The dead Alpha’s body had been stripped of his weapons, his armor removed and examined. Yet, no one could tell me who he was.
And that terrified me.
The Moonstone Pack had eyes and ears across the entire region, alliances stretching into neighboring territories. If this man was their enemy, they should have known his name.
But they didn’t.
He was a ghost. A phantom that had slipped through the cracks of the werewolf world, commanding an army without a face, a name, or a past.
And if he was just one of many?
That meant I wasn’t just hunted.
I was being hunted by something bigger than any of us realized.
The morning after the attack, the estate was silent.
Too silent.
Even the warriors moving through the halls, cleaning up the blood that had seeped into the training grounds, spoke in whispers.
The air was thick with unease.
Sebastian, Kai, and Dante had been in meetings since dawn, discussing the next steps, reinforcing defenses, deciding what to do with me.
But I already knew the answer.
They wanted to keep me caged.
Protected. Hidden.
And I couldn’t let that happen.
I was done being a spectator in my own life.
I needed to find out the truth.
Who was after me?
Why had they created me?
And what exactly had they done to my blood?
I needed to move. Now.
Which was why, as soon as I was certain the Alphas were distracted, I slipped out of the estate and into the one place I knew I’d find answers.
The last time I had come to the Moonstone Pack’s underground archives, Dante had followed me.
This time, I made sure I wasn’t seen.
I slipped through the dark stone corridors, my heartbeat steady, my breathing measured. The guards had shifted their rotations, leaving small windows of opportunity.
I took them.
By the time I reached the archive’s entrance, my fingers were already curling around the silver key Dante had given me days ago.
The lock clicked open.
I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
The room smelled of dust and time, old scrolls and forgotten secrets.
I didn’t waste time.
I moved quickly, scanning the shelves, looking for anything—anything at all—that could tell me what I needed to know.
And then—
I saw it.
A thick, leather-bound ledger.
It sat on a higher shelf, covered in dust, forgotten. But when I pulled it down, the symbol burned into the cover made my breath catch.
A crest.
One I had never seen before.
A circle of jagged lines, crossing over what looked like a wolf’s skull.
Something about it felt wrong.
My pulse hammered as I flipped it open, scanning the pages.
Dates. Names. Experiments.
More than just me.
More than just one.
There were hundreds of names recorded in this book. Some were crossed out, some marked FAILED.
But my blood ran cold when I reached the last page.
Because at the bottom, written in bold, black ink—
**Experiment 218 - Aria Lockhart**
**Status: Active**
**Purpose: UNKNOWN**
A shaky breath left my lips.
Unknown.
They had made me. Changed me. Tested me.
And they didn’t even know why.
I clenched my jaw, my grip tightening around the book. No.
I wouldn’t be just another experiment.
I wouldn’t let them decide what I was.
I would find them.
And I would end this.
But before I could close the ledger—
A deep voice shattered the silence.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
I froze.
Slowly, I turned—
And found Dante standing in the doorway.
His blue eyes flicked between me and the ledger in my hands.
Then, slowly, he stepped forward.
“What did you find?” he asked.
I hesitated.
But then, I made a decision.
I handed him the book.
Dante flipped through the pages, his sharp gaze scanning the information. His expression didn’t change, but I saw the subtle tightening of his jaw.
When he reached the final page, he stilled.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then—
He exhaled. “This isn’t just about you,” he murmured.
I swallowed hard. “I know.”
His fingers traced over the list of other names. Names of people I had never met, but who had suffered the same fate I had.
His gaze flicked back to me. “If this is real, then whoever made you—whoever started this—they didn’t stop with you.”
A chill ran down my spine.
There were more of us out there.
More experiments.
More people who had been changed. Altered.
And maybe—
Some of them were still alive.
Dante shut the book with a quiet snap.
He looked at me, his expression unreadable. “Sebastian can’t see this.”
I blinked. “What?”
Dante ran a hand through his silver-streaked hair. “Not yet. He’ll make the wrong call.”
I frowned. “And what call is that?”
Dante’s voice was quiet. Steady. Deadly.
“He’ll burn it all down.”
I wasn’t sure how I ended up following Dante out of the archives, but somehow, I did.
We moved silently through the estate, slipping past guards, making our way to one of the highest towers.
By the time we stepped out onto the balcony, the cold wind biting against my skin, Dante had already made his decision.
“We can’t let Sebastian lead this war blind,” he said. “But we also can’t let him make a mistake that gets you killed.”
I exhaled. “What are you saying?”
Dante turned to me.
“I’m saying that if you want to survive, if you want to find the people who did this to you, then we don’t wait for them to come to us.”
His blue eyes burned into mine.
“We go to them.”
I stilled.
Leave the estate. Leave the safety of the Moonstone Pack. Walk straight into enemy territory.
It was reckless.
It was dangerous.
It was exactly what I needed to do.
I met his gaze. “When do we leave?”
A slow, wicked smile spread across Dante’s lips.
“Now.”