THE. ALPHA'S HUMAN LUNA

Chapter Two: Watched

Aria didn't try the gates again that day.

There wasn't much point. If Ryder wanted her trapped inside Moonshadow Pack, arguing with two guards who were just following orders wouldn't change anything. She needed another way out, and she needed to think clearly to find it.

She spent the morning avoiding the mansion's main hallways, ducking into the kitchen garden instead, where she used to help the cooks pick herbs when she was younger. Nobody bothered her there. It was quiet, and quiet was all she wanted.

"You're not eating," said a voice behind her.

Aria turned to find Mira, one of the kitchen maids, holding out a plate of bread and cheese. Mira was one of the few pack members who'd never treated Aria like she was less than human for being, well, human.

"Not hungry," Aria said.

Mira set the plate down anyway. "Everyone's talking about last night."

"I bet they are."

"For what it's worth," Mira said, lowering her voice, "half the warriors think something's off. Ryder's been Alpha eight years. Man's never once brought a stranger into this pack and named her Luna in the same breath. Didn't even introduce her to the Elders first. That's not how it's done."

Aria picked at the bread without really tasting it. "Maybe he didn't need to. She's his fated mate. The bond decides that, not tradition."

"Maybe," Mira said, though she didn't sound convinced. "Still strange, is all I'm saying."

Aria didn't answer. She didn't have the energy to hope there was more to it. Hope was what got her hurt in the first place.

That night, she tried the east gate instead of the main one, the smaller entrance used mostly by traders. It was unguarded most nights, or it always had been before.

Tonight there were two warriors posted there who hadn't been there yesterday.

"Territory's on alert," one of them told her. "Alpha's orders. Nobody in or out till further notice."

Aria walked back to the mansion with her jaw clenched so tight it ached. Territory on alert. Since when? Nobody had said a word about any threat, no messenger runners, no warning bells, nothing.

Unless the alert had nothing to do with the territory and everything to do with her.

She turned that thought over as she climbed the stairs to her room, and she was still turning it over when she nearly walked straight into Selene coming the other way.

"Oh! Aria." Selene's smile arrived a half second late. "I was hoping we'd run into each other."

"Were you," Aria said flatly.

"I know last night was a shock." Selene tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, all soft concern. "I wanted you to know, I never meant to hurt you. I had no idea you and Ryder were so close."

"We were closer than close," Aria said. "For five years."

Something shifted behind Selene's eyes, there and gone so fast Aria almost missed it again, same as the hall the night before. Not hurt. Not sympathy.

Calculation.

"The bond isn't something either of us chose," Selene said. "I hope you can understand that eventually. I'd really like for us to be friends, Aria. Maybe even sisters, in time."

"I don't need a sister," Aria said. "I need to leave. Except apparently the entire pack is on lockdown."

Selene's expression didn't c***k, but her hand found Aria's wrist, fingers cool and firm. "Please don't leave. Not yet. It isn't safe out there for you right now."

"That's the second time someone's told me that today."

"Because it's true." For a moment, Selene's voice lost its practiced warmth. It came out sharper, almost urgent. "Just stay. A little longer. That's all I'm asking."

Aria pulled her wrist free. "Why does it matter to you where I go?"

Selene's smile slid back into place like a mask clicking shut. "Because I care about this pack. And you're part of it, whether Ryder says so out loud or not."

She walked away before Aria could respond, leaving her standing alone in the hallway with more questions than she'd started with.

Ryder found himself standing outside Aria's door again that night, the same as he had a dozen nights over the years when something troubled him and he needed to see for himself that she was safe.

He didn't knock this time.

Through the door, he could hear her moving around her room, restless, the soft creak of floorboards as she paced. He clenched his fist against the doorframe and made himself walk away.

*She hates you now,* he thought. *Good. Let her hate you. Hate keeps her alive.*

He found his Beta, Kade, waiting for him at the end of the hall, arms crossed, expression grim.

"Report," Ryder said.

"Two more scouts spotted near the northern border tonight. Blood Fang colors, same as last week." Kade kept his voice low. "They're getting bolder. Used to stay a mile out. Tonight one of them got within sight of the wall before our patrol chased him off."

Ryder's jaw tightened. "They know she's here."

"Looks that way."

"And Selene?"

"Still can't confirm anything," Kade said. "She checks out on paper. Family from the eastern packs, distant cousin of some minor Alpha bloodline. But paper can be forged, and something about her doesn't sit right with me."

"Keep watching her," Ryder said. "Quietly. I don't want her knowing we suspect anything."

Kade hesitated. "And Aria?"

Ryder's chest ached at just the sound of her name. "Guards stay on all the gates. Nobody lets her leave the territory. Not until I know she's safe from whatever's coming."

"She's going to hate you for this," Kade said carefully. "More than she already does."

"I know."

"You could just tell her the truth."

Ryder shook his head slowly. "The moment she knows what she is, every enemy watching this pack will know exactly why she matters. I won't put a target on her back before I have to."

Kade studied him a long moment. "You're going to lose her over this. You understand that."

Ryder didn't answer. He already understood it better than anyone. He turned and walked back toward his study, where a stack of old Elder texts waited, pages he'd read a hundred times searching for anything that might buy Aria more time.

He didn't sleep that night. He rarely did anymore.

Aria couldn't sleep either.

Something about the conversation with Selene kept circling in her mind, the flash of something cold beneath all that practiced sweetness. She sat by her window, staring out at the moonlit training grounds, and that was when she noticed movement near the tree line at the edge of the property.

A figure, cloaked, moving fast and low along the wall.

Aria's pulse spiked. She grabbed her shawl and slipped out of her room, following the narrow servants' stairwell down toward the garden, telling herself she was only checking, only making sure it was nothing.

The garden was empty when she reached it. Quiet. Too quiet.

"Looking for something?"

Aria spun around.

Nobody was there.

Her heart hammered as she backed toward the mansion, and that was when a hand closed around her arm from the shadows, yanking her sideways into the dark beneath the garden wall. She opened her mouth to scream and a gloved palm clamped over it before any sound could escape.

A voice hissed against her ear, low and cold.

"The Moon Guardian must die."