The world didn't just explode; it imploded.
A blinding flash of white-hot agony ripped through Aria, not from outside, but from deep within her core.
It was as if her very bones were fracturing, rearranging themselves, a primal force attempting to tear free from its long-held prison.
She gasped, a ragged, choked sound, and then a guttural growl, thick and resonant, tore from her throat.
It was alien, powerful, echoing off the high ceiling of the dining hall, silencing every clink of cutlery, every murmur of conversation.
The pain intensified, clawing at her sanity.
Her vision blurred, the opulent room tilting violently. Faces swam in and out of focus: her father's stern, furious countenance; her mother's mask of icy disdain cracking with alarm; the collective shock and fear in the eyes of the pack members.
And then, there was Rowan. His obsidian gaze, previously dismissive, was now locked onto her, a strange, intense mixture of shock and something she couldn't quite decipher.
His hand, which had been resting casually on Selene's arm, clenched into a white-knuckled fist.
She crumpled, falling from her chair, her knees hitting the hard stone floor with a jarring thud.
Her head swam, a cacophony of new sounds and scents assailing her senses. The cloying jasmine of Selene, the metallic tang of fear, the rich, earthy scent of Rowan, now overwhelmingly prominent.
It was too much. Her body convulsed, a wave of nausea sweeping over her, and she retched, a dry, painful heave.
"Aria! .. What in the name of the Ancestors is this disgrace?!" Alpha Julius's booming voice cut through the haze, laced with fury.
"Control yourself, girl! You are humiliating this pack!"
But the words barely registered.
Another growl, deeper, more feral, ripped from her chest, surprising even herself. It wasn't a human sound.
It was the sound of something ancient, something wild, finally unleashed. A wave of raw power coursed through her veins, tingling, buzzing, making her vision sharpen even as her head throbbed.
Then, Selene's voice, sharp and laced with venom, pierced the fog.
"She's faking! She's always trying to ruin things, seeking attention!
It's her pathetic way of being noticed! Get up, Aria, you pathetic human!
You're making a mockery of everything!"
Before Aria could process the words, a hand clamped onto her arm, yanking her roughly.
Selene. Her perfect sister, her face contorted in a mask of disgust and barely concealed panic.
Selene tried to pull her to her feet, but the touch felt like a burning brand, an assault on the raw nerves of her awakening form.
Something snapped.
A surge of untamed power exploded within Aria. A snarl, primal and guttural, tore from her throat, rattling the very bones in her chest.
Her hand, acting on instinct, lashed out, a blur of motion that sent Selene reeling backward. Selene stumbled, tripping over her own feet, her delicate silk dress rustling as she landed with a stunned yelp on the polished floor.
Her hand flew to her cheek, where a thin, red scratch bloomed, already welling with blood.
The dining hall erupted into pandemonium.
Gasps and cries of shock filled the air. Never had the meek, un-wolfed Aria shown such aggression.
Never had she touched Selene, let alone harmed her.
Aria barely registered the chaos. Her entire being was focused on the surging energy, the blinding pain, and the terrifying, exhilarating sense of something *new* within her.
Her senses were amplified to an unbearable degree. She could hear the frantic flutter of a moth's wings in the corner, smell the fear rising from every person in the room, feel the tremor of the earth beneath her.
And then, cutting through all of it, a scent so intoxicating, so utterly *right*, that her nascent wolf whimpered with recognition.
It was Rowan.
His scent. Pine, rich earth, and a hint of something sharp, like ozone before a storm.
It enveloped her, a powerful, intoxicating aura that made her wolf, still raw and thrashing within her, yearn to submit, to nuzzle, to *claim*.
No. This couldn't be happening.
Not him.
The growl intensified within her, but this time, it was a sound of pure denial, pure horror.
Her gaze, now sharper, more animalistic, found him across the room. He was standing, his chair toppled behind him.
His jaw was tight, his dark eyes wide, fixed on her. And in those obsidian depths, she saw it.
A flicker of recognition, a primal dawning. His own wolf, she knew with terrifying certainty, was stirring.
He felt it too. The undeniable pull.
The mate bond.
Her blood ran cold, even as her wolf howled with a horrifying, possessive joy. Her mate.
The future Alpha. Her childhood tormentor.
Her sister's fiancé.
The ultimate nightmare.
Just as the full, devastating weight of the realization crushed her, Rowan's eyes, now blazing with a possessive fire she'd never seen, met hers.
And then, he took a step. Then another.
Moving through the stunned crowd, his gaze never leaving her, as if drawn by an invisible, unbreakable thread.