Aria's eyes snapped open in the darkness. Something was wrong. She sat up in bed, her heart pounding against her ribs.
The building felt different. Dangerous. Like a storm was coming, but worse.
Outside her window, the night looked normal. Stars twinkled above the trees. The moon hung full and bright in the clear sky.
But her wolf senses screamed warnings. Death, her inner wolf whispered. Coming fast.
Aria threw off her blankets and pressed her ear to the cold stone wall.
Moonhold castle had been built ages ago with walls thick enough to stop armies. She shouldn't be able to hear anything happening outside.
But she did. Breathing. Lots of air. Too close to the house. And something else. A smell that made her stomach turn. Like rotten meat mixed with wet fur.
"Rogues," she breathed.
She grabbed her robe and ran to the door. Her bare feet made no sound on the stone floor as she raced down the tower stairs.
The main hallway stretched empty before her. Every torch burned bright, casting moving shadows on the walls. Nothing looked wrong. But everything felt wrong.
Aria closed her eyes and tried to focus like Luna Seraphina had been teaching her. Moon Wolves were thought to have special senses. Maybe she could figure out what threatened them.
The moment she focused, her wolf sight exploded to life. Through the thick castle walls, she saw shapes moving in the darkness. Dozens of them. Creeping closer to Moonhold from all sides.
They weren't normal dogs. These creatures moved wrong, like their bones had been broken and put back together crooked. Their eyes glowed red instead of natural wolf colors. And they stank of dark magic.
"Guards!" Aria screamed, running toward the main hall. "We're under attack!"
Her voice echoed through the empty hallways. Where was everyone? The castle always had guards roaming at night.
She burst into the great hall and froze. Three guards lay unconscious near the huge front doors. Not dead, but sleeping so deeply they barely breathed.
"Magic," Aria whispered. Someone had put them under a spell.
The front doors stood slightly open, letting in cold night air. And something else. A low growling sound drifted through the crack. Getting closer every second.
Aria backed away from the doors, looking around desperately for a weapon. Her eyes fell on a sword hanging above the fireplace. She'd never held a real blade before, but it had to be better than nothing.
She was reaching for it when the first rogue dog crashed through the doors.
The creature was bigger than any dog she'd ever seen. Its black fur hung in parts, showing gray skin underneath. Red eyes fixed on her with hungry intelligence.
"Found you," it said in a voice like grinding stone.
Aria's blood turned to ice. Rogues weren't supposed to be able to talk in wolf form.
"What are you?" she gasped.
"Your death," it snarled, and leaped at her.
Aria dove sideways, rolling behind a heavy wooden table. The rogue's claws cut across the spot where she'd been standing, leaving deep gouges in the stone floor.
"Help!" she screamed. "Someone help me!"
The rogue circled the table, grinning to show teeth like broken glass. "No one's coming, little Moon Wolf. We made sure of that."
More shapes appeared in the doorway. Five more rogues, all bent and wrong-looking. All with those terrible red eyes.
"How did you get past the border guards?" Aria demanded, still crouched behind the table.
"Your friend helped," the first thief said. "Sweet little omega boy. So eager to save you."
Aria's heart stopped. "Dorian?"
"He told us all about the castle defenses. Guard rounds. Secret doors." The rogue's laugh sounded like breaking bones. "Amazing what desperate people will do."
"You're lying."
"Am I? Then why do we know exactly where to find you?"
Terror and deception crashed over Aria like icy water. Dorian had been angry when she linked with the triplets. But angry enough to help rogues attack the pack?
"He wouldn't," she whispered.
"He did. And now you're going to pay for stealing power that doesn't belong to you." The rogue lunged again.
This time, Aria wasn't fast enough. Claws raked across her shoulder, tearing her nightgown and drawing blood. She cried out and stumbled backward.
The other rogues spread out, surrounding her. Their red eyes gleamed with joy.
"Take her alive," one said. "The master wants her power intact."
"What master?" Aria pressed her hand against her injured shoulder.
"Someone who's been waiting a very long time to meet you."
Before Aria could ask more questions, power burst through her body.
Not the gentle warmth she'd felt during training with Luna Seraphina. This was wild, desperate energy that turned her blood to liquid fire. Silver light poured from her eyes and hands.
The ancient Chronicle book in her room started glowing three floors above, responding to her fear.
The rogues stepped back, protecting their eyes from her blazing aura.
"Impossible," one hissed. "She's not trained. She shouldn't be able to access that much power."
"The prophecy," another whispered. "It's starting."
Aria felt the magic building inside her, getting stronger every second. But she had no idea how to stop it. The power wanted to destroy everything around her. Including the house. Including helpless pack members.
"Stop," she told herself. "Calm down." But the silver fire kept growing.
Through her magical sight, she saw more rogues coming through the castle's lower entrances.
They'd planned this attack perfectly. While the main group occupied her, others were spreading through Moonhold like poison.
"The children," she gasped.
The pack's younger members slept in the east wing. If the rogues reached them...
Her power flared brighter, reacting to her protective instincts.
"She's losing control," one rogue said uncomfortably. "We need to take her now, before she brings down the whole castle."
They rushed her all at once. Aria threw her hands up to protect herself.
Silver fire burst outward, hitting the rogues like a physical force. They flew backward, crashing into walls and furniture. But more kept coming through the doors.
"Where is everyone?" she screamed.
The strike should have woken the entire pack by now.
Then she heard it. Howling from the upper floors. Not attack screams. Pain growls.
The rogues had done something to the rest of the pack. Poisoned them or cursed them to sleep while their home was attacked.
Rage filled Aria like burning metal. These creatures had hurt her people. Her family. Her power responded to the anger, getting wild and dangerous.
"That's enough," a new voice said from the doorway.
A figure stepped into the great hall, and Aria's world turned sideways. It looked like a man, but wrong. Too tall, with arms that hung past his knees.
His face seemed normal until he smiled, showing rows of needle-sharp teeth. And his eyes... His eyes were the same red as the rogues', but old. Hungry in a way that made Aria's soul shrink.
"Hello, little Moon Wolf," he purred. "I've been looking for you for a very long time."
"Who are you?"
"Someone who knew your mom. And her grandma before that." His smile widened. "I've been hunting Moon Wolves for centuries."
"Why?"
"Because your power should belong to someone who knows how to use it properly." He pointed at the destruction around them. "Look what you've done. Barely awakened, and already you're dangerous."
"I was defending myself!"
"From my children? They were only trying to bring you home."
"This is my home."
"No," the thing said softly. "This is your jail. These people want to bind you, control you, use you to increase their pack. I offer something different."
"What?"
"Freedom. Power. The chance to be what you were born to be."
Despite everything, Aria felt a pull toward his words. She was tired of being told what to do, where to fit, who to mate.
"I can teach you to control the fire inside you," he added. "Show you magic the Draven pack never dreamed of. Make you strong enough that no one will ever dare chain you again."
"And all I have to do is go with you?"
"All you have to do is choose."
Behind him, more rogues filed into the hall. At least twenty now, all watching her with those terrible red eyes.
"Choose quickly," the creature added. "Because my patience has limits. And if you won't come freely..."
He didn't finish the threat. He didn't need to. Aria's power swirled around her, reacting to her fear and confusion.
She could fight. Maybe even win against this many enemies. But the attempt might destroy Moonhold. Might kill the people she was trying to protect.
"I need time to think," she said.
"Time is something we don't have." The creature's smile faded. "The Draven boys are already on their way down here. Once they arrive, this becomes much more difficult."
As if called by his words, thundering footsteps echoed from the stairwells. Shouts. The sound of guns being drawn.
"Aria!" Caden's voice boomed through the castle. "Where are you?"
"Here!" she called back. "In the great hall!"
The creature sighed. "Such a shame. I was thinking we could do this the easy way."
He raised one long-fingered hand, and dark power began swirling around his palm.
"Last chance, little Moon Wolf. Come with me now, or watch everyone you care about die."
"Aria!" This time it was Caleb's voice, closer now. Coming fast.
She had seconds to decide. Go with the monster and maybe save her pack, or fight and risk losing everything.
The creature's dark magic grew stronger, spreading through the air like smoke.
And from somewhere deep in the castle, a new sound echoed through the stone halls. A roar so deep and powerful it shook dust from the roof.
Something else was coming. Something that made even the old creature's red eyes widen with surprise.
"Impossible," he whispered. "He's supposed to be sleeping."
"Who?" Aria demanded.
But before the thing could answer, the great hall's back wall exploded inward.
And through the hole stepped something that made Aria's power flare with recognition and fear.
Something with golden eyes that blazed like the sun.
Something that looked exactly like Alpha Magnus.
But bigger. Stronger. And totally, completely furious.