Chapter 3: The Bloodline They Hid
1158 Words
“Princess?”
The word felt like it belonged to someone else.
Not me.
I looked at the stranger kneeling before me, then at Kael standing beside me.
Neither of them looked confused.
Neither of them looked like this was a mistake.
That scared me more than anything.
I stepped back.
“No.”
The stranger slowly lifted his head.
“Princess Aria—”
“No.”
My voice came out sharper this time.
“I am not a princess.”
I had spent twenty-two years knowing exactly who I was.
Aria Vale.
An omega.
An orphan.
A girl who had learned not to expect too much from life.
I couldn’t suddenly become someone else because a stranger appeared in the middle of the night and said so.
The man stood slowly.
“My name is Lucian Voss.”
He placed a hand over his heart.
“I was the royal guardian of the Moonborn Dynasty.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But the way Kael reacted told me everything.
His expression changed.
“You said Moonborn?”
Lucian looked at him.
“Yes.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
“That bloodline was destroyed twenty years ago.”
A strange feeling settled in my stomach.
Destroyed.
Why did that word feel familiar?
Lucian looked back at me.
“Not destroyed.”
His voice became softer.
“Hidden.”
I swallowed.
“Hidden from who?”
The silence that followed was enough.
I already knew the answer was something terrible.
Lucian’s face hardened.
“From those who wanted your bloodline erased forever.”
I shook my head.
“My parents were ordinary.”
The words came automatically.
That was the story I had been told my entire life.
Lucian’s eyes filled with sadness.
“Who told you that?”
I opened my mouth.
Then stopped.
Everyone.
Everyone had told me.
But suddenly, I realized something.
Nobody had ever told me the details.
Nobody had ever shown me pictures.
Nobody had ever talked about my childhood.
My past was just a blank space.
A story with missing pages.
“What happened to my parents?”
Lucian looked away.
And that was when I knew.
The answer would hurt.
“They died protecting you.”
My chest tightened.
“No.”
“They knew your existence would put you in danger.”
“No.”
“They chose to hide you among ordinary wolves because it was the only way to keep you alive.”
I covered my ears.
I didn’t want to hear anymore.
Because if he was telling the truth…
Then my entire life had been a lie.
⸻
A sudden growl filled the air.
Not from outside.
From inside me.
My wolf.
She was angry.
“Remember.”
The voice echoed in my mind.
“Remember what?”
Pain exploded through my head.
I fell to my knees.
Images appeared again.
A woman holding me.
Her silver hair falling around her face.
Her eyes full of tears.
“My little moon…”
A man standing beside her.
A crown on his head.
“Our daughter will survive.”
Then darkness.
Fire.
Screaming.
A mark being placed on my skin.
A voice whispering:
“Forget.”
I screamed.
The vision vanished.
When I opened my eyes, Lucian was beside me.
His face was pale.
“What did you see?”
I struggled to breathe.
“My mother.”
His expression changed.
“You remember her?”
“Not everything.”
I looked at my hands.
“But I saw her.”
Lucian closed his eyes briefly.
“Then the seal is breaking.”
Kael stepped forward.
“What seal?”
Lucian looked at him.
“The one placed on her wolf.”
Kael’s expression darkened.
“Someone sealed her wolf?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Lucian was silent.
Then:
“Someone powerful enough to hide a princess from an entire kingdom.”
The forest suddenly felt colder.
Kael looked at me.
And for the first time since I met him…
I saw something different.
Not arrogance.
Not disappointment.
Guilt.
Because he was finally understanding.
The girl he rejected was never ordinary.
⸻
The next morning, the truth spread through the Nightfall Pack.
Everyone knew.
The omega they mocked…
Was the last Moonborn heir.
The girl they ignored…
Was someone they should have protected.
I walked through the pack grounds and felt every eye on me.
Yesterday, they looked at me with pity.
Today, they looked at me with fear.
I hated both.
Because I was still me.
The same girl who had eaten alone.
The same girl who had cried herself to sleep.
The same girl Kael had rejected.
Only now they knew my bloodline.
And suddenly, I mattered.
That was the part that hurt the most.
When I reached my room, I found Kael waiting outside.
Again.
I stopped.
“Why are you here?”
He looked at me.
No command.
No coldness.
Just honesty.
“I owe you an apology.”
I almost smiled.
“An apology?”
“Yes.”
I waited.
He took a breath.
“I judged you before knowing you.”
That was true.
But it wasn’t enough.
“You rejected me because you thought I was weak.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“And now you know I’m not.”
Silence.
Then he said:
“No.”
I frowned.
“What?”
He stepped closer.
His voice was quiet.
“I was wrong because I thought your worth depended on your strength.”
The words surprised me.
“I was wrong because I looked at you and only saw what I expected to see.”
For a moment, I saw the man beneath the title.
But I remembered the pain.
“I don’t need you to see me now, Kael.”
His eyes flickered.
“Aria—”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You lost the right to choose me when you decided I wasn’t worth choosing.”
Before he could answer, a loud horn sounded across the territory.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
An emergency warning.
Kael immediately turned toward the sound.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
A warrior ran toward us.
“Alpha!”
He bowed quickly.
“The northern border has been attacked.”
Kael’s eyes darkened.
“By who?”
The warrior hesitated.
Then looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
“By the Crimson Fang.”
Lucian stepped forward.
His expression filled with fear.
“That’s impossible.”
Kael looked at him.
“Why?”
Lucian looked at me.
“Because the Crimson Fang was the pack responsible for destroying the Moonborn Dynasty.”
The world went silent.
They weren’t here for the territory.
They weren’t here for Kael.
They were here for me.
And for the first time…
I understood the truth.
My awakening wasn’t a blessing.
It was a warning.
Someone knew I had returned.
⸻
- Writer
