Chapter 13 New Beginnings
ARYA
Councilman Bardon and I walked in silence. Relief made my chest feel lighter, like I could finally breathe and put this all to rest. I could start a new life, move to some place quiet with– I paused abruptly, causing the elder man to stop and give me an assessing look.
“Is everything okay, child?”
“Ryker. They arrested him and removed him as Beta. We need to get him before they–”
“Already handled.” Bardon smiled. “He’s being released as we speak. With full honors and a recommendation letter from me personally.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“Because I knew your grandmother. And I made her a promise a long time ago.” His expression grew serious. “A promise that if anything ever happened to her, I’d look out for you.”
My throat tightened. “You’re the one who sent the messages.”
Two things he’d denies earlier. Now I was sure. He didn’t just hear of my grandmother. He knew her.
“Some of them. Others…” He glanced around. “Let’s just say you have more allies than you know. People who’ve been watching. Waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“For you to be ready.” He opened the car door for me. “To become who you were always meant to be.”
Before I could ask what that meant, headlights appeared. Another vehicle pulling up.
Ryker’s truck stopped a few feet away from us.
He climbed out, his face splitting into a grin when he saw me. “You’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
He pulled me into a hug, and I let myself sink into it. Into the safety of his arms, the steady beat of his heart grounding me.
“Where do we go now?” I asked against his chest.
“North,” Bardon answered. “To Silver Creek Pack. Alpha Cyrus is expecting you both.”
“And then what?”
Ryker pulled back, looking down at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “Then we figure out who you really are, Arya. Because something tells me your story is just beginning.”
I looked back at the pack house one last time. At the life I was leaving behind.
He was right.
This wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.
The drive to Silver Creek Pack took three hours.
Three hours of silence punctuated only by the hum of the engine and the occasional direction from Councilman Bardon, who’d insisted on following us in his own vehicle “to ensure safe passage.” he’d said.
I stared out the window at the dark landscape rushing past, my mind replaying the confrontation over and over. Jaime’s face when I’d revealed the recording. Elira’s fury. The council’s shocked murmurs.
The look in Jaime’s eyes when I’d walked out.
Had that been regret, or anger? Perhaps, it was just wounded pride?
“Stop thinking about him,” Ryker said quietly, not taking his eyes off the road.
“How did you know—”
“Because I know you.” He glanced over briefly, his expression soft in the dashboard lights. “And I know that look. You’re wondering if you did the right thing.”
“Did I?”
“Arya.” He reached over, taking my hand. “You stood up for yourself. You exposed their lies. You chose yourself for maybe the first time in your life. Yes, you did the right thing.”
I wanted to believe him. But years of being told I wasn’t enough, that I was the problem, had left scars that wouldn’t heal in one night.
My phone buzzed. I’d turned off notifications, but the screen still lit up with each incoming message. Sixty-three texts now. Forty-seven missed calls.
Most from Jaime. Some from pack members. A few from numbers I didn’t recognize.
“You should block him,” Ryker suggested.
“Not yet.” I don’t know why I said that. Maybe because some part of me needed to see him realize what he’d lost. Maybe because I was a glutton for punishment.
Or maybe because cutting that final thread felt too permanent, too final. Too real.
We crossed into neutral territory just after midnight. The moment we passed the border marker, something in my chest loosened. Like I could finally breathe properly.
“How are you feeling?” Ryker asked.
“Free.” The word surprised me, but it was true. “Terrified and free.”
“That’s a good combination.”
“Is it?”
“The best things in life are terrifying.” He squeezed my hand. “Trust me.”
Bardon’s headlights flashed behind us. He was turning off, heading back toward the Lycan King’s territory.
But not before pulling alongside us one more time. He rolled down his window, and Ryker did the same.
“Silver Creek is another hour north,” Bardon called across. “Alpha Cyrus knows you’re coming. He’ll have accommodations ready.”
“Thank you,” I said, leaning across Ryker. “For everything. I don’t understand why you’re helping us, but—”
“You will.” His smile was enigmatic. “Soon, I think. Sooner than any of us expected.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the Moon Goddess has plans for you, Arya Moonborne.” He used my grandmother’s maiden name, and something electric shot through me at hearing it. “Plans that were set in motion long before you were born.”
Before I could ask more, he rolled up his window and turned off onto a side road, his taillights disappearing into the darkness.
“Moonborne,” I whispered, testing the name.
“It suits you,” Ryker said. “Better than his name ever did.”
He was right. I’d been Arya Blackthorne for five years, carrying Jaime’s family name like a weight. But Moonborne… that felt like coming home to something I’d never known I’d lost.
We drove in comfortable silence after that, both lost in our own thoughts. The terrain changed as we headed north, passing more trees, steeper hills, the air growing colder.
I’d always been sensitive to the cold. Everyone in the pack had mocked me for it. ‘A wolf who can’t stand the cold? What kind of Luna is that?’
But here, now, the chill felt different. Not threatening. Almost… welcoming.
“Almost there,” Ryker said, pointing to a sign. “Silver Creek: 10 miles.”
My stomach tightened with nervousness. A new pack. New people. New everything. Maybe, new me.
“What if they don’t want us?” I asked quietly.
“Then we go somewhere else. We keep going until we find a place that does.” Ryker’s voice was firm. “But Arya? I think you’re going to be surprised. I think people are going to want you exactly as you are.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I appreciated the sentiment.