CHAPTER 5

ARIA'S POV

The morning after the false howl, I woke before the sun, or to be specific I didn't sleep much peacefully.

Sleep had offered no solace. My dreams had been filled with flickers of firelight and ashes, my father's voice a fading whisper. Every time I reached for him, he disappeared. Always the same. Always gone.

I threw off my blanket and stepped outside my tent. The frost was heavier today. The earth was hard under my bare feet, grounding me in the moment.

Something inside me shifted last night. Not because of the howling or the bond, but because of the memory that came with it, a whisper of a place, a symbol carved into stone.

My father's study.

I hadn't thought about it in years. The last time I was in there, he was standing by the fire, cloaked in silence. I was just a girl then, clutching a broken arrow and tears I hadn't let fall. He told me stories of the High Council. Of betrayal. Of something hidden deep beneath the Ashborne estate.

A secret he said would change everything.

And suddenly, I knew I had to go back.

'Cera." I called, ducking into her tent. She groaned and pulled a blanket over her head, as I tried to pull away.

"It's barely dawn." She mutters sleepily, irritation dipping from her tone.

"I need you with me. We're going back to the ruins." I say, tucking her blanket.

That got her attention.

"You mean... Ashborne lands?" She asks and I nod my head, looking at her with determination. If she doesn't agree to go with me then, I will go alone, but I will definitely go.

She sat up, all traces of sleep gone as she looked at me with widened eyes. "Why? I mean all of a sudden!" She asks in confusion and curiously.

"I need to find something. Something my dad left for me." I said. Cera quickly gets up and we get ready to leave, strapping weapons for any situation and tricks to get away if there's any problem.

We left before sunrise, just the two of us. I told David to hold camp until we returned, but I saw the concern in his eyes. "Don't get caught." He warned, before we left.

The Ashborne lands were half a day's run northeast. We shifted at the edge of camp, our wolves tearing through the frost with practiced ease. Mine, silver gray eyes like storm clouds, was silent, focused. Cera's was smaller, faster, but never strayed far.

By the time we reached the outer ridge, the sun was rising in the sky and the wind was sharp.

The Ashborne estate was barely recognizable. Vines choked the blackened walls, and the stone steps were cracked with age. But the bones of the house remained.

My chest ached just looking at it. It's in the worst situation ever. My home. I couldn't believe that my home, where I grew up, is in this state.

"Are you sure?" Cera asked.

"No..." I whispered. "But I have to try." I say, taking a deep breath and stares at the house.

We crept through the remains, the echoes of my childhood everywhere. The great hall where I'd learned to fight. The library where my mother read ancient scrolls to me by candlelight. All of it ruined.

But the study....

It was mostly intact.

The heavy desk still stood, charred but solid. Bookshelves lined the walls, some crumbling, others still holding scraps of parchment.

I crossed to the far wall.

There, hidden behind a shattered painting, was a crest carved into the stone: Ashborne's true sigil. Not the one the Council approved, but the original. The forbidden one.

A crescent moon flanked by twin wolves.

I pressed my hand to it.

Click!

A small panel slid open in the wall, revealing a black leather book and a wrapped bundle of parchment.

My hands trembled as I opened the book first. It was my father's journal.

The first few pages were filled with battle maps, political names, and then... his words:

"The High Council knew. They feared the prophecy. They feared the Ashborne bloodline would awaken what they buried. But the Blackridge Alpha... he knew the truth. He knew, and still, he chose silence. Kaiden Blackthorn's father made a deal to keep the secret buried. And Kaiden was just a boy. But he watched. And one day, he will have to choose."

I froze. My mind numb, I can't think of anything but the words and the man, who knew everything and has a part in it too.

Kaiden knew.

He knew what they did to my father. He knew the truth behind the betrayal. He fucking knew that my dad was innocent.

And he said nothing.

Kaiden fucking Blackthorn hadn't said a word in favour of my father. He took his father's side and watched my father suffer and my whole family's downfall.

My breath caught, anger rising fast. He watched my family fall and said nothing. He stays silent, and watches, just watches.

But do you know the worst part?

Something in me still wanted to believe he could have chosen differently. He could have his own reason.

I unwrapped the bundle. A map leading deep beneath the estate, marked only with a phrase: "To awaken the old bond, find the fire buried in shadow."

"What is it?" Cera asked, looking over my shoulder in the map, and frowning not understanding anything.

"Proof." I said. "And maybe something more." When I stood, the wind had shifted. Snow began to fall. But my rage was hotter than ever.

Kaiden had rejected me. But now... I would uncover the secrets he helped bury. The secret, he doesn't let it out, but not anymore.

Because now I'm standing in his way, ready to bring out every secret he has buried, and I will not stop at anything.

Even if it meant destroying whatever was left of the bond.

Even if it meant to destroy him.

CHAPTER 6

KAIDEN'S POV

I felt it the moment she stepped onto Ashborne land.

The bond muted and distant these past few days flared like a spark in my chest. Pain, laced with something sharper than longing. It burned through me, waking the wolf I'd been trying to silence since the ceremony.

My hands trembled where they rested on the table, war maps forgotten. The air in the war room thickened, my breath catching like smoke in my throat.

"Aria." I muttered, clenching my fists tightly and closing my eyes in frustration, trying to calm my breathing.

Elias, my Beta, lifted his head. "What is it?"

"She's back. In the ruins." I answer him, feeling the pain in my chest increasing second by second.

His eyebrows frown in disbelief as he stares at me. "That's suicide. If she gets caught then..." He words trails off, and I know what he's going to say.

"She won't be caught." I said. She can't get caught. "She's not that foolish." I don't know if I'm telling him or myself.

He studied me for a beat, then returned to the map. "Are you going after her?" He asks and I lean back on my seat.

"I don't know." I muttered, not sure what to do.

"You do." I hear him saying quietly. "You always do when it's about her." He adds and I look at him.

My jaw clenched tightly. "That doesn't mean I should." I growled, getting up from my seat.

"No." Elias replied. "It means you can't stay away. Away from her. Or away from the truth. That you and her are bound together for life."

I left the room in silence, the stone halls of Blackridge echoing with my steps. The guards parted as I passed, no one daring to speak. I was Alpha, but right now, I didn't feel like a leader. I felt like a storm held barely in check.

The stables were quiet. My horse snorted when he saw me, sensing my unrest. I barely saddled him before swinging onto his back, heart thundering like hooves.

As I rode toward the Ashborne estate, snow began to fall in slow, lazy spirals. The wind whispered through the trees, brushing against my skin like a warning. My wolf prowled inside me, every stride of the horse making the bond throb harder.

She was close. I could feel her.

The ruins loomed ahead like a broken crown. Blackened stone towers, scorched doorframes, cracked windows staring out like hollow eyes. Time hadn't been kind to the Ashborne land. Neither had we.

I dismounted from my horse and moved toward the main hall.

The moment I stepped inside, her scent hit me like lightning, Moonlight and pine. Smoke and fire. Her. It clung to the air, fresh and fierce. She had been here. Recently. My heart lurched in my throat.

Elias's words echoed in my mind: 'You always do when it's about her.'

I followed the trail through the ruined halls, my boots crunching over old ash and shattered glass. The study door hung off one hinge as I stepped inside.

She'd found the panel. The hidden one behind the sigil. My father's secret. The secret that has been hidden for years. But now?

The journal was gone.

So was the map.

I leaned against the scorched wall, the ghost of her presence still alive in the air. I closed my eyes and breathed her in.

"She knows." I whispered, closing my eyes and breathing her lingering scent in the air.

A memory surged: the night her father died. His last words, spoken in fury and desperation, meant something to me. Only me.

"Protect her. One day, she'll awaken the fire they fear."

I hadn't understood then.

But now I do.

I moved to the desk and opened the false drawer. Empty. She'd taken it all. The scrolls. The coded glyphs. Everything my father spent his life hiding.

Footsteps approached and I knew who it was, without seeing him. Elias had followed me to here.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, looking at me carefully. I can feel his gaze on my every action as I tried to check everything.

"I don't know what choice I have." I replied honestly, because I seriously have no idea what to do.

"You always have a choice." Elias said as he stepped beside me. "You chose to stay silent before. Will you do it again?"

I stared at him, guilt gnawing at my gut. "I was seventeen. What could I have done?" I tried to reason with him but I, myself, don't feel confident in that.

"You could've spoken. stood up for her. Fought for her. You were Alpha even then." He says and I clench my fists, because he's brutally right.

"I was afraid." I admit, looking out of the window, trying to catch even the slightest sight of her. Just her.

"And now?" Elias asks, stopping me dead in my steps.

I didn't answer. Because the truth was, I still was.

But maybe this time, the fear wouldn't win.

I stepped into the snow, with Elias on my heels, watching the wind twist through the broken estate. Somewhere out there, she carried the truth. And soon, she'd come for answers.

Or for blood. My blood.

"Aria." I whispered her name into the wind, wishing I had chosen a different path years ago.

If I had chosen her.

And the fire between us would finally ignite.

CHAPTER 7

ARIA'S POV

The snow clung to my fur in thick, wet clumps by the time we reached the edge of the borderlands. The run back from the Ashborne ruins had left my muscles aching, but the heat in my chest was stronger than the cold. Not the kind of heat that warmed you- the kind that burned, like embers buried deep under your ribs.

Betrayal had a taste, I decided. It was sharp, metallic, like blood you bite down on. And Kaiden Blackthorn's name was on every drop of it.

Cera shifted first, shaking out her dark hair as steam rose off her skin. I followed, pulling my cloak tighter around me. She didn't ask what I'd found in the ruins, though I knew she was dying to. She'd seen the way I froze in my father's study, how I clutched the journal like it might vanish if I blinked.

We didn't speak much on the way back. The silence wasn't uncomfortable- it was heavy. Weighted with questions neither of us wanted to crack open in the middle of the forest.

By the time we stepped into camp, the air was thick with woodsmoke and the scent of roasting meat. The others were gathered near the main fire pit, their breath rising in white clouds against the night. David, ever watchful, was the first to notice us.

He stood from his crouch near the flames, the firelight catching on the scar across his jaw. "You went to the ruins." He said flatly.

Not a question.

I handed him my weapons one by one. "Any trouble while we were gone?"

"No trouble." His gaze lingered on me as he checked the blades. "Yet."

I caught the warning in his tone but didn't acknowledge it.

Mira, edged forward. Her eyes- wide, quick, and far too curious for her own good- flicked to the hem of my cloak, where melted snow had darkened the fabric. "You've been in Ashborne land." She said softly. There was no accusation, only quiet certainty.

I crouched near the fire, extending my hands to the heat. The warmth bit at my fingers, sending sharp tingles up my arms. "I found something!" I said finally. My voice was low, but it carried.

Cera shifted uneasily beside me. She knew better than to interrupt.

Alex straightened from where he'd been oiling his sword, his posture instantly alert. My brother had always been the one person who could read me without trying. One glance at my face, and his jaw tightened.

"What kind of something?" He asked.

"Proof." I said.

The fire popped, sending a small shower of sparks into the night air.

"Proof of what?" David's voice was rougher now, more guarded.

"That the Council lied." I met Alex's eyes, letting the weight of my words settle between us. "That Father wasn't a traitor."

The silence that followed was suffocating. I could feel their stares on me- questions, doubts, the stirrings of something dangerous. If the Council ever got wind of what I'd found, it wouldn't just be me they hunted. It would be all of us.

Mira's lips parted like she wanted to speak, but she closed them again, maybe sensing that some truths came with a price.

Alex was the one who broke the silence. "What now?"

I rose to my feet, the firelight sliding over the steel of my dagger as I adjusted it at my hip. "Now... we prepare. Whatever's buried under those ruins, I'm going to find it. And if Kaiden Blackthorn tries to stop me-"

"Then what?" Mira asked, her voice a little too eager.

I smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. "Then he learns what it's like to burn."

David let out a slow breath. "You're talking about starting a war."

I shook my head. "No. I'm talking about ending one. The one they started when they killed my father."

Cera shifted her weight beside me. "And you think whatever's hidden down there is worth the risk?"

"I don't think so." I looked around at each of them, making sure they understood. "I know."

For a while, no one moved. The fire crackled. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf's howl rose and faded, lonely in the cold night.

Finally, Alex stood up. "Then we'll need supplies. And eyes on the territory."

David muttered something under his breath, but he didn't argue. They all knew me well enough to understand I wouldn't let this go.

I turned toward my tent. My fingers itched to open the journal again, to pore over every word until I understood exactly what my father had meant. But exhaustion was settling into my bones, and I needed a clear head.

Still, as I lay down, the memory of that sigil- the true Ashborne crest, hidden all these years- burned in my mind. And behind it, the words in my father's journal replayed again and again.

Kaiden Blackthorn knew.

______

KAIDEN'S POV

I stayed longer than I should have at the ruins, breathing her lingering scent until it faded into the cold.

Elias didn't speak as we rode back. He didn't have to. Every hoofbeat was a reminder- she'd been here. She had the journal. And if she'd read even part of it, then the game had already changed.

By the time we reached Blackridge, the snow had covered our tracks. The guards bowed as I passed, but I barely saw them. My thoughts were still trapped in that ruined study, in the memory of her silver eyes the night her father died.

In my private quarters, I pulled open the bottom drawer of my desk- the one no one touched. Inside, under folded maps and sealed letters, was a single piece of parchment. My father's handwriting.

It wasn't long, just a fragment of the prophecy he'd spent his life guarding:

"When fire meets shadow, the old bond will awaken. Only together can they stand, or all will fall to ruin."

I stared at it until the words blurred.

If she had the other half...

My wolf pushed against my skin, restless, urgent. *Find her.*

I clenched my fists. Not yet.

But soon.