Chapter 5 The Whisper in the Forest

The morning following the Wolf King's vision, the forest was still. Too still.

Even the birds were not singing.

Aria stood on the edge of the woods, cloak wrapped closely around her shoulders. Mist hugged the ground like breath caught in expectation. Her heart pounded against her ribs, but she would not turn back. Not today.

Something inside of her had changed.

The bond was not a legend. It pulsed in her blood, in her visions, in the aching vibration of her mark. And the forest-black, ancient, taboo-called.

She passed the final lantern post.

Behind it, the trees stood taller, gnarled and striated with silver bark. The light was filtered here, filtered through the heavy canopy above. Shadows clung to the roots like hands. And the air-it whispered.

"Aria."

She stood still.

The voice hadn't been behind her.

It had been in the woods.

She took in a shuddering breath. "Who's there?"

No answer.

Only the wind through the leaves, the creak of old wood. But something in her gut was sure that she wasn't alone.

A shiver ran down her spine as she stepped deeper in, her boots softly crunching on damp ground. The path in front of her was no longer a path-simply soft moss and curved roots. But her feet knew the path.

As though the forest led her.

She entered a small clearing she did not know-round, still, and far too still. In the center of it was a tree with bark as black as coal and leaves that shone like starlight. The air around it shone, too-like heat from stone.

She stepped forward another pace.

"You came."

The voice was low, a whisper of smoke. It was not spoken out loud-it bloomed in her mind, soft and breaking.

Aria turned. "Show yourself."

The shadows shifted.

And then, he was there.

Not wolf. Not man. He wore darkness as a second cloak, his cloak one with the woods, his face veiled. But his eyes-his gold blazing eyes-pierced.

The Wolf King.

Aria instinctively stepped back, but her feet were tangled in roots.

He didn't move to catch her.

Still, she didn't fall.

The woods held her up.

"What do you want from me?" she said, her voice steadier than she was.

"You already know," he said. His voice was a growl, a deep, ancient sound. "You feel the bond. You dream of me."

Aria's hands were fists. "You invaded my mind."

"I answered your summons," he said. "You touched the moon. You touched the fire. You walked across the threshold. You are not some vulnerable girl, Aria. You are mine."

"No," she spat. "I belong to no one."

He tilted to one side, his head tilting. "You say so, but nevertheless, your mark glows."

Her breath hung.

He was right.

The crescent on her collarbone had begun to glow again, a warm golden light just under the skin of her chest. The forest appeared to inhale with it. Echo it.

"What are you?" she asked.

"A king," he said. "A beast. A curse. Choose your poison."

She drew near him, her heart pounding. "And what am I?

His eyes narrowed. "Not just a girl of prophecy. You are something much older. Something that even I..." He paused, as though relishing the thought. ".did not expect."

Their eyes met.

And for a moment, the stillness between them grew charged.

He stepped slowly toward her. "The bond will rebuild you. Already has. You will hear the forest. Feel its breath. Dream not merely of me-but of what you were before."

"Before?"

"Before this life. Before this body." His hand rose but did not brush hers. "You are more than mortal, Aria. And soon, you will remember."

She blinked. "Why me?"

"Because the moon chose you.".

She frowned. "The moon does not select. The Seer spoke that it demands."

And with that, the Wolf King's mouth curled up-hard, clever. "Perhaps. But I waited centuries for just any girl to carry the mark of a crescent. You were created to be part of this union. And I was forged to take it."

Breeze started, leaves whirling on the rush of air between them.

Aria's heart thundered in her ears.

She had to run.

But she didn't.

"I won't be yours just because a prophecy says so," she said.

"You think I want a submissive queen?" His tone turned suddenly harsher. "No, little moon. I want the fire. I want the fight."

And then something shifted.

He moved closer-barely a breath away.

His hand came up, slowly, to hover inches from her cheek. Not touching. Waiting.

Her heart pounded so hard she knew he had to be able to hear it.

When she did not stir, he bent forward, voice softer now.

"I can smell your fear... but also your power. It sleeps now. But it will wake soon. And when it does, the forest will no longer whisper."

He stepped back, and the chill closed around her all at once.

"The forest will sing your name."

He vanished.

One blink-gone.

No tracks. No wind. Nothing but mist rolling between trees like breath stolen after a kiss unshared.

Aria alone, her skin writhing.

The quiet seeped back in once more-but this time it sounded living. A whis-per full of things unrevealed.

She turned and fled in the direction from which she'd come, sticks catching at her cloak.

Back to the edge.

Back to the village.

But as she caught sight of the lamp post ahead, she looked back over her shoulder.

The forest was no longer a place she feared.

It was like a secret waiting to be remembered.