Chapter 16

*Aria*

Every breath is a battle. Like sandpaper through my lungs.

Sera says that strength lives in the bones and must be earned with blood, breath, and will. Today, I believe her. I feel what my effort is doing to my body and soul.

My arms ache from bracing against boulders, shoulders burning from endless strikes against the padded tree trunks she’s enchanted to hit back. The moss-strewn floor of the forest has become my mat, my teacher, my enemy. My bare feet bruise against roots and stone, but I don’t stop.

Because I can’t be weak anymore.

Not after what he did. Not after what I learned. The male the goddess saw fit to be my mate is the son of the male who destroyed my life and killed my family.

Sera circles me like a hawk. "Again," she snaps. "Shift. Hold. Shift back."

I grit my teeth, dig my fingers into the dirt, and let the heat rise.

The change comes faster now. It used to be pain, fire, and panic. Now it’s something more—a dance between fury and control. My wolf bursts free with a growl, only to retreat moments later as I force the shift back down.

And then it happens.

Mid-shift, something slices through me.

Not pain.

Not magic.

Him.

My legs buckle. I hit the ground hard, gasping.

It’s Kael.

The bond.

I feel it—sharp and hot, like an arrow embedded in my chest. It lances through me without warning. My wolf whimpers, paws digging into the dirt, eyes scanning the trees as if he might appear at any moment.

He isn’t close, not physically. But his pain—his agony—radiates through the bond in waves. It’s like being dragged into a storm that doesn’t belong to me.

And yet… it does.

My breath hitches. My chest heaves. I curl into myself, growling low.

He’s hurting.

Why would he be hurting? He did this. But I can feel his deep, raw, aching pain.

But he rejected me. He left me in front of everyone, shattered and alone.

My heart races as memories crash over me—his voice, cold and final: I reject you.

And still, the bond pulses.

Why is it still here? Why can I feel him at all?

Sera steps beside me, her gaze sharp. She sees the tremble in my shoulders and the stuttering of my breath.

"The bond?" she questions.

I nod once, still curled on the ground. Not able to speak.

She doesn’t ask if I want to talk about it. She just leaves me with a whisper: "I know it hurts. Pain is the forge. Let it shape you."

I stay there, curled in the moss, staring at the sky through the tree canopy.

My wolf won’t stop pacing. She still believes he’s ours. She believes that no matter what he did, the Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes.

But I remember. And the stories of his father. What they did to my family. How Kael stood there as if none of it mattered. The stories of the battlefield, the bloodshed. What they wanted my mother for. The rumours of my mother’s death. The pain. The betrayal.

He chose power over fate.

He chose his perception of power and strength over me.

I grit my teeth and shove the bond back. Bury it beneath the weight of everything I’ve become since.

I get up from the ground, tired of feeling weak. And I run. I don't shift. I think if I let my wolf have control, she’d run right for him. I am not ready to see him again, not yet. So I run. I let my tired legs guide me alongside the forest and the hum of the wind and animals.

I run until I can't anymore.

The forest is quiet now. Watching.

Listening.

And then something shifts.

The wind carries a scent—unfamiliar, nervous. The trees go still.

My head lifts.

My body tenses.

A soft rustle to my left.

Then, like the forest itself has made a decision, a man stumbles out of the brush. It’s not clumsy—it’s almost like he was pushed.

He stops when he sees me.

I rise slowly to my feet, claws half-shifted, power thrumming under my skin.

He lifts his hands. "I mean no harm. I swear."

His voice is steady, but his heart pounds. I can hear it.

"Who are you?" I demand.

"A scout," he says. "For the king."

I snarl. My wolf lunges.

But he doesn't move. He kneels instead. Submissive.

"I watched you," he says quietly. "Since the day after you entered the forest. Since Dax sent me. I was sent to find you, to bring you back or bring information on your whereabouts. But once I saw you... I couldn't go back."

My breath catches.

He lifts his gaze. "I don't want to serve Kael. Not anymore. I want to serve you."

I stare at him.

He’s young. Maybe mid-twenties. Strong. His frame is lean but solid, the kind of build born from long-distance scouting and discipline. His dark brown hair falls in slightly curled strands across his forehead, damp with sweat and rain. Sharp cheekbones, tanned skin, and eyes the colour of moss after a storm—intense and quiet, but not afraid.

His scent is pine and smoke, with something else beneath—the faintest thread of reverence.

"What's your name?" I ask, my voice harder than I intended.

"Talon."

Of course, it is. Like he was born to survive.

"Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn’t," he says honestly. "Not yet. But the forest led me to you. And I think it did it for a reason."

The forest did lead him to me. I felt it. The trees shifted. The brush moved. The woods wanted me to find him.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.

I nod once. "You’ll come with me. I have someone who can help me decide what to do with you."

He bows his head. "Of course."

As I lead him back through the forest to my glade, my wolf stirs.

She trusts him. She thinks we can believe him.

But I’m not so sure.

I already trusted someone blindly.

I made that mistake once.

And it nearly broke me.