CHAPTER SIX — THE BLOODLINE THEY FEARED
Aria's POV
The ash from the burning wraith wolf hadn't even finished falling before the weight of everyone's stare crashed down on me.
Alpha blood.
Forbidden blood.
Rightful heir.
The words clung to the room like smoke, thick and suffocating. They couldn't be true. They shouldn't be true. Nothing about my life my carefully hidden existence, my mother's constant disapproval, my role as the unwanted twin fit into anything resembling importance.
Yet the message had been clear.
"Bring me the girl with Alpha blood."
Everyone else stood frozen.
Except Declan.
He moved toward me like a wolf stalking a truth he'd known was coming but tried to outrun anyway.
His voice was low rough, almost reverent.
"Aria… what the hell are you?"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
Because I couldn't possibly know.
Because the world I thought I understood had shattered in one breath, one glowing sigil carved into undead flesh.
My mother broke the silence first.
"No one touches her." Her voice was sharp, nearly feral. "No one questions her. Not now."
Declan's head snapped toward her. "You knew."
Her face drained of color, but she didn't deny it fast enough.
"That pause," Declan said quietly, dangerously, "just told me everything."
Mom's eyes flashed. "You will not speak to me like"
"Like someone who hid something this big?" Declan growled. "You're damn right I will."
Marcus stepped forward, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "Mara. Tell us what you know."
Mom's jaw clenched so tight I heard her teeth grind.
She didn't look at me when she spoke.
"I knew she wasn't… normal."
The words sank like stones into my stomach.
Declan turned to me. "Aria"
Mom raised a hand. "Don't. She doesn't need you confusing her right now."
"I'm trying to protect her," Declan snapped.
"No," Mom hissed. "You're trying to claim her."
The bond pulsed.
Hard.
As if offended.
Declan flinched.
I closed my eyes for a second and forced myself to breathe through the chaos in my veins. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, unsettled, snarling at truths that felt sharp and wrong.
Marcus cleared his throat. "Mara. This is not the time for old grudges. If someone is coming for Aria because of her bloodline, we need answers. Now."
For a moment, I thought my mother would refuse.
But then slowly, reluctantly she looked at me.
Her expression held something I had seen only once in my life.
Fear.
"You weren't supposed to shift," she whispered. "Not yet. Not so soon."
Declan frowned. "What does her shift have to do with"
"She wasn't supposed to reveal herself," Mom said, cutting him off, chest rising with shallow breaths. "Her wolf wasn't supposed to be strong enough."
I blinked hard. "Reveal what?"
Mom swallowed.
And then the truth came out like a confession ripped from her throat.
"Your father… wasn't the man who raised you."
Ice filled my lungs.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Not even the house.
Owen let out a low whistle before Tasha elbowed him sharply.
Declan stood perfectly still, eyes locked on mine as though he could sense my heart cracking under my ribs.
Marcus's voice dropped, deep and grim. "Then who?"
Mom looked at me not them when she answered.
"Your father was Marcus's younger brother."
Silence.
Dead, absolute silence.
Marcus stumbled back a step as if struck.
Declan swore under his breath.
Tasha gasped.
My world tilted on its axis.
"No," I whispered. "That can't be right. That's Mom, that's impossible."
She shook her head. "It's the truth."
My legs trembled. "You told us he died before we were born."
"He did." Her voice cracked. "Because Marcus killed him."
A heavy thud echoed.
It was Marcus, staggering back into a chair as though the air had been ripped from his lungs.
"That's not Mara, that's not what happened."
Her voice rose. "You challenged him!"
Marcus roared back, "HE TRIED TO TAKE MY PACK!"
They were shouting.
But their voices blurred out.
Everything blurred except for the ringing in my ears and the crushing pressure in my chest.
Declan stepped toward me slowly, like approaching a wounded animal. "Aria. Look at me."
I didn't.
Couldn't.
Not when the world kept twisting under my feet.
Alpha blood.
A forbidden bloodline.
A dead man no, a murdered man whose blood ran in my veins.
Declan reached for my arm
And the bond flared.
Not painfully this time.
Soft.
Warm.
A grounding pull, like a hand offering to steady me before I fell.
When I didn't pull away, he exhaled shakily and turned to Marcus.
"Explain," Declan demanded.
Marcus rubbed his face with a trembling hand. "Your uncle… Aldric… he wanted to open the borders. Merge with the northern packs. He believed it would strengthen us. I believed it would destroy us."
Mom's voice cut sharp. "He wanted peace. You wanted power."
"Aldric wanted domination," Marcus snapped. "Through alliance or bloodshed."
"He wanted freedom."
"He wanted war."
I felt sick. "Stop. Both of you. Please."
Declan moved closer, shielding me from the chaos with his body.
Marcus's voice softened. "Aldric wasn't stable in the end. He was… touched by something dark. Magic. I tried to pull him back, but"
"You killed him!" Mom screamed.
Marcus's eyes glistened.
"He forced a challenge. I didn't have a choice."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"So you lied to me my entire life?" I whispered to Mom.
Her breath hitched. "I was trying to protect you."
I shook my head. "From what? The truth?"
"No." Her voice broke. "From your blood."
Declan stiffened.
Marcus froze.
Tasha covered her mouth.
Mom reached for me, but I stepped back. "Don't cross that floor. Not yet."
She lowered her hand, eyes shining with unshed tears.
"You were born with power," she whispered. "A wolf unlike any other. Stronger. Faster. Sharper. I saw it the first time you opened your eyes."
My throat burned. "So you resented me for it?"
"No," she said softly. "I feared what the world would do to you because of it."
Declan let out a long, shaky breath. "Aldric's bloodline… it's supposed to be extinct."
"Exactly," Marcus said hoarsely. "And if certain packs discovered Aria existed"
The room darkened with the implication.
They'd kill me.
Or worse
Use me.
Mom nodded. "Which is why I hid her."
"By treating her like she was worthless?" Declan snapped.
Mom flinched.
"By making her believe she was less than her sister?"
She closed her eyes. "If she looked insignificant— weak unimportant then no one would ever suspect."
My chest cracked open at the edges.
"So you broke me," I whispered. "On purpose."
Tasha made a small choked sound beside us.
Declan swore violently.
Mom's voice trembled. "I broke your image. Not you. Never you."
I didn't know whether I wanted to scream or collapse.
Declan turned to Marcus. "If Aldric's bloodline is alive, it explains everything. Why the magic is reacting. Why the wraith wolves were sent here. Why the summoner wants her."
Mom whispered, "They will never stop."
Declan's hand brushed mine barely a touch, just enough to steady.
"They damn well will stop," he growled. "Because I will bury anyone who comes for her."
My breath hitched.
Mom bristled. "You won't have the chance."
Declan snarled, "I'm not letting her out of my sight."
"Over my dead body," Mom shot back.
"She's mine," Declan said.
She stepped toward him, fury blazing. "She is NOT your possession"
"I didn't say she was," he snapped. "But she is mine to protect. And I am hers."
The words hit me like a punch.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
True.
My pulse skittered.
Mom glared. "You can't keep her safe from this."
"I can," Declan growled. "I will."
Marcus raised a hand, stopping them both. "Argue later. For now, we focus on the threat."
Owen cleared his throat. "Pretty sure the threat just announced it wants Aria served on a platter."
Tasha hit him again.
But her voice was fragile. "Declan… what happens now?"
Declan turned to me.
Not Marcus.
Not my mother.
Me.
"We find who summoned those wolves," he said. "We track the magic. We kill whoever wants her."
Mom shook her head. "You don't understand. Aldric's enemies weren't just within the pack. Other packs wanted him dead. If they learn Aria survives"
Declan's eyes hardened, becoming silver fire. "Then I'll lay the entire region to waste if I have to."
The bond thrummed with heat and warning.
Marcus gave him a weary look. "You're not Alpha yet. Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I just did," Declan snapped.
I swallowed hard. "So what am I supposed to do?"
Everyone fell silent.
Declan took my hand.
The room went still.
The bond hummed, surging warmly but not painfully this time holding us together like a thread reforging itself.
"You're coming with me," Declan said softly. "To the estate. To pack territory. Where I can keep you safe."
Mom stepped between us instantly. "Absolutely not."
Declan didn't flinch. "Try to stop me."
Her wolf rose in her eyes. "I will."
Declan's wolf flashed in his.
And right between them just as the tension snapped
Marcus spoke the words that changed everything.
"She goes."
Mom spun. "Marcus"
"She goes," he repeated, voice firm. "Because she isn't safe here. And because Declan is the only one who can feel the bond surge before it kills them both."
The room froze.
Mom staggered back, breath shuddering. "You're sentencing her to"
"I'm saving her," Marcus said quietly.
My voice was barely a whisper. "Declan… what if it's a trap? What if going with you is exactly what they want?"
He stepped closer, eyes softening. "Then I'll make sure it's the last mistake they ever make."
Tasha swallowed. "Aria… you should go."
My mother turned away, covering her face with her hands.
Declan looked at me really looked at me.
And for the first time since the moon chose us for each other, his voice didn't hold dominance or anger or fear.
Just honesty.
"I won't let anything happen to you," he said.
And then, softer something raw enough to break bone:
"Let me protect you. Please."
I opened my mouth
But before I could answer, the house lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
And then
Every window shattered at once.
Again.
Glass rained down.
Wind howled inside the house.
The bond surged with a force that ripped a scream from my throat.
Declan lunged for me
But something invisible yanked me backward, dragging me across the floor toward the door.
Toward the forest.
Toward the dark.
"ARIA!" Declan roared.
Magic crackled around me like chains made of lightning.
Mom screamed.
Tasha cried out.
Marcus shouted for backup.
Declan's hands closed around my waist
But whatever held me pulled harder.
Hard enough to lift me off the ground.
Hard enough to rip me from his arms.
And right before I was sucked out of the house into the night, a voice whispered in my ear
"Found you."