Aria's POV
The wolves circled me like I was prey.
Their eyes glowed red in the darkness. Their growls echoed through the trees. I counted twelve of them, maybe more. Every single one looked ready to rip me apart.
I tried to stand but my legs wouldn't work. My body had given everything it had to escape Blackwood. There was nothing left.
*This is how I die*, I thought. *Alone in enemy territory. My baby will never take its first breath.*
The wolves parted suddenly, creating a path. Heavy footsteps approached. Slow. Confident. The footsteps of someone who had never feared anything in his life.
Then I saw him.
Alpha Kael of Nightshade.
Even on my knees in the mud, I could feel his power. It pressed against me like a weight on my chest. This wasn't like Damien's power—showy and loud. This was deeper. Darker. The kind of power that came from years of bloodshed.
He was tall. Taller than any wolf I had ever seen. His shoulders were broad enough to block out the moonlight. His face looked like it was carved from stone—sharp jaw, high cheekbones, a scar running from his left eyebrow to his cheek.
But it was his eyes that froze my blood.
Silver. Pure silver, like liquid metal. And completely empty. No warmth. No mercy. Nothing human at all.
The stories were true. They called him the Monster of the North. They said he had killed his own father to become Alpha. They said he bathed in the blood of his enemies.
Looking at him now, I believed every word.
"A rogue," he said. His voice was deep and cold. "On my land."
I opened my mouth to speak. To beg. To explain. But no words came out.
He stepped closer. His silver eyes scanned my body—the cuts on my arms from the broken window, the mud covering my dress, the bruises on my wrists from the guards.
"Blackwood," he said, reading the fading pack scent on my skin. "You're from Damien's pack."
At the sound of that name, something flickered in his eyes. Something dangerous.
"Please," I finally managed to whisper. "Please, I'm not a threat. I just—"
"Rogues don't get to speak."
He nodded to one of his wolves. The wolf shifted into human form—a huge man with a bald head and cruel smile.
"Kill her?" the man asked hopefully.
Kael tilted his head, studying me like I was an insect he was deciding whether to crush.
I pressed my hand against my stomach. Against my baby. My vision was getting blurry. The world was starting to spin.
"I'm pregnant," I choked out. "Please. Kill me if you want. But my baby is innocent."
Kael's eyes dropped to my stomach. For just a second—so fast I almost missed it—something changed in his expression.
Then everything went black.
---
I woke up to warmth.
That was the first thing I noticed. I wasn't cold anymore. I wasn't lying in mud. Something soft was beneath me.
The second thing I noticed was the smell. Pine and rain and something else. Something wild and masculine that made my wolf stir in ways I didn't understand.
The third thing I noticed was that I was moving.
My eyes flew open.
I was being carried. Strong arms held me against a hard chest. I looked up and saw a jaw made of stone. Silver eyes staring straight ahead.
Alpha Kael was carrying me.
I screamed.
Or I tried to. It came out as more of a weak yelp. I thrashed in his arms, trying to escape, but I was too weak. He didn't even react. He just kept walking like I weighed nothing at all.
"Stop fighting," he said without looking down. "You'll hurt yourself."
"Let me go!"
"No."
"Where are you taking me? What are you going to do to me?"
He finally looked at me. Those silver eyes pinned me in place. My whole body went still.
"I haven't decided yet."
My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. I was completely helpless in the arms of the most dangerous Alpha alive. My powers, whatever they were, had gone silent. My wolf was quiet too—but not from fear.
No. My wolf was doing something strange.
She was... calm. Almost peaceful. Like being in this monster's arms was exactly where she wanted to be.
*What is wrong with you?* I screamed at her internally. *He's going to kill us!*
But she just curled up contentedly in my mind and refused to respond.
We emerged from the forest. A massive building loomed ahead—the Nightshade pack house. It looked more like a fortress than a home. Armed guards stood at every entrance.
"Alpha," one of them said, eyes widening when he saw me. "Is that—"
"Prepare the east wing," Kael interrupted. "She stays there."
The guard looked confused. "Not the dungeon?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "Did I say the dungeon?"
"No, Alpha. Sorry, Alpha."
The guard ran off. Kael carried me through the doors and up a flight of stairs. I was too exhausted to fight anymore. Too confused to understand what was happening.
Why wasn't I in the dungeon? Why was he carrying me himself? Why did my wolf feel safe with the most terrifying man I had ever met?
He kicked open a door and carried me into a room. A real room with a real bed. He laid me down on sheets softer than anything I had ever felt.
I stared up at him, trembling.
"Why?" I whispered. "Why aren't you killing me?"
He stood over me, his silver eyes unreadable. For a long moment, he didn't answer.
Then he leaned down. Close. So close I could feel his breath on my face.
"Because when I touched you," he said slowly, like he couldn't believe his own words, "my wolf said something he's never said before."
My heart stopped. "What?"
His eyes bore into mine. Silver fire meeting my terrified gaze.
"He said 'mate.'"
The word hung in the air like thunder.
Then he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
And I was left alone, clutching my belly, carrying one Alpha's baby while another Alpha—the most feared monster in the world—had just called me his mate.
What had I gotten myself into?