CHAPTER 3

The wind whispered through the trees, swaying the tall pines that towered over the rogues’ territory. Morning light filtered through the leaves, casting a silvery hue across the clearing where Aria stood, her hands trembled as she reread the letter from her mother. “Run before they find out.”

The weight of those words settled like stones in her chest. She couldn’t sleep after that. Kael had disappeared into the forest before dawn, most likely doing whatever dark business rogues did before the world awoke. The camp stirred slowly behind her. Mothers feeding their pups, men sharpening blades, laughter drifting faintly from a makeshift kitchen hut. Everything looked so normal, but deep down Aria could feel something…off.

Her eyes darted towards the path Kael had taken. Why do you affect me like this? She thought bitterly. She hated him. She should hate him. But there was something…. Something magnetic and enchanting in the way his voice wrapped around her name, in the way her wolf whimpered whenever he left.

“Aria!”

The voice snapped her out of her haze.

She turned sharply and froze.

Rhys.

Her former mate-to-be. The perfect Alpha son. The one everyone said she was fated for. And here he was, standing in a rogue camp, dark hair tousled, and his expression wild and desperate.

“Rhys?” Her voice cracked. “What… how did you find me?”

He rushed towards her, arms stretched out as if to embrace her. She stepped back instinctively.

“You don’t belong here,” he said, eyes flickering around the camp like it was crawling with a deadly disease. “You’re coming home with me.”

Her chest squeezed. The world home sounded strange and distant now. She should’ve felt relief. But all she felt…. Was doubt.

Behind Rhys, two Silverpine warriors emerged from the trees, flanking beside him protectively. Kael had said if she went back, she’d die. Had her mother known too?

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“Aria,” he pleaded, stepping closer to her. “Reject him. You don’t have to be tied to a monster. We can still fix this, you can still become my Luna.”

Her heart thudded. That used to be her dream. Rhys as Alpha. Her by his side. But now?

Kael’s voice echoed in her memory: “You don’t know who you really are.”

“I need time,” she said, unsure of her own voice.

“You don’t have time Aria!” Rhys snapped, his tone shifting. “That mark…” he pointed at her neck, where Kael’s claim burned like a phantom touch, “is killing your chances of being who you were meant to be.”

“You mean your Luna,” she said sharply.

Before he could answer, a growl disrupted the silence.

Kael emerged from the tree line, shirt damp with sweat, eyes glowing with fury.

“Step away from her,” he snarled.

Rhys smirked evilly, arms dropping to his side as he turned to face him. “I was wondering when you’d crawl out of your little hole.”

“I said,” Kael repeated, each word vibrating with a burning rage, “step. Away. From her.”

Tension cracked the air like lightning.

“I’m not scared of a rogue,” Rhys sneered.

Kael didn’t respond. He lunged.

The clash was brutal, fur and claws, snarls and teeth. Aria’s scream pierced through the camp as Kael and Rhys shifted mid-air, their wolves colliding like forces of nature.

Kael’s midnight-black wolf was larger, faster. Rhys’ golden form was skilled, refined, but Kael fought like a storm. Wild. Unforgiving. And unrelenting. There was no elegance in his moves, just pure , primal force. But beneath the rage, Aria could sense something deeper… history. Pain. Hate that ran older than her bond with either of them.

“Kael! Rhys!” she shouted, but neither wolf listened.

Campers scrambled. Some watched, some ran, most stood frozen. Only one person dared to grab Aria’s arm… Nessa, the kind rogue girl she’d grown close to over the past few days.

“Come on!” Nessa urged.

“I can’t…. I can’t leave them!”

“They’ll kill each other!”

But Aria’s feet were glued to the ground. Her wolf clawed frantically beneath her skin, distressed. The tug inside her chest pulled violently towards Kael, but the memories of Rhys held in her in place.

Flashbacks swirled in her mind, Rhys laughing under the moonlight, holding her hand at training sessions, promising her a future. Now, those memories clashed with the way he looked at her like she was just a property.

And then, something shifted.

Rhys’s wolf slashed Kael’s shoulder, and in that moment, Kael’s wolf turned. Their eyes locked.

Aria’s wolf surged.

A glow pulsed beneath her skin, wild and raw and ancient. Her body moved without thought. She stepped between them, screaming, “Stop!”

Both wolves froze.

And in that silence. Aria’s wolf made her choice.

Her knees buckled as her wolf submitted, head lowering towards Kael.

A single loud howl rang out.

Kael’s wolf staggered back as if stunned.

Rhys’s wolf recoiled, stunned and humiliated.

It wasn’t just a submission, it was a bond acceptance.

Aria didn’t understand how or why, but her wolf had chosen Kael. In front of everyone.

Kael shifted back, his eyes wide and mouth parted in disbelief. He stared at her like he’d never truly seen her before.

“Aria…” he whispered, his voice raw.

Rhys shifted next, trembling with rage, eyes burning with betrayal.

“You… you were mine,” he snarled, every word venomous. “You filthy and disgusting traitor!”

Tears blurred Aria’s vision. “I didn’t choose this.”

“No,” Rhys growled angrily, stepping forward, “but your wolf did. And now, you’ll both pay for this humiliation.”

Kael moved fast… too fast.

He shoved Aria behind him, baring his teeth. “You’ll never touch her again.”

Rhys’s warriors held him back, just barely.

“This isn’t over,” Rhys hissed, turning towards Aria. “You just chose war.”

And with that, he vanished into the forest.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Aria sank to the ground, numb. Her heart beat in chaos, her thoughts disoriented.

Kael knelt beside her, eyes searching her face.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said.

Her lip trembled. “I didn’t mean to. My wolf… she just…. She made the decision for me before I could even think.”

Kael looked down. “She chose me.”

A long, heavy pause settled between them.

Aria looked up into his eyes, tormented and tender, both at once. “Do you hate me for it?”

He shook his head slowly. “No, I don’t. But I don’t think you understand the consequences yet.”

Her voiced cracked. “Then explain it to me. Because I don’t know what’s happening anymore. I’m confused and lost. I don’t know who I’m becoming.”

“You’re becoming who you were meant to be,” he murmured.

They sat there, breathing in sync. Both broken. Both bound. And in the air between them, something dangerous gradually bloomed.

Something like….fate.