The Bite of Power

CHAPTER One

The full moon bled red.

Aria’s claws dug into the dirt as she raced through the burning trees of Moonshade. Smoke choked the air. The screams of her pack echoed behind her wolves howling, bones snapping, fires crackling through the sacred forest.

She didn't look back.

She couldn’t.

She’d seen what those Midnight wolves had done to the others tearing through warriors like they were nothing. They didn’t fight fair. They fought to conquer.

Her legs burned, heart pounding in her chest like a war drum. Her wolf snarled inside, ready to turn and fight. But Aria forced her down.

No. Not now.

She was a fighter, yes. A warrior. But she wasn't stupid. Charging straight into death wasn’t bravery, it was waste.

She needed to survive.

The ground trembled as a massive shape landed behind her. Too heavy. Too fast.

Alpha.

Her heart skipped.

A black blur tackled her to the ground. She slammed hard into the soil, the wind knocked from her lungs.

Before she could move, claws pinned her down.

Snarling. Breathing. Hot, furious breath against her neck.

Then his voice.

Deep. Calm. Cold as ice.

“You’re strong. I like that.”

Aria thrashed, but he didn’t flinch. Her claws tore at his arms, but his grip didn’t loosen. The power coming off him was like nothing she’d felt before. Raw. Dark. Dangerous.

“Get off me!” she snapped, fangs bared.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he leaned down and sank his teeth into her neck.

Aria screamed.

Not from pain. From fury.

The heat of the mate bond rushed through her blood like wildfire, unwanted and uninvited.

He’d marked her.

Without her consent.

The Alpha of the Midnight Pack had claimed her.

Aria woke in chains.

The room was dark stone cold, silent, and reeking of power. Her wrists were shackled to the wall. Moonlight dripped through a single window far above. Her body ached, but her strength was returning.

Her wolf paced inside her, angry and alert.

She jerked against the chains. They didn’t budge.

The door creaked open.

He entered.

The Alpha.

He wasn’t in wolf form now. Tall. Broad. Wearing black robes marked with silver thread the royal crest of the Midnight Pack stitched over his heart.

Dark hair. Eyes like thunderclouds. A face carved in stone.

Aria spat at his feet.

“Coward,” she growled.

He tilted his head. No anger. No reaction.

“You’re awake.”

“Release me.”

“No.”

She bared her teeth. “You marked me without my consent.”

“I did.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“In my pack, it is.”

Aria’s fists clenched. “I don’t belong to you.”

“You do now.”

His voice didn’t rise. No threats. No snarls. Just certainty.

She yanked at the chains again. “Why me?”

Alpha Kael walked closer.

“You were rejected by your mate. You survived. You’re strong. I need that.”

Aria flinched. “You know nothing about me.”

“I know enough. You were fated to Zane of the Frost Claw Pack. He rejected you. You nearly died from it.”

Aria looked away. The memory clawed through her chest like a storm. Cold eyes. A twisted smirk. The words: I don’t want you. You’re weak.

“I didn’t die,” she whispered.

Kael nodded once. “Exactly.”

She glared at him. “What do you want from me?”

He said nothing for a long moment.

Then:

“There’s a curse on my bloodline. If I don’t complete the bond before the next full moon, I lose everything. My wolf. My power. My title.”

“So you picked a random wolf and bit her?”

“I picked a survivor. A fighter. Someone who knows pain.”

Aria’s voice dropped. “You don’t want a mate. You want a tool.”

Kael didn’t deny it.

“I will not accept the bond,” she said coldly.

“You don’t have to. It’s already begun. Your wolf will feel it. You’ll feel it.”

Aria forced herself to laugh. “You think I’ll fall in love with you because of a mark? You don’t know me at all.”

“I don’t need your love. I need your power.”

He turned to leave.

But at the door, he paused.

“You’ll be moved to the Luna quarters tomorrow. Prepare yourself. The pack will expect obedience.”

“Then they’ll be disappointed,” Aria hissed.

Kael didn’t look back.

The Luna quarters were a prison in gold.

Silken sheets. Velvet robes. A balcony overlooking the Midnight territory. Food brought on silver trays. But guards at every door.

Aria didn’t eat.

She didn’t sleep.

She stood by the window, watching the dark wolves run through the trees below.

The bond itched in her skin. Her wolf felt restless. Conflicted.

He marked us. But he’s not ours.

She dug her claws into the balcony stone.

Then movement in the trees.

A figure. Watching her.

Not Kael. Someone else.

A flash of silver fur.

Then gone.

She stepped back.

Enemy?

Spy?

Or someone waiting to help her?

The next morning, a sharp knock on the door.

“Get ready,” a female voice snapped.

Before she could answer, two guards entered, dragging in a heavy robe lined with white fur.

“For the Alpha Council,” one said. “Don’t make us dress you.”

Aria snatched the robe from his hands. “Touch me and lose your fingers.”

They left, grumbling.

She changed, her movements sharp. Her mind is sharper.

This was her chance to learn. To gather information. To survive.

And maybe to take him down from inside.

The council chamber was built of black stone and firelight. Twelve elders sat in a crescent, their eyes cold, judging. Kael stood at the center. He didn’t look at her.

“Present the Luna,” one of the elders demanded.

Aria stepped forward.

Gasps rippled through the room.

“She’s the Moonshade warrior,” someone whispered.

“A rejected wolf,” another scoffed.

Kael raised a hand. Silence fell.

“She is mine,” he said.

Aria’s jaw tightened.

A test.

She turned to the elders and said clearly, “I did not choose this. But I will not kneel to weakness.”

The room froze.

Then Kael did something unexpected.

He smiled.

The first real emotion she’d seen

from him.

That night, she returned to her room and found a note on her bed.

You’re not safe here. Watch the ones closest to him. Trust no one.

No name. No scent.

But the handwriting was familiar.

Her heart pounded.

Zane.

He was here.