Chapter 3 THE SPARK WITHIN

The hidden valley was unlike anything Aria had ever seen.

The landscape, and a warm mist always seemed to hover in the air, humming with life. Time moved slower here-gentler. More forgiving.

For the first time since she left Moonstone Pack, Aria felt like she could breathe because now she has Elaria with her. There was also a different type of peace there.

Elaria, the silver-haired priestess, became both a mentor and a silent guardian. She never bothered A ria with questions that she knew she wasn't ready to answer. Aria broken and rejected found herself opening up to the older woman due to her calm presence. By the third week in the valley, her body was no longer just healing-it was transforming.

"I've seen many things in my time," Elaria said one morning as Aria struggled to lift a large rock using her wolf strength only. "But you carry more than pain child, there is a fire buried deep inside you. It's time to stop being scared."

Aria dropped the rock with a growl. Her arms ached. She was sweating so much, her belly had begun to swell visibly, making movement harder. "I'm tired," she muttered.

"You're tired of being weak," Elaria corrected her. "it is time for you to be strong. The rejection couldn't take your powers it only buried it."

"What power?" Aria snapped. "I'm an Omega. I was born weak and unwanted, that's what people say and Damon also proved it."

The name came out like venom. A part of her still ached when she said it, like her heart hadn't accepted the truth yet. But another part which was growing in her was angry not just at Damon but at Aria for ever believing she was less.

"The Goddess makes mistakes?" Elaria said, voice stern. "You think She would choose a mate like Damon for you without a reason?"

Aria looked away.

"I don't know what to believe anymore." she muttered

Elaria approached her, placing a warm hand over her stomach. The contact sent a ripple of energy through Aria's body-not unpleasant, but unfamiliar. "Your children will be strong, but they will need a mother who is stronger."

"I don't know how," Aria whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

"You have to learn," Elaria said gently and you are Starting right now. The training wasn't easy but Aria kept pushing.

Each day began at sunrise. Aria was pushed to the edge of her endurance-physically, mentally, spiritually. She learned to fight not just with claws and teeth, but with her mind and with her heart.

She meditated beside the Sacred Pool, where moonlight revealed truths buried in silence. She channeled her inner wolf, tapping into reserves of strength that came from her very bloodline-descended from the wolves of light, the lost daughters of Luna.

And slowly she started changing.

Her eyes began to glow faintly when she focused, her energy and healing also accelerated. She could shift faster, even mid-movement. Her senses expanded beyond the normal. She could hear the heartbeat of a bird three trees away, Smell danger on the wind and also Call fire from her palms when she was desperate enough.

The valley whispered her name now not in fear but in awe. With each passing day, the life inside her grew stronger and stronger.

One night, under the full moon, Elaria summoned Aria to the Temple Stones at the heart of the valley.

"You've come so far," Elaria said. "But there is one truth you must face now which you have been avoiding."

Aria's fists clenched. She knew what was coming.

"Your mate," Elaria continued. "You still carry him in your soul."

"I didn't ask for that," Aria whispered, voice thick with emotion. "I didn't choose him."

"Yes, but he was chosen for you and now, whether you want him or not, the bond lives inside you." Aria closed her eyes. Her breath caught.

"I want it broken" she said.

Elaria was quiet a moment. "The pain may reduce but true bonds cannot be broken... only denied."

Aria stepped forward, placing her hand on the moonstone at the center of the temple. "Then I'll deny it until my last breath."

"You may have to," Elaria said. "Because the fates are shifting. Something is coming. Darkness gathers beyond the mountains. A force that hungers for blood and chaos. And it will come... for the packs."

Aria's eyes snapped to hers. "Moonstone?"

"All of them," Elaria confirmed. "But Moonstone will fall first."

She felt a flicker of something deep inside her-anger. Not for Damon. But for the innocents who would suffer.

"What does this have to do with me?"

"You are the only one who can stop it."

Aria's chest tightened. "Why me?"

"Because you are not just a rejected mate, Aria. You are the Rejected Luna. And rejection does not mean defeat. It means freedom."

-

That night, Aria stood by the edge of the valley, staring up at the moon. Her hands rested on her stomach.

The twins kicked softly.

And she smiled for the first time in months

"I don't need a mate," she whispered. "I just need to be enough for them."

But in her heart... a sliver of something remained.

The memory of Damon's touch. How he fumbled her breast, the nipple sucking like his life depended on it, the kissing. The look in his eyes while thrusting, when he climaxed and before he pulled away. It was a sweet moment but it was cut short by his cruelty.

She would never forgive him.

But one day... he would see what he threw away.

Far away, in the heart of Moonstone Pack, Alpha Damon stood alone in his office, staring at the rain-slicked windows.

His world was unraveling.

The rogues were growing bolder. His warriors were dying. Camille had left after a bitter argument claiming she could no longer love a man haunted by the scent of another woman.

And she was right. Aria's scent had never left him. It haunted his sheets, his dreams, his very bones.

He had searched for her, sent trackers but found nothing.

But his heart knew she was out there alive.

and she wasn't the same anymore.