Aria's POV
The warriors' hands are like claws digging into my arms as they drag me through the forest.
My feet stumble over rocks and roots. I can barely see through my tears.
"Please," I gasp. "Please, just let me say goodbye to my mother—"
"Shut up," one of them growls.
The empty space where my pack bond used to be throbs with pain. It feels like someone carved out a piece of my chest and left a bleeding hole behind.
My wolf is completely silent now. She always was weak, barely there. But now she feels... gone.
We break through the trees, and I see it.
The boundary line.
It's marked by ancient stones covered in moss. Beyond it is neutral territory—the dangerous land between packs where rogues hunt and wolves go to die.
"No," I whisper. "No, please—"
I twist in their grip, looking back toward the pack house.
And I see him.
Dominic stands at the edge of the tree line. Distant. Silent. Watching.
Even from here, I can see his face. Hard as stone. Cold as ice.
"Dominic!" I scream his name. "Please! I'm not lying! The baby is yours!"
He doesn't move.
Doesn't speak.
Just stares at me with those empty golden eyes.
"Please," my voice breaks. "Don't do this. Don't throw away your own child."
For one second—just one heartbeat—I see something flicker across his face.
Pain.
His hands curl into fists at his sides. His jaw tightens so hard I can see the muscle jump.
But then Celeste appears beside him. She slips her hand into his, whispers something in his ear.
And whatever I saw in his face dies.
He turns away.
Just like before.
Turns his back while they destroy me.
"NO!" I thrash against the warriors, wild with desperation. "DOMINIC, PLEASE!"
"Enough." The lead warrior yanks me forward. "You're not part of this pack anymore. Alpha Dominic owes you nothing."
They shove me hard.
I stumble across the boundary line and fall.
My hands slam into dirt and dead leaves. Pain shoots through my palms, but it's nothing compared to the agony in my chest.
The moment I cross the boundary, something inside me snaps completely.
The last tiny thread connecting me to Silvermoon Pack—to my home, my family, my entire life—breaks.
I cry out and curl into a ball, arms wrapped around my stomach.
Around the baby.
The only thing I have left.
"If you come back," the warrior says from behind me, "we have orders to kill you on sight."
Their footsteps fade back into the forest.
And then I'm alone.
Completely, utterly alone.
I don't know how long I stay there. Curled on the ground. Sobbing until I have no tears left.
The sun sets. The forest grows dark around me.
Cold seeps into my bones.
I should move. Should find shelter. But I can't.
I just can't.
"I'm sorry," I whisper to my stomach. My hand spreads protectively over the tiny life growing inside. "I'm so sorry, little one. Your father... he doesn't want us. Nobody wants us."
Fresh tears burn my eyes.
"But I want you." My voice cracks. "I want you so much. And I promise—I swear—I'll protect you. Somehow."
The baby can't hear me yet. Can't understand.
But saying the words out loud makes them feel real. Makes them feel like a promise I can actually keep.
"It's just us now," I whisper. "But that's okay. We'll be okay. We have to be."
I force myself to sit up. My whole body aches. The place where they ripped off my pack medallion throbs with phantom pain.
I need to move. Need to find somewhere safe before full dark.
But as I start to stand, something stops me.
A feeling.
Strange. Unfamiliar.
A tingle runs across my skin like electricity. Starting at my fingertips and spreading up my arms.
I gasp and look down at my hands.
They're glowing.
Not bright. Just a faint shimmer under my skin. Like moonlight trapped beneath the surface.
"What..." I breathe.
The tingle intensifies. Spreads across my chest, down my legs. My whole body starts to hum with energy I've never felt before.
I look up.
The full moon is rising through the trees. Huge. Silver. Beautiful.
And as its light touches my skin, something inside me cracks open.
Not breaks.
Opens.
Like a door that's been locked my entire life suddenly swings wide.
Power floods through me.
Raw. Ancient. Overwhelming.
I gasp and press my hand to my chest. My heart pounds so hard it hurts.
Deep inside my mind—in the empty space where my wolf used to whisper quietly—something stirs.
No.
Not something.
Someone.
My wolf.
But she feels different. Stronger. Like she's been sleeping all these years and is finally waking up.
Hello, Aria, a voice purrs in my head.
I actually stumble backward in shock.
My wolf has never spoken to me clearly before. Only feelings. Instincts. Never words.
"What's happening?" I whisper out loud.
We're changing, she says, and her voice is nothing like I remember. It's powerful. Confident. The baby unlocked something. Something that was always inside us but hidden.
"I don't understand—"
You will.
The moonlight grows brighter. The tingling in my skin turns to heat.
And then I feel it.
A shift starting deep in my bones.
My wolf pushes forward, and for the first time in my life, the change doesn't hurt.
It feels right.
I gasp as my body begins to transform. But it's different from every shift I've ever done before.
My wolf—my weak, pathetic, barely-there wolf—isn't weak anymore.
She's powerful.
The shift completes, and I look down at my paws.
They're bigger than before. Stronger.
But that's not what makes my breath catch.
My fur—normally plain brown—is now shot through with silver. Like someone painted moonlight across my coat.
What are we? I ask my wolf in wonder.
Something they never expected, she answers. Something powerful enough to make them all regret what they did.
A sound breaks through the trees.
A howl.
Not friendly. Not pack.
Rogue.
My ears flatten. Every instinct screams at me to run.
But my wolf doesn't want to run.
She wants to fight.
The bushes rustle. Yellow eyes appear in the darkness. One pair. Two. Three.
Rogues. Big ones. Hungry ones.
They step into the moonlight, teeth bared, eyes locked on me.
The biggest one—a massive gray wolf with scars covering his face—growls low.
Omega. Alone. Easy prey.
A week ago, I would have died here.
But something's different now.
I bare my teeth and growl back.
The sound that comes out of my throat isn't the weak whimper of an omega.
It's the snarl of something dangerous.
The rogue's eyes widen in surprise.
Then—faster than I've ever moved in my life—I lunge.
My wolf takes over completely, and as we crash into the rogue, one thought burns through my mind:
They threw me away like garbage.
They have no idea what they just created.