Chapter 90

Aria

“Do you, Aria, vow to never speak of the pack lands or the existence of werewolves to any human, for as long as you live?”

I opened my mouth to respond to the elder’s words, to make the vow, but I… couldn’t. I froze.

Every gaze in the room was fixed on me, every pair of eyes judging me, waiting for my inevitable downfall. My heart thudded in my chest, and I could feel the first beads of sweat beginning to form on my palms.

Could I really do this?

I glanced nervously around the room, unsure of what to do or what to say. The room felt suffocating with all those hateful eyes on me, and I could feel my earlier courage beginning to falter.

And most of all, my throat tightened as I thought of Bella.

Would this mean never being able to tell my best friend the truth? If Darren wanted to keep me as his Luna, if he wanted to build a life with me… I’d never be able to tell her. I’d have to live a double life. I’d have to lie, for the rest of my days, to the one person who had ever truly been there for me before Darren.

How could I keep something so huge from her? If she somehow found out, she would hate me for it—or worse, she would think that I didn’t trust her.

I couldn’t breathe. My head was spinning, and I felt like I might crumble right there in front of everyone.

But then Darren squeezed my hand.

I turned to him, and for a moment, everything else melted away. His mismatched eyes held mine, steady and sure, and it was as if everything in that gaze silently said, “It’s alright, Aria. It’s alright. I’m here.”

Before I could react, Lucas’s small hand slipped into my other one, his tiny fingers wrapping around mine. I glanced down at him and saw the trust in his eyes, the way he looked up at me like I was his entire world. Like I could do no wrong.

It was thanks to Darren and Lucas that my courage returned.

I swallowed hard, took a shaky breath, and nodded.

“I…” My voice trembled, but I cleared my throat and forced myself to look back at the elder. “I, Aria, vow to never speak of the pack lands or the existence of werewolves to any human, for as long as I live.”

The words echoed through the room, and for a moment, the only sound was the crackling of the fire. Finally, the elder nodded and motioned for me to step forward.

“Extend your right hand,” he said.

My heart pounded as I did what he asked, holding out my hand despite the slight tremor in it. The knife he raised gleamed under the sunlight, and I winced as the blade bit into my palm.

It wasn’t deep, but it stung sharply, and I felt the warmth of my blood as it began to drip into the silver bowl on the altar.

When he was finished, I pulled my hand back, cradling it against my chest. Darren handed me his handkerchief, which I quickly pressed to the cut as I watched the elder step away from the bowl.

The room fell into a hushed silence as everyone stared at it, waiting for something to happen.

But the seconds dragged on, and nothing happened. My heart sank further, and I glanced at Darren.

“Is something supposed to happen?” I whispered.

Darren nodded stiffly. “Your blood should smoke and sizzle away in the bowl if the pact is sealed.”

I felt my stomach twist as I looked back down at the bowl. The three drops of blood sitting in the bottom were still there, cooling by the second.

It was then that the murmurs started again, soft at first, but they quickly grew louder.

“This is absurd,” Charles called out first. “What did you expect? She’s human.”

A wave of laughter rippled through the room, mocking me. My stomach churned as the wolves began muttering amongst themselves.

“Pathetic…”

“Just as I expected…”

“This is a mockery of our traditions!”

The elder finally stepped forward again, shaking his head. “The oath… did not seal,” he called out.

Charles shot to his feet at that. “I told you!” he bellowed, pointing at me with one finger. “Take her to the forest! Let the bears have her!”

“No!” I gasped, taking a step back as the room descended into chaos. Voices shouted over one another, some yelling for my removal, others simply laughing at my expense.

“She doesn’t belong here!” someone snarled.

“Let her freeze in the blizzard!” another barked.

Darren was in front of me in an instant, his broad frame shielding me as he let out a low, menacing growl. “No one is touching her!” he cried out, but this time, hardly anyone heard him over the noise. Not even his Alpha Voice seemed to work with so much shouting going on.

Without warning, Lucas shifted into his pup form beside me and pressed his body up against my legs, snarling. His pup form might have been tiny compared to even the human forms of the wolves advancing on us, but the way he bared his fangs made my heart ache.

Wendy was at my side next, her arms wrapping around me. She shouted something, but I couldn’t hear it over the sound of the blood rushing through my ears.

“Run, Aria!” Darren barked, glancing at me over his shoulder. His eyes were glowing, just like that day in the barn all those years ago, and within an instant, he had gone from a man to that enormous black wolf with the white spot in the center of his chest.

I knew I should listen to him, but I couldn’t move. My legs felt like they were made of stone, and my heart hammered in my chest as I clung to Wendy.

How could I leave them? How could I run when they were putting themselves in danger for me?

Suddenly, just as Charles and the other wolves were closing in on us, the heavy doors at the back of the chamber slammed open with a thunderous bang. A gust of icy wind swept through the room, and a single figure stood in the doorway, clad in winter gear.

“Stop!” a voice shouted over the din.

The room went quiet. Even Charles and the warriors slowed, turning to see the newcomer.

I looked up to see the doctor from the werewolf hospital stumbling inside, his clothes dusted with snow and his chest heaving as if he had run here all the way from the human world. He clutched a stack of papers in his hands, his eyes wild.

He sprinted up the aisle, holding the papers out toward Darren. “You… need to see this.”

Darren shifted back into his human form, his brow furrowed as he took the papers. His eyes flicked over the text, and I saw the way his jaw clenched, his hands tightening on the edges of the pages.

But then something happened. I smelled something… acrid. Something…

Something burning.

Wendy and I turned back to the altar, our breath catching in unison when we saw it. “Incredible,” Wendy breathed.

Smoke. Thin tendrils of it were rising from the bowl, curling upward into the air.

“Darren…” I whispered, my voice shaking. He followed my gaze and his eyes widened as they landed on the bowl.

The elder stepped closer, his expression one of utter shock. “Impossible…” he muttered under his breath.

Darren thrust the papers toward the elder frantically. “Read this,” he commanded.

The elder took the papers from him, his hands beginning to shake as he read them. His face turned pale, and he swallowed hard before turning to address the room.

“The pact is sealed,” he announced, his voice trembling slightly.

The room erupted into chaos again. Shouts of disbelief, outrage, and confusion filled the air as the wolves reacted to the impossible news. The elder handed me the papers, his eyes narrowing with a mixture of disdain and disbelief.

My hands trembled as I took the papers and unfolded the top sheet, my eyes scanning the lines of text. The words blurred together at first, but as I focused, their meaning hit me like a freight train.

I pressed a hand over my mouth, my vision swimming. “It can’t be…”

I felt like the ground was shifting beneath my feet, and I turned to Darren, hoping for some kind of clarity.

But he looked just as stunned as I felt. His eyes searched mine for a moment, and then I saw something shift in his expression—a realization, a certainty.

His nostrils flared, and his eyes began to glow faintly. Slowly, he stepped forward and took my hand in his. He raised it high and turned to face the crowd.

“My mate… is a white wolf!”