The tension inside the pack was a storm ready to break. Whispers carried further than howls, and every glance Aria received was lined with suspicion. But just when it seemed the division could not deepen, the outside world struck with merciless precision.
It began at dawn. The forest was unusually still, the usual calls of birds muted, as if the land itself was holding its breath. Aria woke with a shiver running down her spine, her bond to Damien burning with unease.
Moments later, a panicked howl tore through the air.
Damien was already out of bed, his wolf rising close to the surface. "Something's wrong," he growled, pulling a shirt over his shoulders.
Aria followed him into the courtyard, where wolves were gathering, eyes wide, hackles raised. Lila stumbled into the clearing, blood smeared across her arm, her breath ragged.
"They took her!" she gasped.
The crowd erupted with snarls and growls.
Damien pushed forward, steadying her. "Who? Speak!"
Lila's eyes flashed with fury and grief. "The hunters. They came before sunrise. They....." Her voice cracked. "They took one of ours. They took Mira."
Mira. The youngest of the pack, barely sixteen, quick with laughter and still learning to control her shifts. Aria's heart dropped like a stone.
The wolves' murmurs turned into outraged roars, but beneath it all was fear real, suffocating fear.
Damien's control snapped. His voice rang out like thunder. "Where?"
Lila's hands shook as she pointed north. "The old ruins. They dragged her there. I tried...." Her voice broke, tears brimming. "I couldn't stop them."
Aria felt the ache in Damien's bond, the rage simmering under his skin. He turned toward his wolves, eyes blazing gold. "We march now."
But even as his command rang out, Kaelen stepped forward, his expression carved from stone. "No."
The courtyard fell silent.
Damien's head snapped toward him. "What did you say?"
Kaelen stood tall, meeting his Alpha's burning gaze without flinching. "You would lead us into a trap. The hunters want blood, and you" his eyes flicked to Aria, cold as steel, "you would risk the whole pack for one girl."
Murmurs rippled again, uncertainty cracking the unity of the group.
Damien snarled, his wolf surging close. "She is one of ours. We protect our own."
"And how many die because of your reckless heart?" Kaelen countered, his voice sharp, carrying to every ear. "First you risk us for a human mate. Now you risk us for a child already lost. An Alpha who cannot see beyond his bond is not fit to lead."
The words struck like a blade.
Aria's breath caught, the pack's eyes swinging between Damien and Kaelen, torn between loyalty and doubt. The silence stretched, sharp as a knife-edge.
Then Damien stepped forward, his voice low but deadly. "You question me before my pack?"
"I question if you still see your pack," Kaelen shot back. "Or if all you see is her."
The wolves stirred, growls rising, the tension snapping like lightning about to strike.
And then Lila's voice cut through the storm. "Enough!"
All eyes turned to her. She stood trembling but fierce, her wounded arm hanging at her side, her voice shaking with anger. "While you fight each other, Mira is out there. Alone. Afraid. Every second you waste brings her closer to death. Is this what we've become? A pack that argues while children are stolen?"
The courtyard fell to silence, shame settling like frost over the wolves.
Damien's chest heaved with fury, but he met Kaelen's gaze with unyielding fire. "You can stand here and doubt. Or you can follow me. But know this....." his voice dropped into a growl, reverberating through the ground, "any wolf who leaves Mira to die is no wolf of mine."
Without waiting for an answer, he shifted. His wolf burst forth in a flash of golden fur and fire in his eyes.
The pack hesitated. For a moment, it seemed Kaelen's shadow would win. Then one wolf shifted. Then another. Growls rumbled in the air, not of defiance, but of readiness.
Aria stood frozen, the enormity of it all pressing down. Mira was out there. The pack was fracturing. And the hunters had just made their move.
Kaelen's jaw tightened, but he shifted as well, silver fur gleaming under the dawn. Whatever his doubts, he would not let Damien lead alone.
Aria took a step forward, but Damien turned his head sharply, his golden gaze locking on her. Stay.
The command vibrated through their bond, almost a plea.
Her chest ached. But as she watched him lead the pack into the forest, his wolf blazing like a star among shadows, she knew the war had officially begun.
And this time, it was not just Viktor waiting in the darkness.
It was the hunters.
And they had Mira.