Chapter 5

Aria’s heart slammed against her ribs, the world tilting beneath her as those two words settled over her like a noose tightening around her throat.

You’re mine.

She couldn’t have heard him right. Couldn’t have felt what she just did.

It wasn’t possible.

Not after everything.

Not after Killian had shattered their mate bond, leaving her broken, hollow.

A second chance mate?

No. That wasn’t how it worked. The Goddess had given her one mate, and he had thrown her away.

There was no second bond.

There couldn’t be.

And yet…

Aria felt it.

A deep, thrumming pull in the marrow of her bones, an invisible thread that coiled around her, weaving her fate with his. It wasn’t like before, when she had first felt Killian’s presence as her mate—warm and golden, soft in the way the morning sun kissed the horizon.

No.

This was something darker. Harsher.

It didn’t beckon her forward—it dragged her, demanding, unyielding.

This man—this stranger—was not gentle.

His claim was absolute.

His fingers lingered against her skin, barely touching, but the weight of his words crushed the air from her lungs.

Her body was betraying her.

Her wolf—silent for so long after the rejection—stirred.

For the first time in days, she felt her again.

A low, hungry growl rumbled through Aria’s chest, and her knees nearly buckled. The wolf inside her—weak, exhausted—should have been too drained to react to anyone. And yet, she was awake.

Not just awake. Alert.

Watching.

Wanting.

Aria tore herself back, stumbling a few steps away, her breaths coming too fast. “No,” she choked out, shaking her head.

She needed to get away.

Now.

The man—who was he?—tilted his head slightly, watching her with the intensity of a predator who had already decided she belonged to him.

Aria’s stomach twisted.

She had spent years living under the oppressive weight of another Alpha’s rule. Had endured Killian’s cold indifference, his rejection, the way his Luna had made sure she never felt like anything more than an inconvenience.

She had been powerless then.

She refused to be powerless now.

Aria squared her shoulders, ignoring the exhaustion dragging at her limbs, the way her body still trembled from his touch. “I don’t belong to anyone,” she said, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. “Not anymore.”

The man took a slow, deliberate step toward her.

The air around him shifted, thickening with a presence that made her stomach clench.

“Is that so?” His voice was a low, velvety purr. Dangerous. Amused.

Aria didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

Because the way he was looking at her—like he was unraveling every layer of her, peeling her apart piece by piece—made her breath catch in her throat.

She had never seen anyone like him before.

Killian had been powerful. He had been cold, calculated, ruthless in the way a leader had to be.

But this man?

He didn’t just command power.

He was power.

The kind that couldn’t be questioned. The kind that burned through the air like wildfire, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake.

Her instincts screamed at her to run.

But something deeper, something primal, told her it wouldn’t matter.

He would catch her.

He was the kind of man who always got what he wanted.

And right now…

He wanted her.

---

The wind howled through the trees, shaking the branches above them as the silence stretched between them, heavy with something Aria didn’t dare name.

She needed to leave.

She needed to run.

But her legs wouldn’t move.

She had spent so long feeling nothing but pain. Feeling like a ghost of herself, like she was barely clinging to existence after Killian’s rejection had severed the mate bond and left her adrift in the hollow remains of what was once her future.

But now…

Now, she felt something.

Not warmth. Not comfort.

But fire.

And it scared her.

“Who are you?” she demanded, her voice steadier than she expected.

The man didn’t answer right away. He simply studied her, his golden eyes flickering like embers in the dim moonlight.

Then, slowly, he smirked.

And that smirk sent another shiver racing down her spine.

“Darius,” he said, his voice like the slow burn of whiskey. “Alpha of the Obsidian Hollow Pack.”

The name sent a shock through her, her pulse stuttering.

Obsidian Hollow.

The strongest pack in the region. The most feared.

The pack that took in no outsiders.

The pack that showed no mercy.

Aria’s stomach twisted violently.

She had heard of him.

Everyone had.

Darius Thorn.

A man who ruled with an iron grip, whose name alone was enough to make enemies tremble.

A man who never took a mate.

And yet…

He had just claimed her.

Aria’s breaths came too fast, her mind racing with everything she knew, everything she had heard.

There were rumors. So many rumors.

Some said he was more beast than man, that the blood of the old gods ran through his veins.

Some said he was cursed, that the moon itself had forsaken him, turning him into something other.

But no one—no one—had ever spoken of him having a mate.

Because he didn’t.

And yet…

He had just claimed her.

“No,” Aria whispered, shaking her head. “That’s not possible.”

Darius took another step forward, closing the distance between them until there was barely a breath between their bodies.

“Do you feel it, little wolf?” he murmured, his voice dark silk. “That pull?”

Aria’s throat tightened.

She did.

And she hated it.

“I don’t want this,” she said, the words tasting like a lie on her tongue.

Darius lifted a hand, and for a moment, she thought he would touch her again.

Instead, his fingers brushed the edge of her hair, tucking a loose strand behind her ear.

His touch was gentle.

Too gentle for a man who had just killed with his bare hands.

“But you need it,” he murmured.

Her breath caught.

Because the terrifying part wasn’t that he was wrong.

It was that, deep down, in the hollow, aching parts of her—

She was starting to believe he was right.

Aria’s breathing came in short, uneven bursts, her chest rising and falling too fast as she stared up at the man before her—the Alpha before her.

Darius Thorn.

The name alone sent ice through her veins.

Not because she feared him—though maybe she should. But because there was a power in that name, a weight that made the air around them hum with something dangerous.

Something inevitable.

Her body was betraying her, responding to the bond that shouldn’t exist, to the heat in his golden eyes, to the pull that coiled around her like invisible chains.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She had already been claimed once. She had already been broken.

The Moon Goddess had given her a mate, and he had rejected her. She had already felt what it was like to have that bond torn away, to be left bleeding and hollow, cast aside like she had never mattered at all.

And yet, here she was.

Trapped in the gaze of a man who had just spoken words that should have been impossible.

You’re mine.

No.

No, she couldn’t accept that.

Her fists clenched, nails biting into her palms, her body still trembling from exhaustion. “This—this isn’t real,” she whispered, as if saying it aloud would make it true.

Darius tilted his head slightly, his golden eyes gleaming in the dim moonlight. “It’s as real as the blood in your veins, little wolf.”

Aria shook her head, stepping back. The movement was slow, unsteady. “No,” she said again, her voice stronger this time. “I already had a mate. And he—he rejected me.”

Something dark flickered across Darius’s expression, a brief flash of something unreadable.

Then, his lips curled into a smirk. “And yet, you’re still standing.”

Her breath hitched.

He said it so simply. So matter-of-factly.

As if her rejection, her banishment, should have destroyed her, should have left her as nothing more than a crumpled, broken thing.

And maybe it should have.

Maybe it almost did.

But she was here.

Surviving.

Barely.

Darius took a slow step forward, closing the space between them. “The bond was severed,” he murmured, his voice as smooth as silk. “That much, I can tell.”

Aria’s pulse thundered in her ears.

Of course, he could tell. Every wolf could sense a severed mate bond—like the lingering scent of something that had been burned away, leaving behind only the ashes of what once was.

“But that doesn’t mean you were left with nothing,” he continued, his gaze never leaving hers. “That doesn’t mean you weren’t given another chance.”

A sharp pang twisted in her chest.

A second chance mate.

It was rare. So rare.

But not impossible.

Aria swallowed hard, her throat dry. “Why me?” she whispered.

Why, of all wolves, would the Moon Goddess choose to give her to a man like Darius Thorn?

The most feared Alpha in the region.

A man who didn’t take mates.

A man who had lived his life without one—and had never sought one out.

Why now?

Why her?

Darius didn’t answer right away. Instead, he lifted a hand.

Aria flinched instinctively, but he didn’t touch her.

His fingers hovered just inches from her face, his golden eyes searching hers with something she couldn’t decipher.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, he spoke.

“Because fate has a cruel sense of humor.”

His fingers brushed against her cheek, just barely.

A spark ignited at the contact, and Aria sucked in a sharp breath.

That pull.

It was undeniable.

Deep, primal.

It coiled around her, seeped into her bones, whispered to the parts of her that had been left cold and empty after Killian’s rejection.

She hated it.

She craved it.

And it terrified her.

Aria jerked back, heart pounding, her entire body screaming at her to run. “I don’t want this.”

Darius’s expression didn’t change. “You say that now.”

Her hands clenched into fists. “I will say it tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.”

A low chuckle rumbled from his chest, dark and smooth. “You think you can fight this?”

“Yes,” she snapped, but the way her voice trembled betrayed her.

Darius exhaled slowly, watching her like she was a puzzle he was piecing together in real-time. Then, after a long moment, he stepped back.

“Very well,” he said.

Aria blinked. “What?”

His golden eyes gleamed. “I won’t force you, little wolf.”

Her stomach twisted.

She didn’t trust him.

She didn’t trust anyone.

But he wasn’t stopping her.

He wasn’t grabbing her.

Not like Killian had, not like the wolves who had tried to drag her back when she’d run from Silvercrest’s borders.

Darius Thorn was the most feared Alpha in the region.

And yet, he was letting her go.

Aria’s breath hitched. “You mean it?”

A slow, almost amused smirk curved his lips. “I don’t need to force what is already mine.”

A shudder rippled through her.

Damn him.

Damn the way his words made something deep inside her stir, the way his presence sent a thrill of heat rushing through her veins, the way he looked at her like he knew.

Like he knew that no matter how far she ran, no matter how hard she fought it—

She would never truly escape him.

Aria took another slow step back, then another, her legs trembling beneath her.

Darius simply watched.

Waited.

A predator with infinite patience.

The wind howled through the trees, and then—

Aria turned.

And ran.

She didn’t look back.

She didn’t need to.

Because somehow, deep in her bones, she knew—

Darius Thorn had just let her go.

But he would never let her leave.