The night after Lila's burial was colder than any Aria had ever known. The pack had gathered on the ridge, their howls a solemn song that carried over the valley, mourning one of their own. Aria had stood among them, silent, the wind tugging at her hair, her grief a heavy stone in her chest.
Now, as dawn crept over the horizon, painting the forest in pale silver light, she stood apart from them, alone at the edge of the cliffs. Her arms wrapped around herself, though the chill in her bones came from within, not from the morning air.
She could still hear Lila's last words. Rise. No matter what comes.
Behind her, Damien's footsteps were soft but sure. He didn't speak at first, only stood beside her, the golden light of the rising sun catching in his hair, in his eyes. For a long time, they both stared out at the forest their land, their burden, their war.
"She believed in you," Damien said finally, his voice low but certain. "Lila saw what I see. What the pack is beginning to see."
Aria let out a shaky laugh, though it carried no humor. "And what's that? A broken girl with fire in her veins?"
He turned to her, his expression fierce. "No. A Luna. A leader. The one strong enough to carry us through this war."
The word settled over her like a mantle, heavy and terrifying. Luna. She wanted to deny it, to push it away, to insist she wasn't ready. But deep down, something inside her answered. Something old, primal, unshakable.
"I don't know if I can," she whispered.
"You don't have to know," Damien said. "You just have to choose."
Aria's gaze drifted to the camp below. Wolves moved with quiet purpose, licking their wounds, preparing for the next fight. They were tired, broken, but still alive. Still looking to Damien. And now, more and more, to her.
One by one, she had felt their eyes on her after the battle. Not with suspicion anymore, not with fear but with something else. Expectation. Hope.
Her heart ached, her chest tight. She thought of Lila's smile, of her sacrifice, of the way she had whispered, You're the future.
And in that moment, Aria understood. This wasn't about being ready. It was about being willing.
She turned to Damien, her storm-gray eyes steady now. "Then I choose."
His brows lifted slightly. "Choose what?"
"To rise." Her voice was soft, but it carried like the first strike of a bell. "To be more than fear. To be what Lila saw in me. What you see in me. To stand with you not behind, not beneath. With you. As your equal."
For a moment, Damien simply looked at her, golden eyes locked with hers, his chest rising and falling with slow, deliberate breaths. And then, with reverence, he bent his head slightly not as Alpha to a subordinate, but as a man acknowledging his mate, his partner, his Luna.
When they returned to the camp, the wolves gathered instinctively. Their gazes shifted, their conversations quieted, until all eyes were on Aria. She felt the weight of their attention, the hum of expectation in the air.
Her heart thundered, but she stepped forward. Her voice trembled at first, but grew stronger with every word.
"We've lost too much," she began, her eyes sweeping over them. "We've bled. We've buried our own. And it feels… impossible, sometimes, to keep going." She swallowed, her throat tight, but she forced herself to continue. "But Lila gave her life so that we could. She believed in me, in us. And I won't let her sacrifice mean nothing."
A murmur rippled through the pack. Wolves exchanged glances, their ears twitching, their postures shifting.
Aria lifted her chin, her eyes fierce now. "The hunters think they can break us. Viktor thinks he can own us. But we are not broken. We are not his. We are the pack of Ravencrest and we will rise. Together."
The air shifted. A growl rumbled through the wolves, low at first, then building into a chorus of howls. They raised their heads to the sky, their voices uniting in a sound that was no longer mourning but defiance.
And for the first time, Aria raised her own head and howled with them. The sound ripped from her throat raw and wild, echoing across the forest, joining the chorus. It wasn't human. It wasn't wolf. It was both. It was hers.
When the howl died down, the pack looked at her differently. Not just as the strange girl tied to their Alpha. But as something more. As their Luna.
Damien's gaze met hers, pride blazing in his eyes. And in that moment, beneath the pale light of the morning, Aria felt it fully for the first time. She wasn't just surviving anymore.
She was leading.
She was rising.