Damon POV
She was shaking in my arms.
Aria tried to hide it—her body rigid, her face carefully blank—but I could feel the tremors running through her. Terror. Pure, bone-deep terror.
She thought we were going to hurt her.
The realization made something twist painfully in my chest. Our mate—the girl we'd searched for since we were six years old—was more afraid of us than she'd been standing in front of five hundred wolves who'd mocked her.
"You're safe," I said quietly, adjusting my hold so she'd be more comfortable. "I promise."
Through the mate bond, I felt her disbelief. She didn't believe in promises anymore. Why would she? Everyone who'd ever promised her anything had lied.
She thinks we're like them, my wolf growled. Like the ones who hurt her.
Can you blame her? I shot back. We threatened to take her by force.
That was Ryker being an idiot.
Fair point.
I carried Aria toward our vehicle—a massive SUV designed to transport Alphas in comfort. She weighed almost nothing, like a bird made of hollow bones. Nineteen years of starvation and abuse had left her too thin, too fragile.
But her eyes... her eyes burned with that violet power that said she was anything but fragile now.
"Put me in the back," she said suddenly. "Away from you."
"No." The word came out harsher than I meant. "You stay where I can protect you."
"I don't need your protection."
"Yes, you do." I slid into the back seat, still holding her. "Like it or not, you're stuck with us now. Might as well get used to it."
Kael climbed into the driver's seat while Ryker took passenger. The engine purred to life, and we pulled away from the ceremony clearing.
Away from the pack that had tortured our mate for nineteen years.
Good. I wanted to burn that entire territory to ash.
"You're angry," Aria observed quietly. Through the bond, she could feel my emotions as clearly as I felt hers.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they hurt you." I looked down at her, this tiny girl who'd somehow survived hell and come out with her dignity intact. "For nineteen years, they hurt you. And we weren't there to stop them."
"That's not your fault."
"Isn't it?" Guilt churned in my gut. "We should have found you sooner. Should have searched harder. Should have—"
"Should have what? Known where I was?" Aria's voice was sharp. "I didn't even know who I was. How could you have found me when I was hidden even from myself?"
She had a point, but it didn't make the guilt hurt less.
Through the bond, I felt Kael's matching self-hatred in the front seat. We'd all carried this for nineteen years—the weight of failing to protect our baby sister. The knowledge that somewhere out there, Seraphina was suffering while we lived in comfort at Crystal Peak Palace.
"Your mother," Aria said suddenly. "The one who gave birth to me. What was she like?"
The question caught me off guard. "Why?"
"Because I want to know if she would have been ashamed of what I became."
My chest tightened. "Our mother would have been proud of you."
"Proud of a wolfless slave?" Aria's laugh was bitter. "Sure."
"Proud of a survivor." I held her gaze, making sure she heard every word. "You endured nineteen years of abuse that would have broken most wolves. You kept your dignity when they tried to strip it away. You stayed kind even when everyone around you was cruel. That takes more strength than having a powerful wolf ever could."
Silence filled the vehicle. Through the bond, I felt Aria's shock—like she'd never considered that survival itself was a form of strength.
"You don't know me," she finally said.
"Not yet. But I want to."
"Why?" Suspicion colored her voice. "Because the mate bond says you have to?"
"Because you challenged Kael." I couldn't help the small smile. "Nobody challenges Kael. He's spent twenty-five years being the ice prince who nobody questions. You looked at him with those glowing violet eyes and told him he wasn't good enough for you."
"I didn't say that."
"You implied it. Same thing." My smile widened. "It was magnificent."
For the first time since we'd found her, I saw Aria's lips twitch toward a smile. It disappeared quickly, but I'd seen it.
Progress.
"How long until we get to Crystal Peak?" she asked.
"Four hours."
"Four hours trapped in a car with three Alphas who don't want me. Great."
"We want you," I said firmly. "Stop saying we don't."
"You wanted the idea of me. The powerful princess from the prophecy. You didn't want the broken girl you actually got."
"You're not broken."
"Yes, I am." Her voice went quiet. "And having a powerful wolf doesn't change that. Inside, I'm still Aria Blackwood. Still the scared girl who spent nineteen years cleaning floors and taking beatings. The White Phoenix might be legendary, but I'm not."
Through the bond, I felt her belief in those words. She truly thought she was worthless. That her wolf was the only valuable part of her.
It made me want to find Victoria Blackwood and rip her apart slowly.
"Listen to me," I said, tilting Aria's chin so she had to meet my eyes. "Your wolf didn't survive those nineteen years. You did. Your wolf was asleep, safe, protected inside you. But you were awake for every beating, every insult, every moment of pain. You're the one who survived. Not her."
Aria blinked rapidly, and I realized with shock that she was fighting tears.
"Don't," she whispered. "Don't be nice to me. I don't know how to handle nice."
The confession broke something inside me.
She'd been abused for so long that kindness felt wrong. Dangerous. Like a trap waiting to spring.
"You'll learn," I promised. "We'll teach you."
"What if I can't? What if I'm too broken to learn?"
"Then we'll love you broken."
The words slipped out before I could stop them. Through the bond, I felt Kael and Ryker's surprise in the front seat.
Aria's gray-violet eyes went wide. "You don't love me. You don't even know me."
"Not yet," I admitted. "But the mate bond doesn't make mistakes. If you're ours, there's a reason. We just have to figure out what it is."
She stared at me like I was speaking another language. Like the concept of being loved—broken or whole—was so foreign she couldn't process it.
Before I could say anything else, Aria's body went rigid.
"Stop the car," she gasped.
"What's wrong?" Kael demanded from the front.
"Something's—" Aria's eyes rolled back, and her body started convulsing. Violet power crackled across her skin, burning my hands where I held her. "—happening—"
"She's shifting!" Ryker shouted. "Her wolf's trying to take control!"
"In the car?" Kael swerved to the side of the road. "She'll destroy everything!"
Aria screamed, and it wasn't human anymore. Her bones started cracking, reforming, her body trying to shift into her wolf form whether she wanted to or not.
"Make it stop!" she begged, her voice breaking. "I don't—I can't control—"
Through the mate bond, I felt her absolute terror. The White Phoenix was too powerful, too ancient, too overwhelming for Aria to control. If she shifted now, without training, without understanding her wolf's power—
She might never shift back.
"Aria, listen to me!" I grabbed her face, forcing her to focus through the pain. "You have to fight it! You're not ready to shift yet!"
"I can't—it hurts—she wants out—"
Violet light exploded from her body, and I knew we were out of time.
The White Phoenix was coming whether Aria was ready or not.
And if she lost control, we might lose our mate forever—swallowed by a legendary wolf she couldn't command.
"Kael!" I shouted. "We need Elder Thorne NOW!"
But Kael's response made my blood freeze:
"He's three hours away. We're on our own."
Aria's scream turned into a howl as her shift began in earnest.
And I had absolutely no idea how to save her.