Chapter Thirty-One - The Ghost Of My Past

Aria’s POV

I had almost convinced myself that peace was something Ironcrest could finally afford.

The packhouse had settled into its familiar rhythm. The warriors trained each morning, the elders continued their endless discussions about trade and pack affairs, and Kael had returned to the demanding responsibilities of an Alpha. Even Selena had kept her distance since our confrontation on the training ground.

I knew better than to believe she had suddenly accepted me, but I was willing to let her silence speak for itself.

For the first time since returning home, I was beginning to understand what it meant to belong here again.

I no longer woke every morning wondering whether Kael regretted marrying me. I no longer felt the need to defend my presence every time I entered a room. And although there were still moments when the past crept into my thoughts, I was learning that I didn’t have to let it dictate my future.

That morning, I sat beside Kael in his office, reviewing a report on the latest shipments from Silverpine.

He had insisted I participate in the discussions because the trade agreement affected Ironcrest’s resources and the welfare of our people. At first, I had assumed he was merely trying to make me feel included.

Now, I understood that he genuinely wanted me to have a voice.

“What do you think?” he asked, placing a finger on the report.

I leaned forward to examine the figures.

“The weapon is fine, but I don’t think we should agree to increase our iron supply. We need to be certain we have enough reserves for our own warriors.”

Kael nodded thoughtfully. “That was my concern, too.”

“Then why are you asking me?” I frowned.

His lips curved slightly. “Because you’re the Luna, Aria. And because I want to know whether you see something I’ve missed.”

I tried not to let his words affect me, but warmth spread through my chest.

There had been a time when I would have mistaken that kind of attention for an attempt to control me. Now, I was beginning to recognize the difference between being ordered to stand beside someone and being invited to do so.

I was about to respond when three sharp knocks sounded against the office door.

“Enter,” Kael called.

The door opened, and one of the guards stepped inside.

“Alpha. Luna.” His expression was unusually tense.

Kael straightened in his chair. “What is it?”

“There’s a man at the main gate requesting an audience with you.”

“Who?” Kael asked.

The guard hesitated. “He gave his name as Damon Vale.”

For a moment, the room seemed to lose all its air.

I stared at the guard, certain I had misheard him.

Damon?

The name I had spent months trying to erase from my thoughts.

The man I had trusted enough to abandon my home for. The man who had taken my love and repaid it with lies. The man who had hidden my father’s death from me, allowing me to continue living beneath the same roof as him while my family buried the person I had loved most in the world.

My fingers went cold.

Beside me, Kael rose slowly to his feet.

“Repeat that,” he said.

The guard swallowed. “Damon Vale is at the gate, Alpha. He says he needs to speak with Luna Aria.”

Kael’s expression hardened. “How did he get here?”

“He arrived alone. He claims he has come to speak with her personally.”

“Did he say why?” Kael glanced at me.

“No, Alpha.” The guard bowed.

I couldn’t read his expression, but I knew what he was thinking.

Damon had no business being in Ironcrest.

He had no reason to approach me after everything he had done and yet, he had come.

“Have him detained outside the gate,” Kael ordered. “No one allows him into the packhouse without my permission.”

“Yes, Alpha.” The guard bowed and turned to leave.

“Wait.” My voice surprised even me.

The guard stopped.

I forced myself to stand. “Bring him to the receiving hall.”

Kael turned toward me. “Aria.”

I met his eyes. “I heard what you said. I understand why you want to keep him outside, but I want to hear what he has to say.”

“You don’t owe him an audience.” He frowned.

“I know.” I forced a smile.

“Then why give him one?” Kael looked confused.

Because some part of me had been waiting for this moment, though I had never admitted it to myself.

I had spent too many nights wondering whether Damon understood what he had done even after I had left Crimson Snow without ever receiving an apology, an explanation, or even the courtesy of an honest goodbye.

And because I refused to let the mere sound of his name turn me into the frightened, uncertain woman I had once been.

“I won’t run from him,” I said quietly.

Kael studied me. I could see the reluctance in his eyes. He remembered what Damon had done to me, and I knew he would gladly send the man away without allowing him to come within a mile of the packhouse.

But Kael also knew what it meant to have a choice taken from you.

After a long silence, he nodded.

“Very well. But you will not meet him alone and if he threatens you in any way, the meeting ends.”

I lifted my chin. “Agreed.”

Kael turned back to the guard. “Bring him to the receiving hall. Search him for weapons before he enters, and make sure two guards remain outside the doors.”

“Yes, Alpha.” The guard hurried out.

For several seconds, neither Kael nor I spoke.

Then he came around the desk and stopped in front of me.

“You don’t have to prove anything to me by facing him,” he said. “Or to the pack.”

“I know that,” I nodded.

“Then tell me why you’re doing this.” He looked at me suspiciously.

I looked down at my hands. The answer was more complicated than I wanted it to be.

“I think I need to see him without the lies between us.” My face remained unreadable.

“I used to believe everything he told me. When he said he loved me, I believed him. When he told me we would build a life together, I believed that, too. I thought leaving Ironcrest was the beginning of something wonderful.”

My throat tightened, but I continued.

“Then I found out about the money. About the women. About the letter he hid from me. I realized that while I was defending him to everyone who cared about me, he was making a fool of me.”

“You weren’t a fool for loving him.” Kael said softly.

Kael’s voice was firm, without a trace of pity. “He was responsible for his choices, Aria. Not you.”

Something inside my chest loosened.

I had heard those words before, but hearing them from Kael still mattered.

“Perhaps,” I whispered. “But I need to face the man I was willing to sacrifice everything for and understand why I let myself become so blind.”

Kael reached for my hand, pausing just long enough to give me the chance to refuse.

I let him take it and his fingers closed gently around mine.

“Whatever happens in that room, you are not the woman who left Ironcrest,” he said. “You have nothing to prove to him.”

I squeezed his hand. “I know.”

And for the first time since hearing Damon’s name, I believed it.

**************

The receiving hall had never felt so large.

I stood beside Kael near the head of the room, my hands clasped in front of me. Two guards waited near the doors, while several members of the household remained at a respectful distance.

I had considered asking everyone to leave, but I wanted Damon to understand something before he spoke a single word.

He was no longer entering a private room where he could twist my feelings until I doubted myself.

He was entering the home of the Alpha and Luna of Ironcrest, and I was not alone.

Footsteps sounded beyond the doors.

My heart began to pound. I hated that my body could still react to the thought of seeing him. I hated that the past could reach for me so easily, even after I had worked so hard to move beyond it.

Kael’s hand brushed mine. It was a quiet reminder that he was there.

I drew a slow breath as the doors opened and Damon stepped inside.

For a moment, I barely recognized him.

He looked thinner than I remembered, his once carefully maintained appearance dulled by travel. His hair was untidy, and his clothes carried the dust of a long journey. There were shadows beneath his eyes, and his expression held a weariness I had never seen when we were together.

But it was still him. The same face I had once searched for in a crowded room.

The same eyes I had once believed could never deceive me and the same man who had watched me make excuses for his behavior while quietly taking advantage of my trust.

He stopped several feet away.

His gaze moved over Kael first. I watched his expression change when he recognized the man standing beside me.

Then his eyes found mine. For several seconds, he said nothing.

I wondered what he saw. The girl who had once followed him away from home, convinced that love was worth every sacrifice?

The woman who had discovered his lies and walked away without looking back? Or the Luna standing beside the Alpha of Ironcrest, wearing the title I had once abandoned without understanding what it meant?

“Aria,” he finally said.

My name sounded strange in his mouth.

Once, hearing him say it had been enough to make me smile. Now, it made me remember the letter I had found hidden among his belongings.

My father’s death letter. The one Damon had kept from me while I continued believing my family had simply stopped trying to reach me.

I tightened my fingers together. “Damon.”

He took a step forward but one of the guards immediately shifted into his path.

“That’s far enough,” Kael said.

Damon stopped. His gaze flickered toward Kael, and something bitter crossed his face.

“I came here to speak with Aria.”

“And she has agreed to hear you,” Kael replied. “That doesn’t give you permission to approach her whenever you please.”

Damon’s jaw tightened. For a moment, I thought he might argue.

Then he looked at me again.

“You look different.” He teased.

I almost laughed. He spoke as though the greatest change in my life could be summarized by the clothes I wore or the way I carried myself.

“I am different.” I smiled.

His eyes dropped briefly to the Luna’s insignia at my shoulder.

“So it’s true,” he murmured. “You’re married to him.”

I glanced at Kael, then returned my attention to Damon.

“Yes.”

Damon looked as though he had expected the answer and yet hadn’t prepared himself to hear it.

“To Kael?” He gasped.

“That is generally what it means when someone says they’re married.” I eyes him from head to toe.

His expression tightened. I saw the familiar flicker of irritation, the one that used to appear whenever I said something he didn’t like.

It was almost comforting to recognize it.

For so long, I had wondered whether I had imagined the little things that bothered me during our relationship. The dismissive looks. The impatient sighs. The way he could make me feel childish for asking questions he didn’t want to answer.

But there it was. The same expression and the same man. Only now, I could see it without immediately blaming myself.

Damon looked away first. “I didn’t expect you to be so hostile.”

“And I didn’t expect you to come here.” I cleaned my sweaty hands on my dress.

“I had to see you.” He mumbled.

“Why?” I flinched.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. For the first time since entering the room, he appeared uncertain.

I waited as he glanced at Kael, clearly uncomfortable with the Alpha’s presence.

“Can we speak privately?”

“No,” I replied.

His eyes snapped back to mine. “Aria please.”

“You asked to see me. I agreed. You can say whatever you came to say here.” I said with finality.

His jaw flexed. “I don’t want our conversation to become a spectacle.”

“Then you should have thought about that before coming to my home.” My brows furrowed.

Silence settled over the hall. I had never spoken to him like that before.

Not when we were together, or when he dismissed my concerns or made me feel guilty for questioning him, or even when I discovered what he had done with my money.

Back then, I had always left room for him to explain himself. I had wanted so desperately to believe there was some misunderstanding that I had given him opportunities he had never deserved.

Now, I didn’t intend to make the same mistake.

Damon stared at me, searching my face for something familiar.

Perhaps he expected anger he could provoke, tears he could dismiss, or affection he could use to his advantage.

Whatever he was looking for, he didn’t find it.

Finally, he took a slow breath. “I know you have every reason to hate me and I know things ended badly between us.”

The word was so inadequate that I almost admired his ability to make it sound harmless.

He had hidden my father’s death from me, he had taken my money, he had lied to me about the life we were supposedly building together, and he called it ending badly.

I felt Kael’s hand brush mine again, but I didn’t look at him.

Damon continued. “I didn’t come here to fight with you, Aria. I came because there are things I need to explain.”

“Then explain them.” I glared at him.

He hesitated. For a moment, he looked almost as though he regretted coming.

Then his gaze settled on me, and I saw a flash of the confidence I remembered so well.

“I want you to hear my side of the story.”

I stared at him. For years, I had listened to his side of every story.

I had listened when he explained why he needed my money. I had listened when he told me why he wasn’t ready to make our relationship official. I had listened when he insisted that I should be patient, that we had a future together, that everything would make sense eventually.

I had listened until I could no longer distinguish his excuses from my own hopes and still, he had found a way to deceive me.

But I was no longer that woman.

“All right, Damon,” I said, my voice steady. “I’m listening.”

He drew a breath and for the first time since he had walked into Ironcrest, he seemed to understand that whatever he said next would not be enough to turn back time.

I was willing to hear him and that was all.

He had not earned my forgiveness and he certainly had not earned another chance.