The Blood Moon had set weeks ago, but the forest still remembered.
Every night since, the air in Black Hollow felt heavier — like the earth itself was holding its breath. The war was over, yet peace never came. Lucian's pack had scattered, their trust shaken, their Alpha missing more often than present. And Aria… Aria had become something else entirely.
She stood on the cliff above the valley, moonlight bleeding across her skin. Her mark no longer glowed silver — it burned crimson now, pulsing with a rhythm that wasn't hers alone.
In her dreams, she still heard the Hollow whisper. You were never meant to belong to one pack. You were meant to rule them all.
Aria didn't know if it was prophecy or madness. But she knew one thing — the voice was getting louder.
Behind her, footsteps approached. She didn't have to turn to know it was Lucian. His scent — smoke, rain, and wildness — wrapped around her like a memory that refused to fade.
"You're still awake," he said quietly.
"I don't sleep much anymore," she replied, her voice distant.
He stepped closer, close enough for his breath to stir her hair. "It's the mark again, isn't it?"
Aria finally turned, her golden eyes meeting his. "It's not just a mark anymore, Lucian. It's changing me."
He reached out to touch her, but the moment his fingers brushed her skin, the mark flared red. The ground trembled. The wind howled through the forest like a scream.
Lucian pulled his hand back, eyes wide. "Aria—what did you do?"
She stared at her trembling hand, light flickering beneath her skin like fire trapped in flesh. "I didn't do anything," she said. "It did."
The sky above them cracked — a streak of red lightning slashed across the moon. The Hollow answered in a single, deep rumble that shook the mountain.
Lucian grabbed her shoulders. "Tell me you can control it."
Aria looked up at the blood-streaked moon. "I don't think it wants to be controlled."
The wind roared across the ridge, lifting Aria's hair as the crimson light bled into the forest below. Every tree seemed to tremble, every shadow to move.
Lucian's grip tightened on her shoulders. "Aria," he said, his voice low but urgent, "listen to me. Whatever that is, you have to stop it."
"I told you, I can't." Her pulse throbbed through the mark, hot and erratic. "It's like the moon's inside me now."
Lucian stepped back, watching as faint streaks of red traced down her arms like veins of molten fire. The mark wasn't just reacting — it was spreading.
Below them, the forest howled. One voice. Then a dozen. Then hundreds. Wolves — answering something older than the Alpha's call.
Lucian's eyes widened. "They're not howling for me."
Aria's gaze drifted to the valley where the moonlight pooled like blood. "No," she said quietly. "They're howling for me."
A shiver went through her as she realized what the Hollow had whispered wasn't madness — it was truth. The mark wasn't binding her to Lucian anymore. It was crowning her.
The night split open. From the treeline, shadows moved — wolves, drawn by instinct, by something stronger than loyalty. They didn't attack. They bowed.
Lucian's heart pounded. "Aria… they're submitting."
She turned toward him, eyes now a deep, glowing red. "The Hollow didn't choose me to be your mate, Lucian. It chose me to be something else."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying the age of Alphas is ending." Her voice was calm, terrifyingly sure. "And the Blood Queen is rising."
The words hung in the air, heavy and cold.
Lucian stared at her, torn between awe and dread. He could feel the pull — the instinct that told him to kneel, to obey. But another part of him, the Alpha within, fought back.
"You don't understand what this means," he said. "The other packs will come for you. The Council will burn the Hollow to ash."
Aria stepped closer, the air around her humming with power. "Then let them try."
Lightning flashed again, bathing them both in red. In that instant, Lucian saw not the woman he'd fallen for — but the storm she was becoming.
He whispered, "You're not just mine anymore, are you?"
She met his gaze with a faint, sad smile. "I never was."
The ground split beneath them with a thunderous crack, and from the fissure came a howl so ancient it made the world itself seem to shudder.
Something had awakened. And it wasn't done with either of them.