Chapter Twenty Nine - Blood and Oaths ( Aria's POV )

The wind carried screams through the trees.

Not human, not wolf, something worse. The kind of sound that made the earth remember old wars and old gods.

Kael’s voice cut through the chaos behind me. “Aria, keep moving!”

Branches tore at my arms as I ran. The mist was alive now, churning like a storm made of whispers and claws. Every shadow lunged from the corner of my sight, then vanished. I didn’t know if they were real or tricks of my fear.

The forest’s pulse beat in time with mine. Every root, every drop of rain, every shiver in the wind seemed tied to the pounding in my chest. I could still feel the power, the same silver heat that had burst from me before, but now it was fragmented, wild, cutting through my veins like lightning with no place to land.

I stumbled into a clearing, half-blind from panic. The air was thick with mist and blood. The scent hit me like a blow, wolf blood, heavy and iron, rich.

Kael burst through the trees seconds later, his blade glowing faintly where it caught the light. His shirt was torn across one shoulder, crimson spreading down his arm. Behind him came Jaxon and two others, their eyes bright with fury, their breaths heavy with exhaustion.

“Status,” Kael snapped.

“Three down,” Jaxon said grimly. “Two still missing. The rest are regrouping on the ridge.”

Kael’s gaze flicked to me, checking for injuries, then back to the treeline. “The Shades are herding us. They want her separated.”

I clenched my fists. “Then they’ll have to go through you.”

He didn’t answer that, just gave me a look that was equal parts pride and warning. “You shouldn’t have stayed behind,” he muttered, scanning the forest. “Every time you use that power, it pulls them closer.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But if I don’t use it, they’ll kill us all.”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Then we find another way.”

The air shifted again, cold, wrong, heavy. The mist in front of us began to twist, shaping itself into something vaguely human. A voice echoed from it, familiar and cruel.

“Running again, Kael?”

Ronan.

Kael’s body went rigid, his golden eyes narrowing. The mist coalesced into his enemy’s form, silver hair slicked back, pale skin gleaming faintly in the dim light. He wasn’t really there, it was a projection, a mockery made from shadow and malice. But his smirk was unmistakable.

“You can’t hide her forever,” Ronan said, his voice soft and venomous. “Every pack in the north has felt the power awaken. It calls to the blood. Soon, even your allies will come for her.”

Kael took a step forward, every inch of him radiating lethal calm. “Come for her, and they’ll die before they touch her.”

Ronan laughed quietly, the sound slicing through the fog. “You always were the loyal one. Tell me, Alpha, what happens when your loyalty kills her?”

Kael moved before I could stop him. His sword swung through the mist, but it passed through harmlessly. Ronan’s image shimmered and faded, his voice lingering even after he was gone.

“The prophecy will claim its price, whether you want it or not.”

Silence pressed down again. I felt Kael’s anger boiling just beneath the surface, raw and untamed.

“Kael,” I said softly, touching his arm. “He’s trying to break you.”

His muscles tensed beneath my hand, but he didn’t pull away. “He doesn’t have to. I’m already breaking.”

I wanted to say something, anything to stop the crack in his voice, but Jaxon’s call cut through the clearing.

“Alpha! You need to see this!”

We followed him up the ridge, the fog thinning enough for moonlight to reach the valley below. What we saw there froze my blood.

A mark, burned into the ground itself. A circle of blackened earth at least twenty feet wide, symbols carved deep into the soil, still smoking.

Ronan’s trap.

Kael crouched near the edge, his fingers brushing one of the symbols. It glowed faintly at his touch, then hissed, retreating as if burned. “Blood magic,” he muttered. “Older than the packs. He’s using it to track you.”

“Can we destroy it?” I asked.

Kael shook his head. “Not without knowing who cast it. If it’s linked to him, breaking it might lead him straight to us.”

“Then what do we do?”

He stood, staring down at the mark with the look of a man calculating impossible odds. “We erase our trail. We disappear before the moon rises again.”

Jaxon frowned. “Alpha, the pack’s exhausted. We’ve lost too many already...”

“I know what we’ve lost!” Kael roared. The echo carried through the trees, sharp and cold. The Beta flinched but didn’t argue again.

Kael turned away, running a bloodied hand through his hair. I’d seen him angry before, but not like this. This was fear wearing the mask of fury.

When he finally looked at me again, his eyes were darker, quieter. “You need to trust me, Aria,” he said. “Whatever happens next, no matter what I say or do, you don’t use that power again. Not until I tell you.”

I hesitated. “Kael, if I don’t...”

“Promise me.”

The words came out low, almost pleading. I realized then that he wasn’t giving me an order as an Alpha. He was asking as a man who’d already lost too much.

I nodded slowly. “I promise.”

He exhaled, the tension in his shoulders easing just a little. “Good. Then we move before dawn.”

The pack broke into smaller groups, sweeping the perimeter while Kael and I set up a temporary camp by the stream. The rain had stopped, but the air was still thick with mist. The moon was just a sliver, weak and pale behind the clouds.

I sat by the fire Kael built, watching the flames dance in silence. He was across from me, sharpening his blade, every motion precise and controlled.

“You haven’t slept in two nights,” I said.

He smirked faintly. “Neither have you.”

“I don’t have an army to lead.”

“You have something more dangerous,” he said quietly, looking up. “Hope.”

The way he said it made my chest ache. I wanted to reach across the fire, to touch his hand, to tell him that I wasn’t afraid, not of Ronan, not of the prophecy, but I couldn’t lie to him like that.

Instead, I said, “What if the prophecy isn’t a curse? What if it’s meant to change things?”

Kael’s knife stilled against the whetstone. “Change comes with blood, Aria. Always.”

Before I could answer, a rustle from the trees snapped both our heads up. Kael was on his feet instantly, blade drawn. I followed his gaze, something moved in the dark, just beyond the reach of the firelight.

“Stay behind me,” he murmured.

A figure stepped out of the mist. Small. Hooded. Hands raised.

“Don’t shoot!” a voice said, female, young, trembling. “Please, I’m not with him.”

Kael didn’t lower his weapon. “Name.”

“Lyra,” she said quickly. “I was with the East Ridge pack before Ronan’s men, before they burned it. Please, I can help you. I know what he’s doing.”

Kael’s expression didn’t change, but I saw the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. “How did you find us?”

“I followed the mark,” she said. “But not like him. I can see the patterns, the way the blood magic threads through the land. It’s how he tracks the Luna.”

My pulse quickened. “You can see it?”

She nodded. “It’s not just power. It’s a signal. Every time you use your gift, it lights up across the ley lines like fire through dry grass. He can follow it.”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Then we end it.”

Lyra shook her head. “You can’t. Not without breaking the link between you and the child.”

The fire popped, sending sparks into the air. The world seemed to tilt.

“What link?” I whispered.

Lyra hesitated, glancing nervously at Kael before she spoke. “The prophecy doesn’t bind to blood, it binds to sacrifice. The child’s power draws from you, from your life, force. Every time you use your magic, it feeds that bond. But if Ronan gets hold of it…”

She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.

Kael stepped closer, his voice low, dangerous. “You said you can see the patterns. Can you hide them?”

“Maybe,” she said. “If I can find the source. There’s an old temple in the north woods, built before the packs divided. The magic there is pure, it could mask her presence.”

Kael looked at me. “We leave at dawn.”

I nodded, though dread twisted in my gut.

Lyra lingered at the edge of the firelight, eyes darting between us. “There’s something else,” she whispered. “Ronan isn’t acting alone. Someone in your pack is feeding him information.”

Kael’s head snapped toward her. “Who?”

“I don’t know. But he called them by name tonight when I escaped. He said...” She hesitated, her eyes dropping to the ground. “He said the Alpha’s shadow never leaves his side.”

Jaxon.

The words hit like a blade. Kael’s expression didn’t change, but the firelight caught the muscle twitching in his jaw.

He turned toward the forest, his voice low and hollow. “Get some rest, both of you. We move at first light.”

I wanted to reach for him, to tell him it couldn’t be true, but when I looked into his eyes, I saw the truth he already knew.

The forest around us felt heavier than ever, as if even the trees knew what dawn would bring.

And far beyond the mist, in the direction of the rising moon, a single howl broke the silence, long, mournful, and laced with betrayal.