Aria's POV
Dante slammed on the brakes so hard I flew forward against my seatbelt.
"Get down!" he yelled, pushing my head below the dashboard.
Through the car windows, I could see dark shapes moving between the trees. The Shadow Pack rogues had followed us. Even though Dante's troops had fought them off last night, some must have escaped.
"How many?" I whispered.
"Too many." Dante's voice was tight with worry. "Hold on."
He hit the gas pedal, and we raced down the mountain road toward my father's area. Behind us, screams filled the air. They were chasing us in wolf form, running faster than any regular wolf should be able to run.
My hands shook as I gripped the seat. "They're not going to give up, are they?"
"Not until they get what they want," Dante said grimly.
What they wanted was me. To drag me back to their camp and force me to mate with their disgusting boss, Alpha Kane. The thought made me want to throw up.
"There!" Dante pointed ahead. "The border."
I could see the gate to Crescent Moon Pack land. My father's land. The place I hadn't seen in seven years, not since the night everything went wrong.
The night I killed my little sister Rose.
As we drove through the gate, the rogues' howls faded behind us. They couldn't follow us onto another Alpha's area without starting a war.
But my relief didn't last long. Now I had to face something almost as scary as the Shadow Pack.
I had to face my father.
"He might not even recognize me," I said quietly as we drove down the familiar road.
Dante glanced at me. "You look exactly like your mother did at your age."
"How do you know what my mother looked like?"
"Your father showed me pictures when he hired me."
My chest got tight. "He talks about her?"
"All the time. And about you. He never stopped believing you were alive."
The trees around us looked the same as they did seven years ago. Tall pines and oak trees that I used to climb when I was little. But now they felt different, like they were watching me. Judging me.
"I shouldn't have come back," I whispered.
"Why not?"
I couldn't tell him the truth. That I was the reason Rose was dead. That I was the reason our family fell apart. That I deserved every terrible thing that had happened to me since that night.
"Because some things can't be fixed," I said instead.
We turned a corner, and there it was. The big white house where I grew up. It looked smaller than I remembered, but still beautiful with its wrap-around porch and flower beds.
My father was waiting on the front steps.
Even from inside the car, I could see how much he'd changed. His dark hair was now gray, and he looked thinner, older. But his eyes were the same warm brown I remembered.
Dante parked the car and turned to me. "Are you ready?"
"No." My voice came out like a squeak.
"He's been waiting for you for seven years, Aria. Don't make him wait any longer."
I took a deep breath and opened the car door. The moment I stepped out, my father started walking toward me. Fast, then running.
"Aria!" he called out. "My little girl!"
I stood frozen as he ran to me. Part of me wanted to run into his arms like I used to when I was little. But the bigger part of me wanted to run away.
He stopped right in front of me, tears running down his face. "Is it really you?"
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
"You're so tall," he said, reaching out like he wanted to touch me but was afraid I might disappear. "And so beautiful, just like your mother."
"Daddy," I mumbled, and suddenly I was seven years old again.
He pulled me into the biggest hug of my life. I buried my face in his shoulder and breathed in his familiar smell of pine trees and coffee. For a moment, it felt like nothing bad had ever happened.
Then he said the words I'd been dreading.
"I can't wait for Rose to see you. She's going to be so excited."
I pulled back and stared at him. "What?"
His smile was so bright it hurt to look at. "Your sister. She's been asking about you every day since you vanished. She never gave up hope that you'd come home."
The world started spinning around me. "Rose is... alive?"
"Of course she's living. She's seventeen now, can you believe it? Almost as tall as you. She should be back from school any minute."
I couldn't move. Rose was living. The sister I thought I'd killed was alive.
But how was that possible? I saw her fall into the river. I saw her go under the water and never come back up.
"I don't understand," I said, my voice shaking.
"Understand what, sweetheart?"
Before I could answer, a car pulled into the driveway. A girl with long blonde hair got out, laughing at something someone had said.
She looked exactly like Rose would look if she'd grown up.
The girl turned toward us, and her face lit up with the biggest smile I'd ever seen.
"ARIA!" she screamed, dropping her backpack and running toward me. "You're home! You're really home!"
She threw herself at me, hugging me so tight I couldn't breathe. Over her shoulder, I could see Dante watching us with a strange look on his face.
"I knew you'd come back," Rose said, crying happy tears. "I never stopped believing. Even when everyone said you were probably dead, I knew you were out there somewhere."
Dead. Everyone thought I was dead, not Rose.
"Rose," I whispered, holding her tight. "I thought... I thought you were..."
"Dead?" She pulled back and looked at me with confused eyes. "Why would you think that?"
Behind her, another car pulled up. A woman got out, and I recognized her instantly. Elena Rivers, the pack doctor who used to take care of me when I was little.
But she looked scared when she saw me. Really scared.
"Victor," she called to my father, her voice shaking. "We need to talk. Right now."
"Not now, Elena," my father said happily. "Can't you see I'm having a reunion with my daughter?"
"That's exactly why we need to talk," Elena said, walking toward us. "Because that girl isn't your daughter."
Everyone went silent. Rose's arms dropped from around me.
"What are you mean?" my father asked.
Elena looked right at me with cold, hard eyes. "Your real daughter died seven years ago in that river, just like we told you. This girl is a fake."
"That's impossible," Rose said quickly. "Look at her! She looks exactly like Aria!"
"Many people look alike," Elena said. "But I was there that night. I saw Aria Nightwood's body myself. She's been dead for seven years."
My father looked at me with confusion and hurt in his eyes. "Is this true? Are you not my Aria?"
I opened my mouth to tell him the truth, but no words came out. Because Elena was right about one thing.
Aria Nightwood had died seven years ago in that river.
The question was: if I wasn't Aria Nightwood, then who was I?