The forest stretched for miles, a vast ocean of trees and whispers. Aria followed Ronan in silence, the sound of their footsteps muffled by fallen leaves and soft earth.
Each step away from the pack lands felt heavier — but somehow, she also felt lighter.
Free.
It was a strange thing, freedom. It didn't feel like wings. It felt like scars. Like bruises finally healing.
They reached a ridge just as the sun broke over the horizon, painting the sky in streaks of blood orange and gold. Ronan stopped, turning slightly toward her.
"This is the border," he said. "Once we cross it, there's no going back."
Aria met his eyes. "Good."
He nodded once, then led her through the thinning trees. Beyond the border, the world felt different — raw, wild, untamed. It didn't belong to any Alpha. No laws. No limits.
Just survival.
Just truth.
After another hour, they reached a hidden cave nestled between jagged rocks. Inside, it was warm and surprisingly well-kept — a fire pit, blankets, even books.
"You live here?" she asked, surprised.
"I hide here," he corrected. "Living is... something else."
Aria lowered herself onto a flat stone and stared at the flames he lit. "Why are you helping me?"
Ronan hesitated before sitting beside her. "Because I know what it's like to be thrown away."
His voice carried weight — heavy with memory.
Aria didn't press. She knew that tone. Some stories weren't ready to be told.
After a long pause, he looked at her.
"Do you still feel the bond?"
"No," she said quickly. Too quickly. "It's… gone."
But even as the words left her lips, a ghost of Kael's scent flickered in her mind — sandalwood and storm.
Gone… but not forgotten.
Ronan stared into the fire. "Sometimes bonds fade. Sometimes they break. And sometimes... they change."
She looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"
"Not all bonds are from the moon. Some are forged in pain. In choice."
His words unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.
Before she could respond, a low growl echoed from outside the cave. Ronan shot to his feet in an instant, eyes glowing amber.
"Stay here," he said sharply.
Aria stood too. "No. I'm done hiding."
He looked at her — truly looked — and something in his expression shifted. Respect.
Two rogue wolves emerged from the trees, their eyes glowing red. Not normal rogues. Ferals.
They hadn't come for food.
They'd come for blood.
Ronan shifted in one fluid motion, fur dark as night, and lunged. Aria's own wolf surged forward, itching to fight — but hesitation clawed at her chest.
She'd never fought as anything but a pack member.
But she wasn't pack anymore.
She was Aria.
And this
was her fight, too.
With a growl of her own, she let the shift take her.