Chapter Five: Blood and Betrayal

“No.” The word ripped from my throat. “No, no, no.”

Kade’s sister pushed past me into the cabin. She knelt beside the blood. Touched it. Brought her fingers to her nose.

“It is not his,” she said.

“What?”

“This blood. It is not Kade’s.” Her amber eyes met mine. “He fought back. Hard.”

Relief flooded through me. Then terror. If Kade fought back, if he hurt Thomas’s wolves, my father would know. Would smell the violence. Would come looking.

“How many took him?” I asked.

“Three. Maybe four.” She stood. Studied the cabin. “They came through the window. Kade was weak from his injuries. He could not shift fast enough.”

“You said Thomas wants him for something worse than death. What did you mean?”

She was silent for a long moment. Then she pulled out a photograph. Old. Worn. It showed a young man with silver eyes standing beside a beautiful woman with dark hair.

“This was our father,” she said. “Alpha of the Blackwood pack. And this was our mother. She was not a wolf.”

“What was she?”

“Something older. Something that should not exist.” She put the photograph away. “Our bloodline is cursed. Every firstborn son inherits it. The ability to become something more than a wolf. Something that cannot be controlled.”

My stomach dropped. “The creature that killed his pack.”

“Kade did not kill our pack. The curse did. It took him over during the full moon. Made him into a monster. By the time he regained control, everyone was dead.” Her voice cracked. “I only survived because I was visiting another pack. When I came home, all I found was blood and bodies and Kade standing in the centre of it all, covered in their remains.”

“Why does Thomas want him?”

“Because Thomas knows what Kade is. Knows the curse can be transferred. Controlled. If Thomas binds Kade to him, forces him to submit, he can use that power. Become unstoppable.”

Horror crawled through me. “The ceremony tomorrow. That is not just about alliance.”

“No. Thomas will mate you. Bind himself to Steele territory. And then he will force Kade to watch while he uses the curse to slaughter your pack. To take everything. And Kade will be powerless to stop it.”

“Unless I give myself up.”

“That is what he wants. You. Broken. Begging. It will destroy Kade faster than any torture.”

“Then what do I do?”

She smiled. Sharp. Dangerous. “We take the fight to him. But first, you need to become something your father never let you be.”

“What?”

“Strong.”

She took me to an abandoned warehouse on the edge of Steele territory. Inside, the space was empty except for training mats and weapons hung on the walls.

“Strip,” she said.

“What?”

“Your dress. Take it off. You cannot fight in that.”

I hesitated. The dress covered my wounds. The evidence of my father’s training. The proof of my weakness.

“Aria. We do not have time for modesty.”

I pulled off the dress.

She did not flinch at the scars. Did not look away from the fresh whip marks or the bruises that covered my ribs. She just studied me like I was a puzzle to solve.

“Your father is a fool,” she said. “He broke your body but not your spirit. That makes you dangerous.”

“I am not dangerous. I am weak.”

“You survived him. That takes more strength than you know.” She tossed me training clothes. “Put these on. We have seven hours until midnight. Seven hours to teach you how to fight back.”

“I cannot learn to fight in seven hours.”

“You are right. You cannot.” She pulled out a small vial. Dark liquid swirled inside. “But this will help.”

“What is it?”

“Blood from my pack. From the wolves who died. It will not make you stronger physically. But it will unlock something inside you. Something your father’s abuse buried.”

“My wolf.”

“Yes. Your father forced her down. Made her submit. Made her weak because that is what he needed to control you.” She held out the vial. “This will let her out. Let her remember what she was meant to be.”

I took it. The glass was cold against my palm.

“If I drink this, if I let my wolf out, I will not be able to control her.”

“Good. You do not need control. You need rage.”

I uncorked the vial. The scent hit me. Earth and blood and something wild. Something that called to the broken parts of me.

I drank.

Fire exploded through my veins. My wolf surged forward. Not submissive. Not weak. She was fury and teeth and claws that had been caged for too long.

I screamed.

My bones cracked. Reformed. The shift came fast and brutal and perfect. Fur rippled across my skin. My senses sharpened. And when I looked at Kade’s sister through wolf eyes, I saw her clearly for the first time.

She was terrified of me.

“Good,” she said. “Now let us see what you can do.”

She shifted.

Her wolf was massive. Black as midnight with amber eyes that glowed. An alpha wolf. Stronger than me. Faster than me.

But I did not care.

I attacked.

We fought for hours. She taught me how to use my smaller size. How to dodge. How to strike fast and disappear. How to fight like prey that refused to die.

By the time we stopped, I was bleeding. Exhausted. But I was alive. And I was angry.

“You will do,” she said. “But you cannot face Thomas alone. You need backup.”

“I have no one.”

“You have me. And you have one other person.” She shifted back to human. “Your cousin. Lila.”

“Lila will never help me.”

“She will if she knows the truth. Thomas plans to destroy the Steele pack. That your father is walking into a trap.”

“She will tell my father everything.”

“Let her. By the time she does, we will already be at the mill. Already fighting.” She checked her phone. “We have three hours. Enough time to plan. To prepare. To make Thomas regret ever touching my brother.”

My phone buzzed.

Another message. From Lila this time.

“I know where you are. And I know what you are planning. Meet me at the training grounds in ten minutes. Alone. Or I tell Uncle Marcus everything right now.”

I showed the message to Kade’s sister.

“It is a trap,” she said.

“Maybe. Or maybe she wants to help.”

“You do not believe that.”

I did not. But I had to try. Because if Lila told my father now, if he came looking for me, Kade would die. Thomas would win. And everything would be lost.

“Stay here,” I said. “If I am not back in thirty minutes, go to the mill without me.”

“Aria, this is suicide.”

“Everything I do is suicide. At least this time it is my choice.”

I left before she could argue.

The training grounds were empty. Dark. Silent.

But I smelled Lila. Smelled her fear and her rage and something else.

Blood.

“Lila?” I called out.

She stepped from the shadows. But she was not alone.

Beta Richards stood beside her. And behind them, six elite guards.

“I am sorry,” Lila said. She was crying. “I am so sorry, Aria. But he said he would kill my mother if I did not bring you here.”

“Who?”

Thomas Crane stepped forward. He held a silver chain. And at the end of that chain, bloodied and beaten, was Kade.

“Hello, my dear,” Thomas said. “I believe you and I have some unfinished business.”

Kade’s silver eyes met mine. They were filled with rage. With pain. With one desperate message.

Run.

But I was done running.

I shifted.

And I attacked.