6 - Echoes of the Divide

Aria POV

The sun was just beginning to slip beneath the trees when Aria stepped out of the compound, letting the door close softly behind her. The air carried the chill of approaching dusk, tinged with moss and the sharp scent of pine. She didn’t mean to go far—just far enough to breathe.

Finn trailed behind her, hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie, his expression unreadable for once. He hadn’t said much since their last chat by the stream. Something about him had shifted, like his world had tilted and he was still deciding if he liked the new view.

“Are we going somewhere in particular?” he asked, catching up with her as she veered off the path toward the edge of the woods.

“Just walking,” Aria murmured. “Can’t think inside those walls.”

Finn nodded. “Thinking’s overrated anyway.”

They moved in silence for a while, the crunch of leaves underfoot and the quiet murmur of the forest settling into night the only sounds between them. Aria kept her eyes forward, her chest heavy. She didn’t say it out loud, but her dreams had come again last night—more vivid than ever. The blue-eyed man with the golden-eyed wolf, the feeling of heat and longing in his touch, the way her whole soul seemed to stretch toward him.

“He’s not just a dream,” she said quietly.

Finn glanced at her, but didn’t ask who. He already knew.

“I feel him,” she went on. “Even when I’m awake. I think… I think I’d know if he was near.”

Finn stopped walking. “What would you do if he was near?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. I only know that whatever’s between us is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.”

There was a long pause.

Then Finn said, “So… hypothetically speaking, if this dream guy turned out to be someone you weren’t supposed to want—like, say, the Alpha of the pack we’ve all been raised to hate—what would you do?”

Aria froze.

Her heart stuttered, then pounded. “Why would you say that?”

“No reason.” But his tone was too careful.

Aria’s mouth went dry. “Did you find something out?”

“Not exactly,” he hedged. “But maybe someone else did. And maybe they’re a giant emotionally repressed idiot who keeps hiding in the shadows instead of speaking like a grown-ass Alpha.”

Her heart nearly stopped.

“You’ve seen him?” she demanded.

Finn’s smile was almost soft. “Let’s just say I’ve been talking to someone who knows more than they’re letting on. Someone who smells suspiciously like the guy you keep dreaming about.”

Aria felt like the ground had been pulled from beneath her. Her hands trembled, but her voice was steady. “Why wouldn’t he tell me who he is?”

“Because he’s Kael,” Finn said finally. “Because he’s Nightclaw. Because he thinks being who he is means he’ll never deserve you.”

Aria’s breath caught. Kael. The name burned through her like fire.

She stepped back, shaking her head. “No. That can’t be. He—he watched me from the woods. He didn’t even speak. If he knew, why wouldn’t he—”

“Because it’s complicated,” Finn said. “And because he’s scared. Just like you.”

They stood in silence, the air between them charged.

Then Finn stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. “But he’s not the only one who’s found his mate this week.”

Aria blinked. “What?”

Finn’s grin turned sheepish. “Elias. Kael’s second. He’s… mine. We’re figuring it out. But he’s been honest with me. And he told me about Kael. About you.”

Aria stared at him, caught between awe, betrayal, and something dangerously close to hope.

Aria looked up at the sky, now streaked with stars.

“I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a right moment,” she whispered. “But if he’s really out there, really mine… I want to hear it from him. No more shadows.”

"For the record, he’s kind of a hot mess. But he’s trying. That counts for something, right?” Finn said

Aria gave a shaky laugh. “You always fall for the complicated ones.”

“Says the girl dreaming about her mortal enemy. Don’t throw stones, Ari.”

She smiled, but the ache inside her didn’t ease. Her gaze drifted to the forest around them—dense and familiar, like a second home.

“This place,” she said quietly, brushing her fingers along a wild sprig of lavender growing near the path. “It’s where I come when I need to feel close to her. My mother.”

Finn tilted his head. “I know you don’t talk about her much.”

“She died when I was ten. Healing fever patients. Gave everything she had until she burned out from the inside. My father’s still the pack’s doctor, but I think… it broke him a little.”

Finn went quiet beside her.

“I’ve been training under him,” Aria continued. “Learning what I can. The herbs, the tinctures, the way to feel when something’s wrong in a body before it shows on the surface. It’s the only way I still feel like I have her. Like I’m carrying something forward.”

Finn reached out and squeezed her hand. “You are.”

She gave a small nod, grateful for the weight of that touch. “I’m out here so often because I’m always gathering. Always searching. But lately it’s not just for roots and petals. I think I’ve been looking for him, too.”

“Now you know he’s been looking back.”

Aria exhaled slowly. "The time to stop hiding in the dark will approach us soon."

Finn looked at her carefully. “Are you ready for that, though? The truth, once it’s out... it doesn’t go back in.”

“I’m not sure I want it to.” Her voice was soft, but steady. “I’ve spent too long feeling like I was missing something. Like there was a piece of me wandering the world without a name. If it’s him... then I need to know. I need to face it.”

A branch cracked somewhere in the distance—too deliberate to be an animal, too hesitant to be a threat. Aria’s body tensed, eyes flicking toward the shadows. Finn stepped slightly in front of her without a word, his shoulders squared.

But the silence held. Just the wind again. Just the forest settling.

Aria sighed and looked down at the lavender in her hand. “Sometimes I wish I could ask her what to do. My mother. She always had this calm, even when the world felt like it was unraveling.”

“She’d be proud of you,” Finn said, voice low. “You lead with your heart. That’s not weakness, Ari. That’s what gives the rest of us the strength to follow.”

She blinked back the sudden sting in her eyes. “You’re a sap.”

“I’m your sap,” he said with a smirk. “And apparently mated to the Nightclaw Beta, so... it’s been a weird week.”

Aria gave a soft, genuine laugh. Then quieter, “Do you think he’ll come?”

Finn was silent for a beat. Then, “I think he already has.”

She turned to him, but before she could speak, something in the air shifted—like a ripple through a still lake.

The wind stilled.

Her heart knew before her eyes did.

Someone was watching from the trees.