CHAPTER 3
1228 Words
The moment Aidan vanished into the storm, the cabin seemed to shrink around me. The silence pressed too tightly against my ribs. My pulse thudded in my ears, uneven and frantic, like something trying to claw its way out.
He couldn’t go after Kael.
He couldn’t.
Even if Kael deserved it—
and he did, gods, he did—
violence in the pack meant consequences. Political, social, physical. Aidan had been gone for five years. The elders barely tolerated Kael as interim Alpha; they would never accept someone returning drenched in blood and rage.
I forced myself off the cot. My legs trembled beneath my weight, and the bandage on my arm pulled painfully with every movement, but I pushed through it.
I had to get back before Aidan did.
Before something irreversible happened.
The wind howled outside, slamming against the cabin walls. Rain poured from the sky like a broken dam, and lightning flashed in jagged, violent streaks across the horizon.
I stumbled toward the door and stopped when I caught sight of myself in a cracked mirror on the cabin wall.
Mud streaked across my face. My hair dripped in tangled strands down my shoulders. Blood—mine—was dried in dark smudges across my skin. My ceremonial dress looked like it had been through a battlefield.
Maybe it had.
My reflection stared back at me, small and pathetic. Weak. Unwanted.
Kael’s words echoed through my mind like poison.
You were never a choice.
My throat tightened.
No.
No more crying. No more breaking. No more letting them see me crumble.
I sucked in a breath, lifted my chin, and pulled open the cabin door.
Wind slammed into me instantly, soaking me in seconds. The forest was a blur of shadows and flashes of lightning, every tree bending under the storm’s weight. The path back to the pack was barely visible, but I started moving anyway, my boots splashing through mud and puddles.
Every step hurt, but I welcomed the pain. It kept me focused.
Aidan’s massive footprints were clear in the wet earth—deep, heavy, spaced far apart. He was moving fast.
Too fast.
“Please,” I whispered to no one. “Just this once—don’t make things worse.”
The trees thinned as I reached the ridge overlooking the pack grounds. Torches flickered in the storm. Wolves ran across the courtyard, forming chaotic patterns, their voices carried by the wind.
Something was happening.
Something big.
Fear raced up my spine as I hurried down the rocky slope. Rain washed over my skin, stinging the open cut on my shoulder. My heart pounded harder with each step.
By the time I reached the eastern gate, two guards jumped in front of me.
“Omega?” one said sharply. “What are you doing out here?”
“I need to get inside.”
“You look like hell,” the other muttered. “Where’s Kael? The elders ordered all participants to—”
A deafening roar split the storm.
Both guards froze.
My breath caught.
That wasn’t just any roar.
It was Aidan.
The guards exchanged panicked glances, then shifted instantly, bones snapping as they leapt over the gate and sprinted toward the center courtyard.
I ran after them.
The moment I turned the corner, the scene exploded into view.
Aidan—towering, monstrous, glowing with fury—had Kael pinned against the altar where I’d been humiliated less than an hour ago. Kael’s shirt was torn, his face bloodied, his legs kicking helplessly against the stone edge.
Wolves circled from all sides, but none dared get closer. Not even Seraphine, who stood drenched to the bone, hands over her mouth in horror.
“Aidan, STOP!” I screamed.
My voice was swallowed by thunder—but Aidan turned.
Slowly. Like he was moving through a fog of rage.
His golden eyes locked on me, glowing like molten fire in the rain. His claws remained wrapped around Kael’s throat, but his grip loosened just slightly.
Kael gasped for air, coughing violently.
“Aidan,” I said again, more firmly this time. “Let him go.”
Kael choked out, “Lina… get back… he’ll kill you too—”
Aidan snapped his head toward Kael and growled, a sound so deep it vibrated through the ground. Kael’s entire body cowered.
But he didn’t strike.
Because of me.
I stepped closer, shaking but determined. The crowd parted as I moved through them—wolves who just an hour ago had laughed at me now stared in stunned disbelief.
“Aidan,” I whispered. “This is not the way.”
For a moment, only the storm answered.
Then Aidan released Kael.
The future Alpha crumpled to the ground, coughing and dragging in ragged breaths. Seraphine ran to him, her shaking hands hovering uselessly.
Aidan slowly shifted back—muscles contracting, fur receding, bones snapping into human shape. When he finally stood upright, rain streaking down his bare skin, he looked like something carved from raw power.
And he walked straight toward me.
Not toward the elders.
Not toward Kael.
Me.
His chest rose and fell with harsh breaths as he stopped only a breath away.
“You shouldn’t have run,” he said quietly.
I swallowed. “You shouldn’t have attacked him.”
His jaw flexed. “He deserved worse.”
“I know,” I whispered. “But if you kill him, the entire pack will turn on you.”
“They already fear me.” His eyes held a strange mix of fury and something else—something almost vulnerable. “They always have.”
The elders pushed through the crowd at last, Elder Rowan stepping forward with false calm.
“Aidan Cross,” he said. “You were not expected to return.”
Aidan didn’t even glance at him. “Obviously.”
Rowan’s gaze moved to me. “And you, Lina—what were you doing outside the grounds?”
“She was left alone,” Aidan said, voice low, dangerous. “Because your future Alpha saved his pride by humiliating her.”
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Rowan’s eyes widened a fraction. “That’s a serious accusation.”
“It’s not an accusation,” Aidan snapped. “It’s the truth.”
The elders whispered among themselves, unsettled.
Kael struggled to his feet. “She was never meant to—”
Aidan took a step forward.
Kael shut up instantly.
Rowan cleared his throat. “This is a matter for investigation. Aidan, you will remain under supervision until we—”
“No,” Aidan said flatly.
Rowan bristled. “You are not Alpha here.”
Aidan looked at me.
And then he said, clear as thunder:
“Not yet.”
Every wolf in the courtyard froze.
My stomach dropped.
He continued, “But I will be. And when I claim what’s mine, this pack will answer to me.”
The crowd erupted in murmurs.
Rowan’s voice shook. “And who, exactly, do you believe is yours?”
Aidan’s gaze found mine again.
Pinned me.
Held me.
“You already know,” he said.
And the entire pack turned to stare at me—as the rain hammered down, and the moon broke through the clouds like a silent witness to the truth I was not ready to face.
- Writer
