Chapter 6: Witness to Power

Marcus stared at me, his face pale in the darkness. His hand gripped the doorframe so hard his knuckles were white.

“What are you?” he whispered.

I slowly stood, and even that simple movement felt different. Powerful. My wolf was fully awake now, coiled and ready inside me.

“You saw nothing,” I said quietly.

“I saw everything!” Marcus backed away from the door. “There was something in here with you. Something with glowing eyes. And you. You look different. Your eyes, they just—”

“Glowed silver?” I finished for him. “Yes. They do that now.”

Marcus stumbled backwards into the hallway. His fear rolled off him in waves, thick and intoxicating. My wolf wanted to chase him. To hunt.

I took a step toward him.

“Stay back!” He pulled a knife from his belt with shaking hands. “I am warning you, Omega!”

“I am not an omega,” I said, my voice coming out lower. Dangerous. “I never was.”

“You are insane. The hunger has driven you mad.” But his eyes told a different story. He believed what he had seen. He was terrified.

“You have two choices, Marcus,” I said, taking another step. “You can run to Damien right now and tell him what you saw. Tell him his rejected mate is not what she seems. That something is wrong with her.”

“That is exactly what I will do,” Marcus said, but his feet did not move.

“Or,” I continued, “you can walk away. Forget what you saw tonight. Pretend this never happened. Because if you tell Damien, if you make me a threat he has to deal with immediately, I will have no choice but to act now. And Marcus? I am not ready to act. Which means I will be very unhappy if you force my hand.”

“Are you threatening me?” He tried to sound brave, but his voice cracked.

“I am promising you.” I let a hint of my wolf show in my eyes. Just a flash of silver. “If you tell, I will make sure you are the first to die. Slowly. Painfully. In ways that will make you beg for the mercy of a simple rejection.”

Marcus pressed himself against the wall. The knife clattered from his hand to the floor.

“But if you stay silent,” I said, my voice softening to something almost kind, “if you give me the time I need, then when the reckoning comes, you might survive it. You might even profit from it. Smart wolves know when to switch sides, Marcus. Are you a smart wolf?”

His throat worked as he swallowed hard. I could see the thoughts racing behind his eyes. Self-preservation warring with loyalty to his Alpha.

Finally, he spoke. “What are you planning?”

“That is not your concern. All you need to know is that Damien and Elena have made powerful enemies. And those enemies are going to destroy them. The only question is whether you go down with them, or whether you are wise enough to step aside.”

“You are just one weak omega,” Marcus said, but there was no conviction in his words anymore.

“Am I?” I tilted my head. “Look at me, Marcus. Really look. Do I seem weak to you right now?”

He looked. And I let him see just a fraction of what I had become. I let my wolf rise close enough to the surface that my eyes glowed bright silver. Let the power radiating from me fill the small space.

Marcus made a small, frightened sound.

“I thought not,” I said, pulling my wolf back down. “So. What will it be? Do you run to your Alpha and sign your own death warrant? Or do you walk away and live to see another day?”

The silence stretched between us. I could hear his heart hammering. Could smell his fear sweat. Could see the exact moment he made his decision.

“I saw nothing,” he whispered. “I was never here.”

“Good choice.”

Marcus bent down slowly and picked up his fallen knife. His hands were still shaking. “But answer me one thing. Are you going to kill them? The Alpha and Elena?”

“Why do you care? You hate me. You have tormented me for years.”

“I did,” Marcus admitted. “But I followed orders. I was loyal to my Alpha.” He paused. “But tonight, watching him reject you like that, watching her smile while he destroyed you, something felt wrong. You may be weak, or you may be whatever you are now, but you did not deserve that. No wolf deserves that.”

I studied him carefully. Was this a trick? Or was Marcus actually developing something like a conscience?

“I have not decided yet what I will do to them,” I said finally. “But yes, they will suffer. They will lose everything they value. And they will know, at the end, that it was me who brought them down.”

Marcus nodded slowly. “Then I will stay silent. Not because I support you. But because I think maybe they have this coming.” He turned to leave, then paused. “One more thing. There are others in the pack who feel the same way I do. Who are tired of how Damien rules. Those who are disgusted by what happened tonight. If you are building something, if you are planning something, you might not be as alone as you think.”

Before I could respond, he was gone, his footsteps fading quickly down the hallway.

I stood in the darkness, my mind racing. That had not been part of the plan. Marcus knowing about my transformation was a complication.

But maybe it was also an opportunity.

I returned to my thin blanket and sat down, processing everything. The shadow figure had said I needed allies. Maybe Marcus could be the first. Maybe there were others like him, wolves who resented Damien’s cruelty, who would support a change in leadership.

The seed of a real plan began to form in my mind.

I would leave tomorrow night, as the figure had instructed. I would go somewhere to grow stronger, to build resources, to create a new identity. But I would not disappear completely. I would leave threads behind. Connections. People like Marcus who could feed me information, who could subtly undermine Damien from within.

By the time I returned, the pack would already be fracturing. And I would be strong enough to shatter what remained.

I lay back down and closed my eyes, but sleep would not come. I was too energised, too full of purpose.

Hours passed. I heard the packhouse wake around me. Footsteps overhead. Voices. The sounds of breakfast being prepared.

No one came to my cell. I was forgotten already, just as Damien wanted.

Perfect.

Around midday, Sarah appeared with more food. She unlocked the door carefully and slipped inside.

“How are you?” she asked, setting down bread and water.

“Planning,” I said honestly.

Sarah sat beside me on the floor. “Marcus was acting strange this morning. Jumpy. Scared. Did something happen?”

“He saw something last night that frightened him,” I said carefully. “But I think he will keep it to himself.”

“Aria.” Sarah took my hand. “What is happening to you? You feel different. Stronger. Your eyes, they almost seem to—”

“Glow?” I finished. “Yes. I am changing, Sarah. Becoming what I was always meant to be before they broke me.”

“They did not break you,” Sarah said firmly. “They tried. They tried so hard. But you are still here. Still fighting.”

“Not just fighting. Winning. Eventually.” I squeezed her hand. “Sarah, I am going to leave soon. Disappear for a while. But I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“Watch them. Elena and Damien. Learn their secrets. Their weaknesses. Their fears. And when I return, tell me everything. Can you do that?”

Sarah nodded. “I can try. But Aria, where will you go? How will you survive out there alone?”

“I will not be alone. And I will not just survive. I will thrive.” I smiled. “Trust me.”

Sarah wanted to ask more questions. I could see them in her eyes. But footsteps approached, and she quickly stood.

“I will do as you ask,” she whispered. “Be safe, Aria. Come back strong.”

She left, locking the door behind her.

I spent the rest of the day stretching, exercising, and preparing my body for what was coming. My wolf was restless, eager to run, to hunt, to finally be free.

Tonight. Tonight we would run.

As the sun set and darkness fell, I stood at the small barred window of my cell and watched the sky turn from blue to purple to black. The full moon rose, huge and bright, calling to something primal inside me.

My wolf howled silently, and I felt power surge through my body.

The transformation was complete.

I was no longer Aria the weak omega. I was something new. Something dangerous. Something that would make them all pay.

I grabbed the bars of my window and pulled. They should have been too strong for any wolf to bend, let alone a supposed omega.

They snapped like twigs in my hands.

I stared at the broken metal in shock. I had known I was stronger, but this? This was beyond anything I had imagined.

I climbed through the window into the night, landing silently in the shadows behind the packhouse. The cool air hit my face, and I breathed deeply, tasting freedom for the first time in five years.

My wolf pushed forward, demanding to be let out. To shift. To run.

Not yet, I told them. Not here where they might see.

I moved through the darkness like a ghost, heading toward the forest that bordered pack territory. I would run far and fast. By the time they discovered I was gone, I would be untraceable.

I reached the tree line and was about to step into the forest when a voice stopped me cold.

“Leaving so soon, sister?”

I spun around.

Elena stood behind me, flanked by two large warriors. She smiled, and it was the cruellest thing I had ever seen.

“Did you really think we would just let you walk away?” she asked. “Damien may be bound by pack law, but I am not. And I know exactly how to make you disappear without breaking any rules.”

The warriors moved to either side of me, cutting off escape routes.

“You are going to have an accident tonight, Aria,” Elena continued. “A tragic accident where you tried to escape and were killed by rogues in the forest. So sad. So unfortunate. But these things happen to weak omegas who wander where they should not.”

She nodded to the warriors, and they lunged at me.

But they were expecting the old Aria. The weak, frightened omega who would not fight back.

They were not expecting what I had become.

My wolf exploded to the surface, and for the first time in my life, I shifted completely.