SHADOWS AT THE DOOR
632 Words
Kael’s lips were still on hers when the door slammed open.
“Alpha!” Rylan’s sharp voice sliced through the air.
Aria jerked back, her chest heaving, lips swollen from Kael’s kiss. Heat flushed her skin as shame, desire, and panic collided. Kael’s expression hardened instantly, golden eyes flashing with the cold authority of an Alpha.
“What?” he barked.
Rylan’s gaze flicked to Aria, sharp and accusing, before settling on his Alpha. “Scouts found a trail. Rogues. But… they weren’t random. They carried Dark Fang markings.”
The world tilted beneath Aria’s feet. Dark Fang. Darius’s pack.
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Are you certain?”
Rylan nodded. “Certain.”
Aria swallowed, her throat dry. Of all the packs, it had to be them. Her chest tightened, memories clawing their way back Darius’s cold eyes, the sting of rejection, the secret she carried from that night.
“Leave us,” Kael ordered.
Rylan’s jaw ticked, but he obeyed.
As soon as the door shut, Kael turned on her, voice low and dangerous. “Why are Dark Fang wolves hunting you?”
Aria froze. Her heart thundered. She could lie she should lie but Kael’s gaze bore into her, sharp enough to cut skin.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Don’t.” His voice was a growl now, his wolf bleeding through. “I can smell your fear. You do know.”
Her lips trembled, but she forced herself to meet his eyes. “They have no claim on me.”
Something dark flickered in his gaze. “No claim… or no claim anymore?”
Her heart stuttered. He was too close. Too perceptive. And if he ever learned the truth that she had once been promised to Darius, that she had been rejected in front of the entire Dark Fang pack, that she carried something far more dangerous than secrets he might cast her out just the same.
Aria took a shaky step back. “I told you what I know. Believe me or don’t.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed, suspicion hardening in their depths. “One thing you should understand, Aria…” His voice dropped to a lethal softness. “I don’t tolerate lies.”
Later that night, Aria lay awake in the small room upstairs. The valley outside was silent, but her mind roared.
Dark Fang.
Darius.
The bond she had been denied, the humiliation that had carved into her soul it was all catching up to her. And worse, the child she carried, hidden from all, tied her to a truth she could never allow Kael to uncover.
A soft knock startled her.
“It’s Theo,” came the whisper.
She cracked the door open. Theo leaned against the frame, his grin softer than usual, his eyes concerned.
“You okay?” he asked.
Aria hesitated. He wasn’t Kael. He didn’t glare, didn’t press. He just waited.
“I’m fine,” she lied.
Theo studied her. “You know, for someone who claims she’s fine, you look like you’re one nightmare away from breaking.”
Her lips parted, but she had no answer.
“Listen.” His voice dropped. “I don’t know what’s between you and the Alpha. I don’t want to. But whatever’s chasing you it’s big, isn’t it?”
Aria’s throat tightened. She almost said no. Almost. But then a howl cut through the night air low, long, and close.
Her blood froze.
Theo’s easy grin vanished. “Stay here.”
He sprinted down the hall, shifting before he reached the stairs. Bones cracked, fur rippled, and then he was gone, a sandy wolf streaking into the darkness.
Aria clutched the doorframe, her chest heaving. She knew that howl. It wasn’t just a rogue.
It was Darius.
And he had found her.
- Writer
