로그인The night didn’t feel like night.It felt like a trap.Aria woke with a gasp, her body snapping upright before her mind could catch up. The darkness in her room pressed too close, too thick—like something had crawled into it and settled there, waiting.Her heart slammed against her ribs.Wrong.Everything felt wrong.The air tasted… off.Metallic.Cold.Her fingers tightened against the sheets as she listened.Silence.But not the peaceful kind.The kind that hid things.Her gaze flicked toward the door.Closed.Still.Then—A faint sound.A shift of weight.Not outside.Inside.Her breath hitched.“Who’s there?” she whispered, her voice barely steady.No answer.But something moved.A shadow peeled itself away from the darkness near the far wall—too smooth, too deliberate to be natural.Aria’s pulse spiked.She swung her legs off the bed, her bare feet touching the cold floor as she rose slowly, her senses sharpening.“Show yourself.”A low chuckle slipped through the air.“You’ve go
The truth didn’t arrive gently. It settled like ash after a fire—quiet, suffocating, impossible to ignore. Aria hadn’t slept. Not after the battle. Not after the word that had shattered something inside her. Prophecy. It echoed in her mind over and over again, threading through every thought, every breath, every heartbeat. Even now, standing at the edge of the stronghold balcony as dawn bled slowly into the sky, she couldn’t shake it. The world looked… unchanged. Soft gold light spilling across the distant hills. Wind weaving through the trees. Life continuing as if nothing had shifted. But everything had. Because now she knew— There was something she didn’t understand about herself. About her future. About the child growing inside her. Her hand moved instinctively, resting against her stomach. It was still early, still something she couldn’t see—but she could feel it in ways that had nothing to do with the physical. A quiet awareness. A presence. And now— A weight.
The first howl didn’t sound like a warning.It sounded like a promise.Aria felt it before she fully heard it—the vibration slicing through the air, slipping under her skin, settling deep in her bones. It wasn’t just a call.It was a challenge.Her breath caught as she forced herself upright, her body still trembling from the aftermath of the power surge. The stone beneath her palms was cracked, splintered from the force she had barely managed to contain.Barely.Her chest rose and fell unevenly.“I know that sound…” she whispered, though she wished she didn’t.The Alpha King was already standing, his posture rigid, every muscle coiled with deadly readiness. His gaze was fixed toward the distant walls of the stronghold, as if he could see straight through stone.“They’re here,” he said.Not fear.Not uncertainty.Certainty.Another howl cut through the night—closer this time.And then another.And another.Aria’s stomach twisted.“How many?” she asked.He didn’t answer immediately.Wh
The scream didn’t echo.It choked.Cut short like a breath stolen too soon.Aria’s eyes snapped open, her body already moving before her mind caught up. The air in her room felt wrong—too thick, too still, like something had crept in and was waiting for her to notice.Her heart slammed against her ribs.Something was inside the stronghold.Not outside.Inside.She was on her feet in seconds, the cold floor biting into her bare skin as she pushed the door open. The hallway beyond was dim, lit only by flickering torches that cast long, shifting shadows across the stone walls.Too quiet.Her pulse quickened.“Hello?” she called, her voice low but steady.No answer.But the silence wasn’t empty.It was listening.A faint metallic scent hit her nose.Blood.Her stomach twisted as she stepped forward, her senses sharpening with every step. The further she moved down the corridor, the stronger it became.Then she saw it.A body.One of the guards.Slumped against the wall, his throat torn op
The blade stopped a breath from her throat.Aria didn’t flinch.The cold edge hovered just beneath her chin, close enough that she could feel its promise—sharp, absolute, merciless. A single wrong move, and it would split skin like silk.“Again,” the Alpha King said.His voice wasn’t raised. It didn’t need to be.It carried weight—authority pressed into every syllable.Aria’s chest rose slowly as she stared at him, her pulse steady despite the danger.“You’re trying to kill me,” she said.His expression didn’t change.“I’m trying to keep you alive.”The blade pressed just slightly closer.Instinct surged.Her body moved before her thoughts could catch up—her hand snapping up, not to grab the weapon, but to redirect it. At the same time, something inside her shifted, a quiet pull beneath her ribs.Focus.She didn’t push the blade away.She bent it.Not physically.Something deeper.The air between them warped, just enough to throw off his angle. The blade skimmed past her throat instea
The air between them didn’t cool after the battle.It thickened.A spark of love that neither them could explainAria felt it the moment they stepped back into the territory—an invisible tension clinging to her skin, following her like a shadow that refused to loosen its grip. Even the wind seemed different here, heavier, as if it carried unspoken words between them.Or warnings.She walked ahead of him, her boots crunching softly against the gravel path, her mind still tangled in everything that had happened—the attack, the power she had finally begun to control… and the look on that enemy leader’s face.That certainty.That plan.“You’re too quiet.”His voice came from behind her, low and controlled, but there was something beneath it. Something sharper than concern.Possession.Aria didn’t turn.“I’m thinking.”“About what?”She stopped walking.Slowly, she turned to face him.The Alpha King stood a few steps away, his broad frame still streaked with the aftermath of battle—blood,
The moment she woke, Aria knew nothing would ever be the same. The forest was alive with whispers, wind rustling the leaves like it carried a warning meant only for her. She sat up, heart racing, sensing the energy still thrumming in her veins from last night’s awakening. Her hands tingled as if th
Pain. It hit her first, sharp and raw, crawling through her chest like ice and fire all at once. Aria gasped, clutching her stomach, the remnants of exhaustion and yesterday’s adrenaline leaving her weak—but not defeated. She had survived the Alpha King’s tests, survived the forest, survived her ow
The first scream didn’t come from outside.It came from inside her.Aria’s body jolted upright before her mind could catch up, a sharp gasp tearing from her throat as her hands clawed at her chest. Something burned beneath her skin—deep, relentless, like fire threading through her veins.Not pain.
The night was thick with mist, the kind that clung to skin and soaked into bones. Aria moved cautiously through the dense forest, every leaf and branch magnified by the tension coiling inside her chest. Her powers hummed faintly, responding to her heartbeat, warning her of every shadow, every movem







