I didn't know how long I'd been down here hours, maybe more. The torches on the dungeon walls hadn't dimmed. The chains biting into my wrists were silver coated, dulling my strength and suppressing my wolf. But I still felt her stirring beneath my skin, clawing quietly, waiting for the moment we could break free. A rusted pipe dripped steadily in the corner, echoing through the empty hall. I kept my eyes on it. It was easier than thinking about what he said.
"You smell like moonfire."
"I don't know what the hell you are now."
I didn't know either.
But the moment the Moon Goddess touched me, something inside me shifted. It was more than power. It was ancient. Wild. Angry. My fingertips tingled with sparks now and then. My vision sometimes blurred, not with exhaustion, but with the surge of something just under the surface something waiting to break free, i heard creak echoed down the corridor and then I heard footsteps, I stiffened, my eyes narrowing at the door. Not him again. I told myself I wouldn't react. Not to his scent, not to the magnetic pull in my chest, not to the memory of his fingers on my skin when he grabbed my jaw like I was some puzzle he couldn't solve. The door opened with a low groan. It wasn't a guard, It was her. A woman stepped inside the dungeon, she was tall, elegant, and cloaked in velvet. Her black hair was braided intricately, a red crystal hanging between her brows, the smell of power clung to her like perfume.
She smiled. "So. You're the one."
I blinked. "Who the hell are you?"
She walked closer, heels tapping delicately on the stone. Her eyes, sharp and violet, studied me like a rare creature behind glass.
"I'm Soraya," she said, tilting her head. "The Alpha's seer. Or perhaps more accurately… his leash."
A seer? I tried to laugh, but the chains cut deeper into my skin. "Let me guess you're here to warn me away. Threaten me. Maybe throw in a little prophecy for fun?"
Her lips curled in amusement. "Oh, darling. No. I'm here because you terrify him."
That silenced me.
"He won't say it," she went on, "but the moment he touched you, he felt it. Not just the bond. The shift. The Goddess's mark. It's in your blood now. You're not just a mate he rejected." She leaned in closer, eyes glittering.
"You're a trigger."
My pulse quickened. "A trigger for what?"
"For what's buried in him. For the monster he's spent years trying to bury. You see, Aria… Kade isn't afraid of you. He's afraid of what you make him feel."
I stared at her, mind spinning.
Was that why he hadn't killed me? Because he didn't know what to do with me?
"I have seen it," Soraya whispered. "A war soaked in moonlight. Fire raining from the skies. Blood on the snow. And at the center of it all two wolves bound by chains they cannot break."
I didn't want to hear this. "Stop."
"You will hurt him," she said gently. "And he will hurt you. But neither of you will survive without the other."
I squeezed my eyes shut. My heart was hurting in a way that had nothing to do with physical pain. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want to see which of you burns first."
Then she smiled, turned, and left me in the dark.
I didn't sleep sleep again, even if wanted it, I couldn't.
Soraya's words looped through my head like poison. A trigger. A war. Bound by chains. I thought I hated Kade maybe I still did but part of me was beginning to understand the cruelty of fate. The Goddess didn't just tie me to a monster. She tied two monsters together. Because I wasn't the same girl who had been rejected in front of the packs. The Aria who ran into the woods to cry had died in that snow. and this new Aria? She wasn't afraid of pain. She was pain.
The next day or maybe night, it was impossible to tell the cell door opened again. This time, it was him. Kade didn't speak at first. He stepped inside, silent as a shadow. His silver eyes met mine and held. We stared at each other like two wolves across a battlefield, waiting for the other to lunge first.
"I thought about killing you today," he said.
My lips curled. "I'm flattered."
"But I couldn't."
"Too weak?"
He didn't rise to the bait. "I don't know what the Goddess did to you. But I want to find out."
"Maybe ask her yourself."
"I asked you," he growled, stepping closer. His presence hit me like a wall dominant, magnetic, terrifying. Every cell in my body screamed to get away and get closer at the same time. The bond thrummed, faint but undeniable. And from the look in his eyes. he felt it too.
"You don't get to act like this," I hissed. "You rejected me. You threw me away. You made me bleed in front of everyone." His jaw tightened.
"And yet here you are," I snapped, "storming into my cell like I belong to you."
"I didn't reject the mating bond," he said.
I froze. "What?"
"I rejected you," he clarified darkly. "But the bond didn't break. That's not supposed to happen."
No. It wasn't.
But it hadn't. It was there twisting between us, stronger than before. I could feel it tightening like a chain around both our throats.
"I don't want it," I whispered.
He took another step closer. "Neither do I."
But neither of us moved away.
Our breathing synced. The air pulsed. Something ancient stirred between us like fate trying to glue the pieces of our ruined souls back together. Then he reached forward slowly and I let him.
His fingers brushed my cheek. Just once. Just enough to make me burn. It was nothing. It was everything. He exhaled like the touch hurt him more than it did me.
"I don't know what you are now," he said hoarsely. "But you're not the weak little omega I rejected."
"No," I whispered, trembling. "I'm the Evil you created."
He stared at me. And this time, he didn't turn away.