Chapter 6 The Cage and the Crown

The steel door echoed as it slammed shut behind Aria, sealing her into the cold, ancient chamber beneath Ashton Manor. The air thickened, heavy with a scent she couldn't name-something between blood, earth, and fire. Her boots clicked against the stone floor as she followed Luca deeper into the lair that looked more like a medieval war den than a basement.

Rows of old cages lined the walls, their bars bent and scorched like something had once tried to tear its way out. Symbols, carved deep into the stone, glowed faintly as they passed-runes older than language. Bones rested in shadowed corners. Not human. Not animal either.

"What is this place?" she whispered, her voice nearly swallowed by the silence.

"My inheritance," Luca said, his voice like gravel and thunder. "Or what's left of it."

"You're not just a man."

"No." He turned to her fully, unbuttoning his shirt. "I'm the last of a bloodline forged in violence and power. The beasts they made out of men. The curse that made me."

He didn't shift. Not yet. But she could see it-his eyes gleaming gold, his veins darkening beneath the skin, the air around him trembling as if it could feel what he held back.

"You're a werewolf."

"Not just a werewolf," he said. "The kind they bred for war. My family used the bloodline to control cities, countries, whole criminal dynasties. Until it turned on them."

He walked slowly toward her, the monster in him just beneath the surface. "You've seen what I do. What I'm capable of. But you haven't seen the cage I live in."

"And you brought me here why?" Her hand slid to the blade at her side.

"Because you need to decide if you're strong enough to stay once you've seen the truth."

"Why me?" she asked, voice rough. "Why tell me, and not anyone else?"

He stopped in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of his skin.

"Because you're the only one who hasn't run from me. The only one who looks at the beast and doesn't flinch."

She stared into those molten eyes. "I don't flinch, Luca. But I don't kneel either."

Something flickered in him-pride? Respect? Hunger?

He stepped back, reached into a carved-out drawer in the wall, and pulled out a leather-wrapped bundle. Inside: photographs. Old. New. Bloody.

"You're not the only one with secrets," he said, spreading them across a table.

Aria's breath caught.

There were pictures of her sister.

Not just surveillance shots-ones that had to be taken inside secured buildings. Ones that showed bruises. Restraints.

She grabbed a photo. "Where did you get these?"

"She wasn't taken by some random trafficking ring," Luca said. "She was sold to a group called the Crimson Circle."

Aria's blood went cold. "The Crimson Circle's a myth."

"No," Luca said. "It's the foundation of everything we've been circling. The people Victor answers to. The ones that made me. And they have your sister because she's useful. Powerful in ways even she doesn't understand."

Aria's hands shook. "Why would you show me this?"

"Because I want you with me when we destroy them. Not as a pawn. As a partner."

She didn't answer immediately. Her heart was thudding too loud.

"I need to know you won't turn," she said. "That the thing inside you won't rip me apart the moment it loses control."

He held her gaze. Then, without a word, dropped to one knee.

He bowed his head.

And shifted.

Bones cracked. Muscles tore. But it wasn't a full transformation-it was controlled. Half-shifted. Claws, fur, fangs-but not mindless. Still him.

He looked up at her from the ground, breathing heavily, the beast kneeling.

"I could rip the world apart," he growled. "But I won't touch a hair on your head."

Aria's breath caught. The beast-this monster with the power to break stone-was offering her his throat.

A king kneeling to a queen.

"Get up," she said quietly.

He did.

And this time, she didn't flinch when he reached for her hand.

They stood there in the silence, beast and assassin, war and vengeance.

Then her phone buzzed.

Blocked number.

She answered it on instinct.

The voice on the other end was masked. Digitized. Cold.

"You have something we want. So we took something you love."

She froze. "What?"

A scream crackled through the speaker. Female. Familiar.

Her knees buckled. "Talia?"

Laughter answered her. "Tick tock, little sister. Clock's running out."

The line went dead.

Aria looked at Luca, panic rising in her throat.

"They have her. They know I'm here."

His eyes darkened. "Then it's war."

She grabbed the blade from her thigh, strapping it tighter.

"No," she said. "It's personal."

Outside, thunder cracked.

Inside, the storm was just beginning.