KAEL'S POV
The woman standing in the doorway wasn't the Aria I remembered.
The Aria I knew was small, gentle, always trying to make herself invisible. She wore soft colors and spoke in quiet voices and looked at me like I hung the moon.
This woman... this being... radiated power that made my Alpha instincts scream in confusion. Submit or fight? Bow or resist? She was mate and goddess and stranger all at once.
"Alpha Blackthorn," she said, and her voice wasn't just sound—it was vibration. I felt it in my bones, in my wolf, in the broken mate bond that suddenly flared to agonizing life after three years of silence.
Every wolf in the Grand Hall felt it too. I watched them flinch, hands flying to their chests like she'd reached inside and squeezed their hearts.
"I am Aria Silvermoon," she continued, walking further into the chamber with inhuman grace. "Lunar Guardian, returned by the Moon Goddess's will to prevent the Void King's resurrection."
The room exploded.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Marcus roared. "We buried her! I saw the body myself!"
"Witch!" someone else shouted. "This is dark magic! Necromancy!"
"She's a fraud!" Alpha Garrett lunged forward. "Some imposter using illusions to—"
Aria raised one hand.
That simple gesture—palm up, fingers spread—shouldn't have been threatening.
It was devastating.
Silver light erupted from her hand and slammed into the room like a physical wall. The wave of pure divine power crashed over us with the force of a hurricane.
Wolves dropped like puppets with cut strings.
Alpha Garrett hit his knees mid-lunge, head bowed, unable to finish his attack. Marcus—the most powerful Alpha in the territories—crumpled to the stone floor, his neck bared in involuntary submission. Alpha Chen, old and proud and undefeated in sixty years of challenges, prostrated himself completely.
Fifty Alphas. On their knees. Heads down. Utterly powerless.
The command woven into her power was absolute: KNEEL.
My legs buckled.
Every instinct screamed at me to submit. My wolf was going insane, torn between Alpha pride and mate recognition. Submit to our mate, he howled. She's dominant. She's powerful. She's OURS.
But I was Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack. I bowed to no one.
I locked my knees. Planted my feet. And fought her power with everything I had.
It was like trying to stand in a avalanche.
Sweat poured down my face. My muscles shook. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision. But I stayed on my feet—barely.
Aria's glowing silver eyes found mine across the room.
For just a moment, something flickered in them. Surprise, maybe. Or respect.
"Still fighting even when you should surrender," she said softly. "Some things never change, Kael."
The use of my first name—not Alpha Blackthorn, just Kael—hit me harder than her power ever could.
She remembered. Somewhere under all that divine authority, the real Aria still existed.
"I don't surrender," I ground out through clenched teeth. "Not to anyone."
"I know." Her smile was sad. "That was always your problem."
She released her power.
The pressure vanished instantly. Alphas gasped, stumbling to their feet. Some looked furious. Others terrified. Marcus's face was purple with rage and humiliation.
"How dare you—" he started.
"I dare because I'm the only thing standing between your territories and complete annihilation," Aria cut him off, her voice sharp as silver blades. "The Void King's prison is breaking. Dark magic spreads through the Veil Woods. Your wolves are going feral, attacking their own families. And it will only get worse unless we act immediately."
"Then seal him!" Alpha Chen demanded, still shaking from being forced to kneel. "If you're this all-powerful Guardian, do your job!"
"I can't." Aria's eyes swept the room. "Not alone. The sealing ritual requires the Lunar Guardian and her true mate working in perfect synchronization. Their combined power—divine and Alpha—is the only force strong enough to cage the Void King permanently."
My heart stopped at those words.
True mate.
The bond we'd shared. The one I destroyed when I chose Selene over her.
"Unfortunately," Aria continued, each word carefully measured, "my true mate is already married to another woman. Which presents a rather significant obstacle to saving your world."
Every eye turned to me.
Selene stood frozen at my side, her face white as snow. She knew. Of course she knew. Our entire marriage was built on the grave of my bond with Aria.
"This is absurd!" Marcus slammed his fist on a table. "My daughter is Kael's legal mate! This... this creature has no claim to him whatsoever!"
"Claim?" Aria's laugh was cold enough to freeze blood. "I'm not claiming anything, Alpha Nightshade. I released Kael Blackthorn three years ago when he stood before this very Council and rejected our bond. When he chose political power over the mate the Moon Goddess herself selected for him."
The reminder cut like a knife.
"I have no interest in reclaiming what I already threw away," she said, but something in her voice cracked—just barely. "However, the prophecy doesn't care about my personal feelings. The ritual is absolute: Guardian and true mate, or the world falls to darkness."
"There must be another way," I said, my voice rough. "Another ritual, another partner, anything—"
"There isn't." Lyra stepped forward, her ancient eyes sad. "I've searched every prophecy, every text, every divine message for centuries. The answer is always the same: only the Guardian and her true mate can seal the Void King. No substitutes. No alternatives."
"Then we'll make it work," I said firmly. "Aria and I will—"
"Will what?" Aria interrupted, her silver eyes locked on mine. "Pretend we're still bonded? Act like you didn't destroy what we had? The ritual requires an active mate bond, Kael. Open. Trusting. Built on love freely given."
She took a step toward me, and I saw the hurt underneath her divine indifference.
"Our bond is dead," she said quietly. "You killed it when you chose her over me. When you let me die believing I was worthless. When you buried me and moved on with your perfect political marriage."
"I never moved on," I said desperately. "Aria, I've spent three years—"
"Three years visiting my grave once a month?" Her smile was bitter. "Three years apologizing to a tombstone? That's not love, Kael. That's guilt. And guilt isn't enough to power a divine ritual."
"Rejected bonds can be reformed," Lyra said carefully. "It's rare, but possible. If both parties choose to accept the bond again, speak the words before the Moon Goddess, and truly open their hearts—"
"No." Aria's voice cut like steel. "Absolutely not."
"Then everyone dies," Marcus said coldly. "Your choice, Guardian. Bind yourself to Kael, or watch the world burn."
Aria's hands clenched into fists. Silver light flickered around her fingers.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then she turned those devastating silver eyes on me.
"I need to think," she said. "I need time to—"
The Grand Hall doors burst open.
A wolf stumbled through, clothes shredded, covered in blood. Not his own blood—too much of it, too dark.
"The Veil Woods," he gasped. "It's spreading faster. The darkness jumped the border. Three packs already overrun. Wolves turning feral by the hundreds."
Ice flooded my veins.
"How long until it reaches the major territories?" Alpha Garrett demanded.
The messenger's face was grey with terror. "Hours. Maybe less. It's hunting, moving with intelligence. And..."
He swallowed hard.
"And what?" I asked.
"There's something at the center of it. Something massive. Something that's been calling your name, Alpha Blackthorn." The messenger looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. "It says it's coming for everyone you love. Starting with—"
He never finished.
Black smoke exploded from his mouth. His eyes rolled back, turning completely black.
When he spoke again, it wasn't his voice.
It was ancient. Evil. Layered with a thousand tortured souls.
"Hello, Guardian," the Void King said through the possessed wolf's body. "I've been waiting three years to meet you. Did you really think you could save him? After everything he did to you?"
The wolf's head turned toward me, those black eyes boring into my soul.
"I'm going to enjoy breaking him," the Void King continued. "Slowly. Piece by piece. Starting with his sister. She tasted so sweet when I touched her mind."
Elena.
My baby sister.
Terror like I'd never known crashed through me.
"Where is she?" I snarled. "What did you do to Elena?"
The possessed wolf smiled—a horrible, wrong expression.
"She's with me now. In the darkness. Screaming your name. Come find her, Alpha... if you dare."
Then the wolf collapsed, the darkness fleeing his body like smoke.
But the damage was done.
The Void King had Elena.
And he was using her as bait.