CHAPTER FOUR: THE NIGHT THEY BANISHED ME

They did not wait until morning to decide my fate. By the time Kael brought me back, the entire pack had already gathered again. This time, not to celebrate but to judge.

The elders stood at the front, their expressions hard, their decision already made before I even arrived. She is unstable, one of them said. She is dangerous, another added.

I stood in the center again, but this time I did not feel small. I felt something else. “I did nothing wrong,” I said, my voice steady despite the tension in the air.

You exist as a risk, the elder replied. Kael remained silent beside them. That hurt more than the words. “You are banished,” the leader said.

The word echoed through the clearing in a way that made everything else fade, and for a brief moment, it felt like the ground beneath me had disappeared. I stood there, surrounded by people I had grown up with, people who had watched me train, speak, and try to belong, and yet none of them stepped forward to question the decision.

Not one voice rose in my defense. That silence cut deeper than the sentence itself.

My gaze moved slowly across the crowd, searching for even a trace of hesitation, but all I saw was distance, as if I had already been removed from their world before the words were spoken.

This was not just exile. It was erasure. My chest tightened, but I forced myself to breathe through it, refusing to let the weight of their judgment break me in front of them.

If they wanted to cast me out, then I would walk away on my own terms. But something inside me stirred again, stronger this time, reacting not to the pain, but to the rejection itself, as if it refused to accept what they had decided. And that refusal began to grow.

The word echoed. “Banished.” Just like that There was no trail, no defense, no second chance. But I did not beg and I didn't cry, because the voice inside me spoke again.

“They are afraid of you.” I lifted my head slowly. Then they should be, I said. The words settled into the air, and for a moment, no one responded, but the silence did not feel calm, it felt strained, as if something unseen had just shifted in a way none of them could ignore.

I stood there, holding their gaze, and for the first time, I did not feel like the weakest person in the circle. I felt different and stronger in a way I could not explain.

The fear in their eyes did not fade, and it did not soften into understanding; instead, it grew sharper, more focused, as if they were trying to decide how dangerous I had become in a matter of seconds.

Kael did not move, but I could feel his attention on me, steady and unbroken, as though he was trying to read something beneath the surface.

Aria, he said, I did not answer him. Because the voice inside me spoke again, clearer than before. “Do not step back.” My fingers curled slowly at my sides as I listened. For once, I did not question it.

The elders noticed. Kael noticed. Everyone noticed. But before anyone could react, power surged out of me for the first time.

The ground trembled harder beneath me, and I knew this was only the beginning of something I could not stop.

And in that moment, the fear in their eyes changed. They were no longer judging me. They were afraid of what I might become.