CHAPTER6
1113 Words
Chapter Six: Between Two Alphas
The wind howled through the trees as the unfamiliar Alpha emerged from the shadows, tall and commanding, his broad shoulders draped in a black cloak that moved like liquid darkness behind him. His presence was a quiet contradiction, but immense. Dominant.
Kael tensed beside Aria, a low growl rumbling in his throat. His silver eyes flared with something feral territorial. Aria had never seen fear on Kael’s face. Until now.
But it wasn’t Kael the man addressed.
“Didn’t expect to find you here, Aria,” the stranger said again, stepping forward with a confidence that bordered on arrogance. “After all these years, I thought you were long gone. Dead, even.”
Aria’s heart thudded. Her pulse raced.
“Who... are you?” she asked, barely finding her voice.
The man tilted his head, a faint smirk playing at his lips. “You don’t remember me?”
She shook her head slowly, watching him warily. Something about him tugged at her memory vague, misty impressions buried under a decade of pain.
“I suppose ten years can erase a lot,” he said, his tone softer now. “But not for me. I remember you vividly, Aria.”
Kael stepped in front of her, a protective growl still simmering in his chest. “Step back. She’s not yours.”
The man’s eyes gleamed, not with fear, but amusement. “She’s not yours either. Not anymore.”
Aria’s breath caught in her throat.
“I don’t belong to either of you,” she snapped, stepping between them. “Now someone better start talking. Who are you? How do you know me?”
Aria said,
The man looked at her for a long moment. Then, as if stripping away a decade in a single breath, he said, “My name is Alpha Darius Riven.
Son of Alpha Gideon.
And once, long ago, you're betrothed.”
The forest fell silent.
Kael’s jaw clenched.
Aria’s heart stopped.
Betrothed?
“That’s not possible,” she murmured. “I would’ve remembered”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Darius cut in gently. “Because your father made sure you wouldn’t.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Enough of your lies, Darius. She doesn’t remember because it never happened.”
Darius turned his gaze on Kael, no longer amused. “Still playing the protector? Or just trying to rewrite history to cover your sins?”
Aria took a step back, her mind spinning. This couldn’t be real. She didn’t remember Darius, didn’t remember a promise, a betrothal nothing. And yet... something inside her was calm. A flicker of something that didn’t feel like a lie.
“You’re saying my father arranged for me to marry you?” she asked, trying to piece the puzzle together.
Darius nodded slowly. “It was done when you were eight. A union between two of the oldest packs. You were to become Luna of the Northern Wilds. But the moment your sister drowned or seemed to drown everything changed. You vanished. And the treaty collapsed.”
Aria stumbled backward, her chest tightening. Ten years ago, when she fell into that river with her sister... had her father used that tragedy to erase her from the political map? To make her disappear completely?
“No one looked for me,” she whispered. “Not one person.”
Darius’s voice softened. “Because your father declared you dead.”
Kael turned sharply to her. “I didn’t know that.”
“But you didn’t ask either,” she replied bitterly, meeting his eyes. “You let them bury me.”
Kael’s face twisted, pain flashing across it but it was too late. The fracture between them had deepened.
“Why now?” Aria asked Darius, desperate for clarity. “Why are you here now?”
“Because the Council of Elders has summoned you,” Darius said, his tone turning grim.
“They know you’re alive. They know you’re Kael’s mate. And they know your sister Selene has returned.”
A chill rippled down Aria’s spine.
“Why would that matter?” she asked.
Darius stepped closer, his expression grave. “Because Selene is claiming the Luna title through Kael... but you are the one who holds the original blood contract. You were meant to rule, Aria.
Your mark.
Your blood.
You’re the chosen Luna. And now, the Council is preparing to challenge her claim.”
Kael stiffened beside her, and she realized he hadn’t known. Not all of it.
“And they’re calling on me?” Aria asked, her voice trembling. “To fight for a throne I never wanted?”
“No,” Darius said. “They’re not asking.”
Aria’s breath caught.
“You have a choice,” Darius said. “Stand before the Council, claim your rightful place or watch Selene rise as Luna of both territories, binding your bloodline to her rule forever.”
Kael growled. “I won’t allow it. I’ll handle the Council.”
“You’ve done enough,” Darius replied coldly. “You let her rot while her sister took her life. Now it’s time she decides.”
Silence fell.
Aria was a bit confused.
For the first time, Aria stood between two Alphas, one who had once been promised to her, and one who had marked her but cast her aside. And she? She stood with ten years of pain, silence, and betrayal coiled inside her chest.
She looked at Kael. Then at Darius. And she saw what this was:
A war for power. For her. And she was the battlefield.
No one was asking what she wanted.
She had been invisible her whole life.
Not anymore.
She lifted her chin. “Then I’ll face the Council.”
Kael turned to her, fury rising.
“Aria, you don’t know what they’ll do to you.”
“No,” she said, eyes burning. “But I know what you did.”
Darius inclined his head, silent approval in his gaze.
“Then it’s settled,” he said. “We leave by dawn.”
Kael stepped in front of Aria, eyes flashing. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
Darius matched his stance. “She’s not yours to keep anymore.”
Aria shoved past them both, her voice a knife in the cold air. “I belong to no one. If this is about power, then let the Council see me for who I really am.”
She turned and walked away, breath ragged, chest burning.
A figure slim, delicate, watching from the darkness with gleaming amber eyes.
Kiera.
And she smiled.
Kiera had followed them.
And she had heard everything.
Let the war begin.
- Writer
