THE. ALPHA'S HUMAN LUNA

Chapter Three: The Words Overheard

Aria against the grip holding her, her scream muffled against a gloved hand. Panic ripped through her chest as the hooded figure dragged her deeper into the shadow of the garden wall.

*The Moon Guardian must die.*

The words made no sense, but the knife glinting in the attacker's other hand made plenty of sense, and Aria fought with everything she had, twisting, kicking, clawing at the arm around her.

A snarl tore through the darkness.

The hand vanished from her mouth as something huge and black slammed into her attacker, sending them both crashing into the hedges. Aria stumbled back, gasping, and watched a massive wolf with fur dark as midnight pin the hooded figure to the ground.

She knew that wolf.

"Ryder," she breathed.

The attacker didn't wait to find out if Ryder's jaws would finish the job. In one desperate motion, they slashed a blade across the wolf's shoulder, tore free, and vanished over the garden wall before the guards came running.

Ryder shifted back mid-motion, human again, blood running down his arm from the cut, but his eyes were only on her.

"Are you hurt?" His voice came out rough, urgent, nothing like the cold Alpha from the celebration hall.

"I'm fine," Aria said, though her hands were shaking so badly she had to press them together. "Ryder, someone just tried to kill me. They called me the Moon Guardian. What does that mean?"

Something shuttered behind his eyes. The warmth from a second ago disappeared, replaced by that same unreadable wall he always put up.

"It's nothing," he said. "Some rogue with a grudge against the pack."

"That's not nothing! He knew my name, he knew exactly where to find me—"

"Aria." His voice cut sharp through hers, more command than comfort. "Go back inside. Now."

She stared at him, furious and frightened in equal measure. "You don't get to order me around and then refuse to explain anything."

"I do when it keeps you alive," he said, already turning to bark orders at the warriors rushing into the garden. "Double the patrols. I want this wall checked for tracks before dawn."

Aria stood there, forgotten, watching him command his warriors like she was nothing more than a problem that had been handled. It stung worse than the humiliation at the celebration. At least then he'd looked guilty. Now he just looked like a stranger.

She went back inside without another word, because staying outside arguing with a man who wouldn't even look at her wasn't worth it.

Sleep didn't come easily after that, but exhaustion eventually won. Aria woke the next afternoon to sunlight slanting through her window and her whole body sore from tension.

She spent the day quiet, watchful, jumping at shadows that used to mean nothing to her. Every servant who passed too close made her flinch. Every whisper in the hallway made her wonder if it was about her.

That evening, restless and unable to sit still in her room any longer, she wandered toward Ryder's study, telling herself she only wanted answers, not that she wanted to see him.

The study door was cracked open. Voices drifted out, low and tense.

She recognized Ryder's voice first, and then Elder Corwin's, one of the oldest and most respected members of the pack council.

Aria should have walked away.

She stayed.

"—can't keep this from her forever," Elder Corwin was saying. "The girl deserves to know what she is."

"And the moment she knows," Ryder snapped back, "she becomes a target the Blood Fang Alliance can use against her. You think ignorance is cruel? Try telling a twenty-two-year-old she's the last living Moon Guardian and watch what happens the moment that information reaches the wrong ears."

Aria's breath caught in her throat.

*Moon Guardian.*

Same words the attacker had used.

"She already is a target," Elder Corwin said. "That much is clear after last night."

"Which is exactly why I need more time," Ryder said. "Time to find out who's behind this before I hand her a truth she can't protect herself from."

"And Selene?"

A pause. "Still investigating. If she's Blood Fang, and I believe she is, then exposing her too soon warns the entire Alliance we know they're here."

"You're playing a dangerous game, Ryder."

"I know exactly how dangerous it is," Ryder said, quieter now, something raw bleeding into his voice. "If she discovers the prophecy now, if word reaches the wrong pack before I'm ready, she'll be dead before the next full moon. I won't let that happen. Not to her."

Aria's hand flew to her mouth.

The floorboard beneath her foot chose that exact moment to creak.

Silence fell instantly on the other side of the door. Aria backed away fast, heart slamming against her ribs, but she wasn't fast enough. The door swung open and Ryder stood there, his silver eyes finding her immediately.

"How much did you hear?" he asked, low and urgent.

Aria lifted her chin, refusing to shrink under his stare even as her pulse roared in her ears. "Enough to know you've been lying to me. Moon Guardian. Prophecy. What am I, Ryder?"

His jaw worked, some battle happening behind his eyes that she couldn't read. For one long moment, she thought he might actually tell her.

Then Elder Corwin stepped into view behind him. "This isn't the place," the old wolf said gently. "Come inside, child. Let us explain."

Aria hesitated, torn between fury and the desperate need for answers that had been eating at her for days.

She stepped into the study.

The door had barely closed behind her when a horn blast tore through the night air outside, three sharp notes that made every hair on Aria's arms stand up.

Ryder went rigid.

"That's the border alarm," he said.

Kade burst through the door a heartbeat later, breathless, blood on his sleeve. "Alpha. Northern wall's been breached. It's Blood Fang, a full unit, and Selene—" He stopped, chest heaving.

"What about Selene?" Ryder demanded.

"She's gone," Kade said. "Nobody's seen her since the alarm sounded. And the warriors guarding the east gate. Alpha, they're dead