CHAPTER SIX — “WHEN BLOOD AWAKENS”

Aria woke with a scream clawing out of her throat.

Her body arched violently, fingers digging into silk sheets as fire tore through her veins. It was not pain alone. It was memory. Power. Something ancient rising from deep inside her blood.

Luca was at her side instantly.

“Aria,” he said sharply, one hand gripping her shoulder, the other bracing her wrist as her pulse thundered beneath his fingers. “Look at me.”

Her eyes flew open.

They were not brown anymore.

Silver flooded her irises, bright and glowing, reflecting the dim light of the room. Luca’s breath stalled in his chest as his wolf surged forward, recognizing what his mind had tried to deny.

Hybrid.

Not human. Not fully wolf. Something rarer.

Aria gasped, chest heaving as images crashed through her mind. A woman running through firelit forests. Blood on her hands. A lullaby whispered in another language. Golden eyes watching her from the shadows as a child.

“No,” Aria whispered, clutching her head. “Stop. Please stop.”

Luca pulled her against him without hesitation, her back pressed to his chest. His arms locked around her, grounding, unyielding.

“You’re safe,” he said lowly, his voice vibrating through her bones. “Nothing touches you while I breathe.”

Her skin burned where they touched. The mark at her collarbone pulsed hot, alive, reacting to him. Aria sobbed once, the sound breaking something deep inside him.

“I see her,” she whispered. “She’s not dead.”

Luca stiffened. “Who.”

“My mother.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Luca’s jaw tightened as understanding settled heavily over him. The woman from the docks. The one who had smiled as if she owned the future.

The one who smelled like Aria.

“She’s alive,” Aria continued shakily. “She never left. She hid me. She sealed something inside me.”

Her body convulsed again, a shockwave rippling outward. The windows rattled violently. Somewhere in the mansion, alarms flared.

Luca snarled, his wolf pushing close to the surface. Guards rushed toward the door but froze at his single raised hand.

“Out,” he commanded. “No one enters.”

They obeyed instantly.

Aria’s breathing slowed, but the power inside her did not fade. It coiled, restless, like a beast awakening after centuries of sleep.

Luca cupped her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Listen to me. Whatever you are, whoever your mother is, it changes nothing.”

His thumb brushed her cheek with startling tenderness. “You are mine. And no one takes what belongs to me.”

Her heart skipped painfully.

“You can’t protect me from this,” she said softly. “It’s bigger than you.”

His lips curved into a dangerous smile. “There is nothing bigger than an Alpha who has found his mate.”

Before she could respond, the lights flickered.

A cold laugh echoed through Aria’s mind.

You feel it now, the voice whispered. My blood sings in you.

Aria screamed again as her power surged outward, a violent wave that shattered the mirror across the room. Luca shielded her instinctively, his wolf roaring in answer.

Miles away, a woman dressed in black silk paused mid step.

She smiled.

“She’s awake,” Aria’s mother murmured. “And so is the war.”