It started with a scream.
Aria was walking through the training grounds when the air shifted—sudden, sharp, wrong.
Then chaos exploded.
Wolves were shifting mid-air, blades clashing, snarls echoing through the Shadowlands. Smoke curled from the eastern ridge as fire licked the treetops.
Ronan burst through the chaos, already half-shifted. "It's an ambush! The Thorn Pack is here!"
Aria ran toward the flames—but was yanked back by a hand at her throat.
She choked, claws digging into her attacker's arm. A familiar voice whispered in her ear.
> "Sorry, Luna. Orders are orders."
Kael.
The beta.
The wolf who was supposed to protect her.
Her vision blurred as he dragged her into the shadows, binding her wrists with silver-thread rope. "You were never meant to survive the sacrifice. You were never meant to return."
"You're working with them," she rasped.
"I'm working to save this pack," Kael growled. "You bring war. And Ronan? He's blinded by you. He's forgotten who he is. But he'll remember—after you're gone."
He raised his dagger.
Aria's blood turned to fire.
The ground shook beneath them.
Light burst from her chest—silver and violet, wild and ancient.
Kael screamed as he was thrown backward, crashing into a tree with a sickening crack.
Aria rose, ropes burning away from her wrists. Her eyes glowed pure white. The Moonfire Magic surged around her like a storm.
Wolves nearby froze, sensing the shift.
Ronan stumbled toward her, wounded, his arm bleeding—but his eyes widened when he saw her.
"Aria…"
She turned, glowing like a goddess born of ash and fury.
"I'm done running," she said. "I'm done hiding."
She stepped into the fire—and it parted for her.
Her power was no longer sleeping.
It was awake.
And the war had truly begun.
Three days passed since the battle.
The Thorn Pack had vanished back into the forest, leaving scorched earth and shattered loyalty behind. Kael was imprisoned in the Shadow Keep, chained with silver and silence.
But Aria's power hadn't stopped growing.
It thrummed beneath her skin, called to the moon, to the bones of the land, to something older than even Ronan's cursed blood.
She stood in the ruins of the training yard as Ronan approached, his shoulder still bandaged.
"You've changed," he said softly.
"I'm still me," she replied, though even she didn't fully believe it. "Just… more."
Ronan reached out, brushing her fingers.
"I'm not afraid of your power," he said. "But I am afraid of what the world will do to steal it."
As if summoned by his words, a deafening boom echoed through the skies.
A rift split open above the mountains—jagged and black, like the heavens themselves had been clawed apart.
And from it descended four cloaked figures on obsidian-winged beasts.
Ronan's face paled.
"The High Council," he whispered.
---
The Council of Ash and Blood hadn't been seen in over a hundred years.
They governed the balance of magic, ruled from the shadows, and executed those who dared upset the natural order.
Now, they had come for her.
One stepped forward—his voice smooth like velvet and poison.
> "Aria of the Moonblood. You've awakened powers long buried. Magic sealed for a reason."
Aria stood tall. "I didn't choose it."
"But you wield it. And that makes you a threat."
Ronan growled. "If you touch her—"
"Silence, wolf," the lead councilor hissed, eyes flashing. "This is between the bloodlines of the old world."
Another stepped forward—this one with eyes like glass. "We offer a choice. Come with us. Learn control. Or remain here… and face judgment when the balance breaks."
Aria's heart pounded.
Leave the Shadowlands… and Ronan?
Or stay—and risk becoming the very monster they feared?
She looked at Ronan.
His jaw was tight. "Whatever you choose… I'll find you. Even if it means tearing the stars from the sky."
She turned back to the Council.
And nodded.
> "I'll go."
But as the sky cracked open again and the councilors began to rise with her in tow, no one noticed the shadow watching from the cliffs.
A man with silver eyes and a crescent-shaped scar.
> "So… the Moonblood lives," he whispered. "Let's see how long she survives the old world."