The Moment Everything Changed

The growl outside wasn’t human.

It wasn’t even close.

It vibrated through the wooden walls, rattling the windows, rumbling deep in my bones like a warning meant only for me.

My breath hitched. “Justin”

But he was already shifting.

Not into wolf form—

but into the Alpha.

The air around him changed, thickened, sharpened. His shoulders squared, his jaw set, his eyes burned with molten gold. Power rolled off him in waves, invisible but suffocating, washing over me so strongly my knees trembled.

“Stay behind me,” he repeated, voice no longer human-soft but Alpha-commanding.

“I Justin, I’m scared,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

His head turned sharply, eyes locking onto mine.

For a moment, everything outside disappeared the growls, the danger, the world.

It was just him. And me.

His expression softened in a way I’d never seen on any Alpha before—like my fear punched straight through his armor.

“You don’t have to be scared,” he said, voice dropping to a low, intimate promise. “Not while I’m here.”

Something warm unfurled in my chest, powerful and confusing.

Why did his voice feel like safety?

Why did his presence feel like gravity?

Before I could process it, another snarl erupted outside—closer, violent.

Justin’s eyes flickered with rage.

Aunt Mila  sobbed behind me. “They followed her scent oh God Aria, I’m so sorry”

Justin tensed. “I told you. Someone lied to her. And now she’s paying the price.”

My aunt covered her mouth, tears streaming.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded.

But Justin  didn’t let her speak.

His hand wrapped around my wrist, warm, strong, steady. Not forceful guiding.

“For now, we survive,” he murmured. “Truth comes later.”

“But”

A crash shook the front door so violently I screamed.

Justin  pulled me against him instinctively, shielding me with his body. My palms flattened against his chest, feeling the thunder of his heartbeat fast, fierce, burning for battle.

His breath brushed my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

“I will not lose you,” he whispered again.

Those words… they weren’t casual.

They weren’t protective.

They were obsessed, raw, burning with something ancient and unbreakable.

“Why do you care so much?” I choked out.

His grip tightened, but gently. “Because you’re mine.”

My heart stuttered painfully.

“I’m not”

“You are,” he growled softly. “Even if you don’t feel it yet. Even if you don’t want it. Fate chose you. I’m just following what I feel.”

He leaned his forehead against mine for half a heartbeat just long enough to make my breath catch, just short enough that I wanted more.

Then

The front door snapped off its hinges.

A huge, dark-furred wolf lunged inside, snarling, eyes red with hunger.

Aunt Mila screamed.

Justin stepped forward, pushing me behind him with one arm while the other hand curled into a fist, claws threatening to break through skin.

“Come any closer,” he growled at the rogue, voice shaking the house, “and I’ll rip out your throat.”

The rogue snarled, snapping its jaws.

Justin growled back, deeper, more powerful

the sound of an Alpha warning a lesser creature to pick its death.

He didn’t look back at me, but reached his hand behind him blindly until his fingers touched mine.

“Aria,” he murmured, voice steady despite the danger, “trust me.”

Something inside me clicked.

Not because I understood him.

Not because I believed him.

But because in that moment, his presence wrapped around me like a shield, like warmth in winter, like instinct.

And I realized—

I did trust him.

Even if I didn’t want to.

The rogue pounced.

Justin moved faster than my eyes could follow.

He collided with the wolf mid-air, slamming it to the floor. Wood splintered. Growls erupted. Fur flew. Claws scraped violently.

“Justin!” I shouted, reaching forward

But another rogue crashed through the window, glass exploding inward.

My scream ripped from my throat.

The second wolf stalked toward me, teeth bared, eyes locked on me like I was prey.

Fear swallowed my lungs.

Then

Justin roared.

Not human.

Not wolf.

Something else.

Something older.

Something that made the rogues freeze in fear.

He threw the first rogue aside like it weighed nothing and placed himself between me and the second one, chest heaving, eyes blazing gold-white.

“If you want her,” he snarled, “you’ll die for it.”

The rogue hesitated.

Justin didn’t.

He charged.

The impact shook the ground. Blood splattered. Snarls filled the air. It was brutal, terrifying yet I couldn’t look away. Not because of the violence.

But because of the way he fought.

Not like an Alpha defending his territory.

He fought like a male protecting what his soul refused to lose.

Every strike said it.

Every growl burned with it.

He wasn’t just fighting for dominance.

He was fighting for me.

A terrifying thought pierced me:

What if he wasn’t obsessed?

What if this was something deeper?

Something fated?

Justin threw the second rogue down, teeth bared, and pinned it with one hand, crushing its throat until it stopped moving.

Silence fell.

My chest heaved. My legs shook. My body was frozen in place.

Justin stood, blood dripping from his knuckles, chest rising and falling with vicious breaths. His eyes still burning gold found mine instantly.

He stepped toward me.

Slow. Controlled.

But his voice broke.

“Aria… I could’ve lost you.”

I didn’t know what to say.

He lifted a trembling hand and cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing away a tear I didn’t know was falling.

“I can’t” he stopped, voice cracking with something he didn’t want to admit, “I can’t handle the thought of harm touching you. It does something to me. Something I don’t understand.”

I swallowed hard, breath shaking.

“Justin,” I whispered, “why does it feel like… like something inside me is reacting to you?”

His eyes softened in a way that made my knees weaken.

“Because it is.”

Before I could ask anything else

before I could breathe

Another howl echoed in the distance.

Not rogues.

Something worse.

Justin’s  hand dropped, and his expression turned deadly.

“They brought a leader,” he said. “A rogue Alpha.”

My blood ran cold.

Justin stepped in front of me again, tense, ready for war.

“This changes everything,” he said. “They’re not just hunting you.”

He turned his head, voice barely above a breath.

“They’re coming to claim you.”