LOGINAria’s POVDamon always walked as if he owned the ground under his feet...shoulders broad, back straight, eyes sharp and unreadable.Even after all this time, the strength in his presence pulled at me in a way I was still learning to accept. As we traveled from one pack territory to another, his hand would occasionally brush against mine, a small touch that steadied me even when I pretended it didn’t.“Are you ready?” he asked as we reached the large border gate of the Crescent Hill Pack.His voice was deep and smooth, yet somehow gentle when it was directed at me.“I think so,” I said, though inside my stomach was twisting. “These Alphas don’t exactly want me here.”Damon glanced down at me, his dark eyes softening the way they always did. “Then they’ll have to deal with me.”That was Damon...cold to the world, but warm where it mattered. To me.The guards opened the gate, bowing stiffly. I caught the way their eyes moved over me, judging, calculating. I wasn’t surprised.Damon plac
Damon’s POVThe first thing I heard was silence.Not the kind that follows death, but the kind that hums right before life breathes again.I opened my eyes to the dim light of the sacred chamber. The air smelled faintly of smoke and moonlight...if such a thing had a scent.My heart pounded hard against my ribs as I turned toward the center of the room.She was there.Aria.Her body lay still on the cold stone floor, her hair spread like dark silk around her face, her lips pale but parted slightly as though she were whispering to the Moon herself.For one terrible second, I thought she was gone. My chest tightened. My knees nearly buckled.Then her fingers twitched.“Aria…” I breathed, rushing to her side.Her eyelids fluttered open, and the moment her gaze met mine, the world shifted. Her eyes weren’t the same...they glowed a faint silver, soft but fierce, like moonlight reflecting on still water. The sight rooted me to the ground.“Damon,” she whispered, her voice weak but steady.I
Aria’s POVThe world around me was quiet...too quiet. The silence felt like a heavy fog pressing against my skin, smothering me until I could barely breathe. My body was weightless, floating somewhere between life and death, light and shadow.Then I heard it...a whisper. Low, cruel, and too familiar.“Still trying to fight me, Aria?”My heart clenched. That voice… it wasn’t Damon’s. It was his. Zac.I opened my eyes, and the world burst into flames. I wasn’t in the sacred chamber anymore. I was standing in the middle of a vast, burning forest, the trees twisting and cracking under the weight of fire. The sky above was blood-red, the moon veiled by smoke. The air smelled like ash and betrayal.My legs trembled as I looked around. “Where… where am I?”“You’re in your own mind,” the voice said again, closer now...mocking, smooth, poisonous. “And it’s beautiful, isn’t it? All this ruin, all this pain… It’s what you’ve always been made of.”I turned and saw him. Zac RedMoon. His dark hair,
Damon’s POVThe council chamber still smelled of blood and smoke when I carried Aria in my arms. Her body was trembling, her eyes half-open and unfocused, the faintest whimper escaping her lips. Every step I took echoed against the stone floor, every sound too loud in the silence that followed her outburst.The elders stared, their faces twisted in fear and judgment, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was the sight of her turning on me...her eyes burning crimson, her hands shaking, her voice lost beneath whatever darkness had taken hold of her.Aria wasn’t herself. That wasn’t her wolf. That wasn’t the woman I had sworn to protect.I pushed open the heavy doors of the sacred chamber...the only place built to contain an Alpha’s rage and a Luna’s breaking.The walls were etched with silver markings and moonstone veins, glowing faintly in the dim light. I laid her down gently on the soft furs spread over the floor, brushing a strand of hair from her face.She flinched even in un
Aria’s POVThe moment I drifted to sleep, the world changed. It was no longer quiet or calm. Shadows whispered at the edges of my vision, feeling familiar yet foreign. I saw him...Zac...or his essence, slipping through my mind like smoke into fire. Though not physically present, I felt his presence in my bones, blood, and heartbeat.It started subtly: a shiver when I turned, movement in my vision, a whisper like my voice. As night deepened, it intensified. I saw through his eyes, felt his arrogance, pride, and twisted sense of ownership over me.“No,” I whispered into the darkness, clutching the blanket against my chest. “No, you don’t… not here, not in me.”But it was too late. My dreams weren’t mine; they belonged to him ... to the part of him that clung to my soul like a parasite, feeding on fear, guilt, and memories I’d tried to lock away. I could feel him invading my mind...not physically, but in every intimate corner.I woke gasping, sheets twisted, feeling the warmth on my han
Damon’s POVAs I entered the Moon Priestess’s chamber, the air was thick with incense and an ancient presence.Candles flickered along the walls, their flames bending as if stirred by an unseen force. I felt the weight of what was happening and what had been unleashed.“Damon Winchester,” the Moon Priestess said softly, looking up from her herbal cleansing bowl. Her dark eyes held wisdom and fear. “You carry a storm’s weight.”I stepped closer, my boots clanging softly against the stone floor. I couldn’t let her see the tension in my chest. Not now. Not when Aria...my Aria...was in the middle of this.My mate.My everything.“It’s not the storm I worry about,” I said, my voice steady, though my fists clenched at my sides.“It’s what’s hiding in it. Tell me exactly what you know about Zac RedMoon.”The Moon Priestess didn’t flinch at the name. She simply folded her hands and let her gaze settle on me. “He is not alive, Alpha Damon. Not in the way you think. His body is gone, yes, but h







