The wind spoke of coming rain. It whispered through the pines, rustling leaves like they too were trying to warn me. Something had changed. I could feel it in the earth beneath my paws, in the sudden stillness that wrapped the forest like a shroud. The scent of distant lightning burned faintly in the air—a silent storm waiting for its moment to strike.
We had barely returned to the safehouse before I felt the pull—the same ancient pull that had always guided my kind. But tonight, it was stronger. Hungrier. A part of me wanted to believe it was her, Aria. That she was calling to me through some bond neither of us yet understood. But another part, the Alpha in me, knew it was something more.
It was a warning.
We had driven the vampires back. For now. But that skirmish was just a prelude. They had tasted our defenses, tested our strength, and now they would regroup. They always did. Veyran was too cunning to charge blindly. And that made him dangerous.
Aria sat on the edge of her cot in the cabin, her knees drawn up, fingers clenched tight around a silver charm I had seen her mother give her earlier. She had not said a word since the battle. I could hear her heart—beating faster than normal, but steady. Not afraid. Just... aware.
I stepped inside, careful not to startle her. My presence filled the room, not because I meant to intimidate her, but because I could not hide what I was. The air always grew heavier when I entered. It was the weight of the Alpha. Something even I had never grown used to.
"Are they coming back?" she asked without turning.
I paused. "Yes."
She nodded slowly, the charm twisting between her fingers. "You said I have something they want."
I sat across from her, close but not too close. "You are not just human. I do not mean that in a mystical, fate-destined way. I mean... something is inside you. A spark. They can feel it. I can feel it too."
She looked up at me then, eyes searching mine for truth. I gave it to her.
"Then tell me what I am."
The truth was, I didn't know. Not yet. But I had seen enough prophecy scrolls, enough sacred markings hidden beneath the ruins of the old moon-temples to recognize the signs. She bore the mark of the Flame.
And the Flame had not been seen in over a thousand years.
A sudden knock at the door broke the moment. Rhys. My second.
"Alpha, the elders are gathering. They want your word."
Of course they did. They always wanted words when war was near, as if speeches could stop teeth and claws.
I stood slowly, turning to Aria. "Stay here. Do not open that door to anyone but me."
She nodded. That was all I needed.
The council fire burned low when I arrived. The elders sat in a half-circle around the flame, their faces stern, eyes heavy with years. Most of them had seen the rise and fall of Alphas before me. Some had even fought alongside my father. They respected strength, but they revered survival.
"You bring a human into the heart of our haven," Elder Corin began without preamble. "And now, blood stains our borders."
"You think the blood is her fault?" I asked, not angrily. Just... tired.
"I think the girl is a beacon," he replied. "And beacons bring fire."
"We are already burning," I said. "You just do not want to smell the smoke."
That shut them up.
I explained what I could. The vampire queen was not hunting just flesh. She was hunting a key. A link to something greater. Something that could shift the balance of this war. And Aria might be it.
They did not like it. But they accepted it. Barely.
Elder Rowan spoke next. He was the oldest among us, his voice like gravel soaked in memory. "If she is the Flame reborn, then prophecy is upon us. And prophecy brings not just light... but sacrifice."
"Then we prepare," I said. "Not just to fight. But to survive."
A silence settled over the fire. One of those long silences that carried too much weight. Finally, Corin rose.
"You walk a dangerous path, Alpha. Keep the girl close. But do not forget what you protect first."
I did not answer. I didn't need to. My silence was a promise. I would protect my pack. But I would protect her too. I just hoped I could do both.
Back at the cabin, I found Aria asleep. The charm still clenched in her hand, brow furrowed like she was fighting in her dreams. I sat by the window, eyes on the woods.
And that was when I saw it.
Movement. Fast. Just beyond the tree line.
I was on my feet in seconds. No growl. No shift. Just instinct.
But by the time I reached the clearing, it was gone.
Not a scent. Not a sound.
Only one thing left behind.
A silver arrow embedded in the trunk of a pine.
And hanging from it... a torn scrap of cloth.
It smelled like Aria.
My claws slid out without thought, not in rage, but in warning. This was no random act. Someone had breached the border. Someone had gotten close enough to scent her, to mark her. That cloth was not dropped. It was placed.
A message.
I carried it back, scenting every thread, memorizing the scent trail. It was old. Hours old. And clever—masked with forest leaves and damp moss to hide it. But not enough to fool me.
Inside, Aria stirred.
"What is it?"
"Nothing you need to worry about," I lied.
Her eyes narrowed, sharp. She knew I was hiding something. I didn't have the luxury of being honest—not yet. Not until I understood what they wanted from her.
"I felt them," she whispered. "In my dream. Watching. Reaching. It was cold. So cold..."
I sat on the floor beside her bed. "That wasn't a dream. That was them touching your aura. Testing your spirit. They're getting closer."
She looked so small, yet she held herself like someone who had seen war. I couldn't figure her out completely. One moment she was vulnerable. The next, steel. It unsettled me.
I had fought monsters. Killed beasts. Led wolves into bloodied fields and brought them back alive. But I had never felt so outmatched as I did now. Not by an enemy.
By fate.
Rhys burst through the door without knocking. He only did that when something was on fire—or about to be.
"Alpha. Scouts found a sigil in the southern trees. Burned into the bark."
"Vampires?"
He shook his head. "Worse. It's a hunter's mark. Human-made. But old. Really old. I think they've returned."
I stood up so fast Aria flinched.
"What is it?" she asked.
"The Order of the Hollow Sun," I muttered.
"Who are they?"
"Hunters. Not just of vampires. Of anything not human. They disappeared a century ago after the last great war. We thought them extinct."
Rhys added, "We think they're after the girl too."
Of course they were.
"Ready the pack," I ordered. "Double the guards. No one walks alone."
I turned to Aria. "We're leaving by morning. You're not safe here anymore."
She stared at me, eyes wide. "Where will we go?"
I hesitated, then finally said it.
"To the ruins of the Moonwell."
She blinked. "That's just a myth."
"So are you, apparently."
Her breath hitched, but she didn't protest. The fire in her eyes told me she understood. Whatever she was, whatever power stirred within her, the world had started to notice. And the world was afraid.
We packed before the sun rose. Quietly. Efficiently. Rhys arranged for scouts to ride ahead, and I handpicked the guards who would escort Aria. I trusted only a few with her safety. Trust was a rare currency in times like these.
Before we left, I stood outside the cabin, staring into the trees. Somewhere out there, the vampires waited. The Hollow Sun watched. And the Moonwell called.
I whispered to the night, not as an Alpha, but as a man who had seen too much war. "Guide me. Just this once."
And in the silence that followed, I thought I heard the moon answer.
It was time to leave.
Time to face the truth buried beneath the earth.
Time to follow the oath I had never spoken aloud, but which had burned in my blood since the day I was born.
To protect her.
Or die trying.