Chapter 1 The Contract

ARIA POV

They say everyone's life has a turning point. A single moment when everything shifts, and nothing ever goes back to the way it was.

I just didn't expect mine to come wrapped in moonlight and danger.

Fairy tales? Please. I gave up on those long ago. My story was written in diner grease, overdue rent notices, and cracked mirrors that barely reflected who I used to be. My name's Aria Hayes, and the closest I'd ever been to a crown was the greasy paper one from a fast-food kid's meal.

I didn't dream much anymore-not when surviving took up most of my energy-but when I did, the dreams whispered of something I couldn't name. Something just out of reach. Especially on nights like this... when the moon looked too full, too knowing.

The city was still awake as I walked home from my shift. Manhattan pulsed with life-cars honking, neon signs flickering, laughter spilling from rooftop bars. I kept my head down, my hands shoved into the pockets of my thin jacket, wishing for a little more warmth and a little less reality.

My boots tapped against wet pavement. The scent of rain lingered in the air, sharp and clean, though the sky hadn't opened yet. I liked walking at night. It was the one time the city felt almost honest.

Until something shifted.

A chill crept up my spine. Not from the cold. From something else. A presence. A sensation I couldn't shake-like eyes crawling across my skin.

I slowed. Looked behind me. Nothing. Just a flickering streetlamp and a cat darting into a trash bin.

I almost laughed at myself-until I saw him.

A man stood half-hidden in the mouth of an alley, his silhouette carved from shadow. My feet stopped on instinct. My heart didn't get the memo; it thundered in my chest.

"Aria Hayes," he said, voice deep and gravelly. Like smoke and command wrapped into one.

I froze. He knew my name.

He stepped forward, and the streetlight caught his face. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair cut close. But it was his eyes that stopped me cold-silver-gray and inhumanly clear, like they could see straight through skin and bone.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, trying to sound braver than I felt. My fingers clenched inside my pockets.

He didn't blink. "Dominic Wolfe."

That name meant nothing to me, but the way he said it made it feel like it should. Like it had weight.

"I've been looking for you."

A sharp laugh escaped before I could stop it. "Right. Of course, you have. Did one of the creeps at the diner put you up to this? I'm not buying whatever you're selling."

I turned to leave, but something-something-rooted me in place. My feet wouldn't move. The air thickened, heavy with... I don't even know what. Power?

"You're not just anyone, Aria," Dominic said, his voice low now, intimate. "You're the key to something much bigger than you can imagine."

My stomach tightened. "If this is some kind of scam, you picked the wrong girl. I barely have twenty bucks to my name."

"You think this is about money?" He stepped closer, and I caught the scent of something dark and clean-cedar, smoke, rain. "You're not just human. You're a Moonborn."

The word hung between us like smoke.

I blinked. "A what?"

"A lost bloodline," he explained, like he wasn't unraveling my entire reality. "You've felt it, haven't you? That sense you don't belong here. That pull during the full moon. You've always known there was something different about you."

I shook my head. "No. That's crazy."

"Is it?"

He reached into his coat and pulled out a small, leather-bound book. Old, frayed at the edges. Something ancient and sacred. He held it out to me like it might bite.

My hand trembled as I took it. The moment my fingers brushed his, a jolt sparked up my arm. I jerked back, breath catching.

"What was that?"

He didn't answer.

I flipped open the book. The pages were aged and lined with symbols I didn't understand. But in the center of one-the same word, written again and again in delicate, slanted ink.

Aria.

Over and over.

"You've been marked," Dominic said, voice gentler now. "The prophecy speaks of your name. You were hidden as a child, but we found you."

"We?" I whispered.

He ignored the question. "This is your destiny. Whether you believe it or not."

"No," I snapped, closing the book and shoving it back into his chest. "Whatever twisted fantasy this is, I want no part of it."

Dominic's jaw tensed, but he didn't back away. "It's not a fantasy. It's your blood. And it's waking up."

I turned to run, but he was suddenly in front of me-fast. Too fast. He grabbed my wrist, and I gasped at the chill of his touch. Not cold like ice. Cold like a storm just before it breaks.

"I'm offering you a contract," he said, holding me there, not hurting, but not letting go.

"What kind of contract?" My voice was small now.

His gaze burned into mine. "A marriage contract. Between you and me."

I choked on a laugh. "You're out of your mind."

"I'm offering you protection. Power. Truth. Everything you've ever questioned about yourself-I can give you the answers. All you have to do is say yes."

Silence.

Just the city breathing around us.

Just the moon staring down like it knew how this story ended.

"And if I say no?" I asked, voice barely audible.

"Then I disappear," he said. "And you go back to your lonely life, still feeling out of place, still wondering why. But I don't think you will."

I stared at him, torn between fear and the strange, magnetic pull I couldn't shake. Something in me-a buried piece that had always felt like a stranger in my own skin-was awake. Alive. And it was drawn to him in a way that scared the hell out of me.

"I don't know who you think I am," I whispered, "but I'm not some pawn in a supernatural soap opera."

His expression didn't waver. "You're not a pawn. You're a Luna."

That word meant something to him. Something deep.

I didn't know what it meant to me yet.

But as the moon watched from above, something inside me shifted. And I realized this wasn't the end of the story.

It was just the beginning.