Aria stood frozen, the woman’s words crashing into her like a physical blow.
"They didn’t make you. They’ve been trying to copy you."
She had spent so much time fearing the Shadow Order, believing that they had created her, that she was some kind of unnatural experiment. But this—this was something else entirely.
They hadn’t made her.
They had been searching for her.
Trying to replicate her.
She forced herself to speak, though her voice came out quieter than she intended. “What do you mean?”
The woman—who still hadn’t introduced herself—watched her with a sharp, calculating expression. “The Shadow Order has spent decades experimenting on wolves. They’ve been trying to create something stronger, faster, more evolved.” She exhaled. “But no matter how many times they tried, they never got it right.”
Dante leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. “And Aria is what? The original?”
The woman’s gray eyes flicked to him. “She’s the only successful one.”
Aria’s heart pounded. “That’s not possible.”
The woman shrugged. “Believe whatever you want. But they’ve been searching for you for a long time.”
Aria’s mind was racing. If she wasn’t their creation, then where had she come from?
Who were her parents?
Had they known?
Dante’s voice was calm, but there was a sharp edge beneath it. “How do you know all of this?”
The woman’s lips curled into something resembling a smile. “Because I used to be one of them.”
Silence filled the small cabin.
Aria stiffened.
Dante didn’t react outwardly, but she knew him well enough to see the tension in his posture.
Kai had been right. Meeting with a former Shadow Order operative was a risk.
Aria took a slow breath. “And why should we trust you?”
The woman smirked. “You shouldn’t.”
Dante let out a quiet laugh. “At least you’re honest.”
Aria didn’t take her eyes off the woman. “Then why are you helping us?”
The woman’s expression darkened slightly. “Because the Shadow Order isn’t just hunting you anymore.”
The knot in Aria’s stomach tightened. “Then who?”
The woman’s gaze flickered to Dante. “All of you.”
Dante pushed off the wall, his blue eyes cold. “Explain.”
The woman exhaled, moving toward the table in the center of the room. She reached for a stack of papers, flipping through them before pulling out a map.
She spread it across the wooden surface, tapping a spot near the eastern mountains.
“This,” she said, “is where the Shadow Order has set up their main research facility. It’s heavily guarded, impossible to infiltrate.” She glanced at Aria. “But the recent attacks? The way they’re testing you?”
She looked back at Dante.
“They’re getting desperate.”
Dante frowned. “Because?”
The woman’s voice was quiet.
“Because they think you’re close to figuring them out.”
Aria’s pulse pounded. “Are we?”
The woman hesitated. Then, she picked up another paper—this one covered in handwritten notes, smudged ink, symbols that Aria didn’t recognize.
She handed it to Aria.
“This is everything I know about their past experiments,” she said. “And everything I know about you.”
Aria’s fingers trembled slightly as she took the paper. The words blurred for a moment before she focused, scanning the notes.
Her breath caught.
There—written in bold, dark ink—was her name.
Aria Lockhart.
Her entire life was on this page.
Her birthdate.
Her early medical records.
Notes about her blood.
The words Genetic Mutation: Unclassified were underlined twice.
And beneath it, a note that made her chest tighten.
"Subject 218 is the only recorded case of natural hybridization. All others—failed."
She felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Dante must have sensed it, because he moved closer, his shoulder brushing against hers, grounding her.
Sebastian had once told her to stop thinking, to stop letting her mind get in the way.
But how could she ignore this?
How could she pretend it didn’t change everything?
She wasn’t an experiment.
She was a mistake they couldn’t replicate.
And now, they wanted her back.
She forced herself to look at the woman again. “What does this mean?”
The woman studied her for a long moment before answering.
“It means you’re the only one of your kind.”
Aria’s hands curled into fists.
She hated that answer.
Because it only left her with more questions.
She exhaled sharply. “And Lucian?”
The woman’s expression darkened. “Lucian is different.”
Aria’s stomach twisted. “How?”
The woman hesitated. “He wasn’t created through experimentation.”
Aria’s breath hitched. “Then what—”
“He was born into it.”
A shiver ran down her spine. “That doesn’t make sense.”
The woman shook her head. “The Shadow Order raised him. Trained him. But he was never meant to be their leader.”
Dante frowned. “Then who was?”
The woman exhaled.
“The same people who created the Order in the first place.”
The room stilled.
Aria’s throat tightened. “Who?”
The woman hesitated. Then, finally—
“Your parents.”
The world tilted.
Aria staggered back.
Dante’s hand shot out, steadying her, but she barely felt it.
“No,” she whispered. “That’s not possible.”
The woman’s expression softened. “It is.”
Aria’s mind raced. Her parents had died when she was a child. She had never known them.
But if this was true—
Had they been part of the Shadow Order?
Had they created it?
And if so…
Had she ever really been their daughter?
Dante’s voice was careful. “Why would the Shadow Order be hunting their own?”
The woman’s gray eyes darkened. “Because your parents tried to destroy them before they could succeed.”
Aria’s breath caught.
The walls around her seemed to close in.
The Shadow Order hadn’t just been trying to copy her.
They had been trying to finish what her parents started.
Dante’s grip on her wrist tightened. “We need to go.”
Aria couldn’t move.
Not yet.
Because if this was true, if her parents had been part of the Order, then that meant—
Lucian wasn’t just another experiment.
He was the one thing they had gotten right.
And that meant…
He was her brother.
A sharp knock at the door shattered the silence.
The woman stiffened. Dante tensed.
Then—
The door burst open.
A blur of black and silver.
Lucian.
His silver eyes locked onto Aria.
And this time, he wasn’t smiling.