003

ARIA’S POV

I didn’t know forty-eight hours could feel like a prison sentence until Damon Black decided I was his involuntary roommate.

“Stop walking so fast,” I snapped, jogging to keep up as he stalked across the courtyard of the Reapers’ compound.

“I’m not walking fast. You’re walking slow,” he muttered.

“You’re six foot a million, relax!”

He didn’t. Obviously.

The compound looked like a biker fortress had married a scrapyard and birthed chaos: garages, metal shipping containers converted into rooms, bikes everywhere, wolves staring openly like I was a circus attraction. I’d tried…twice…to slip out. Damon caught me…twice…and looked personally offended every time.

Now he was escorting me back to the garage after dragging me from yet another “escape attempt.”

I wasn’t escaping. I was… relocating. Spiritually.

“You done?” Damon asked, in a low and very annoyed tone.

“No.”

“Too bad.”

I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly saw my brain. “If you just let me lea—”

“Not happening.”

“I didn’t even finish my sentence!”

“You were going to say ‘leave.’ You say it every hour. Like it’s gonna magically work one of these times.”

“The universe responds to consistency.”

“Aria, the universe doesn’t respond to anything. But I do. Now move.”

I made a rude noise. He didn’t comment, which almost offended me more.

We reached the garage and Damon opened the door, then paused. He sniffed the air.

Oh, what a fun thing I can’t do. Sniff danger.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. Just… stay close.”

“Hm? No thanks.”

He didn’t bother answering. He just grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside.

———

Inside, a group of Reapers had gathered, their voices sounded low and tense. The council members were arguing…again!. At this point, hearing “kill the girl” felt like background music.

Damon didn’t look at them. Or greet them. Or explain why he was dragging me in like a stolen purse. He just pushed me toward the metal worktable.

“Sit.”

“No.”

He gave me that look. The alpha one. The heavy one. The “you’re supposed to obey me” one.

It washed right over me like a light breeze.

He gritted his teeth. “Please.”

Ah. Progress.

I hopped onto the table. “See? Was that so hard?”

He ignored me…again…and turned to the others.

“What happened?” he asked.

Griffin, who I think is his beta answered first, crossing his arms. “Bloodmoon scouts at the east border. Three of them. Just watching.”

“Or waiting,” another Reaper muttered.

My stomach twisted. “Waiting for what?”

Everyone looked at me, like I was the what.

Damon moved slightly in front of me, blocking their stares. “They’re not taking her.”

“She shouldn’t be here in the first place,” Elder Rowan said, his voice sharp. “This ends only one way, Damon. You know the laws.”

“And I said I’m not killing her.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“The hell I don’t.”

The room pulsed with angry energy.

“My choice is standing right in front of you,” he growled.

Yeah okay, the primal protectiveness was a tiny bit flattering.

The elder shook his head. “Forty-eight hours is generous. But if she’s here longer—”

“She won’t be,” Damon snapped. “I’ll have answers before then.”

“And if the answer is she’s a threat?”

He didn’t respond.

I did. “I’m not a threat. I’m literally broke. I can’t threaten anyone except my data plan.”

No one laughed. Tough crowd.

Then Rowan said something that made every muscle in Damon’s body go rigid:

“The Bloodmoon Alpha knows.”

A chill sliced through the room.

Knows what? That I saw werewolves? That I’m apparently immune to their Jedi mind tricks? That I exist?

Damon’s voice was quiet and deadly. “How?”

“Someone told him.”

Damon’s nostrils flared. “A traitor.”

“It would seem so.”

There was more tension in the air than in my bank account.

Damon turned back to me. “Stay here.”

“No,” I said instinctively.

“Aria.”

“Damon.”

He dragged a hand down his face. “Just…don’t move.”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll totally sit here like a nice hostage.”

He shot me a look. Then another wolf entered the garage abruptly, breathless.

“They sent a message.”

Damon stiffened. “Show me.”

The wolf held up a chunk of metal. A knife. Pierced through a piece of leather with words carved into it:

‘Give us the girl.’

Silence dropped like a bomb.

I swallowed. Loudly. “Okay. Wow. Not ominous at all.”

Damon took the knife, reading it with a calmness so cold it chilled the room.

“They want her alive,” the wolf added quietly.

Elder Rowan exhaled shakily. “You know what that means.”

“Yeah,” Damon said. “Bloodmoon Alpha wants her.”

“For what purpose?” Rowan pressed.

Damon didn’t answer.

He turned back to me. “You’re staying inside the compound at all times. No arguments.”

“Funny. You say that like I haven’t argued already.”

“Aria.”

“Yes?”

“Please.”

That shut me up. For a moment.

He walked closer, lowering his voice. “You’re not safe out there.”

“And I’m safe in here?”

“I’m here.”

My heart betrayed me by thumping louder.

Before I could respond, a loud thud slammed outside the garage. Everyone tensed.

Damon barked, “Positions!”

Wolves shifted. Tools clattered. Bikes revved to life. And suddenly I was shoved behind a black motorcycle like it was supposed to be bulletproof (Was it? I hoped so).

Damon crouched beside me. “Stay down.”

“No,” I hissed back.

“Aria—”

Something crashed through the side door, a rogue wolf lunging straight at Damon.

He met it head-on, with his claws and fury. I didn’t think. I grabbed the nearest object…a metal pole, and swung like my life depended on it.

Which frankly it did.

The pole cracked against the wolf’s skull.

The wolf stumbled. Damon finished him with a savage strike.

He stared at me, heaving heavily. “I told you to stay down.”

“You’re welcome!”

“That’s not— Aria, that was reckless.”

“Recklessly helpful!”

“You could’ve died.”

“So could you!”

We stood there, panting, inches apart, adrenaline doing gymnastics between us.

His eyes flicked to my lips.

Mine flicked to his jaw.

No. Nope. Abort mission.

He looked away first, ripping himself back into control. “We need to move.”

But then everything went sideways.

The garage door slammed open again, this time with Rowan storming inside.

“Damon! Enough! She’s a danger to all of us! This ends now!”

“What ends now?” I shouted.

Rowan glared at me. “The council gave him one option: your death.”

My heart stopped.

Damon whipped toward him. “Rowan—”

“You agreed to it,” Rowan said.

The world tilted.

Agreed… to kill me?

My chest tightened painfully. “Damon… is that true?”

He froze.

He didn’t deny it. Or speak. Just the look of guilt flickering across that stupidly handsome face.

I backed away. “Wow. You really— You actually—”

“Aria, listen—”

“No. I’m done listening.”

I turned and ran.

I made it halfway across the courtyard before a hand clamped over my mouth; cold, rough, and unfamiliar, and yanked me into the shadows behind the wall.

A low voice whispered against my ear:

“Got you.”

And the world went black.