Running away

Aria slammed the phone down, heart hammering. Shadows exploded from her hands, cracking the concrete walls. She forced them back under control, breathing through the rage.

Five years. Five years of hiding, training, bleeding, and building something safe. And now that bastard wanted them back? She will never allow that to happen.

She moved to the weapons wall and began loading up,silver daggers, spelled bullets, a garrote made from Crimsonfang alpha hair. The twins would need to be ready. She would teach them more tonight. Harder drills. No more gentle stories.

“Mommy?”

Lila stood in the doorway in her black pajamas, rubbing her eyes. Luka was right behind her, shadows already curling around his feet.

“Bad men coming?” Luka asked.

Aria knelt and pulled them both into her arms, inhaling their scent,wild pine, shadow, and that unmistakable trace of Kael that made her want to both protect and destroy.

“Yes,” she whispered. “But we’re stronger. Remember what I taught you?”

“Never bow,” they said together.

“Never break,” Aria finished.

She stood, lifting Lila onto her hip while Luka walked beside her. They moved to the training floor again. Midnight drills under harsh lights. She pushed them harder than ever,Luka learning to wrap shadows around his sister for armor, Lila practicing alpha commands that made the air tremble.

Hours later, sweat soaked and exhausted, the twins finally collapsed on the mats. Aria carried them back to bed, her arms aching, her mind racing.

The bond scar on her neck burned for the first time in years. A phantom heat. A pull.

Kael.

She could almost feel him on the other end,restless, furious, hungry. Did he know how many nights she’d woken drenched and aching, hating herself for still wanting the man who had publicly humiliated her?

A loud crash shattered the silence.

The front warehouse door exploded inward. Three massive wolves in hybrid form burst through, silver collars gleaming. Hunters.

“Shadowthorn sends a message!” one roared. “The Alpha wants his heirs!”

Aria shoved the twins behind her, blades already drawn. “Over my dead body.”

Luka’s shadows flared. Lila growled, tiny body vibrating with power.

The lead hunter lunged. Aria met him mid air, driving both blades into his chest. Hot blood sprayed across her face. She twisted, using his momentum to slam him into the second attacker. Luka’s shadows wrapped the third wolf’s legs, yanking him down. Lila pounced, ripping out his throat with a snarl that was far too mature for her age.

The fight was brutal and short. Aria stood over the bodies, chest heaving, the twins pressed against her legs. Blood dripped from her blades.

But more howls echoed in the distance. At least six more signatures on the edge of her territory.

They were coming, she knew it, she knew she had to act fast before it's too late.

Aria looked down at her children,eyes glowing, covered in enemy blood, fierce and unafraid. Pride and terror warred inside her chest.

“Time to run again,” she said, voice steady even as her heart fractured. “But this time… Mommy’s not running away. We’re running toward them.”

She grabbed the emergency go bags and the twins’ hands.

As they slipped out the back exit into the rainy Seattle night, a single, thunderous howl cut through the city,the sound of an Alpha who had finally scented what belonged to him.

Kael was coming.

And the rejected mate he had thrown away was no longer weak.

She was ready to make him bleed for every second of the last five years.