Night settled over the forest like a heavy blanket, swallowing the last hints of civilization behind Aria and Caelum. The cold crept in first, slithering under their clothes. Then the quiet followed unnaturally, almost too perfect. Even the crickets seemed to hold their breath.
They walked until Aria's legs ached and her lungs burned, until the scent of Silverrest was nothing but a fading memory in the wind. Kael remained behind, trapped in the cage of duty and the ghosts he refused to look at. Aria didn't let herself think about him. Not when her chest still tightened whenever his name brushed her thoughts.
She focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
Hours later, they stumbled into the remains of an old outpost, broken walls, shattered beams, moss climbing over everything like time trying to reclaim it.
"This used to be a border post," Caelum murmured, brushing dust off an old emblem. "Before the packs stopped pretending they trusted each other."
Aria leaned against a half-crushed pillar, catching her breath. "And now?"
"Now it's a ruin with a terrible draft."
She huffed a tired laugh, then flinched when a cold breeze swept past them.
"Come on," Caelum said softly. "There's a lake nearby. We won't last the night without water."
He led her to a shallow lake tucked between crooked pines. The surface was so still it looked like glass. Aria knelt beside Caelum and cupped the water in her palms. The moment she leaned in, her reflection shimmered and morphed.
Cold, obsidian eyes stared back.
She jerked away, heart slamming in her chest.
Caelum straightened immediately. "What?"
"Nothing. Just cold water."
It was a lie. A bad one. But she couldn't say his name. Not here. Not when the forest already felt like a breathing thing listening to them.
They found the closest thing to shelter, a hollow beneath a leaning tree. Caelum gathered dry branches and built a tiny fire, barely enough to keep them from freezing.
Aria slept before she meant to.
And Malachi was waiting.
She stood in a dim corridor, the lights flickering like dying candles. Every door she passed slammed shut on its own. Chains dragged across the floor behind her. She spun, heart pounding, but the hallway stretched endlessly, warping like it was alive.
"You run so beautifully," a voice purred.
She froze.
Malachi's silhouette peeled itself from the darkness, his eyes glowing like molten ink.
"You think he can keep you safe?" he whispered. "That broken, wandering wolf?"
His hand reached for her cheek, cold enough to blister her skin.
"I will take you back. Piece by piece."
Aria screamed and woke up with Caelum's arms wrapped around her, holding her steady as she kicked and clawed at the air.
"Aria," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. "Breathe. You're safe. Breathe."
"No," she choked out. "He was here. He saw me."
"He can't touch you," Caelum said, but the sharp fear in his eyes betrayed him. "Not physically. Dreams are his hunting ground."
Her wolf curled inside her chest, trembling.
They slept in shifts after that. Malachi didn't return, but Aria felt him like an echo watching her from somewhere she couldn't close a door on.
By dawn, they followed the old hunter trail, the forest thickening around them. Every step felt heavier. Not just from exhaustion, the air itself seemed to change, humming with old magic.
At midday, Caelum stopped so suddenly Aria walked into him.
"We're here," he said quietly.
A worn cabin sat in a clearing, partially hidden by towering pines. Smoke curled lightly from the chimney. The smell of herbs drifted through the air. It should have felt peaceful.
It didn't.
Before they could approach, the door opened. Rowan Vartek stepped out, tall and steady, with hair silvered by age and eyes sharp enough to strip a soul bare.
"Turn around," he said simply.
"We need your help," Caelum replied.
"That's not my concern."
Aria stepped forward despite the warning in his tone. "Please. I don't want to cause trouble. I just need…"
"You brought danger to my threshold," Rowan interrupted. "That alone is reason enough to refuse you."
His words were ice.
Aria opened her mouth again, but another voice drifted out from inside the cabin.
"Are you done pretending you don't care?"
A young woman appeared beside Rowan, nineteen at most, with pale green eyes that seemed to glow in the daylight. She studied Aria first with soft curiosity… then looked at Caelum.
Her entire expression shut down.
"Oh," she said flatly. "You."
Caelum sighed. "Serin."
"You survived." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Tragic."
Aria blinked. "You two know each other?"
Serin didn't look away from Caelum. "Unfortunately."
Caelum muttered something that sounded like, "Here we go…"
Serin stepped fully into the doorway, blocking Rowan this time. "They're staying."
"No," Rowan snapped. "They are not."
"They're staying," she repeated, lifting her chin. "Aria is important. And you know it."
Rowan's jaw clenched. "Serin, revenge will destroy you."
"Then let it," she whispered fiercely. "Malachi destroyed my parents. I'm not turning away the one person who might help me end him."
Her voice cracked, not from weakness, but from rage she'd been carrying too long.
Rowan exhaled slowly, pain flickering across his face for the briefest moment.
Then he looked at Aria.
Really looked.
"You can stay," he said finally. "But you will follow every rule I give. You will not shift unless ordered. You will not access your wolf without my supervision. And if Malachi finds you here"
He paused.
"You run. You don't bring that monster to my home."
Aria nodded. "I understand."
Rowan turned away. "Good. Because I only give sanctuary once."
Training began that evening.
Rowan wasn't gentle. He wasn't warm. But he was precise, seeing every flaw, correcting every stance, watching Aria with a scrutiny that made her feel peeled open.
Caelum attempted to help once.
Serin shoved him aside. "She needs real guidance. Not… whatever you call those wild swings."
"My swings saved your life once," Caelum snapped.
"And I've regretted it every day."
Aria pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please. Both of you. Not now."
But Rowan didn't even blink.
Night fell hard. And Aria's nightmares returned even harder.
This time she saw things she didn't understand; armies bowing beneath a silver moon, a glowing crown floating above outstretched hands, a woman who looked like her but older… colder… blood on her face.
"You were born from war," Malachi whispered. "You will end it."
Aria woke up screaming again.
Rowan stood by the doorway, arms crossed.
"Next time," he said quietly, "don't fight the vision. Learn from it."
She didn't understand what frightened her more the nightmare, or the way Rowan said it like he already knew what she was destined for.
Two nights later, Serin burst into the cabin. Her face was pale, her breath ragged.
"Rowan," she gasped. "You need to come outside. Now."
Aria and Caelum followed him into the clearing.
And froze.
A perfect ring of black ash had been scorched into the earth around the cabin.
Inside the circle, carved deep into the soil, was a symbol that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat.
Malachi's mark.
So fresh it still smoked.
Aria felt her wolf recoil in terror and fury.
Rowan turned to her slowly, for the first time since they met looking truly afraid.
"He's not just hunting you," Rowan whispered.
"He has already found you."