The wind carried the scent of blood.
It was faint but Aria picked it up the moment she stepped beyond the outer border of the forest. Kael guarded her on the right, Toben on the left, their wolves moving with silent urgency through the brush. Behind them, the other wolves fanned out, their movements tight, focused. Trained.
This wasn't a patrol.
This was a hunt.
Aria's breath fogged in the cold morning air as she paused, crouching low to inspect a shattered branch. A smear of crimson blood clung to the bark of the branch, still fresh.
She tapped twice against the ground—signal.
Kael stilled beside her. His eyes met hers in his wolf form, intelligent and burning. With a subtle twitch of his ear, he shifted back, his body rising fluidly from fur to flesh.
"Here?" he asked, his voice low.
She nodded.
Toben joined them, eyes scanning the trees. "We're close. Can't be more than two or three scouts. Maybe a vanguard."
"Or a bait," Kael murmured.
Aria's stomach twisted. That was always Ronan's tactic—draw them out, make them overreach and then attack. Her hands clenched into fists as her mind spiraled back to nights in his territory, always running, always afraid. That life was gone now but the memories had left scars beneath her skin.
Not anymore.
She wouldn't flinch.
She wouldn't run
Not when her people needed her.
She would stay and fight.
Kael looked to her. "What do you think?"
She pointed toward a narrow ridge less traveled, overgrown. A blind path.
He nodded, trusting her without hesitation.
They moved.
Slipping through shadows, each step purposeful. Aria felt the forest differently now. Not like a prison, but like a partner. She could sense where the earth shifted beneath old tracks, where moss had been disturbed by careless paws.The places she had run to when being tormented
They reached the place just in time to see three figures down below—wolves, circling something. One of them was injured, limping, a long gash down its flank.
"Trap," Kael said immediately.
But it was too late.
A howl rang out high, shrill, and bone-chilling.
Wolves burst from the trees in all directions, at least a dozen of them.
Aria didn't hesitate.
She shifted mid-fall, her snowy wolf slicing through the air like lightning. She collided with the first enemy, claws slashing across its throat before it could react. Blood sprayed. She pivoted, catching the next by the flank.
Kael landed beside her like a hammer, teeth sinking into an enemy's neck.
Toben's growl tore through the trees as he held the line.
The rest of Kael's warriors surged into the fray.
It was chaos.
Fur, teeth, blood, snarls.
But Aria moved like a blade—sharp, fast, intentional.
For every enemy that lunged at her, she left one broken behind. Her body ached, her ribs screamed, but she didn't stop. She wouldn't.
Until she saw him.
Not Ronan—not yet.
But one of his top Betas. Ryker.
Larger. Meaner. Smiling through bloodied teeth.
"Well, look who's grown fangs," he sneered.
Aria shifted back, panting, weapon drawn from her thigh sheath.
Ryker chuckled. "He'll be pleased to know you're fighting now. Thought he broke you."
Her voice came silent but strong.
Tell him he failed.
Ryker lunged.
They clashed hard—blade to blade, body to body. He was stronger, heavier. But Aria was faster. Smarter. She moved like water,strategic, bending, slipping, striking.
And when he thought he had her pinned—
She flipped the dagger Kael gave her, the one carved with silver, and plunged it into Ryker's shoulder.
He howled.
"I'll kill you for that," he spat.
She pressed closer.
You already tried.
With one last twist, she yanked the blade free and let him fall.
The others scattered soon after, wounded, afraid.
Kael appeared beside her, his chest heaving.
"You okay?" he asked.
Aria looked around at the fallen bodies. At her pack, alive and standing.
She nodded.
But Kael's gaze lingered on her face.
"No," he said. "You're more than okay. You just turned the tide."
You're stronger than you think.
Toben strode up, wiping blood from his mouth.
"That was his Beta," he said, pointing at Ryker's body.
"They won't take this lightly."
Aria met his gaze. Good.
Because she didn't want peace.
Not until Ronan bled like she once bled.
Not until he was on his knees.
Not until he pleaded
Kael placed a hand on her shoulder calmly, not claiming.
And together, they walked back to camp as the sun began to rise over the trees.
It was only the beginning.
But it was her beginning.