✅ CHAPTER ONE THE SUMMONS
Tuesdays were supposed to be ordinary. Bland. Emotionally safe. The kind of day that slipped by unnoticed, with nothing more dramatic than forgetting to charge my laptop or spilling coffee on my jeans.
But the moment I pushed open my apartment door, I froze.
Something lay on the floor in front of me something wrong.
A snow-white envelope sat in the center of the hallway like it had crawled under the door just to wait for me. The blood-red wax seal glared up at me, imprinted with a symbol I knew better than my own reflection:
The Blackwood Ridge crest.
My breath hitched, sharp enough to hurt.
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no"
My wolf stirred beneath my skin, uneasy. She didn't like this anymore than I did.
We left Blackwood Ridge four years ago. I had promised myself actually sworn that I would never go back.
Not for holidays.
Not for pack events.
Not for funerals.
And definitely not for them.
But apparently Tuesday didn't care about promises.
My fingers shook as I picked up the envelope. I didn't need to open it to know what it was. But curiosity or self-destruction won.
I broke the wax seal.
To Aria Winters,
You are hereby summoned…
I stopped reading for a moment as the words blurred. My stomach rolled. My pulse thudded in my ears.
Mandatory return.
Pack law.
Alpha Succession Cycle.
Appearance required by May 15th.
Failure to comply equals severance.
I reread the line twice.
Six months.
They wanted me back for six entire months.
I stumbled backward until my shoulder hit the wall.
"Absolutely not," I said out loud, because someone needed to hear it.
I paced through my tiny studio the five steps from kitchen to bed and the three steps back before flinging myself onto the edge of the mattress.
This wasn't happening.
I had graduated from Clearwater University two months early. I had a job offer in Seattle. I had a thesis defense coming up in three weeks. I had a life I had built with my bare hands.
And Blackwood Ridge was not part of it.
My wolf, though, wasn't on my side.
She paced in my mind, agitated. Go back. Go back. Something's coming.
"No," I muttered, rubbing my temples. "We're done with that place."
Done with the pack that treated me like a mistake.
Done with my mother, who never hid the disappointment on her face when she looked at me.
Done with him.
My throat tightened. Memories of silver eyes, cruel smirks, whispered insults, and laughter at my expense flooded back hard enough to make my hands tremble.
Declan Storm.
My tormentor.
My shadow.
My stupid childhood crush.
My biggest mistake.
I needed a voice of reason, and there was only one person in the entire world who could be that for me.
I grabbed my phone.
Tasha answered before the second ring finished. "Aria! Oh my gosh did you get it? Tell me you got the summons!"
Her voice was too bright, too excited. I winced.
"I got it," I said flatly.
She squealed. Actually squealed. "This is amazing! Everyone's coming home for the cycle! It'll be like a huge reunion"
"Tasha," I snapped, "it is not amazing."
Her voice softened instantly. "Ari… you're coming home."
I swallowed hard. "I'm not going."
"You have to. Pack law"
"Maybe I don't care about pack law."
Silence. Slow and painful.
"Please don't say that," she whispered. "You're my twin. You're my other half. Don't talk like you're abandoning me."
Guilt stabbed me right in the ribs. Tasha had always been the light to my dark sunshine to my thunderstorms.
It wasn't her fault the pack had treated us differently. It wasn't her fault Mom adored her and looked through me like I was just a stain on her perfect image.
"How long?" I asked, already bracing myself.
"Six months," she said softly.
My stomach dropped. "Six months?"
"Just until the succession ceremonies are complete. Trials, rituals, blessings… it's a whole process this year. And with Declan"
I stopped breathing.
Tasha stopped talking.
"You knew I'd ask," I said quietly. "So tell me."
She sighed. "He's the one being crowned Alpha."
Of course he was.
My lungs refused to work.
Declan Storm the boy who made my childhood miserable, who humiliated me daily, who treated me like garbage for twelve years was about to become the Alpha of Blackwood Ridge.
And I was legally required to stand in the same town as him for half a year.
"No," I whispered. "I can't do this."
"You can," she insisted. "And I'll be right there. Owen too."
Right. Owen Clarke. Declan's Beta. One of the boys who used to laugh hardest whenever Declan decided to torment me.
"You're still with him?" I asked.
Tasha's voice warmed. "He's my mate."
My heart pinched. Of course he was. Tasha got the dream a destined mate who adored her. She always got the things I wanted and never received.
"I'll think about it," I lied.
"Aria"
"I have to go."
I hung up. The silence in the room felt heavy.
My reflection in the mirror didn't look like the girl Declan used to torment. My cheekbones were sharper now. My shoulders stronger. My dark auburn hair shorter, chopped just above my collarbone.
My forest-green eyes no longer looked afraid.
Four years had changed me.
But was it enough?
My wolf pressed against my ribs, restless. Go. Go. Go.
"Why?" I whispered. "What are you sensing?"
She didn't answer.
Three days later, I was standing in an airport with a duffel bag over my shoulder and a boarding pass in my hand.
Not because I wanted to go back.
Not because the pack deserved me.
But because something deep inside me said avoiding Blackwood Ridge would be more dangerous than returning.
The moment I stepped off the plane, pine-scented wind hit me like a physical blow.
My wolf screamed.
Mate.
My knees nearly buckled.
"No," I whispered. "No. That's not possible."
The pull hit me next hard, magnetic, a force wrenching at my chest like an invisible hand.
Someone here.
Someone close.
Someone whose soul was tied to mine.
"Aria!" Tasha's voice broke through the rising panic.
She sprinted toward me, nearly tackling me in a hug. I held her tightly, my heart racing for an entirely different reason.
"You look pale," she said, pulling back. "Are you sick?"
"Just tired," I lied.
We walked to the car, but with every step, the pull got worse. It dragged at my ribs, tugged at my lungs, throbbed behind my sternum like a second heartbeat.
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
The word pulsed through my veins like a drum.
I forced myself to breathe.
We drove past familiar forests, old houses, the winding road that led into the heart of Blackwood Ridge. And with every mile, the pull grew stronger.
By the time we pulled onto our childhood street, I could barely sit still.
As soon as the car stopped, I opened the door.
And froze.
Silver eyes glowed from the shadows of the tree line.
My breath fractured in my chest.
No.
No, please, not him
A twig snapped.
The eyes vanished.
"Aria?" Tasha called cheerfully. "Come on!"
My legs felt like jelly as I forced myself to walk toward the house. My wolf was practically panting, claws scraping inside my skin.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
I already knew.
Even before I stepped onto the porch.
Even before I stayed my first night back.
Even before I faced him again.
My mate was here.
And he had already found me.
Declan Storm knew I was home.
And he was hunting.