CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

THIRD PERSON'S POV

The woods were colder than she remembered. Aria tore through the underbrush, her feet steady even as her heart cracked in silence. Cera and David trailed behind, saying nothing. They didn't need to. They had seen what happened.

They had heard the rejection.

The scent of pine and fire still clung to her skin— his scent. The Moon had branded it into her senses, and now it haunted her every breath.

She wanted to rip it out. Tear it from her lungs, do anything to erase the scent, erase him from her every sense.

“Aria.” Cera called softly. “We need to stop.” She says, looking at her with worried eyes.

“I'm fine.” Aria replies, cold and steady, and continues walking down the path.

“You're bleeding.” Cera again says, trying to convince her. 

Aria looked down at her palm sliced from a sharp branch she hadn't noticed. Blood streaked her fingers, but she barely felt it. Not compared to the ache beneath her ribs.

She clenches her fists, her nails digging into her skin, over the wound and let the wound bleed and hurt her to erase the uneasiness in her heart.

“I said I'm fine.” Aria snapped, looking back at them and glared in warning, as if they again speak a word she will rip them to shreds.

Cera said nothing more, nor did David say anything, as they continued walking towards their camp.

They reached the outer edge of the rogue camp just before dawn. There are no fires. No noise. Only shadows shifting in the trees. The others rose as she approached, sensing something was wrong.

Mira stepped forward, her brow furrowed as she looked at Aria's blank face and her hand bleeding. “What happened?” She asked.

Aria didn't answer. She walked past them, disappearing into her tent, leaving everyone puzzled and confused behind her. 

Her brother, Alexander, looks at his sister disappearing in her tent, and he feels somehow uncomfortable in his heart. He has never seen her so silent or blank like this ever!

“What's wrong with my sister? Did something happen during the ceremony?” Alex asks, looking back at Cera and David.

“I think…it's best if she tells you herself.” David says, and also walks back into his tent, so he doesn't have to answer their questions.

“Go and rest, we have a lot of work tomorrow.” Cera says, before she also goes into her sleeping place.

Alexander looked back at their pack in confusion, but Mira and Jax were also as clueless as him. They also goes to rest, while Jax stays behind to keep an eye on their safety.

Aria settled in her tent, intending to fall asleep and forget everything that happened in the ceremony but she didn't sleep.

Instead, she sat before her mirror, staring at the bond mark on her collarbone— the faint silver thread that still shimmered, despite the rejection.

“It should've faded.” She whispers to herself, touching her collarbone, and is lost in thoughts.

But it hadn't.

She lies in her bed, tossing and turning all night, trying to sleep but sleep was nowhere near her. The next morning, she wakes up irritated.

She walked through the heart of the camp. The rogues kept their distance. They respected her strength, her leadership, but now they feared her silence more than her rage.

She passed Jax, who's sharpening blades. Mira bundling herbs, Alex helping her, and Cera watching.

“Why won't you tell us what happened?” Mira asks, looking up at her.

Alex and others stop working and look at her, because in the morning Cera has explained what happened in the ceremony after being pressured by everyone for their leader's sour mood.

Aria didn't stop walking. “Because I don't owe anyone an explanation for being rejected.” She answers without turning back.

“You rejected him too.” Cera says, standing behind her and looking at her sharply.

“I had to.” Aria replies, looking around the camp for any traces of intruder, but finds none.

“You wanted to?” Jax asks, cocking his eyebrows at her.

Aria turned sharply, glaring at them as she stated loud and clear. “What I want doesn't matter. What matters is that we don't fall apart. We keep moving. We stay alive.”

Cera's gaze turns hard. “Then maybe it's time we stop hiding. Maybe it's time we fight.” She says her voice shows the evidence of her anger.

“We're not ready.” Aria sighs, shaking her head to calm her heightened nerves and try not to burst on their constant nagging.

Cera stepped closer. “Or you're not ready?” She says, looking into her eyes bravely, and tries not to quiver away in fear.

The silence stretched between them like a blade. Everyone held their breath, as only Cera has the audacity to question their leader, Aria, like this.

Not even Alexander has that much audacity to stand across his sister and question her like Cera. Probably because Cera is the first one who joins their pack and fights along with Aria.

Across the lands, in Blackridge, Kaiden stood in the training yard, battling his sparring partner to the ground for the third time.

“She rejected you back.” Elias said calmly from the sidelines.

“I don't care.” Kaiden replies sharply, striking at him.

“Your wolf does.” Elias says with a smug smile while defending himself from his strike.

Kaiden didn't respond. His breath was ragged, his fists aching. The bond should have severed completely. It should have faded.

But it hadn't.

He could still feel her like a ghost in his blood. His wolf paced beneath his skin, clawing, howling, to surface and go claim their mate.

At night, he dreamed of her. Not as she was but as she might have been, in another life. Kind, sweet, beautiful and his. His lovely wife. His beloved mate.

But that's not who they are right now, in this life.

His enemy. His mate.

The one the Moon had chosen.

The one he had thrown away.

He went to the Council the same morning and Garran greeted him with narrowed eyes.

“You rejected the Ashborne girl. Yet the bond remains.” He says, gritting in annoyance.

Kaiden didn't flinch and coldly belittle him. “It means nothing.”

“It means everything.” Garran growled. “And if you don't resolve it, others will. The Ashborne bloodline was dangerous. If the girl is still alive, if she still carries that legacy—”

“I'll take care of it.” Kaiden interrupted, feeling his wolf growling at the sense of their mate in danger.

“See that you do.” Garran scoffs, glaring at him.

Kaiden left from there without another word. But as he crossed the courtyard, his steps slowed, when the realisation hits him.

Take care of it. How?

Kill her?

He couldn't.

Wouldn't.

But if not that then what?

In her tent, Aria stares at the blade in her hand. The dagger was old, etched with her father's sigil.

She closed her fingers around the hilt, holding it tightly in her grip.

“I am not broken.” She whispered. “And I am not his.” Her voice wavers but she holds a steady grip on the dagger like it's a promise.

But her wolf stirred at the lie.

Because somewhere in the back of her heart, she could still feel his name.

Kaiden.

And it ached.