Blood Of The Sun

Chapter 5

Anna’s P.O.V.

The Blue Moon Pack house looked like a dream fading into daylight as we pulled away in the convoy. Snow clung to the windows, glittering like shards of glass. Inside the SUV, silence was the loudest sound my mother’s hand resting in my father’s, her smile too sweet, too controlled.

Alpha Christa Rivera knew how to play the part. Her laugh tinkled like she hadn’t nearly ripped into him hours ago. Alpha Carlos Rivera looked every inch the proud Alpha King, his arm draped around her shoulders as if the two were a perfect union. But I’d seen the steel flash in her eyes when he wasn’t looking. My mother was smiling, yes but plotting too.

I stayed in the shadows of the third row, sulking against the window. The snow outside blurred into streaks, but my mind was still at the masquerade ball. Still on him. The stranger in the mask. The flower. The whisper in my ear.

“RUN.”

I shivered, even now.

By the time we reached the private jet, the pack staff was already lined up in crisp uniforms, luggage handled, champagne chilled. Our family traveled like royalty, and everyone knew it. But inside me, everything was chaos.

As we climbed the stairs into the jet, I felt her eyes on me. Aunt Aaliyah. She’d been watching me since the ball, her gaze sharp as a blade, her aura restless with fire I could almost taste.

When we were airborne, my parents moved to the front, sipping champagne, laughing with Serenity and Ricardo as if last night had been nothing but a misstep in the dance of politics. But Aaliyah slid into the seat across from me, her long red dreadlocks spilling over one shoulder, her eyes too bright.

“Out with it,” she said. No preamble, no softness. Just command.

I swallowed hard. “Out with what?”

Her laugh was sharp, humorless. “Don’t play with me, niña. I saw your face when he touched you. I felt the way the air changed. That boy put something in you, something dangerous.”

I looked away, heat rushing to my cheeks. My wolf stirred uneasily, betraying me.

Aaliyah leaned forward, her voice low and lethal. “Listen to me, Anna. You can never—never—be with him. That boy is as good as dead. Do you understand?”

My heart cracked under the weight of her words. “But what if—”

“No.” Her palm slammed flat against the table between us, startling me. Her magic buzzed in the air, sharp and electric. “Don’t finish that thought. He’s poison. A trap. Whatever you think you felt it wasn’t real. Get it out of your head before it destroys you.”

I wanted to scream, to tell her she didn’t understand. That it was real, that it had shaken me to my core in a way nothing else had. But one look into her burning eyes told me the truth:

She did understand. And she was terrified.

I turned back to the window, blinking fast, my reflection fractured in the glass. The clouds stretched endless and white, but my world had never felt darker.

And somewhere, deep in the marrow of my bones, I knew Aaliyah was wrong.

It was real.

And no amount of fear or fury could strip him from me.Christa’s P.O.V.

The jet hummed with steady quiet, the kind that came only when exhaustion had finally claimed the restless. Carlos had fallen asleep with Antonio beside him, my son’s head tipped against his father’s shoulder. Serenity curled against the window in her seat, her breathing soft. Even Anna had drifted at last, though not peacefully her brow furrowed, lips moving with dreams she didn’t dare voice aloud.

I waited until the cabin lights dimmed and Carlos’s soft snore filled the silence. Only then did I unbuckle and slip into the private lounge at the rear of the plane. Aaliyah was already there, pacing, her long red locks a wild frame around her fierce face. Serenity joined moments later, her eyes sharp despite the weariness.

“They’re watching us now,” Aaliyah hissed. “They knew we were at Blue Moon, Christa. If that hybrid brat could get in, then the rest of them are circling closer than we realize.”

Serenity folded her arms, her hazel eyes dark with thought. “He shouldn’t have been able to breach their wards. Not with all the Alphas present. Which means either someone opened the door for him or he’s stronger than we know.”

The words chilled the air between us.

I pressed my palms flat on the table, grounding myself. “It doesn’t matter how strong he is. If he is her mate, that makes him a weapon and not one I’ll allow in my house. The boy will be dealt with.”

Aaliyah’s grin was sharp, savage. “Good. I already have the flower. His scent clings to it like blood to cloth. I can weave a tether, trace him no matter where he runs.”

I nodded. My sister had always been chaos wrapped in fire, but when she gave her word, she delivered.

The door opened then, soft as a sigh. Maria slipped in, her presence warm and calm against the tension in the air. She wore no makeup, her hair loose over her shoulders, but she carried herself with quiet strength. Ricardo’s wife my cousin by marriage, but a sister in heart.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted, her voice low, eyes darting to Carlos in the distance as though afraid he might hear even through dreams. “I heard enough to know you’re planning something. Let me help.”

Aaliyah smirked, tilting her head. “You? Press darling, soft-spoken Maria? What will you do—write the hybrids a nasty article?”

But Maria didn’t flinch. She stepped closer, her jaw firm. “You forget I’ve stood beside Ricardo through every war, every challenge. I’ve negotiated with packs that wanted us dead and lived to tell it. I don’t need magic to be dangerous. I know people. I know how to move in the shadows. And I’ll never let those monsters touch Anna.”

Her words filled the silence like steel. Serenity nodded slowly, respect gleaming in her hazel eyes.

I studied Maria carefully, then allowed myself the smallest smile. “Good. Then you’re with us.”

For a moment, the four of us stood together sisters by choice, by bond, by blood of battles past. The Rivera men and our children slept in peace, blissfully unaware.

But in the dark heart of the jet, we were already at war.