The engines purred beneath Aria's feet like a living thing.
She sat rigidly in the back seat of Damien's armored car, hands clenched in her lap, every sense stretched thin. The mansion vanished behind them as iron gates slid shut with a final, echoing clang. Guards bowed as the vehicle passed. No lights. No sirens. Just the steady hum of power moving unseen through the night.
Damien sat beside her, close but not touching.
He had changed his shirt. Not because of the blood. Blood never bothered him. But because it reminded him of how close she had come to dying.
"You're certain this is necessary," Aria said quietly.
"Yes."
No hesitation. No softening.
The word settled in her bones.
She looked out the tinted window. The city lights thinned, then disappeared altogether, swallowed by forest and open land. Her wolf pressed against her consciousness, restless, alert, like it recognized the direction they were heading.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
Damien watched the road ahead. "Somewhere you were never meant to forget."
That made her breath hitch. "I've never been there."
He finally turned to her, eyes unreadable. "You have."
The car left the road.
Not onto another street. Not onto gravel.
Onto earth.
Branches scraped the sides as they drove deeper into the forest. The darkness thickened, heavy and old. Aria's heart began to race, not with fear but with a strange, aching pull. The trees closed in, towering and ancient, their roots twisting through the ground like veins.
Then the car slowed.
Stopped.
The driver said nothing. The engine cut.
Damien stepped out first, scanning the tree line. When he opened Aria's door, the forest seemed to lean closer, air charged and humming.
"Stay close," he said.
She obeyed without thinking.
They walked.
No path marked the way, yet Damien moved with unerring certainty, pushing aside branches, stepping over roots, never once hesitating. The farther they went, the stronger the sensation in Aria's chest became. Heat. Pressure. A whisper that was not sound.
Home.
She stumbled, breath catching.
Damien was instantly there, hand closing around her elbow. "What did you feel?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "It's like… something is calling me."
His grip tightened. Not painful. Grounding. "You're responding to the land."
"The land?"
"This territory predates pack borders," Damien said. "It recognizes power, not rank."
They broke through the trees.
Aria froze.
Before them rose stone.
Not ruins. Not a building.
A fortress.
It emerged from the earth itself, black stone fused with ancient metal, carved with symbols that glowed faintly as they approached. Towers curved upward like claws gripping the sky. Massive gates stood open, as if they had been waiting.
Waiting for her.
Her knees weakened.
"What is this place?" she breathed.
Damien's voice dropped. "The Sovereign Hold."
Her wolf surged, nearly knocking her breath from her lungs. She staggered forward, drawn irresistibly toward the gates.
"This is impossible," she whispered. "No pack territory—"
"Pack laws don't apply here," Damien said. "Neither do council rules. This place answers to one authority."
He looked at her.
"Mine."
The gates rumbled shut behind them the moment they crossed the threshold.
The sound reverberated through Aria's chest, deep and final. The air inside the Hold felt different. Heavier. Charged. Her skin prickled as power brushed against her like invisible fingers.
She gasped.
Damien caught her again, steadying her as her legs threatened to give out. "Breathe. Don't fight it."
"I feel like I'm… being seen," she whispered.
"You are."
The courtyard stretched wide before them, lit by torches that flared to life as they stepped forward. Figures emerged from the shadows.
Wolves.
Not in full shift. Not human.
Something in between.
They knelt as one.
Aria's heart slammed so hard it hurt.
"What are they doing?" she whispered.
Damien did not answer her.
He addressed the kneeling figures instead.
"She is under my protection," he said, voice carrying effortlessly. "Any who threaten her answer to me."
The wolves bowed lower.
Then, impossibly, they turned their heads toward Aria.
And bowed to her.
The power inside her surged violently.
"No," she breathed, panic flaring. "I didn't tell them to—"
"You didn't need to," Damien said softly. "They recognize you."
Her chest burned. The world tilted.
She clutched at Damien's coat, vision blurring as heat flooded her veins. The symbols carved into the stone walls flared brighter, responding to her distress.
"Aria," Damien said sharply. "Focus on my voice."
She shook her head, breath tearing from her lungs. "I can't— it's too much."
He pulled her against him, one arm braced around her back, the other pressing firmly between her shoulder blades.
"Listen to me," he said, voice low and commanding. "You are not awakening fully. Not yet. You are touching the edge. That's all."
Her wolf writhed beneath her skin, furious and hungry, desperate to break free. A sound tore from her throat, half gasp, half growl.
Damien stiffened.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
The ground beneath them trembled.
"Enough," Damien said, not to her, but to the power around them.
The Hold answered.
The pressure eased abruptly, leaving Aria trembling in his arms. She sagged against him, exhausted, shaken, alive in a way she had never been before.
"I didn't mean to—" she whispered.
"I know," he said. "That's why we're here."
He guided her inside.
The interior of the Hold was vast and ancient, halls carved directly from stone, banners bearing sigils she had never seen. Every step echoed with history. Every breath tasted of old oaths and older blood.
Damien led her to a chamber set deep within the fortress. The door sealed behind them with a low thrum.
"This room is warded," he said. "Nothing enters without my permission."
She sank onto the edge of the bed, hands shaking. "Those wolves… they weren't pack."
"No," Damien replied. "They are bound to the Hold."
"Bound how?"
"To the Alpha King."
Her head snapped up. "You keep saying that like it's just a title."
"It isn't," Damien said quietly. "It's a responsibility that never ends."
She studied him then, really looked at him. At the weight he carried so easily. At the restraint carved into every movement.
"You've lived like this your whole life," she said.
"Yes."
"And you never told Liam."
A muscle jumped in his jaw. "Liam was never meant to inherit this."
Aria's stomach twisted. "Then why was he Alpha?"
"Because the world wasn't ready for me to claim what was mine," Damien said. "And because I believed distance would keep others safe."
"Did it?"
Silence stretched between them.
"No," he said at last.
Aria swallowed. "These people who attacked us… they knew about this place."
"They suspected," Damien corrected. "Tonight confirmed it."
Fear crept back in, cold and sharp. "So bringing me here—"
"Painted a target on my back," Damien finished. "Yes."
She stared at him. "Then why do it?"
"Because keeping you hidden is no longer possible," he said. "And because this is the only place strong enough to hold what you are becoming."
Her breath trembled. "What if I can't control it?"
Damien stepped closer, lowering himself in front of her again. His gaze locked onto hers, fierce and steady.
"Then I will," he said.
The words wrapped around her like iron.
A distant horn sounded through the Hold, deep and resonant.
Damien rose instantly. "We have visitors."
"Enemies?" Aria asked, heart racing.
"Not yet," he said. "But they will be."
She stood on unsteady legs. "Damien… I'm scared."
He turned back to her, something unguarded flickering in his eyes.
"So am I," he admitted quietly. "But not of you."
Another horn call echoed.
Longer this time.
The Hold seemed to breathe around them, ancient stone waking, power coiling like a beast stirring from sleep.
Damien extended his hand.
"Welcome to the beginning," he said.
Aria took it.
Somewhere far beyond the forest, forces older than packs and councils felt the shift and turned their attention toward the Sovereign Hold.
The Omega Queen had crossed a threshold.
And nothing would ever be able to pretend she didn't exist again.