The Huntress’s Mate

Chapter One – The Huntress The night was quiet, the kind of quiet that pressed against the skin and made every breath sound too loud. Aria stood at the edge of the forest, with her eyes as sharp as a knife,ears at alert!,bow resting against her leg, and let her eyes trace the shape of the blood moon hanging heavy above the treetops. Its red glow bled across the sky, setting the world in a dim, eerie light. Nights like this were made for wolves. Nights like this were made for kill or be killed and if you have to kill to survive,you should. Her fingers brushed the hilt of the silver dagger strapped to her thigh. She’d oiled the blade until it gleamed and it I’ll it’s very sharp earlier that afternoon, every stroke of the cloth whispering the same promise she had carried since she was a girl: one day, she would face the Alpha. One day, she would not run, not hide, not fall like her mother did beneath snapping jaws. Behind her came the sound of boots crunching dry leaves.she stiffened. “You’re too still,” Mira said, stepping up beside her. The older huntress adjusted the strap of her own crossbow and squinted into the trees. “Wolves will smell hesitation before they smell blood.” Aria smirked faintly, though her chest was tight. “I’m not hesitating.” “You always say that.” Mira studied her for a long moment before shaking her head. “Your mother would have told you the same. Overconfidence and fear, they wear the same face in the dark.” Aria’s smirk faded. Her mother’s memory was a wound she carried in silence. Everyone in the village knew how she died,torn down on the edge of this very forest, leaving behind a daughter who was barely old enough to hold a knife. That story had followed Aria her whole life, wrapping itself around her name like a curse. That was why she was here. Why she trained harder than anyone else. Why she refused to flinch when others did. Tonight was not just another hunt. It was her chance to break the shadow that had clung to her since childhood. “I won’t fail,” Aria said, her voice low, more for herself than for Mira. She was scared,shaking horribly inside but she has to act as tough as she can. The older woman placed a hand briefly on her shoulder. “See that you don’t.” Mira slipped into the trees first, moving with the ease of someone who had been hunting for decades. Aria followed, silent as she could manage, her heart a drum in her chest.,her legs shaking with no balance,The forest swallowed them whole, the shadows shifting with every sway of branches in the wind. The deeper they went, the stronger the air smelled..pine, damp earth, and something else underneath. Musk. Wild. The scent of wolves. Aria’s skin prickled. “Remember,” Mira whispered, crouching low as they reached a thicket, “we aim for strays, not the Alpha. Stay with the plan.” Aria nodded, but her thoughts had already drifted. The Alpha. Selene, they called her. The she-wolf who had risen after tearing her own father from the throne of the pack. Stories about her were whispered in the village.,too fast to track, too cruel to reason with, too dangerous to face but stories had teeth, and Aria had grown tired of living inside them. A branch snapped to their right. Both women froze. Aria’s hand shot to her bow, drawing an arrow in one smooth motion. Her eyes narrowed on the movement between the trees..dark fur, low to the ground, gleaming eyes that reflected the red of the moon. A wolf. It was smaller than the ones she imagined when she thought of Selene, but its shoulders rippled with power as it prowled forward, teeth bared. Mira shifted her crossbow up, but Aria moved first. The arrow flew, slicing through the air, striking the beast square in the chest. It dropped without a sound. Her chest rose and fell quickly, her pulse hammering. “Clean shot,” Mira muttered, her face unreadable. “But don’t waste your strength. They hunt in packs.” Before Aria could answer, a howl split the night. Long, low, and chilling, it rolled through the forest and made the hair at the back of her neck rise. “That’s her,” Mira whispered, her voice tight. “The Alpha.” Aria’s grip tightened on her bow. She didn’t need anyone to tell her. She felt it..,deep in her bones, in the air itself. The sound carried weight, commanding and raw, as if the forest bent to its will. The howl faded, but the echo lingered. Mira tugged at Aria’s arm. “We need to pull back. She’ll come looking.”,Aria we need to run as fast as we can. But Aria didn’t move. Her eyes searched the dark ahead, straining for a glimpse of the one she had been chasing in her mind for years. A strange heat coursed through her chest, something sharper than fear, heavier than anger. “I’m not running,” Aria said, her voice steadier than she felt. Mira asked “what are you saying?” “I’m not running” Aria repeated Mira’s hand dropped away, frustration flashing in her eyes. “Don’t be a fool, Aria. The Alpha isn’t yours to face. Not tonight.” Aria was already stepping forward, deeper into the shadows, drawn by something she couldn’t name. Every instinct screamed at her to stop, to return, to obey the rules drilled into her since childhood and yet… the blood moon burned above her, and the sound of that howl still lingered in her veins. The huntress inside her knew the truth. This night wasn’t about strays. She tried to shake it off that it was about the strays but deep down she knew it wasn’t. It was about her. And it was about the Alpha.