Chapter 174

Aria

“Stop!”

Darren held his hand up to halt the procession as those guns pointed at us. I felt suddenly sick, and couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder at the crowd of people behind us—humans and werewolves alike.

They wouldn’t shoot, would they?

Beside me, Darren tightened his grip on my fingers and called out to the police, “We come in peace.”

There was a brief silence. Then:

“This is your final warning,” called out a deep male voice through a megaphone. “Disperse immediately or we will open fire.”

A murmur ran through our crowd—fear, outrage, disbelief. Open fire? We had been peaceful. We had even been joined by their own officers at one point. How could they still see us as a threat?

Darren clenched his jaw and nodded toward the officer who was standing nearby, the same one who had started the wave earlier when he had removed his badge and joined us. He nodded and stepped forward.

“My name is Officer Jones,” he said, addressing the police. “These people mean no—”

“I said, stand back!” the voice echoed through the street.

Darren and I instinctively shrank backwards, causing the crowd behind us to ripple. Some people, particularly the humans amongst us, left the group and disappeared into alleys or down side streets, clearly wanting no part in this now that guns were drawn.

But Darren and I held our ground.

Suddenly, Darren turned to me.

“Aria. You need to go. Go back to Lunar Labs. You know the way to the pack lands on your own.”

I turned to him, my breath catching when I saw the look in his eyes. As if a decision had already been made.

“What are you talking about?” I hissed.

“I’m going forward. Someone has to show them we won’t be intimidated.” His jaw was set in that stubborn way I knew all too well. “But you need to get out of here. Return to the pack and warn them.”

I looked back at the line of guns, then at Darren again. Understanding swept through me like a cold bucket of water dumping over my head—he was planning to walk forward alone, to put himself at risk to prove a point.

“No,” I said, gripping his hand harder. “Absolutely not.”

“Aria—”

“If you go, I go.” I met his gaze unflinchingly. “We have to do this together or not at all.”

For a moment, we stood locked in a silent argument, neither of us willing to back down. Then, finally, something shifted in his eyes. His shoulders slumped slightly and he sighed.

“You’re sure?”

“Positive,” I said firmly.

With that settled, we turned to face the precinct again. The crowd behind us had grown quiet, sensing the decision we’d made. A few more people scattered, but the rest held their ground. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with air.

And then we stepped forward.

One step. Then another. Our hands remained intertwined between us, a bridge of flesh and bone and trust. Behind us, I heard gasps and whispers, but no one tried to stop us. In fact, many began to follow.

The procession continued toward the steps of the police precinct.

“I repeat, this is your final warning!” the voice from the megaphone echoed through the silence.

We kept walking.

Five steps now. Ten. The distance between us and the line of officers shrank, and yet surprisingly, no shots rang out. However, there was no telling when or if they might shoot. I kept my eyes focused on the gaps between the officers, refusing to let fear overtake me even as my heart hammered against my ribs like it was trying to escape.

Then the line of officers parted slightly, and a man stepped through. He wasn’t wearing riot gear, just a standard police uniform with a chief’s insignia. I recognized his face immediately.

Bella’s father.

He moved to the front of the line, ripping the megaphone from another officer’s hands. His eyes were filled with hatred as he lifted it to his mouth.

“One more step and I’ll order them to shoot!” he shouted.

We stopped, but only for a moment. Darren’s voice rose.

“We are here peacefully,” he called out. “We have walked these streets without violence. We have been gassed, beaten, and still we have not raised a hand against anyone. And now you threaten to kill us for approaching a public building?”

The chief’s face flushed dark red. “You aren’t people! You’re animals pretending to be human, and you are here illegally!”

“Not all of us,” I found myself saying, gesturing at the crowd behind us. “Many with us are humans, citizens of this country. You will open fire on your own civilians?”

I took another step forward, still holding Darren’s hand. “You wouldn’t dare shoot your own people,” Darren said, his eyes fixed on the chief. “Would you?”

For a flickering instant, I thought I saw uncertainty cross the faces of some of the officers holding guns. Their weapons seemed to lower slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Bella’s father noticed too. His flush deepened.

“Open fire!” he shouted at his officers. “That’s an order!”

I held my breath, my hand tightening around Darren’s. My legs trembled, my stomach turned to a black pit. I braced myself for death… But the guns didn’t fire. Not a single shot broke the tense silence.

“Sir,” one of the officers said hesitantly, turning to Bella’s father, “these are citizens exercising their right to protest. There are humans in that crowd…”

“I don’t care!” his voice rose to a near-scream as he whirled on the officer. “They’re protecting monsters! That makes them just as guilty!”

The crowd behind us had grown considerably in the past minutes. Voices began to call out from all directions.

“You can’t just shoot people in the street!”

“They haven’t done anything wrong!”

The chief’s face contorted with rage, and he pointed at his officers. “I am ordering you as your commanding officer—shoot!”

The officers looked at each other. Several of them lowered their weapons entirely.

“No, sir,” one said. “I didn’t sign up to massacre civilians.”

One by one, other officers began to lower their weapons. Some removed their helmets. A few even stepped away from the line, walking over to join our side.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

“You’re all fools,” Bella’s father snarled. “You have no idea what these things are capable of. I am trying to protect you!”

But just as he finished speaking, a strange sound rose from the crowd—hundreds of electronic beeps and buzzes, all at once. People were pulling out their phones, looking at screens with expressions of shock and disbelief.

I pressed my lips into a thin smile, waiting for our trick card to play its part.

Earlier, we had set up the perfect final play for the right moment, and now was the time. We expected this from Bella’s father—knew exactly what lengths he would go to in order to appease Senator Rivera.

But now, everyone knew.

All at once, the two soldiers’ confessions from the day of the attack echoed through the street. It was everywhere—every online forum, every social media feed, every news outlet. The confessions were spreading like wildfire, turning the remaining citizens to our side.

“The deportations… They weren’t about immigration at all. It was containment. Round up all the werewolves, concentrate them in tidy areas, then eliminate them pack by pack.”

“Who? Who is the politician behind this?”

“Senator James Rivera.”

The remaining officers who had been holding their ground beside Bella’s father now looked utterly confused, turning to stare at their chief with new eyes. More of them lowered their weapons, some backing away entirely.

“He lied to us,” one officer said loudly. “He said the werewolves were planning an attack on the city. That this protest was just a cover.”

“He told us they killed his daughter,” another added.

More officers broke rank, some simply walking away, others crossing to stand with the protesters. The wall of armed personnel that had seemed so impenetrable minutes ago was now scattered, disorganized.

And there stood Chief Martinez, increasingly alone on the steps of the precinct, his authority crumbling before his eyes.

“They did kill my daughter,” he said. “They took her from me, turned her away from her home—and now she carries one of them in her belly!”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “You lost Bella years ago, when you abused her. Just as you’re losing your people now.”

Something snapped in Bella’s father’s eyes then—the last thread of control, perhaps. Suddenly, his hand moved to his hip, drawing his service weapon with practiced speed.

“If they won’t do their duty,” he growled, “then I’ll do it myself.”

The gun came up, aiming directly at Darren’s head.

Time seemed to slow. I saw Martinez’s finger tighten on the trigger. I saw Darren standing tall and unafraid, chin lifted. He was going to do it—he was going to take a bullet for our people. He was going to become a martyr, the Alpha King who sparked a revolution.

But I couldn’t let that happen.

“No!” I screamed, jumping in front of him.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the end.