Chapter Ten
Aria
I wake in the sunlight. Warm, safe, and alive.
The grass is cool under my cheek. My bones feel heavy, but not with dread, just the lingering ache of shifting for the first time in too long. When I blink my eyes open, the light filters through leaves overhead.
The Forest. The Sky. The Wind.
Freedom.
I shift slowly back into my human form, my breath hitching at the sensation. This time there’s no panic. No choke of dark and painful memories. No claws of fear. My body rearranges itself with a soft ripple, landing me naked in the grass with only a thin blanket draped over me.
Silas.
I look around. He’s sitting beside me, back against a tree, his massive dire wolf energy thrumming around him even in human form. His arms rest loosely over his knees. He isn’t watching me but he’s not not watching me either. His awareness wraps around me like a protective shield.
“Good morning,” he murmurs.
His voice curls through me warm and deep. I sit up slowly, pulling the blanket tighter around myself.
“I shifted.”
One corner of his mouth lifts in something close to a smile. “You did.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.”
“But I ... I wanted to.”
His eyes soften. “I know that too.”
Heat blooms in my cheeks. My leopard stretches lazily inside me, content and confident in a way she hasn’t been in years. She purrs at the sight of him.
My heart stumbles.
Everything feels different today. Clearer. Sharper. Like something foggy inside me has finally burned away.
I take a slow breath. “I want ... more.”
Silas goes very still.
“More?” he repeats quietly.
My face burns. “Of the bond.”
His throat works, a visible swallow. “Aria...”
“I can feel it,” I whisper. “When I shifted yesterday ... it felt like something inside me reached for something inside you. And it didn’t hurt.”
His gaze is intense now, warm and laced with hunger, but still careful.
“That was your leopard,” he murmurs. “And my wolf.”
“Dire wolf,” I correct softly.
His mouth twitches. “Right.”
I shift the blanket nervously. “I want to feel it again. On purpose.”
Silas’s eyes darken, not with danger but with something deep and primal that makes my pulse skip.
“Are you sure?” he asks, his voice rougher than ever before.
I nod. “Yes.”
He shifts until he is on his hands and knees before he moves closer, slow, and deliberate. He stops when he’s only a few inches away. I can feel his heat. His scent. His power.
My breath catches.
“Take my hand,” he whispers.
I lift my trembling fingers toward him. When our skin touches, the bond flares. Heat, light, pressure, and warmth all tangle together. A soft pull forms in my chest like something inside me is finally exhaling.
My leopard pushes up inside me, rubbing against the connection, curious and bold. Something inside Silas answers—his dire wolf, massive, ancient, and protective. The bond flickers between us like sparks jumping between two stones.
I gasp.
Silas inhales sharply. “Aria...”
It’s overwhelming. Beautiful and terrifying at the same time. I lean closer without thinking, drawn to him by something older than instinct, older than fear.
“I want...”
The words barely leave my mouth before a sound cuts through the forest.
A scream followed by an explosion.
Silas goes rigid. “Hunters,” he snarls.
Another explosion shakes the air again, rattling the leaves above us. Smoke spirals upward from the direction of the compound.
Peyton.
Fear slams into me so hard I nearly choke. Silas is already moving, muscles bunching, dire wolf energy surging like a tsunami under his skin.
“Stay behind me,” he orders, but I’m already on my feet, blanket forgotten, adrenaline tearing through my veins.
“Aria!” His voice cracks sharp. “Stop...”
But I can’t.
My body moves before I think. My leopard surges, claws scraping the inside of my bones, ready to rip her way free again.
Peyton is somewhere in the compound, close to that explosion. Peyton, who smiled at me. Peyton, who gave me clothes. Peyton, who cared even when she didn’t know me. Peyton ... the closest thing I’ve had to a friend in a long time.
I won’t let them hurt her. I run. Branches whip past me, the ground blurs under my feet, and my heart hammers against my ribs like it wants out.
Silas’s footsteps thunder behind me, faster and heavier, gaining ground, but I don’t stop. I can’t. The compound comes into view through the trees.
Smoke. Fire. Shouts, growls, and gunfire all blending into a cacophony of noise. Hunters in black gear swarm the clearing, weapons aimed, moving with precision. They meant this. They planned it. Their attack is too coordinated, too precise.
My blood turns to ice and my breath catches.
“Aria!” Silas’s voice is a roar behind me.
But everything inside me freezes when I see her. Peyton. Pinned beneath a collapsed piece of roofing. Bleeding and barely conscious.
Three Hunters are closing in on her.
My legs move before I can even make the decision. My bones ripple and my claws burst through my fingertips. I shift mid-run. Violent and instinctive. My leopard explodes out of me, roaring so loud the Hunters pause mid-step. My vision sharpens and my muscles coil with lethal intent.
My paws slam into the ground, and I spring forward with a speed I didn’t know I still had. Two Hunters turn toward me with rifles, but they are too slow.
I hit the first before he can fire. My claws sink into his chest. He screams as I rip the weapon out of his hands with my jaws and fling it into the trees. The second Hunter tries to aim but my paw connects with his chest, sending him crashing into the dirt.
More Hunters shout and turn in my direction, others run.
Good. Terrified prey is easier to tear apart.
“Aria!” Silas’s voice cracks the air, full dire wolf fury.
But my leopard barely hears him. All she sees is danger. All she feels is rage. All she knows is protection.
Peyton. Pack. Mine.
I leap onto the nearest Hunter, slamming him into the ground. He tries to scramble away but I pin him by the spine with one paw and snarl directly in his face. He freezes in terror.
I catch a movement behind me. I whip around with a feral roar ... only to find Silas in his dire wolf form.
His dire wolf hits the ground beside me in a massive surge of dark fur, muscle, and ancient power. He’s huge, larger than any wolf I’ve ever seen, his eyes burning silver. His teeth are as long as my fingers. But he’s not attacking me.
He’s guarding my flank.
Our flanks brush for the briefest moment, fur against fur, and the bond ignites again, fierce, and whole and alive. Together.
We move together. My leopard surges around to one side while Silas lunges to the other. We cut a path through the Hunters with terrifying, glorious, violent synchronicity. They never stood a chance.
Two more Hunters rush Peyton.
A sound rips out of me, raw, primal, and protective. I sprint across the clearing, leaping over debris, dodging a flying bullet that grazes my flank. I feel blood drip but ignore it.
I hit the first attacker like a meteor and he goes down screaming.
The second fires twice, once into my shoulder, once into my leg. Pain tears through me but I don’t stop. I tackle him to the ground and bite down. Hard. His screams echo across the compound until they cut off with a wet snap as I rip out his throat with my teeth.
Silas barrels past me, destroying another pair of Hunters. The pack pours out of the compound, so many wolves, all of them shifting mid-run.
Chaos becomes a battlefield. But for once, I’m not the victim.
I’m the threat.
My leopard roars, leaping at two more Hunters approaching from the same direction. My claws rip through armor. My teeth sink into flesh. Blood splatters warm against my fur.
A bullet hits Silas’s shoulder and he barely flinches. He slams into the shooter with enough force to break ribs. And still my body moves toward Peyton.
Toward the only person I can claim as a friend.
When the last Hunter near her crumples to the dirt, I skid to a stop beside her injured form. Peyton blinks up at me, dazed, blood streaking her forehead.
“A-Aria?” she whispers.
I nudge her gently with my head, whining softly.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, voice breaking.
Warmth surges through me, warmth stronger than fear. Stronger than trauma. Stronger than pain.
Silas appears at my side, his dire wolf form massive and protective, eyes locked on me like I’m the center of the world.
The battle ends as quickly as it started. The remaining hunters retreat, knowing they are fighting a losing battle. The pack catches their breath. And I stand there—bruised, bleeding, and panting—beside Peyton and Silas and the pack that protected me. The pack I protected right back.
Silas shifts back to his human form, still bleeding, still furious, still focused entirely on me. He drops to his knees beside me, chest heaving.
“Aria,” he breathes. “You, goddess, you were...”
His voice breaks off like he can’t find the words.
I shift back slowly and collapse into the grass, trembling. Not from fear. From adrenaline. From instinct. From power.
Silas kneels beside me, one hand hovering over my cheek without touching. I hear murmurs and footsteps as the pack leaves us alone.
“You fought,” he whispers. “With us. For us.”
“For Peyton,” I whisper, breath shaking. “She ... she didn’t deserve what they were about to do.”
“No,” he says softly. “She didn’t.”
I look down at my hands, still trembling. “I thought I’d freeze. I thought I’d break. But I didn’t.”
“No,” Silas breathes. “You didn’t. You conquered.”
Tears burn my eyes. “I’m ... not afraid. Not anymore.”
His eyes soften to molten silver. “You’re becoming who you were always meant to be, Aria.”
Something warm flickers in my chest, brighter than fear, and stronger than doubt. The bond pulses again, more insistent this time.
I lift my hand and touch his arm. Silas’s breath catches.
“Silas,” I whisper, voice trembling with something new. Something real.
“Yeah?” he murmurs, his voice rough and full of emotion.
“I think ... I want to try this. Us. The bond.”
His eyes close, a pained, relieved sound escaping him. He lowers his forehead to mine.
“You have me,” he whispers. “Any way you want me.”
I close my eyes and breathe him in. Taking his face in my hands, I kiss him with every ounce of emotion I am feeling.
My fear doesn’t win.
Not today.
Not anymore.