POV: Damon
"Hello, daughter. Elena, thank you for bringing her straight to me. Our deal is complete."
Marcus's words echo through the cave, and rage explodes through my veins like gasoline meeting a match.
Elena betrayed us. She betrayed her own granddaughter.
Aria's face goes white with shock. Then red with fury. "You sold me out?" Her voice shakes. "You're my grandmother!"
"I'm a survivor," Elena says coldly. "And surviving means making hard choices. Your power is worth a fortune, child. Marcus offered me something I've wanted for thirty years—revenge against Rowan. In exchange, I deliver you."
"You lying—" I lunge at Elena, but three massive wolves leap from the shadows and pin me to the ground. I fight, snarling and snapping, but they're too strong.
Marcus moves toward Aria. She backs away, silver light flickering around her hands. "Stay away from me."
"Don't be dramatic. I'm not going to hurt you." Marcus smiles, and it's the worst thing I've ever seen—cold and calculating and completely without love. "You're far too valuable. Alpha Rowan wants you dead, but there are other packs willing to pay fortunes for a True Luna. You're going to make me very, very rich."
"You're selling your own daughter?" The words tear out of me.
"She was never really my daughter. Just a job." Marcus shrugs. "Rowan paid me to take her in, hide her identity, make sure her power never emerged. I did that for eighteen years. Now she's activated, and I deserve compensation for my trouble."
Aria's power flares brighter. The cave fills with silver light. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"You don't have a choice, dear." Marcus gestures, and more wolves emerge from the darkness. Dozens of them. We're completely surrounded.
Elena watches with those silver eyes—the same eyes as Aria's. "I'm sorry it had to be this way. But the world doesn't reward sentiment. It rewards power."
"You're wrong," Aria says quietly. Her voice doesn't shake anymore. Instead, it's hard as steel. "Power without loyalty is nothing. My mother had both—that's why Rowan feared her. That's why he had to murder her."
"Catherine was a fool who got herself killed." Elena's mask cracks for just a second, showing pain underneath. "I won't make the same mistake."
"No. You'll just make different ones." Aria looks at me, and our eyes lock. Through the mate bond, I feel her determination. Her plan forming. "Damon, when I say run—you run. Don't argue. Don't try to save me. Just run."
"Like hell—"
"RUN!" Aria screams, and her power explodes.
The silver light becomes blinding. Wolves yelp and scatter. The ones holding me down release their grip, stumbling back. I feel the mate bond surge with Aria's command, and my body obeys before my brain catches up.
I run.
Behind me, I hear Marcus shouting orders. Elena yelling at her wolves to pursue. But mostly I hear Aria—screaming with effort as she holds back an entire army with her power.
She's sacrificing herself so I can escape.
The mate bond screams at me to go back. Every instinct I have roars that I'm a coward for leaving my mate behind. But Aria commanded me to run, and somehow her True Luna power makes it impossible to disobey.
I burst out of the cave into cold night air. The forest stretches in every direction—dark, endless, and full of threats. I shift to wolf form and run faster than I've ever run, putting distance between myself and Shadow Mountain.
But with every step, the mate bond pulls tighter. Aria's emotions flood through me—fear, determination, pain. She's still fighting. Still holding them off.
How long can she last?
I run for an hour before I finally stop, collapsing beside a stream. My wolf form fades, leaving me naked and shaking in the dirt. Through the mate bond, I can still feel Aria. She's alive. Exhausted but alive.
They captured her. I know they did. And I left her there.
"COWARD!" I scream at myself, at the sky, at the Moon Goddess who made this impossible situation. "I'M A COWARD!"
The forest offers no answers.
I sit there as the moon rises higher, trying to think. Marcus wants to sell Aria to the highest bidder. That gives me time—he won't hurt her if she's his merchandise. But time for what? I'm one wolf against an army. Elena has dozens of wolves loyal to her. Marcus has connections throughout the werewolf world.
I need help.
My phone is still in my pocket—waterproof case, thank the goddess. I pull it out with shaking hands. Who can I call? My father wants Aria dead. My pack follows my father's orders. Aria's family sold her out.
There's only one person who might help. One person who owes me a favor and has the resources to fight back.
I dial a number I swore I'd never use.
It rings three times before a familiar voice answers. "Damon Steele. I didn't expect to hear from you. Especially not at three in the morning."
"I need your help, Kai."
Kai Nightshade—Alpha of the Shadowfang Pack and my father's biggest rival. We grew up together before our fathers' feud tore our friendship apart. I haven't spoken to him in five years.
"What kind of help?" Kai sounds amused. "Did daddy dearest finally push you too far?"
"They took my mate." The words come out broken. "I need warriors. Fighters. People who can help me get her back."
Silence. Then: "You have a mate? Since when?"
"Three days ago. It's... complicated."
"It always is with you Steeles." Kai sighs. "Where are you?"
I give him my location. He promises to send wolves within two hours and tells me to stay put.
When I hang up, the mate bond pulses. Aria is trying to reach me through it. I close my eyes and focus, pushing all my emotions toward her: I'm coming back. I'm getting help. Hold on.
Her response is faint but clear: Don't. It's a trap. Marcus wants you too.
Of course he does. The future Alpha would be worth even more than a True Luna. Marcus is probably using Aria as bait, waiting for me to mount a rescue attempt.
I don't care.
Through the bond, I send: I'm not leaving you to suffer because of me. Not again.
This time, Aria's response is stronger: Then don't come alone. And Damon? I forgive you.
The words hit me like a physical blow. She forgives me. After everything—after I left her in that cave, after years of cruelty, after being the worst possible mate she could have gotten—she forgives me.
I don't deserve it. Don't deserve her. But I'm going to earn it anyway.
Two hours later, Kai arrives with fifteen warriors. He's bigger than I remember—more scarred, more dangerous-looking. Alpha life has changed him.
"So," Kai says, looking me over. "You going to explain why I'm risking my pack to save some girl you just met three days ago?"
"She's my mate. That's all the explanation you need."
Kai studies my face, then nods slowly. "Fair enough. Mates are sacred." He gestures to his warriors. "We'll help you get her back. But Damon—if this is some trap your father set up, if you're leading us into an ambush, I'll kill you myself."
"Understood."
We plan the attack quickly. Kai's pack specializes in stealth raids—they've been fighting border wars for years. If anyone can break into Shadow Mountain and extract Aria, it's them.
As we prepare to move out, my phone buzzes. Unknown number.
I answer it.
"Hello, son." My father's voice makes my blood run cold. "I know where you are. I know about the girl. And I know you're planning something foolish."
"How did you—"
"I have eyes everywhere. Including in Kai Nightshade's pack." Rowan's laugh is cruel. "Did you really think I wouldn't prepare for the day you finally betrayed me?"
My stomach drops. A spy. There's a spy in Kai's warriors.
"Here's what's going to happen," Rowan continues. "You're going to come home right now. You're going to complete your mating ceremony with Vivian in three days as planned. And you're going to forget about the Winters girl."
"Never."
"Then I'll kill her myself." Rowan's voice turns ice-cold. "I've already sent assassins to Shadow Mountain. Marcus was happy to give me her location in exchange for clearing his debts. Your mate will be dead within the hour unless you come home and swear loyalty to me."
The world tilts. "You're lying."
"Am I? Test me, Damon. Choose that girl over your pack, over your duty, over everything I've built for you. Let's see if she's still breathing when you arrive."
Through the mate bond, I feel Aria's sudden spike of terror. Screaming. Fighting.
The assassins are already there.
"STOP!" I shout into the phone. "I'll come home! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't hurt her!"
"Smart boy. You have one hour to reach pack territory. If you're late, the deal is off." Rowan hangs up.
I stand there, phone in my shaking hand, feeling my world collapse.
Kai moves beside me. "What did he say?"
"He has spies in your pack. He knows our plan. And he's got assassins going after Aria right now."
"Then we fight harder—"
"No." I look at Kai, and I know what I have to do. The choice I've been avoiding for three days finally crystallizes with brutal clarity. "I have to go back. Have to submit to my father and complete the bond with Vivian. It's the only way to save Aria's life."
"You're choosing wrong," Kai says quietly. "Your father is bluffing."
"What if he's not?" The mate bond pulses with Aria's pain. "What if I gamble on rescuing her and she dies because I was too slow? I can't risk her life on a maybe."
Kai grabs my shoulder. "If you go back and mate with Vivian, the bond with Aria will kill her anyway. Rejected mates don't survive. You know this."
He's right. Completing a bond with Vivian while Aria is my true mate will destroy her slowly from the inside. The mate bond will turn toxic, poisoning her until she dies in agony.
But if I refuse, my father kills her quickly.
Either way, Aria dies.
And it's all my fault.
"I'm sorry," I tell Kai. "Thank you for coming. But I have to do this alone."
I shift to wolf form and run toward home. Toward duty. Toward the mating ceremony that will save Aria's life today and destroy her slowly over the coming months.
Behind me, Kai shouts my name. But I don't stop.
The mate bond burns with every step, but I push forward anyway. Because this is what Alphas do—we make impossible choices. We sacrifice what we want for what others need.
I wanted Aria. Wanted the chance to prove I could be better than my father.
But she needs to live more than I need to be happy.
When I reach pack territory, my father is waiting. He smiles like he's won.
And maybe he has.