Her Rise From The Ashes

CH2

ARIA'S POV.

By the time the packhouse came into view, I had my emotions under control. But as I drew closer, the sight in front of me made my steps falter.

Jared was standing on the steps, his shoulders stiff, and his eyes locked on me. Beside him stood some Elders, some pack members and several guards, all of them with hard, unreadable faces.

I slowed down, frowning.

“Jared?” I called, stepping closer. His eyes didn’t soften. If anything, they got harder.

“How could you, Aria?” His voice was filled with betrayal. "Is this really who you are?"

My frown deepened. “What is the matter, Jared? What do you mean?”

No one answered, but I could feel the tension in the air. I climbed the last few steps toward him. “What’s going on, Jared?”

“You traitor,” he spat bitterly at me.

The word hit me harder than a blow. “What—?”

“Quite with the pretense, Aria! I already know! I know you’ve been giving Blood Moon information on us for months!” he said, his voice rising. “I know you've been helping them bring down Night Fang. All this time… right under my nose. How could you, Aria?!”

I stared at him in confusion. “Excuse me? I don't know what you're talking about, Jared."

His jaw tightened. He grabbed a bundle of envelopes from the Elder Rogers next to him and threw them at my feet. They scattered across the steps.

“Then explain this, Aria! Explain why these were in your room!” he shouted.

Confused, I bent down and picked one up. The wax seal was gold and blood red, with the crest of Blood Moon pack. My fingers went numb. Every envelope was the same.

"Aria, what have you done, child?" Elder Rogers asked sadly, his voice full of disappointment.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out, Amber stepped out from the doorway, holding another envelope. “Jared! Found this one under her bed,” she said, handing it to him.

I frowned, completely lost. “Amber, what—?”

Jared ripped it open, read it quickly, and his face darkened. With a snarl, he threw it in my face.

Ignoring his behavior, I bent down to pick one up and take a look. The words blurred for a moment before coming into focus.

"My dear Aria,

After months of waiting, tonight is the night. Once you finish your mission and eliminate the Alpha, Night Fang will crumble in grief. We’ll strike, and when I’ve taken everything from them, we’ll finally be together, just as you always wished.

Love,

Dante"

I felt like the ground was pulled from under me. “This—this isn’t mine. I didn’t—”

“Lies,” Amber cut in sharply. “You’re an embarrassment to our parents’ memory, Aria. How could you stoop so low as to having an affair with the enemy?”

I frowned at her accusations. “I’m telling the truth—”

“Stop lying!” she snapped. “I found these letters myself. We should have been more careful, what did we expect from the daughter of a rogue?!.”

My eyes snapped to her. "Stop. Don't call me that, Amber."

When my mother met Amber's father she was already pregnant with me and no one knew by whom. And then rumours started to spread that it was a rogue who got her pregnant. I never really minded it, but hearing it at a time like this hit differently.

Jared’s voice cut in. “You still have the guts to lie even after being caught red-handed? At least have some shame, Aria!”

Anger burned through my shock and confusion and I threw the envelopes back at him. “What is your problem, Jared? Why ask me if you’ve already concluded I’m guilty? If you’re so ready to believe her without even hearing me out, then why ask me? It's clear you were never ready to believe me! Do you really think I’d hurt your father? He’s been like a second father to me since I was a child!”

And he was. Alpha Rowan loved me even more than my step father ever could.

Jared’s eyes narrowed. “A second father? Is that what you told him before burying your dagger in his chest?”

My blood ran cold. “What?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I shoved past the guards and ran inside. I stopped in the doorway if alpha Rowan's office. Someone was lying on the sofa, fully covered with a blanket.

I walked over, and pulled the blanket down and my heart stopped.

It was Alpha Rowan.

His chest was covered in stab wounds, dark blood soaking his shirt.

On the table beside him, I saw a dagger lying there stained with blood.

It was a dagger I knew too well, the one he’d given me the night I first shifted. He'd always called me his little warrior ever since I was a child.

I stood there too shocked to even react.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I turned to see Jared and the others fill the doorway.

“Still want to deny it?” Jared’s voice was cold.

I turned toward him, searching for some sign of the man I knew. There was nothing. The man I knew, or rather, thought I knew was gone. This man standing in front of me was nothing but a stranger.

“You know, Amber tried to warn me,” he said. “She told me times without number that you weren't the person I thought you were. I thought she was just jealous. I was wrong. You’re worse than the devil, Aria. Death would be mercy.” His lip curled in disgust. “I will not be mated to a traitor and a murderer. I will not be mated to a wh*re!”

The words hit me like a slap.

“Lock her in the dungeon,” Jared ordered the guards, then turned to Amber. “Get the warriors ready. She must have already told Dante that the mission was complete. They’ll come tonight. I want Dante alive.”

Then he looked at me again, his gaze colder than death. “Don’t worry, Aria. In a few hours, you’ll be sharing the cell with your lover. You won’t be lonely for long.”

Something inside me hardened at his behavior and I lifted my chin. “Go on, Jared," I said calmly through the burn in my chest. “I know now how little you’ve thought of me all along. Go ahead and believe whatever you want, I'm done trying to explain anything to you..”

His face stayed hard. “Take her away.”

The guards moved, but I held up my hand. “I can walk," I said calmly. "I know the way to the dungeon.”

With my head high, I turned and walked out of the packhouse, the guards following closely behind me.

The guards shoved me hard, and my knees almost buckled when I stumbled into the cold, damp cell. Metal cuffs closed around my wrists as they yanked my arms forward and clipped the chains to the wall. The sound felt like the last nail in my coffin.

Neither of them spoke. They just locked the cell door and walked away.

I sank down against the wall, pulling my knees to my chest. I didn't even know what to feel. I felt numb.

"Lia?" I reached for my wolf.

"I can't believe he actually believed her." Her voice came through, full of anger and disbelief.

"That makes two of us," I said.

I couldn’t stop seeing Jared’s face, the way he’d looked at me earlier, like I was a stranger. No, worse. Like I was something he needed to scrape off the bottom of his boot.

"Aria?" Lia's voice was small as she called my name.

"Yes, Lia?"

She was quite for a few seconds before she spoke. "Do you notice anything different about Jared back there?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He seems... Different, Aria," Lia whispered softly. "I really can't explain it, but there was something...off about him."

Before I could process her words, fotsteps made me lift my head.

Amber appeared leaning against the bars like she was visiting an exhibit at the zoo.

“Well, well,” she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “Who would have thought you actually had it in you, Aria? A thief, a cheat, a wh*re, and now… a murderer. Tell me, Aria, what exactly did the alpha of Blood Moon promise you to get you to betray us like this?"

My hands curled into fists. “We both know I didn’t do it Amber."

Her smile widened. “Wow, Aria. You’re a better liar than I thought.”

I shook my head. “I’d say I don’t know why you’re doing this,” I said calmly, “but that would be a lie, Amber. Because I do know. I just hope it’s worth it.”

For the first time, her perfect mask cracked and bitterness flashed in her eyes

“You can hope all you want, Aria” she said coldly. “But hope’s already deserted you. The pack has seen your true colors. They know what you are. And there’s nothing you can do to make them unsee it.”

I felt my heart twist at her words, but I refused to show her.

Amber turned as if to leave, then stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “Oh, and lest I forget—” She took a step closer, wrapping her hands around the bars. “You already sent a letter to Alpha Dante, telling him the job was done.”

I frowned. "What?"

“You also told him about the new… development,” she continued, savoring every word. “So it’s only a matter of time before Blood Moon attacks Night Fang." Her lips curled into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. " The traitor you are, Aria. And the worst part, you still have no idea what's really going on here. Goddess, you really are foolish.”

She straightened, smirking at my stunned expression, then walked away without another word.

I sat there frozen, her words ringing in my ears. Then the pieces slammed together in my head. Amber had been playing both sides. Using my name. My identity. Feeding Blood Moon information and framing me for it. She’d made Jared and the whole pack believe I was the traitor… when all along, she was.

My hands went numb. I couldn’t wrap my head around how far she had gone just to get Jared back.

Suddenly a loud sound of an explosion caught my ear and I jumped to my feet, straining against the chains to get to the door. I couldn’t see much, just flickers of movement in the hallway, but the sounds were enough to tip me off that it was an attack.

Smoke started coming in through the window. I ran to it and saw dark smoke rising in the distance.

Blood Moon.