CHAPTER FIVE
831 Words
Chapter Five — The Body in the Woods
I couldn't move.
For several seconds, I simply stared at Damon.
“My father?”
The word barely left my lips.
Damon didn't answer immediately. His expression had changed. The usual coldness in his eyes was gone, replaced by something I couldn't understand.
Fear.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Aria—”
“Where is my father?”
Elias stepped forward. “Alpha, the guards are waiting at the eastern border.”
Damon looked at him, then back at me.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“You just told me my father is dead after spending the last few days telling me he might still be alive. I'm coming with you.”
“It's dangerous.”
“I don't care.”
Damon's jaw tightened.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he finally nodded.
“Stay close to me.”
We left the estate through the eastern gate.
The forest was darker than I remembered. Mist covered the ground, curling around the trees as the guards led us deeper into the woods.
No one spoke.
Even the wolves seemed unusually quiet.
Then I saw it.
A group of guards standing around something on the ground.
My heart stopped.
I moved forward, but Damon caught my arm.
“Don't.”
I looked at him.
“I need to see.”
His grip loosened.
I stepped closer.
A body lay beneath a dark cloth.
My hands began to shake.
“Is that him?”
Damon said nothing.
One of the guards pulled the cloth back just enough to reveal the man's face.
I froze.
I didn't recognize him.
“This isn't my father.”
Everyone went silent.
Damon's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
I stared at the body.
“That isn't my father.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
I had spent years looking at old photographs of my parents. I remembered my father's face.
This wasn't him.
Damon crouched beside the body and examined the man's neck.
“There are no identification marks.”
Elias moved closer.
“Alpha, look.”
He pointed toward the man's hand.
A symbol had been carved into the skin.
The same crescent-and-thorns symbol from the envelope.
My stomach dropped.
“That's the symbol from my mother's box.”
Damon stood.
“Everyone back.”
The guards immediately stepped away.
“What is happening?” I asked.
Damon looked at me.
“I don't know.”
For once, I believed him.
Then something moved behind the trees.
I turned.
“Who's there?”
Nothing.
Only the sound of leaves moving in the wind.
Damon stepped in front of me.
“Aria, stay behind me.”
A low growl echoed through the forest.
The guards reached for their weapons.
Another growl answered from somewhere farther away.
Then another.
We were surrounded.
Damon's eyes changed.
The cold gray of his irises disappeared, replaced by a bright, unnatural gold.
“Alpha,” Elias whispered.
Damon didn't respond.
His gaze remained fixed on the trees.
“Take Aria back to the estate.”
“No.”
“Now.”
Before Elias could answer, a figure stepped out from between the trees.
A man.
He wore a dark cloak, and his face was hidden beneath a hood.
But he wasn't alone.
Three wolves stood behind him.
They weren't ordinary wolves.
Their eyes glowed silver.
The stranger looked directly at me.
“The heir has awakened.”
My blood ran cold.
Damon stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The stranger smiled.
“You already know the answer, Alpha.”
Damon's expression hardened.
“Remove your hood.”
The man laughed softly.
“You still haven't told her the truth, have you?”
I looked at Damon.
“What truth?”
The stranger's smile widened.
“Ask him about the night your parents disappeared.”
Damon went completely still.
I stared at him.
“You know what happened to my parents?”
He didn't answer.
That silence told me everything.
“You knew.”
“Aria—”
“You knew!”
My voice echoed through the forest.
The stranger laughed again.
Then the wolves behind him began to growl.
“Your father is not dead,” he said.
My heart pounded.
“Then where is he?”
The stranger looked at Damon.
“Ask your Alpha.”
And before anyone could stop him, the stranger disappeared into the darkness.
The silver-eyed wolves followed.
Silence returned to the forest.
I turned toward Damon.
My anger was stronger than my fear now.
“You're going to tell me everything.”
Damon stared at me for a long moment.
Then he quietly said,
“Not here.”
“Why?”
His eyes moved toward the body on the ground.
“Because whoever left that body wanted us to find it.”
He looked back at me.
“And now they know exactly where you are.”
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