbed the stairs to my small room. Relief washed over me when I found it quiet.

I locked the door. It would not stop a wolf, but it gave me a sense of control. I leaned against it and closed my eyes.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

I was fine. I was safe. Tomorrow would be another day just like this one, and I would survive it like I always did. That had to be enough.

I did not remember falling asleep.

One moment I was staring at the cracks in my ceiling. The next, I was standing barefoot in a field beneath a blood red sky.

The air smelled like smoke and metal. The ground beneath my feet was soft. Too soft. When I looked down, I realized it was not grass but dirt soaked dark with blood. Bodies covered the field. Wolves in every form imaginable. Some fully shifted. Others trapped halfway through the change, frozen in pain. The silence was unbearable.

No, I whispered, though I did not know why.

Someone knelt in the center of the battlefield with his back to me. Even from a distance, his presence felt overwhelming. Like standing too close to fire.

I tried to run toward him, but my legs would not move. I could only watch as he slowly turned his head.

Golden eyes met mine.

They glowed like molten gold. Beautiful and fierce and filled with pain. His face was strong and sharp. Dark hair clung to his skin, streaked with blood. His lips were pressed into a hard line.

He lifted his hand toward me. His mouth moved, though I could not hear the words. Somehow I understood them.

"Find me. Remember me. Come back to me".

I tried to reach him. To speak. To move.

Something grabbed me from behind.

A hand closed around my arm and yanked me back. I turned and saw Clara. Her face was twisted with rage and her amber eyes glowed.

"I will never let that happen", she hissed. "You are nothing."

Her grip tightened and she dragged me away from the man with golden eyes. I struggled, reaching for him as he grew smaller in the red haze.

The last thing I saw before everything went dark was his eyes. Filled with a sorrow so deep it felt like it was pulling me under.

No.

I woke up gasping, my hands clutching my chest. For a moment I could not breathe. Tears streamed down my face before I even realized I was crying. The dream felt real. Too real.

Like something that had already happened. Or something that was about to.

I pressed my palms to my eyes and tried to steady my breathing.

Why did it feel like a memory?

The image of those golden eyes stayed with me long after the shaking stopped. I did not know who he was. But I knew one thing with painful certainty.

He is in pain.

---

~~Third party pov~~

Meanwhile,

Three hundred miles away, in the penthouse of Westwood City’s tallest building, Lyrian Blackthorn stood at a window overlooking the glowing city below.

The Alpha King was tall and broad shouldered, dressed in black. Power surrounded him like heat from a fire. Even alone, his presence filled the room.

For twenty years, he had stayed hidden, building his power and waiting.

Even though he had established absolute dominance, he had always felt something missing. His lost mate. For twenty years, he had felt a pull toward someone he could not find. He knew what it meant, and since then, he had never stopped searching.

That was the reason he had come to Silvercrest Park.

Tonight, that pull had returned, stronger than ever.

His eyes began to glow, gold flooding the dark brown and lighting up his reflection in the glass.

“She is here,” he said softly to the empty room and to the moon above the city.

His wolf stirred inside him, ancient, powerful, and restless. It had been searching for years, and now it had found what it was looking for.

Somewhere in this city, his mate was awake from the same dream. Somewhere nearby, she was feeling that same pull.

The game was about to begin.

And Lyrian Blackthorn never lost.

A faint smile touched his lips.

“Soon,” he whispered. “Very soon.”

The golden light in his eyes flared brighter, and somewhere across the city, in a small, quiet room in

a forgotten corner of a packhouse, Aria shivered and pulled her blanket tighter.

The wheel of fate had started to turn.

And nothing would ever be the same again.