Chapter 6 - Aria
730 Words
By the time we reached the cabin, my legs were shaking.
The forest had closed in around me like a dream—twisting trees, thick fog, and an eerie quiet that felt too intentional. I was soaked to the bone, my hoodie clinging like a second skin, my boots squelching with every step. Kael walked ahead, silent, steady, like he belonged to this place in a way I never could.
I didn't trust him.
Not really.
But I was too tired to run again.
My thoughts came in fragments now. My limbs were heavy, but my senses were sharpening—I could smell the warmth of a fire long before I saw the glow through the trees. I could hear the low murmur of voices inside the cabin even though the door was still closed.
Two voices.
Male.
I almost turned around again.
Kael stopped at the edge of the clearing. The cabin rose from the woods like something built into the bones of the earth. Simple but strong—stone and timber, smoke rising from a wide chimney, yellow light spilling from the windows. Symbols were carved above the doorway. I couldn't read them, but my blood reacted to them. Warm. Humming.
"This is your last chance to run," Kael said without turning around.
I froze.
I looked at the door. At his back. At the storm behind me.
Every instinct screamed run.
But a deeper one whispered, stay.
I didn't answer. I just stepped forward and followed him to the porch.
Kael knocked once.
The door opened almost instantly.
And two more men stared back at me.
The one nearest the door had warm brown eyes, tousled dark hair, and hands that looked like they belonged to a healer—not soft, but capable. Gentle. He didn't speak right away. Just looked at me like I was something sacred and breakable.
The other man lounged against the wall like he didn't want to be there at all. Pale eyes, scar along one jaw, arms crossed like a barricade. I felt his judgment before he even opened his mouth.
"So that's her," he said flatly. "She looks... fragile."
I bristled. "Thanks. You look like a dick."
Kael choked on a laugh behind me, but the one by the wall—Ryker, I guessed—just narrowed his eyes.
"Great. Mouthy, too."
"Ryker," the first man warned gently.
My fists clenched before I realized it. I hadn't come here to be mocked, and I definitely hadn't come here to be underestimated.
I turned to Kael. "I don't know what you told them, but if you think I'm some helpless stray, I can go right back into that forest."
Kael met my gaze calmly. "You are a stray. But no one here expects you to be helpless."
The quiet one by the door finally stepped forward. "I'm Elias," he said softly. "And I'm... glad you came."
Something about his voice undid me just a little.
I dropped my gaze.
"I didn't really have a choice," I muttered.
"You did," he said. "You do. Every second you stay here, that's your choice."
I didn't respond. My throat was suddenly too tight.
Inside, the cabin was warm and quiet. The fire snapped softly, and the air smelled of pine, smoke, and something faintly sweet—like herbs and cedarwood. It should've felt safe. It almost did. But my whole body was still humming, braced for an attack I couldn't see.
They didn't crowd me. Didn't ask questions. Just gave me space.
Kael crossed to the kitchen, poured a cup of water, and handed it to me without a word.
I sipped.
And then I saw it.
By the hearth, near a folded blanket and a small stack of clothes, sat a book.
My book.
One I'd lost a year ago, back in a bus station when I was running from another foster home. Pages dog-eared, the cover cracked and familiar.
I walked to it slowly, lifted it in shaking hands.
"How—?"
"We've been watching over you longer than you know," Kael said from behind me. "You've always been ours. We just had to wait for you to feel it."
I turned to him. "I don't feel anything."
"You will."
And that terrified me more than anything.
Because deep down, under the fear and the fight and the fury...
I already did.
- Writer
