Chapter 10

After the stranger disappeared, the clearing fel silent. The leaves above us barely moved.

Lysa eventually lowered her staff, but her posture stayed stiff and alert as if expecting him to reappear at any moment.

My heart thudded hard in my chest. I felt the echo of Helena’s growl under my skin. Something about him, the way he talked about me like I was a lost object, the way he mentioned Darius, made my stomach knot.

“He knew who I was,” I whispered.

“Yes,” Lysa said.

My hands trembled. “He shouldn’t. I haven’t seen anyone from Eden since I ran.”

“You crossed many borders,” she said. “And word travels far when men like Darius spread it.”

I swallowed. My mouth was dry.

“Come,” she said. “Let’s go inside and talk with calm minds.”

I followed her into the cabin as fear grew inside me, dark, and familiar. But beneath that fear was something new, something sharp.

Anger.

Pure and hot.

I closed the door behind us. Lysa walked to the table and poured water into a wooden cup.

“Drink,” she said.

I took the cup with shaky fingers and drank slowly. The water cooled my throat but not my thoughts.

“He said they’re still hunting me,” I said. “Why bother?”

“Because you escaped,” she answered. “Because you made them look weak. Because you survived the rejection night when they expected you to die.”

I froze. “Die?”, I thought it was only Greg who really wanted me dead.

Lysa turned to me, face steady. “Aria, wolves don’t reject mates lightly. When they do, they make sure the rejected one doesn’t become a threat.”

My breath hitched. “A threat? Me?”

“You were the rightful heir of your family,” she said. “Even without status, you carry a legacy. You carry blood that frightens small men.”

I shook my head, unable to believe her. “No. That’s not me. I’m..”

“You’re not what they made you,” she cut in, voice gentle but firm. “You are what you survived.”

I sank onto the chair, my legs too weak to hold me.

The stranger’s words echoed in my mind

‘The disgraced little girl survived.’

He said it like it upset him.

Like it upset the other wolves.

Like it upset Greg.

I felt a hot pulse beneath my ribs.

Helena lifted her head in my mind, ears twitching. ‘We should run. We should hunt back.’

Not yet, I thought. Not until I’m strong enough.

But a small part of me agreed with her. For the first time, the thought of facing my past didn’t feel impossible. It felt… necessary.

Lysa must have sensed the storm brewing inside me. She sat across from me.

“Aria,” she said, “the man who came today was scouting. He wasn’t here to kill you. Not yet. He wanted proof you’re alive.”

“That means they’ll send others,” I whispered.

“Yes. Which means you need to be ready.”

She stood again and reached for her cloak.

“Come.”

“Where?” I asked.

“To run,” she said simply.

We reached the edge of the forest, where the trees grew thick and the air smelled of old earth and pine.

Lysa faced me.

“Shift,” she said.

My body stiffened instantly. “Now?”

“Yes.”

“I..I don’t know if I can. Yesterday was too much. My wolf..”

“Your wolf needs this,” she said. “You need this.”

Helena surged inside me, eager.

‘She’s right,’ she whispered. ‘We must learn.’

I took a slow breath.

The shift still scared me. Not because of the pain but because shifting meant giving Helena control, even for a moment. And I wasn’t used to that. Wolves trained to shift smoothly from childhood. I never had that privilege.

“Aria,” Lysa said softly, “you won’t break. I’m here.”

That meant more than she knew.

I closed my eyes. I let the warmth in my chest spread. My bones hummed and my skin tingled.

Helena rose, weaving through me like light.

‘I’m ready,’ she said.

I let go.

The shift came fast, too fast. My body collapsed forward. My hands stretched into paws. My senses sharpened, as the ground rushed up to meet me.

I blinked, and the world was brighter. Sharper. Alive.

Lysa knelt beside me, meeting my wolf eyes with calm confidence.

“Good,” she said. “Now we run.”

Running as Helena was like flying low to the ground.

The earth pulsed beneath each step. The wind ran alongside me coolly, and my paws sank into soft dirt.

I wasn’t thinking about fear.

Not about the pack.

Not about Kadia.

Not about Greg’s rejection.

I was only thinking about movement. Breath. Speed.

Lysa shifted beside me, her wolf larger and older, with a coat like dark bark. She kept pace with me, guiding my direction with soft growls or nudges.

We ran up a hill.

Down a slope.

Through a stream.

Each stretch of land taught me something new.

My legs were clumsy at first. Too fast. Too slow. Too startled by every twig crack or shifting wind.

But as the minutes passed, Helena steadied. She grew confident. Her tail lifted. Her ears sharpened.

She was so alive.

After a while, I skidded to a stop, panting.

Lysa shifted back into her human form and I followed her, the shift easier this time, like slipping from one shape into another.

My knees wobbled once I stood as I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth.

Lysa pointed at the valley below.

“There,” she said, “is why you must run.”

I looked.

In the distance, smoke rose from the trees, thin trails that were too controlled to be natural. A campfire. Several of them.

“They’re close,” Lysa said. “And getting closer.”

My stomach dropped. “How long have they been here?”

“A few days,” she said. “Watching. Listening.”

“And they found me.”

“Yes.”

I stared at the smoke, the trees, the shadows moving between them.

The people down there wanted me dead because they believed my existence was dangerous.

I didn’t know why.

But I wanted to learn.

Lysa turned to me. “Aria, you can hide, but not forever. You must learn to move like a wolf who knows her worth.”

“I don’t know my worth,” I said honestly.

She smiled gently. “Then we will discover it.”

I lowered my gaze.

“What if I fail?” I whispered.

She lifted my chin. Her eyes were warm but unyielding. “Then you get up again. Wolves are not defined by one fall.”

I let her words sink in.

Then I nodded. “Teach me.”

Lysa’s smile widened. “Good. Because your next lesson begins now.”

She stepped back, lifted her chin, and let out a deep growl.

I tensed. “What..?”

Then she lunged.

Not to hurt me.

To make me move.

I dodged clumsily, nearly tripping, my heart pounding in my throat.

“Faster!” she snapped.

I moved again, adrenaline spiking.

“Think! Not with fear. With instinct.”

Helena rose inside me, urging my feet. Urging my muscles.

‘Left, now jump..duck..run’

I obeyed.

Not perfectly or gracefully.

But for the first time, I wasn’t reacting to danger.

I was responding.

I was learning.

When Lysa finally stopped, breathing hard but smiling, she nodded with approval.

“You’ll survive,” she said. “More than survive. You’ll fight back.”

My chest tightened.

Fight back.

Two words I never imagined for myself.

But as I stood there, panting, sweat dripping, muscles trembling from effort…

I felt the truth of them.

I wasn’t the girl who fell on the floor during a rejection.

I wasn’t the Omega who hid in shadows.

I wasn’t the weak link they cast aside.

I was something else now, even though I was still sharpening.

Helena pressed against the walls of my mind and said, with calm certainty

‘We are learning.’

I let out a slow, steady breath.

“Yes,” I whispered. “We are.”