Aria's POV
The Bloodhunters' blood rained down on us like a nightmare storm.
I stood frozen, covered in crimson, staring at the red-haired girl who'd just exploded six deadly creatures with a flick of her wrists. She looked barely old enough to drive, but the power radiating from her made my own magic feel like a candle next to a bonfire.
"You're welcome, by the way," she said cheerfully, wiping blood from her face. "Name's Rowan. Rowan Blackwood. Your second cousin, technically, though the family tree gets complicated after a few generations of hiding."
"How did you—" My voice failed.
"Do that?" She grinned. "Practice, mostly. And Grandma's training. She's been preparing me my whole life for the day another blood witch finally woke up." Her expression sobered. "She saw it in a vision three months ago. Saw you awakening, saw the Bloodhunters rising, saw..." She glanced at Dominic and Cade. "Well, this whole mess, basically."
"Your grandmother has visions?" Thaddeus had mentioned other blood witches, but I'd pictured frightened wolves hiding in basements, not organized families with seers.
"Had visions. Past tense." Rowan's smile faded completely. "The Bloodhunters found her two days ago. She held them off long enough for me to escape, but..." Her voice cracked. "She's gone now. You and I are the last of the Blackwood line."
The grief in her eyes was raw and fresh, mirroring the loss I felt for Thaddeus. We'd both lost our teachers, our protectors, in the span of days.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
"Me too." She squared her shoulders. "But Grandma didn't sacrifice herself so I could stand here crying. She told me to find you, protect you, and help you become strong enough to end this." Her glowing eyes swept over Dominic and Cade. "Though she didn't mention you'd be collecting Alpha bodyguards."
"They're not—" I started.
"I'm her mate," Dominic said firmly.
"I own her contract," Cade added.
"And I'm the one who just saved all your asses," Rowan interrupted. "So maybe we skip the territorial posturing and focus on the bigger problem? Like the fact that Bloodhunters hunt in packs of twelve, which means there are six more out there somewhere."
The words had barely left her mouth when howls erupted from three different directions.
"Run or fight?" Cade asked, gripping his spear.
"Can't run forever," Dominic said, his wolf rising in his eyes. "We make a stand."
"With what?" I gestured around us. "We barely survived six of them, and that was only because Rowan—"
"Can't do that again," Rowan finished. "Exploding their blood takes everything I have. I'm already running on fumes." She swayed slightly, and I realized how pale she'd gone. "But I can still fight. Question is, can you?"
Could I? I'd used my power to control wolves, to heal Dominic, but I'd never actually tried to kill anything. The thought of deliberately ending a life, even a monster's life, made my stomach turn.
But the Bloodhunters weren't going to give me time for moral debates.
They came from the trees like shadows with teeth—six more of the massive creatures, their red eyes locked on Rowan and me. Their hunger was palpable, a wrongness that made my magic recoil.
"Aria!" Dominic shifted into his wolf form, placing himself between me and the nearest Bloodhunter. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now!"
I reached for my power, feeling it surge through my veins. The Bloodhunters' blood called to me, but it was wrong—corrupted and twisted, fighting my control. I couldn't just stop their hearts like I did with normal wolves.
But maybe I didn't need to.
"Rowan!" I grabbed her hand. "Can you feel their blood?"
"Yeah, it's disgusting—"
"Can you work with another blood witch? Combine our power?"
Her eyes widened with understanding. "Grandma mentioned it once. Blood witches used to fight in pairs, amplifying each other's magic." She gripped my hand tighter. "But she also said it was dangerous. If we're not perfectly in sync, we could kill each other."
A Bloodhunter lunged at Cade. He drove his spear into its shoulder, but the creature barely slowed.
"We're out of options!" I pulled Rowan closer. "On three?"
"On three."
Our blood connected—not mixed, but aligned, two streams of power flowing together like rivers merging into one. The sensation was overwhelming, intimate, terrifying. I felt Rowan's grief for her grandmother, her fear, her desperate hope that we could win this.
And she felt me—all my pain, my rage, my determination to never be powerless again.
Together, we reached for the Bloodhunters' blood.
The creatures shrieked as we seized control, not trying to stop their hearts but to turn their own corrupted blood against them. We made it boil in their veins, made it burn like acid, made it tear them apart from the inside.
Three of them collapsed, thrashing.
But the effort was draining us. I could feel Rowan's strength failing, feel my own vision darkening at the edges.
"We can't—" she gasped.
The remaining three Bloodhunters charged.
Then something unexpected happened.
The mate bond between Dominic and me flared brilliant and hot, and through it, I felt his wolf's strength flooding into me. Not his blood magic—he didn't have that—but his raw Alpha power, his life force, freely given.
"Take what you need," Dominic's voice echoed in my mind through the bond. "I trust you."
The gift of that trust, after everything we'd been through, brought tears to my eyes.
I pulled on his strength, channeling it through the connection Rowan and I had built. The three of us—blood witch, blood witch, and Alpha wolf—became something greater than our individual parts.
We shattered the remaining Bloodhunters in an explosion of power that lit up the forest like lightning.
Then everything went quiet.
I collapsed, Rowan falling beside me. Dominic shifted back to human form, swaying but alive. Cade stood watch, his spear ready, scanning for more threats.
"Is it over?" I whispered.
"Twelve Bloodhunters," Rowan said weakly. "That was a full pack. Should be over."
But the forest felt wrong. Too quiet. Too still.
Cade's phone buzzed. He checked it, and his face went pale. "We have a bigger problem."
"Bigger than Bloodhunters?" Dominic asked.
"The Council just issued an official decree." Cade's voice was grim. "All blood witches are to be captured or killed on sight. They're offering a million-dollar bounty per witch, dead or alive." He looked at Rowan and me. "Every pack, every rogue, every hunter in North America is going to be coming for you."
My heart sank. "They're declaring war on us."
"Not just on blood witches." Cade turned his phone around, showing us a photo that made my blood run cold.
It was Zara, chained and bloodied, being dragged through Blood Moon territory by Council enforcers.
"They're rounding up anyone who helped you, anyone who knew what you were and didn't report it." His jaw clenched. "They're using your friends as bait to draw you out."
"No." I struggled to my feet despite my exhaustion. "We have to save her."
"It's a trap," Dominic said. "They know you'll come."
"I don't care." I looked at each of them—Rowan, my cousin and my kind; Dominic, my mate who'd finally chosen me; Cade, who'd shown me I could be more than a victim. "Zara saved my life when I had nothing. I'm not abandoning her."
"Then we go together," Rowan said, pushing herself up. "Blood witches don't leave family behind."
"Agreed," Dominic said simply.
Cade twirled his spear once. "Well, I always wanted to go to war with the Council anyway. Might as well do it for a good cause."
We started toward the vehicles, exhausted but determined.
That's when I felt it—a new presence, watching from the shadows. Not a Bloodhunter. Something else. Something that felt almost... familiar.
I spun around, searching the darkness.
A figure stepped into view at the forest's edge. A woman with midnight hair and storm-gray eyes that looked exactly like mine.
My mother.
"Hello, Aria," Elena Blackwood said, her voice cold. "We need to talk about the real reason I sold you."