Aria's POV
"What deal?" The words came out strangled as I stared at Elder Thaddeus. "What are you talking about?"
Dominic was still frozen mid-shift, his wolf form suspended in air by the Elder's magic. His eyes—wild and desperate—were locked on me. Through the mate bond, I felt his rage, his fear, his absolute need to reach me.
But I couldn't focus on that. Not when this ancient wolf was claiming my mother had made some kind of bargain involving me.
"Your mother, Elena, came to me when you were four years old," Thaddeus said calmly, as if he wasn't surrounded by hostile Alphas ready to tear me apart. "She'd discovered what you were—a blood witch, just like her grandmother before her. She was terrified the pack would execute your entire family if anyone found out."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "So she made a deal with you?"
"She begged me to help hide you. To suppress your power until you were old enough to control it." His ancient eyes gleamed. "I agreed. I gave her the suppressant herbs, taught her how to keep you weak and ordinary. In exchange, she promised that when your power finally awakened, you would belong to me."
"No." I shook my head violently. "That's insane. My mother wouldn't—"
"Your mother would do anything to protect herself," Thaddeus interrupted. "She didn't care about saving you, child. She cared about saving her own skin. And now the debt is due."
Cade's arm tightened around my waist. "She belongs to Blood Moon. I own her contract."
"You own a piece of paper." Thaddeus waved his hand dismissively. "I own her by blood oath, sealed twenty years ago. Pack law doesn't override ancient magic."
The crowd of Alphas was growing restless. I could feel their fear and hunger beating against my senses like waves. They wanted me dead or controlled. Maybe both.
"Enough of this." Alpha Thorne—Dominic's father—stepped forward, his voice booming with authority. "Blood witches are illegal by Council decree. This... creature should be executed immediately, regardless of who claims ownership."
Several Alphas growled in agreement.
But Dominic—still frozen but somehow finding his voice—snarled, "Touch her and I'll kill every one of you."
The crowd went silent.
Alpha Thorne's face went red with rage. "She's not your mate, Dominic. You rejected her. You have no claim—"
"I MADE A MISTAKE!" Dominic's roar echoed across the grounds. The force of his fury actually cracked Thaddeus's holding spell, and he dropped to the ground on all fours, his wolf barely contained. "Aria is mine. My true mate. And I will burn this entire territory to ash before I let anyone hurt her."
My chest ached at his words. Part of me—the broken part that still remembered loving him—wanted to run to him. Wanted to believe he meant it.
But the stronger part, the part that had been forged in Blood Moon's darkness, knew better.
"You don't get to claim me now," I said, my voice steady despite the chaos. "You threw me away, Dominic. You don't get me back just because I became something useful."
"Aria—" His eyes were desperate. "I was wrong. I was a coward. But please, you have to believe me—"
"She doesn't have to do anything," Cade interrupted coldly. "Especially not listen to the Alpha who destroyed her."
Thaddeus cleared his throat. "Touching as this drama is, we have more important matters to discuss." He looked directly at me. "You have three choices, Aria Blackwood. Come with me willingly and learn to control your power properly. Refuse and I'll invoke the blood oath, which will compel you to obey regardless. Or..." He smiled slightly. "Try to fight, and I'll let the Council execute you. Your choice."
"Those aren't choices," I spat. "They're just different versions of slavery."
"Welcome to the real world, child."
My power surged beneath my skin, responding to my rage. I could feel every wolf here—their blood singing to me, their life forces like flames I could snuff out with a thought. The temptation was overwhelming.
I could kill them all. Could make them pay for hunting my kind, for making me hide, for treating me like a weapon to be controlled.
But Zara's words echoed in my mind: Don't become what they feared.
"There's a fourth option," I said slowly. "I walk away from all of you. No Council. No Blood Moon. No ancient deals. I take my power and disappear, and you all leave me alone."
Thaddeus laughed. "Naïve child. They'll never stop hunting you. The Council can't allow a free blood witch to exist. You're too dangerous."
"Then maybe I should show them exactly how dangerous I am."
I reached for my power, feeling it flood through my veins like liquid fire. The blood of every wolf present called to me. I could sense their fear spiking as they felt my magic rise.
"Aria, don't." Cade's voice was urgent in my ear. "You're not ready for this. There are too many of them."
"Let her try," Alpha Thorne sneered. "Let's see what this abomination can actually do."
I focused on him first. On his blood, his heartbeat, his arrogant certainty that I was beneath him. I pulled on that invisible thread connecting us—
And Alpha Thorne dropped to his knees, gasping.
The crowd erupted. Wolves started shifting. Magic crackled in the air as witches prepared spells.
But before the situation could explode into violence, Dominic did something that shocked everyone.
He shifted back to human form and dropped to his knees in front of me.
"Please," he begged, his voice breaking. "Aria, please. Don't do this. Don't let them turn you into a monster." Tears ran down his face—actual tears from the proud Alpha who never showed weakness. "I know I don't deserve your mercy. I know I destroyed us. But don't destroy yourself for revenge. Don't become what they say you are."
The mate bond blazed between us, and through it I felt everything he felt. The guilt eating him alive. The love he'd buried but never killed. The desperate hope that maybe, somehow, I could forgive him.
It would be so easy to reject that hope. To punish him the way he'd punished me.
But looking at him kneeling there, broken and begging, I realized something.
Revenge wouldn't fix me. Power wouldn't heal me. Making him suffer wouldn't undo my suffering.
I released Alpha Thorne, who collapsed, coughing.
"I'm not doing this for you," I told Dominic quietly. "I'm doing this for me. Because I won't let any of you decide who I become."
I turned to Thaddeus. "I'll make you a counter-offer. I'll come with you and learn about my heritage. But I'm not your property. I'm not anyone's property. I'm my student, not your slave. And the moment you try to control me the way everyone else has, I'll leave. Deal?"
Thaddeus studied me for a long moment. Then, surprisingly, he smiled. "You have your grandmother's fire. Very well. I accept your terms."
"Wait—" Cade started.
"No." I cut him off, pulling away from his protective grip. "You bought me like property, Cade. You were kinder than most, but I was still a slave. I'm done being owned."
I looked at the assembled Alphas, at Dominic still kneeling, at the fear and hunger in their eyes.
"I'm leaving with Elder Thaddeus. Anyone who tries to stop me will regret it." My power pulsed outward like a warning. "And anyone who comes after me will die."
"Aria, please—" Dominic reached for me.
The mate bond screamed as I stepped back. "You made your choice a year ago, Dominic. Now I'm making mine."
I walked toward Thaddeus, my head high, my power burning bright.
Behind me, Dominic's howl of anguish split the night.
And somewhere in the darkness, I felt something else. Another presence. Another power watching from the shadows.
Something old and hungry and far more dangerous than anything I'd faced yet.
Thaddeus felt it too. His expression darkened. "We need to leave. Now."
"What is that?" I whispered.
"Your real problem, child." He grabbed my arm. "The Council fears blood witches. But there's something that hunts blood witches. Something that's been sleeping for centuries." His voice dropped. "And your awakening just woke it up.
"
The darkness surged closer.
And then everything went black.