The moment Dante said the word "Now," my heart pounded in my chest.
We were really doing this.
We were leaving the Moonstone Pack’s estate—leaving Sebastian and Kai behind—to hunt down the people who had created me. The people who had turned me into Experiment 218.
It was reckless. It was dangerous.
But it was the only way.
Dante turned to me, his blue eyes sharp. “We have to move fast.”
I nodded, forcing down the lingering hesitation in my gut. I wasn’t second-guessing this. I couldn’t.
If I wanted answers, if I wanted to know what the hell I really was, I had to go now.
Breaking Out of Moonstone
Escaping the Moonstone Pack’s estate should have been impossible.
The walls were high. The guards were everywhere.
But Dante wasn’t just any wolf.
He was one of them. One of the Alphas.
And he knew every weakness.
We moved in the shadows, keeping to the quieter parts of the estate. I followed Dante’s lead, my heart hammering as we slipped past the first set of patrols.
By the time we reached the outer wall, the full moon cast a silver glow over the treetops.
Dante turned to me. “There’s a tunnel beneath the old armory,” he murmured. “Only a few people know about it.”
“Sebastian?” I asked.
Dante smirked. “Of course.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting.
But we didn’t have time to worry about what Sebastian or Kai would do when they realized we were missing.
We climbed down into the tunnel, our footsteps barely making a sound as we moved through the damp underground passage. It was long, dark, and smelled of earth and stone.
I kept close to Dante, my fingers hovering over the dagger strapped to my thigh.
By the time we reached the other end, I could feel the tension in the air—a storm brewing on the horizon.
Dante pulled open the hidden exit, and a rush of cold night air hit me in the face.
We were outside the pack’s territory.
No turning back now.
The forest stretched before us—vast, dark, and filled with unseen threats.
Dante walked ahead, his senses on high alert. I followed, keeping pace, every nerve in my body tuned to the slightest movement.
The silence between us was thick.
It wasn’t awkward, exactly. It was heavy.
Dante was quiet by nature, but tonight, I knew he was thinking. Calculating. Planning.
I finally broke the silence. “What happens when they realize we’re gone?”
Dante didn’t look at me. “They’ll come after us.”
I swallowed hard. “And Sebastian?”
Dante smirked slightly. “Sebastian will want to kill me.”
I exhaled sharply. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”
Dante stopped walking. He turned to me, his blue eyes gleaming. “You still want to do this?”
I met his gaze without hesitation.
“Yes.”
He studied me for a moment before nodding.
“Then we move fast.”
We traveled for hours, slipping through the forest, avoiding patrols and enemy scouts.
But something felt wrong.
I couldn’t explain it.
It was just—off.
Like we were being watched.
Dante must have felt it too because his shoulders tensed, his hand hovering over the knife at his belt.
Then, just as the first rays of dawn began to creep over the trees—
A twig snapped.
We both froze.
Dante moved first, shoving me behind a tree as he drew his blade. His eyes scanned the darkness, his entire body tense.
The scent hit me next.
Blood.
Not ours. Theirs.
Then—
A body hit the ground in front of us.
My breath caught in my throat.
It was a wolf. One of the attackers from before. His throat was ripped open, his body still warm.
Dante swore under his breath.
“Someone got to him first,” I whispered.
Dante nodded slowly, his gaze sharp. “And whoever it was… they’re still here.”
The forest was silent.
Too silent.
Then—
A voice.
Low, smooth, deadly.
“Running so soon?”
I spun toward the sound, dagger in hand.
And that’s when I saw him.
A man stepped out of the shadows, his dark cloak barely moving in the breeze. His raven-black hair fell over sharp cheekbones, and his pale gray eyes glowed like silver fire.
He was tall. Lethal.
And he was smiling.
Dante shifted beside me, his entire body coiled like a spring.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
The man tilted his head slightly. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
My pulse spiked.
Dante went still.
“What do you mean?” I asked, voice steady.
The stranger took a slow step forward. “You were one of us once, Aria.”
The world tilted.
No.
No.
That wasn’t possible.
“I don’t know you,” I hissed.
The man chuckled. “Oh, but you do.”
Dante’s hand twitched toward his knife. “You have three seconds to back off,” he growled.
The stranger didn’t react.
He just smiled wider.
“I’m not your enemy,” he said. “But if you want answers, Aria… you’ll have to come with me.”
My stomach twisted.
It was a trap. It had to be.
But the way he said my name—like he knew me—sent ice down my spine.
Dante didn’t wait.
He moved.
Fast.
A blur of motion as he lunged at the stranger, his blade flashing.
But the man was faster.
He dodged with inhuman speed, twisting away, his cloak billowing in the wind.
Then—
He vanished.
One second he was there. The next, he was gone.
The air around us went eerily still.
Dante was breathing hard, his fists clenched.
I could still feel the stranger’s presence, lingering in the air like a phantom.
Then, a whisper—soft as the wind.
"I’ll be seeing you soon, Aria."
A shiver ran down my spine.
Dante turned to me, his blue eyes burning.
“We need to move. Now.”
I didn’t argue.
Because whoever that man was—whoever he used to be—
He wasn’t just after me.
He was after the truth.
And he wasn’t the only one.