LOGINAria's POVThe quarry camp fell before sunrise.Marcus led the strike himself, forty wolves moving through the dark with a silence built from months of training none of us had wanted to need. I ran beside him as my white wolf, senses stretched wide, guiding every step toward the families Toby had described. Elena and Garrett flanked the perimeter. Bram brought Argent Circle wolves through the north tree line, cutting off any escape before the guards even knew they were surrounded.Eleven guards held the camp. Ordinary wolves, tired and afraid, not the loyal fanatics who once stood beside Creek by choice. When they saw how many of us there were, most simply dropped their weapons.Inside a row of small wooden huts, we found them. Families huddled together in the dark, thin and frightened, some children so young they had never known a life outside these walls. My chest ached looking at them, remembering my own years locked behind guarded doors.I shifted back to human form and knelt in f
Aria's POV"Lock every gate," Marcus ordered. "Nobody in or out until we know who else is inside these walls."Garrett moved fast, shouting orders down the corridor, wolves splitting off to seal doors, windows, every crack a wolf could squeeze through.I stayed where I was, Rowan's words still ringing in my head. The second target is already inside the walls. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my throat."Aria." Elena grabbed my shoulders, steadying me. "You are the only one who can search this whole compound fast enough. Can you do it?""Yes," I said, even though my legs felt shaky. "Give me a moment."I closed my eyes and pushed my senses out slowly, careful and wide, the way Sera had taught me to do when panic wanted to make everything blur together. Wolf by wolf, room by room, I began sorting through everyone inside Redwood's walls.Marcus. Elena. Garrett. Mira with Rowan in the healing wing. Bram near the front hall. Familiar faces, familiar scents, nothing out of place.
Aria's POVMira worked without stopping, her hands steady even though her face was not. Minutes passed like hours before she finally sat back on her heels and let out a long breath."He is alive," she said. "Barely. But alive."The whole room seemed to breathe with her."Will he wake up?" Marcus asked, crouching beside them."I do not know yet," Mira admitted. "The wound is deep. Whoever did this knew exactly where to cut to do the most damage without finishing the job quickly. That takes training."I looked at the guard slumped against the wall, awake now but pale from blood loss. "What happened? Tell me everything."He winced as another healer pressed a cloth to his shoulder. "A wolf came through the vent shaft. I never heard it. One second I was standing watch, the next there was a blade at my throat and Rowan was screaming.""Did you see a face?" I asked."No," he said. "It moved too fast. But I got a piece of it. Bit down hard before it got away."Garrett knelt and carefully open
Aria's POV"Gone." I said the word out loud just to make it feel real. "She is actually gone."Mira wrung her hands together. "I should have noticed sooner.""This is not on you," I said, even though my heart was pounding hard enough to hurt.Marcus was already moving, calling for Garrett through the open door. "Get every gate wolf here now. I want to know the last time anyone saw her and which direction she was facing."Elena grabbed a cloak off the hook and threw it at me. "You are the only one who can track a scent before it goes cold. Ready?""I have been ready since the day I decided to stop being afraid," I said, pulling it on.Garrett arrived breathless with three wolves behind him. "Nobody at the main gate saw her leave. But the old drainage gap on the southern wall was open.""Moonridge training," Elena muttered. "Only someone taught to find every weakness in a wall would know that gap exists."I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses until I found her scent, faint and
Aria's POVThe gate was only a few steps behind us, but it felt like the longest walk of my life.Marcus stayed close beside me, his hand brushing mine every few steps like he needed to check I was still there. Elena walked on my other side, quiet in the way she only got when she was thinking hard about something dangerous."You are sure it was someone from home," Elena said as we passed through the gate."I am sure of the feeling," I said. "Not the face."Bram walked just ahead, his shoulders stiff. "A scent that close to you would not fool your senses. Give it time. It will come back to you clearer."Inside the walls, the compound felt different than it had an hour ago. Wolves moved with quiet purpose, checking fences, checking each other, checking the dark tree line like the trees themselves might turn traitor next.In the main hall, Sera was already waiting, her violet eyes finding mine the moment I stepped through the door."You felt someone go to Creek," she said. It was not a q
Aria's POV"They are pulling back," Elena said from beside me, her wolf ears still sharp even in human form. "Look at them."I looked. Aldaine's front line still burned with that hungry look, the look of wolves who wanted this fight no matter what stood in front of them. But behind that line, something had broken. Dozens of wolves stood frozen, not moving forward, not moving back, just staring at nothing like they had woken up from a dream they did not choose to be in.I had done that. My voice, pushed through the ground, had found the ones who never wanted this war in the first place. Now they stood there, torn between an Alpha who commanded them and a truth that finally reached them."His coalition is not one thing anymore," Marcus said quietly. "It is two things standing in the same field."Bram stepped up beside us, his dark eyes sharp under the moon. "Aldaine cannot let anyone see that crack. Not his enemies. Not his own wolves."As if hearing him, Aldaine raised his hand. His vo
AriaThe second name on that page was one I knew.Not a stranger. Not someone from my mother's time that I had never met. Someone alive. Someone breathing. Someone who had been sitting in rooms with me recently and looking me in the eyes without flinching.I read it three more times because my bra
The paper felt heavy in my hand even though it weighed almost nothing.Elena and Mira were both staring at me. The candle between us had burned down low, throwing soft unsteady light across the table."Are you going to tell us what it says or are you going to stand there looking like you saw a ghos
The safe house exploded behind us and I did not look back.Marcus had my hand, pulling me through the forest so fast I could barely keep up. My bare feet hit rocks and roots but the adrenaline made everything feel distant and unreal."Keep moving," Marcus said.Wolves howled somewhere behind us. Cl
Aria's POV The howl died away and the compound went quiet again.Too quiet.Marcus stood completely still for a moment with his eyes closed. I had noticed he did that sometimes when he was processing information. Like he needed the stillness to think clearly.Then he opened his eyes and looked at







