Chapter 2

~Aria~

My legs didn’t wait for my brain’s permission they just ran.

The forest was quieter than it should have been. Every step I took felt heavier, like the earth wanted to pull me under.

My wolf wasn’t speaking anymore. She lay curled in the corner of my mind, silent except for the occasional low growl whenever Darius’s face flashed in my thoughts.

The rejection had left its mark an ache in my chest, a hollow in my gut but worse than the pain was the humiliation. Everyone had seen it.

I pushed through the undergrowth, heading toward the small trail that led out of Blood Moon territory. I didn’t take anything with me. Not that I owned much worth taking.

The cold air slapped against my face, but it was nothing compared to the fire tearing through my chest.

That was the thing they never told you about rejection you didn’t just hear it. You felt it. A tearing, burning ache that crawled into your bones and refused to leave.

I clutched at my shirt like it could hold the pieces of me together. It couldn’t.

Keep running, Aria. Don’t stop.

If you stop, you will break.

I didn’t care where I was going. I just needed to be anywhere that wasn’t here anywhere his voice couldn’t echo in my head, over and over:

“ I, Darius Wolfe, Alpha of Blood Moon Pack, reject you, Aria Vale—”

A whisper cut through the pounding in my ears.

“Did you see her face?”

“The Alpha didn’t even hesitate.”

Laughter followed. I didn’t turn around.

By the time I reached the tree line, my lungs were burning. I slowed just enough to look back at the lights of the packhouse, glowing like the warm hearth of a home I’d never have again.

Not that it mattered.

Home hadn’t felt like home for a long time. Not since… her.

My father wouldn’t come looking for me. He was probably away on another council trip, and even if he wasn’t, the words I’d hear would be the same as always: “Aria, say you’re sorry to your sister and your mother. Settle things.”

Sister. Right. As if June had ever been that.

I shook the thought off and kept walking.

My plan was simple get out, keep moving, and never look back. The only thing worse than staying was letting them see me crawl.

Even if I walked back through those doors now, my father wouldn’t look at me the way he used to. Not when she was standing there, hand on his arm, smiling sweetly like she hadn’t been the one to push me out.

A broken sound slipped from my throat. I clenched my teeth, forcing my legs to move again. The trees swallowed me whole, their shadows stretching long and sharp.

And then

I stopped.

A scent. Unfamiliar. Strong. It wrapped around me like smoke and frost. Not from Blood Moon. Not from anywhere I knew.

It was wild. Dangerous.

And somehow… safe.

____

“You’re a long way from home, little wolf,” a deep voice murmured from the dark.

My breath caught. That voice… it was smooth, but carried an edge sharp enough to cut through the night.

Leaves crunched somewhere to my left.

I froze.

“Who’s there?” My voice came out lower than I intended, almost a growl.

No reply. Only the sound of slow, deliberate steps drawing closer.

My pulse pounded in my ears. Whoever it was they weren’t from my pack. I could feel it.

Then… two golden eyes blinked from between the shadows.

The sight pinned me in place. Those eyes weren’t just watching they were assessing, reading me like a secret I didn’t know I was spilling.

His eyes were molten gold.

Not sunlight gold this was sharper, fiercer. The kind that belonged to a predator.

“Lost?” His voice was smooth, ” he said, stepping into the thin sliver of moonlight.

Broad shoulders, An unfamiliar crest stitched onto his dark jacket. Not one of ours, but there was a weight behind it, like he was testing me.

I took a step back, my heart pounding hard enough to drown out my thoughts. “I— I was just leaving.”

He tilted his head slightly, watching me the way a wolf watches prey. “Then you’d better run faster.”

“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said,

My wolf stirred uneasily. Stranger.

“Neither should you,” I shot back, though my voice wavered.

A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. “Fair enough… but at least I know what hunts these woods tonight.”

My fingers curled into fists. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

His gaze flicked past me into the trees — alert, scanning. “It means if you value your life, you’ll stop wasting time talking to me… and run.”

I didn’t wait to find out what he meant. My wolf surged forward inside me, urging me to move. I ran. My boots pounded against the earth, branches whipped at my face, and cold air burned my lungs.

My chest tightened. Part of me wanted to demand answers, but the other part the one that was pure survival screamed to move.

So I ran.