Chapter 4. The Gathering Storm
1074 Words
✦ Whispers in the Wind
The forest was quiet.
Too quiet.
Aria stood outside the elder’s hut, her bare feet pushed against the frosted ground, steam rising on her skin. The wind brushing around her shoulders like it was giving her a warning, causing the trees with voices she’s yet to understand.
Since the night of her dream, her entire body has not been the same.
She could hear things like howls deep inside the winds strength. Her skin stings when danger was near.. Her wolf was more very alert, speaking to her in emotions and instincts.
And her senses are sharpened like knives.
The rogue elder, who still wouldn’t share his name still, watched her every morning. Said nothing. But made her walk around further, stay out longer, until her muscles ached hard and her lungs was stinging.
“You’re changing,” he finally said one evening. “Your body’s waking up to something ancient. It’ll get worse before it gets better.”
She didn’t bother.
Let it come, she thought. Let it break me down. I’ll rebuild myself stronger.
✦ A Taste of Blood
It started with a silent whisper.
A low growl in her chest.
Something was coming.
By the time she turned around, it was too late.
Two rogue wolves attacked from the trees- jaws wide, fangs were bared. Not the ordinary rogues. They were Trained. More Controlled. Aria could smell it, she felt it. The stench of command, the traces of another Alpha’s influence.
Her pulse spiked up. Her wolf increased.
“Shift,” it growled.
She let go.
Her bones cracking and reforming with searing pain, her skin was splitting open to reveal the silver fur beneath it. This time, it didn’t hurt as much. This time, she welcomed it easily.
Her wolf form was so huge now, glowing faintly under the bright moonlight, eyes silver-bright.
She didn’t run.
She jumped.
She moved like fast flame.
One wolf went down immediately with her jaws to its neck. The other slashed her shoulder, but she twisted it and bit down into its spine deep, tearing flesh from bone apart.
When it was over, her fur was entirely soaked with blood.
But it wasn’t hers.
She shifted back, gasping loud.
The elder stepped out from the shadows, nodding.
“Good,” he said. “Now you’re ready to know the truth.”
✦ The Bloodline Revealed
That night, the elder finally told Aria his name: Theron.
He unwrapped an old scroll, almost fading and very fragile. The writing shimmered faintly, ancient symbols only priestesses once used.
“You are Moonblood,” he said.
“Your ancestors were the original priestess-queens. Before the Alphas, before the packs. They ruled with spirit and fire, not brutal strength. But they were betrayed, hunted, and all slaughtered. Their power was seen and called ‘unnatural.’”
Aria stared, very stunned.
“My mother never told me any of this.”
“She couldn’t,” Theron replied. “They would’ve killed her and you immediately.”
He pointed at the scars across her back.
“Even in your exile, your blood tried to wake. That’s why Kael rejected you. He felt it. He feared what you could become in his eyes.”
Aria grabbed her fists.
“I was beaten with so much hate, thrown away, nearly killed… all because of who I was born to be.”
Theron nodded.
“But you survived. And now, the last Moonblood lives. That makes you more than dangerous. It makes you a target.”
✦ Eyes in the Trees
Later that night, she sensed it again, that feeling of being watched.
She was outside, sharpening a blade against the stone, when her wolf growled again.
“Behind us.”
She turned around slowly.
In the shadows, eyes glowed.
Not wolves.
Men.
Three rogues. And one in front taller, broader, wearing all black with a fake smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Alpha Damon Vex.
“You’re prettier than they said,” he said. “Didn’t expect a little priestess to be so… savage.”
Aria didn’t respond.
He moved closer. Theron was nowhere in sight.
“You’re strong. I can smell it on you. Theres Magic in your blood, power in your bones. That makes you very valuable.”
“I’m not for sale.”
“Not yet,” he said with a grin. “But you will be. Every pack wants control over your kind. Me? I prefer a good partnership.”
He tossed her a small medallion that has a black silver trim. A rogue seal. .
“Think about it, Queen. It’s a new world now. And you’ve got no allies anywhere.”
The Choice They Think She’ll Make.
“You should leave now,” Aria said, her voice low but very sharp.
Alpha Damon chuckled a little. “Now that’s the kind of tone a queen should use. But don’t waste it on just me. You’ll need it for Kael.”
At the sound of that name, her wolf rose beneath her skin, the heat crawling into her bones.
“You think you know or understand anything about me?” she said, stepping forward to him. “You don’t even know half of what I’ve lost.”
“I know exactly what you lost,” he said. “And what you’ll become to make sure you never lose again.”
He tossed something else toward her after, it’s not a weapon, but a letter sealed with wax.
“If you ever want to control your fate, not just survive it, open that letter,” he said.
“What is it?”
“A proposal. Not a marriage one though, don’t worry. I’ve had enough of those. But something you’ll want and need once Kael comes crawling back.”
Her eyes squeezed. “He won’t.”
Damon gave a half smile, then turned immediately and disappeared into the forest like smoke.
When she opened the seal later, it wasn’t just a rogue alliance offer, it was a list of names.
Kael’s enemies.
Her potential allies.
And at the very bottom of the letter. It says.
“There’s more than one way to kill an Alpha”
Then he was fast gone, melting back into the thick trees.
Aria stood in silence, her heart racing, the blade still in her hand.
She didn’t trust him.
But worse than that…
Her wolf didn’t trust him either.
- Writer
