Chapter 4 GHOST OF THE ALPHA KING

The letter still burned in Aria's hand long after Kael disappeared into the war chamber.

She'd read it twice.

Three times.

Each word had sunk into her like ice water.

> To the Alpha King of Blackfang,

I offer you a choice: surrender the Stormveil bride, or prepare your pack to bleed. The past is not dead, and neither am I.

-Lira of the Hollow Spine

The name meant nothing to Aria.

But it shook Kael.

Which meant it mattered.

And anything that made the feared Alpha King of Blackfang go silent was a threat she wasn't about to ignore.

---

She found Kael at the strategy table, maps spread around him, hands braced on the edge like he might snap the world in half if it didn't yield.

"You should've told me," she said.

Kael didn't look at her. "No."

"No?" she echoed. "That's your answer?"

"It's not your fight."

She walked around the table and slammed the letter down between them. "You made it my fight the moment you tied our blood together."

His jaw clenched.

Aria leaned closer. "Who is she, Kael?"

He looked up then.

And the mask cracked.

"She was supposed to die with the others."

Aria stiffened.

"The others?"

Kael nodded, voice cold as steel. "Ten years ago, there was a rebellion. A pack from beyond the Frost Vale. Rogues. They called themselves Hollow Spine."

Aria had heard the name whispered in stories, always in fear. A blood cult. A cursed lineage. Said to have wolves who could steal other shifters' forms.

"My father wiped them out," Kael said. "Or so he claimed."

Aria narrowed her eyes. "But this one survived."

"She was their Alpha's daughter. Barely older than a pup when the war ended."

"And now she wants revenge."

Kael's silence was the only answer she needed.

---

That night, sleep evaded them both.

Aria paced the balcony of their shared chamber while Kael brooded near the fire.

She glanced at him, eyes sharp in the moonlight. "You knew this day would come."

"I hoped it wouldn't."

She crossed her arms. "And if she's not bluffing?"

"Then Blackfang will burn."

The words hung between them.

Heavy. True.

Aria turned back toward the mountains, where shadows crawled like ghosts.

"Let her come," she said.

Kael looked up.

Aria's eyes gleamed like a storm. "I've faced worse than threats in ink. If she wants to rip me from your arms, she'll have to kill me first."

Kael's lips twitched-half pride, half fear.

"You're already thinking like a Luna."

"No," she said. "I'm thinking like a soldier."

And beneath her calm, something primal stirred.

---

The next day, Aria began training harder.

Kael watched her from the shadows.

She moved like someone expecting war-not just training, but testing herself, sparring two opponents at once, bruises blooming across her arms and neck.

"She's preparing," Ronin said beside him.

"She shouldn't have to."

Ronin gave him a side glance. "But she wants to. You think that blade on her thigh is for decoration?"

Kael didn't answer.

Because part of him wanted her out of the fight.

The other part-the wolf-wanted her by his side.

Not just as a symbol.

As an equal.

---

Later that week, scouts returned.

"Trespassers," the first said. "Three border guards found dead. Torn apart."

Kael's stomach sank. "Where?"

"North ridge. Near the ruins of Moon Hollow."

Aria froze.

"Send me," she said immediately.

"No," Kael snapped. "You stay here."

"I can help-"

"This isn't a duel in a courtyard. It's not a game. These rogues don't fight fair, Aria. They don't leave pieces of you behind to bury."

Her voice dropped. "Then I'll make sure they don't get the chance."

But Kael only turned away, fists clenched. "You're not going."

Her anger sizzled beneath her skin, but she bit it back.

Because when his voice broke like that-it wasn't arrogance.

It was fear.

---

That night, she couldn't sleep.

The bond between them pulsed hot and restless.

She felt Kael's tension like it was her own-sharp, coiled, ready to snap.

So when she heard his footsteps leaving their room just before dawn, she followed.

He didn't notice her until he reached the edge of the forest-where he stripped off his armor, his cloak, and let the shift overtake him.

Bones cracked.

Fur erupted.

And then Kael stood on four legs, a massive obsidian wolf with glowing silver eyes.

It wasn't the first time Aria had seen a shift.

But this-him-was different.

Power. Rage. Majesty.

He took off into the trees like a shadow swallowed by night.

Aria's heart pounded.

She knew where he was going.

He was going alone.

And if the scouts were right-

He was walking straight into a trap.

Aria ran back to the fortress, breath ragged. "Saddle a horse," she barked at the nearest guard. "Now!"

"Where are you going, my lady?" the soldier asked, confused.

She didn't look back.

"To stop my mate from dying tonight."