ARIA POV
I gasped for air as the silver light faded. My body felt strange—lighter but also more strong, like I could run for days without getting tired. We weren’t in the cave anymore. Sohow, I had moved us all to the bush behind the pack grounds.
"You did it!" Mira cried, throwing her arms around . "I thought we were going to die in there!"
The triplets looked at with wide eyes. I couldn’t tell if they were amazed or scared.
"Do you rember us?" Lucien asked quietly.
I nodded. "Everything. I rember everything." Whatever the forecast had ant by losing my mory, it hadn’t happened—at least not yet.
Elder Malin leaned heavily against a tree, his old face pale with shock. "Impossible. You used the Moon Alpha power without the full change. How?"
I touched the charm at my throat. It felt cool now, like it was sleeping. "I chose both," I said simply. "I refused the choice."
A twig snapped nearby. We all froze.
"Soone’s coming," Kael whispered.
"Hide!" I pulled everyone behind a cluster of thick bushes.
Elira walked into view with two of her friends. They carried bags filled with strange-looking items—bones, flowers, and a small wooden box that made my skin crawl.
"Tonight we end this," Elira said. "When the moon rises, the rite will strip that nobody of her fake power. Then things can go back to normal."
My hands clenched into fists. So that was her plan—a routine to take away my power.
"We can’t let them do this," I whispered to the others. "Whatever they’re planning, it’s dangerous."
"We need help," Mira said. "I know so ogas who are loyal to you. They’ve been waiting for soone to stand up to Elira and Alpha Darius for years."
"Can we trust them?" Jaxon asked.
Mira nodded firmly. "With our lives."
"Go," I told her. "Bring them to the old hunting house at sunset. We’ll make our plan there."
Mira squeezed my hand and slipped away through the trees.
"What about Alpha Darius?" Lucien asked. "He tried to kill us. He won’t just let this go."
"Leave my father to ," Kael said grimly. "I have so things to say to him."
The triplets argued about what to do next, but their words seed to fade away as a strange buzzing filled my ears. I felt dizzy suddenly. Sothing inside was moving, changing.
"Aria?" Lucien’s worried face erged in front of . "Are you okay?"
"I need a minute," I managed to say before stumbling away from the group.
I found a small stream and knelt beside it, splashing cold water on my face. The water settled, and I saw my image.
I nearly scread.
My eyes were changing—flashing between my regular brown and a brilliant gold. My face seed different too—stronger, fiercer. For a mont, another face appeared next to mine in the water—the stranger from the cabin, my true mate, my predecessor.
"It’s starting," they whispered. "The transformation can’t be stopped now."
"I’m not ready," I whispered back.
"You were born ready, Aria. You’ve always been more than they told you."
The reflection disappeared as Lucien neared. I quickly stood up, hoping he hadn’t seen.
"Mira just texted. She found twelve ogas ready to help us," he said. "They’re waiting at the cabin."
"Let’s go," I said, trying to sound normal.
By the ti we reached the old hunting house, the sun was setting. Mira had gathered a small group of ogas—wolves I’d known my whole life but never really seen. They’d always been in the background, just like I used to be.
"These are the ones who believe in you," Mira said proudly.
A tall girl nad Tessa stepped forward. "We’ve waited generations for the Moon Alpha to return. My grandmother told stories about your kind—how you brought order to the packs, protected the weak, made sure power didn’t corrupt."
"I don’t know if I can be that person," I admitted.
"You already are," said a boy nad Finn. "You stood up to Alpha Darius. No one does that."
I looked around at their hopeful faces and felt the weight of their trust. "Elira is planning a ceremony tonight to take away my power. We need to stop her."
"How?" soone asked.
"We disrupt the ritual," I explained. "Rituals need perfect attention. If we break that focus, the magic fails."
We spent the next hour planning. The ogas would create distractions around the ritual site while the triplets and I approached Elira directly. Elder Malin would try to reason with the other leaders who might be helping her.
As everyone prepared to leave, I caught another view of myself in a cracked mirror hanging on the cabin wall. My eyes flashed gold again, staying that way longer this ti.
"It’s happening faster now," Elder Malin muttered, watching . "The Moon Alpha is erging."
"Will I still be when it’s done?" I asked, scared.
"You will be more than you are now," he said. "But yes, you will still be Aria."
I wasn’t sure if I believed him.
Night fell as we made our way to the ritual site—a small clearing where the pack sotis held events. Elira was already there with her friends and three pack leaders. They had drawn a big circle with strange symbols around it.
"Everyone know what to do?" I whispered.
Nods all around.
"Then let’s go."
The ogas spread out, hidden in the trees. The triplets flanked as I stepped boldly into the clearing.
"You’re too late," Elira said with a wicked smile. "The ritual has already begun."
I felt it then—a tugging feeling, like sothing trying to pull the pendant from my neck. The air around us grew heavy with magic.
"Stop this, Elira," I warned. "You don’t know what you’re ssing with."
"I know exactly what I’m doing," she snarled. "Taking back what should have been mine!"
She threw sothing into the middle of the circle—a lock of hair that looked like mine. How had she gotten it?
The symbols around the circle started to glow red. Pain shot through my body, and I fell to my knees.
"Now!" I shouted.
The ogas burst from the trees, throwing handfuls of mountain ash into the circle, breaking the symbols. Mira ran forward with a torch, setting fire to the ritual things.
Elira scread in rage, taking a knife from her belt. "If I can’t take your power, I’ll take your life!"
She lunged at , but sothing strange happened. As the knife ca down toward my heart, ti seed to slow. My body moved without my control, sidestepping the blow easily.
My hand shot out, grabbing Elira’s wrist. Gold light burst from my eyes—I could feel the heat of it on my face.
"Enough," I said, but the voice wasn’t fully mine. It was deeper, older, filled with power.
Elira’s face went white with fear. "What are you?"
"The one you tried to erase," I answered.
The pendant at my throat broke, releasing a blinding light that knocked everyone back. I felt sothing breaking open inside —like a door I’d never known was there, suddenly flung wide.
mories that weren’t mine filled my mind—centuries of Moon Alphas before , their lives, their knowledge.
I rose into the air, held by silver light. Below , everyone watched in shock. The triplets called my na, but their voices seed far away.
"Aria!" Mira scread. "Sothing’s wrong!"
She was right. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. The change was too fast, too violent. Sothing was forcing it—the ritual had sparked sothing unexpected.
Through the haze of new power and old mories, I saw Alpha Darius erge from the trees. In his hands, he held an ancient-looking staff carved with the sa symbols that had been in the traditional circle.
"The Staff of Binding," Elder Malin gasped. "Where did you get that?"
Alpha Darius smiled coldly. "If I can’t stop her rise, I will control it."
He pointed the staff at , and chains of red light shot out, wrapping around my body. I scread as they burned into my skin.
"Aria!" the triplets yelled in unison, running toward .
But they couldn’t reach . Nobody could.
As the red chains tightened, I felt the Moon Alpha power fighting back, struggling to finish the transformation. My body was becoming a battlefield between two ancient magics.
"Help ," I whispered, not knowing who I was asking—my friends below or the spirits of Moon Alphas within .
The last thing I saw before dark took was Lucien’s desperate face as he tried to reach . Then everything went dark.
And in the darkness, a voice whispered: "To save them all, you must beco what you were ant to be. But to do that, you must first die."
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