A Strange Weakness

The forest lay quiet that night, the sky draped in a heavy quilt of stars. The feast in the Blackthorn great hall still rumbled in the distance, laughter and howls echoing through the mountains, but Aria wanted no part of it.

She was not pack. Not really.

The villagers in the outer rim — humans who tilled the earth and paid their tithes to the wolves — whispered about her. A girl with eyes too bright, a step too light, a presence that unsettled men and animals alike. She lived on the edge of both worlds: too wild for the humans, too ordinary for the wolves.

Her adoptive mother, Mara, always warned her not to stray near pack gatherings. But something tugged at Aria’s chest tonight, a restless pull she couldn’t name. She had tried to stay in her little cabin, tried to close her eyes and ignore the ache in her lungs. But the harder she resisted, the worse it grew — a breathless, suffocating panic that only eased when she slipped into the woods and wandered toward the pack lands.

Now she stood at the treeline, heart pounding, staring at the faint glow of torches from the great hall.

And then she felt it.

The pressure in her chest surged, sharp and unbearable, stealing the air from her lungs. Her knees buckled. One hand clawed at her breastbone, as though she could pry away the invisible grip crushing her.

She gasped, trembling, her breath coming in shallow, frantic pulls.

“Breathe,” she whispered to herself, though every attempt felt like drowning.

And then, across the distance — she felt him.

A pulse. A tether. Something slamming into her spirit with the force of a storm. The air rushed back into her lungs, cold and sweet, like she’d broken the surface of a deep, dark lake.

Her head snapped toward the hall, though she could not see within. Her body knew. Her soul knew. Someone in there was tied to her in ways she could not explain.

Someone whose presence gave her breath.

Aria stumbled back, fear and wonder warring in her chest. She should run. She should hide this strange madness before the wolves sniffed it out. But her feet refused to obey.

Inside the great hall, Alpha Kael froze mid-step.

He had been enduring Selene’s endless smiles, nodding to elders, shaking hands, letting his people feast and rejoice. But suddenly, his chest constricted. His breath faltered. He bent slightly, a hand pressed to the table as if steadying himself.

Gasps rippled around him. The Alpha, faltering? Impossible.

Then, like lightning through his veins, relief. A rush of air filled his lungs, sweet and wild, carrying the scent of rain-soaked pine and fire. His head snapped toward the massive doors. His wolf surged, snarling and alive, pressing against his skin.

*She’s here.*

He didn’t know who. Didn’t know why. But the truth sank into his bones with undeniable certainty: his tether had awoken.

Kael shoved away from the table. Wolves stepped back, startled as their Alpha stormed across the hall. Selene’s voice trailed after him, sharp and shrill. “Kael, where are you—”

But he didn’t stop. He shoved open the doors, the cold night air slamming into him like a baptism. His gaze swept the darkness, golden eyes glowing, until they locked on her.

A girl.

She stood trembling in the shadows, chest rising and falling too quickly, her eyes wide — luminous, impossible eyes that seemed to glow with trapped starlight.

The moment their gazes locked, Kael’s breath hitched. The ache in his chest vanished entirely. He could breathe, deeply, fully, as though he had been suffocating all his life and only now learned how to live.

Aria, too, felt it. Her body eased, her lungs opening. But terror coiled in her gut. She had no business here, no business staring into the eyes of the Alpha himself.

“You,” he growled, voice low and thunderous.

Aria flinched. “I—I shouldn’t be here.”

“Who are you?” He stepped forward, each movement predatory, inexorable.

Aria stumbled back, shaking her head. “No one. Just—just a villager.”

His wolf howled inside him. *Liar. She’s more.*

Kael halted only when he stood a mere breath away from her. The bond between them snapped taut, a cord pulling at his very soul. Up close, her scent crashed into him fully — wild earth, rain, and something ancient he could not place.

The hall roared behind him as the pack spilled out, curious. Selene shoved through them, her icy eyes narrowing as she spotted Aria.

“Who is this?” Selene demanded, voice dripping disdain.

Aria lowered her gaze, shame and panic flooding her. She wanted to vanish, to sink into the ground.

But Kael, for reasons he could not explain, placed himself between Aria and the others. His body moved on instinct, protective, possessive.

“This girl…” His voice rumbled, steady but dangerous. “She is under my protection.”

Gasps rippled. Selene’s face paled, then darkened with fury.

Aria stared at him, stunned. Her heart hammered, her lungs filling with the air his nearness allowed her. For the first time in her life, she did not feel like an outcast.

For the first time, she felt… connected.

And she hated it.

Because whatever bound her to this Alpha, it would ruin her.

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