Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Aria's POV

I stared into the darkness, every instinct on edge.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Just stood there part-shadow, part-moonlight watching me like I was some kind of puzzle.

“Who are you?” I managed, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, forcing my voice not to shake.

No response.

The wind shifted. His scent drifted towards me, earth, smoke… and something else I couldn’t name. But it didn’t scream human the way it should have. My wolf stirred faintly at the edge of my skin, confused.

“I said, who are you?”

Finally, he stepped forward.

The boy wasn’t much older than me. Tall, lean. He wore a gray hoodie and dark jeans, his hands shoved into his pockets like he didn’t just stumble upon a werewolf collapse in the middle of the woods.

His eyes were dark, maybe blue or green, it was hard to tell while it was locked onto mine. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Too late,” I said, standing quickly and brushing dirt off my dress.

He tilted his head, assessing me . “Are you okay?” he asked.

No.

I’d just failed my first shift in front of my entire pack. I was the disappointing daughter of a ruthless Alpha. And now I was being watched by a random human during the most vulnerable moment of my life.

But I nodded anyway. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t believe me. I could feel it.

The weird thing was I could feel it. Like the flicker of concern coming off him wasn’t just imagined. It moved through me like heat rising from the ground. My empathy senses were never this sharp, especially not with humans.

“You’re not from Thorne Hollow,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

“I moved here a few weeks ago,” he said simply. “Name’s Kai.”

Kai.

The name lodged somewhere in my chest.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” I muttered. “It’s… not safe.”

“I could say the same to you,” he replied, giving me a pointed look.

I frowned. “You don’t understand. There are things in these woods”

“Wolves?” he interrupted me.

The word hit too cleanly.

I almost choked on my breath as the words came out of his mouth. “Why would you say that?”

He shrugged,well it's a small town and with a huge forest words go round I guess.

But his voice was too calm. Too deliberate,like he wasn’t just guessing.

I took a step back, every inch of my body buzzing.

He noticed.

“Relax,” he said, raising both hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

But that’s exactly what someone who was going to hurt me would say.

I pressed my back to a tree, trying to channel whatever strength I had left. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go back to town and forget you saw me.”

He looked at me for a long beat. Not scared. Not curious, exactly just... focused,eyes fixated on me.

Then his eyes dropped to the faint blue glow still lingering along my collarbone.

The remnants of the failed shift.

“Are you... hurt?” he asked.

I clutched the spot instinctively. “No, I'm good”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll go.”

He turned, slowly, like he half-expected me to stop him. I didn’t.

But just before he disappeared into the trees, he said over his shoulder, “I didn’t see anything. And I won’t tell anyone.”

Then he was gone.

I didn’t breathe for a full minute.

By the time I made it back to the ridge, the ceremony had long ended. Bonfires smoldered low, and most of the pack had dispersed into whispers and sideways glances.

I kept my head down as I climbed the stairs back into the den, my legs still trembling.

Selene was waiting for me.

She stood by the hearth, already back in her skin, a long coat draped over her shoulders, her eyes like slits of silver flame.

“Where the hell have you been?” she questioned.

“I needed air.”

“That’s not the air you smell like.” Her nostrils flared, and I watched her expression change curious to sharp. “Who was he?”

My throat tightened. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t lie to me, Aria. I smell human all over you.”

Damn.

“I…I don’t know,” I stammered. “Just some guy. He didn’t see anything.”

Selene stepped forward. “He was in the woods? Tonight? Are you insane?”

“He didn’t know what was happening. I don’t think he even saw the ceremony”

“That’s not the point!” she snapped. “The point is, he was too close. And you... You talked to him?”

“He was just concerned.”

Selene narrowed her eyes like that made it worse.

“I’ll handle it,” she muttered, turning away.

“What does that mean?” I asked, panic rising in my voice.

“It means I’m going to find out who he is and make sure he doesn’t remember anything.”

“No.” My voice cracked, but I stood firm. “Selene, don’t.”

She paused.

And for a split second, I saw it in her,the confusion, the protectiveness,the fear.

“Aria,” she said quietly. “You can’t afford to trust anyone right now. Especially not strangers.”

But that’s the thing,Kai didn’t feel like a stranger.

And the deeper truth?

I wasn’t sure I trusted myself anymore either.