Chapter Thirty Six - First Wave ( Aria's POV )

The forest didn’t trust the quiet.

Neither did Kael.

He held me like I was both an anchor and a live wire, something that could steady him, or burn us both down. The wolves stood in a loose perimeter around us, ears pricked, every muscle taut. Even with the sun bleeding pale gold through the branches, no one lowered their guard.

The air still smelled faintly of scorched magic. Of things that weren’t supposed to exist outside the old stories.

Lyra pushed herself to her feet first. She was trembling, but there was a set to her jaw that said she’d walk through fire if she had to. Her runes had faded back to faint silver scars along her forearms, like quiet echoes.

“We need to move,” she said. “That was just the first wave.”

Kael’s grip on me tightened. “First?”

Lyra’s gaze slid toward the empty treeline, her mouth pressed in a thin line. “Old magic doesn’t come alone.”

The wolves exchanged wary glances. No one spoke. They didn’t have to. We all felt it, the forest breathing wrong, too shallow, too cold.

Kael crouched in front of me, one hand cupping my cheek, thumb brushing just beneath my eye. His touch was rough, grounding. “Can you walk?”

I nodded. It wasn’t a lie exactly, just… optimistic.

He searched my face for a second longer, like he could read every thought I didn’t say out loud. Then he stood, offering his hand.

I took it.

The pack moved.

We followed the river deeper into the forest, away from the Circle, away from the battlefield we’d left behind. The path was narrow and damp, roots clutching at the ground like fingers trying to drag us down. Birds had started singing again, soft and hesitant, like they didn’t quite believe the night was over.

Every so often, I felt Kael’s fingers brush mine. Not enough to distract me. Just enough to remind me he was there.

Jarek led the front line, his wolf form flickering just beneath his skin, gold in his eyes. Two others flanked us, Rhea and Luka, silent, sharp, their steps barely making a sound. Lyra walked close, muttering under her breath in the old tongue. Her magic crackled faintly, like static before a storm.

“We can’t keep running,” I said finally, breaking the quiet.

Kael didn’t answer right away. His jaw was locked, his eyes scanning the trees like every shadow might sprout teeth.

“We’re not running,” he said at last. “We’re getting you somewhere safe.”

“Safe doesn’t exist anymore,” I shot back, softer than I meant. “Not after this.”

His hand closed around mine fully this time. “Then I’ll build it.”

A shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with fear. He said it like a promise.

Lyra’s voice cut through the air. “We should head toward the Hollow. The wards there might hold if we get to them in time.”

Kael didn’t look away from the forest. “Might?”

She huffed. “Do you want the honest answer or the comforting one?”

His mouth twitched. “Honest.”

“Then no,” she said. “But it’s better than standing here waiting to get eaten by something older than all of us.”

We picked up the pace.

By the time we reached the first bend in the river, my legs ached like they’d been forged from lead. The rush of water over the stones masked our footsteps, but I could still feel it. The thing behind us. Not close enough to see. Close enough to know.

Kael’s head snapped up.

Jarek growled low. “We’re being followed.”

“No,” Lyra corrected grimly. “We’re being hunted.”

The trees rustled then, not like wind. Like something moving through them. Something fast.

“Rhea,” Kael barked.

She shifted before the sound of her name finished echoing. One heartbeat she was human, the next a sleek gray wolf, teeth bared, fur bristling. Luka followed a breath later, their howls cutting through the stillness like a blade.

“Keep moving,” Kael ordered, his voice gone hard, Alpha clear in every syllable.

Lyra shoved a charm into my palm, carved bone warm against my skin. “If they get too close, crush it. It’ll buy us seconds.”

“Seconds?” I asked.

She met my gaze evenly. “Sometimes that’s the difference between living and not.”

Kael’s hand was on the hilt of his blade again, even though we both knew steel wouldn’t hold the shadows. But it wasn’t really about the weapon. It was about him standing between me and whatever came next.

The first shadow broke through the treeline.

It wasn’t a shape. It was absence. Like someone had torn a hole in the world and let the dark seep out. The edges rippled like smoke, but its hunger was solid.

Kael shifted forward instinctively, putting himself between me and it. The wolves closed in around us, forming a crescent.

“Lyra,” he said.

“I’m already working on it,” she snapped, runes flaring bright.

The shadow lunged.

Jarek met it midair. His claws sliced through the dark, but it slid around him like mist. Rhea snapped her jaws, Luka struck from the side, but nothing landed like it should. Their snarls filled the air, primal and desperate.

“Kael!”

He swung his blade, the steel catching the weak sunlight as it sliced through the creature’s center. For a moment, it tore apart like smoke through wind. Then it reformed.

“Damn it,” he hissed.

I felt it then. The same pulse I’d felt at the Circle. Not Ronan. Not rot. The spark that had burned through me like wildfire. It hadn’t vanished. It was still there, coiled low in my chest like a sleeping storm.

And the shadows wanted it.

Lyra’s voice cut through the chaos. “Aria!”

I met her eyes. She didn’t need to say the rest.

The pack was buying me time. But I wasn’t meant to run this time.

I took a step forward.

Kael saw it and whipped toward me. “Don’t.”

“I can end it,” I said.

His hand caught my arm, firm. “Not at the cost of you.”

“This isn’t just about me anymore.”

His jaw clenched. For a heartbeat, I thought he’d drag me back. But something flickered in his eyes then, not defeat. Trust.

He let go.

I closed my eyes and reached inward.

The spark flared to life, hot and golden. Not soft. Not kind. It wasn’t the sort of magic you shaped with gentle hands. It was born of blood and bone and fury. It burned through me, into the ground, into the air.

The shadows shuddered. They felt it too.

I opened my eyes.

The world sharpened around the edges. Lyra’s runes blazed brighter, feeding the current between us. The wolves’ howls built into something primal, something that belonged to the wild itself.

“Come on,” I whispered.

The shadows lunged.

I didn’t step back.

Power surged through me like a wave breaking against rock. The world went white-gold again. It wasn’t just light this time, it was alive. It wrapped around the wolves, the trees, the earth beneath our feet. It wrapped around Kael.

The shadow screamed as it hit the barrier, a sound like glass shattering underwater.

“More incoming!” Lyra shouted.

I raised my hands, the charm burning hot in my palm. “Then let them come.”

The second wave broke through the treeline, dozens of them, all shifting smoke and sharp edges. Kael was already moving, his blade flashing, Rhea and Luka lunging at anything that breached the barrier.

I pushed harder.

The light cracked the ground beneath me, raw and wild. It didn’t feel like Ronan’s power. It felt like mine. And for the first time, the shadows faltered.

Lyra’s magic wove around mine, a tether pulling everything into one pulse. The pack surged forward behind Kael, their war cries cutting through the chaos.

We didn’t retreat.

We met the dark head-on.

It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t clean. But it was ours.

When the last shadow burned away into mist, the forest collapsed into silence again. This time, it didn’t feel wrong. It felt… emptied.

The wolves were bloodied but standing. Lyra sank to her knees, shaking, sweat slick on her brow. Kael stumbled toward me, his blade hanging loosely at his side, chest heaving.

I swayed. He caught me before I could fall.

His forehead pressed against mine, his breath hot and uneven. “I told you not to do that again.”

“I didn’t listen,” I whispered, and a broken laugh escaped me.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I know.”

Behind us, Jarek’s voice carried through the clearing. “Alpha.”

Kael turned, eyes narrowing.

Through the thinning mist, something glimmered faintly near the treeline. Not a shadow this time. A mark. Burned into the earth where the darkness had first appeared. A perfect circle, etched deep into the ground.

Lyra’s face drained of color. “That’s not over.”

Kael’s grip on me tightened. “Then we make sure it ends on our terms.”

The pack stood a little straighter. Not because they weren’t tired, they were, but because the line had been drawn.

The shadows had chosen their battlefield.

So had we.

And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t just feel like someone being hunted.

I felt like the storm they should’ve feared.