The sound of tearing flesh haunted the pit.
Fangs clashed. Bones cracked. Growls ripped through the air like thunder. I stood frozen on the balcony, heart hammering, breath caught somewhere between panic and disbelief.
Two monsters — no, two gods of death — fought beneath the blood moon. One of them was fighting for dominance.
The other… was fighting for me.
Rhydan.
He shifted faster than I thought possible — sleek black fur, muscles coiled like steel under midnight skin, his eyes still burning gold.
Garrick was larger, silver and scarred, with experience in every strike.
But Rhydan was faster. Wilder.
And angrier.
Every time Garrick lunged, Rhydan dodged. Every time Garrick slashed, Rhydan countered with lethal precision.
But he wasn't trying to kill him.
He was holding back.
Why?
Because of me?
"You shouldn't be watching this," Liora muttered beside me, her arms crossed, jaw tight.
I didn't look at her. "He's bleeding."
"He's an Alpha. He'll survive."
"That's not the point."
Liora turned her sharp eyes on me. "Then what is the point, human?"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
All I knew was that watching Rhydan fight — watching him bleed — stirred something raw and terrifying in me.
Like his pain echoed inside me.
Like I felt it.
Below, Garrick snarled and slammed into Rhydan with brute force, sending him crashing into the far wall of the pit. Dust and stone rained down.
Gasps echoed among the crowd.
The wolves watching had stopped growling. Now they were just… watching.
Waiting.
Rhydan struggled up, his black fur slick with blood. His chest rose and fell heavily.
Garrick circled him, eyes glowing. "This is weakness, Rhydan. You're bound to a human girl. She's dulling your senses. Taming your rage."
Rhydan didn't answer with words.
He leapt.
This time, he didn't hold back.
He collided with Garrick mid-air. Claws raked. Teeth sank into flesh.
Blood sprayed across the stone.
Rhydan pinned him down — one massive paw on his throat, his jaws bared over Garrick's eye.
A single move. One bite.
He could end it.
Do it, I thought. Just do it.
But Rhydan paused.
He looked at me.
Straight at me.
And I knew — he wasn't going to kill him.
He couldn't.
Because killing his Beta meant losing the only wolf who had followed him into exile. The only wolf who stayed when Rhydan's first mate died.
The only one who had once been family.
And that meant I had just cost him everything.
Rhydan pulled back.
Garrick lay in the dust, coughing blood, but alive.
The silence in the arena was deafening.
He stood tall in his human form again — naked, bleeding, victorious. His chest heaved, his knuckles bloody.
"I am still your Alpha," Rhydan growled, his voice like thunder. "And she is still under my protection."
No one spoke.
No one dared.
Rhydan turned and walked away — and for the first time, no one followed him.
Except me.
I found him back in the stone chamber, half-dressed, pouring water into a basin, cleaning his wounds with practiced hands.
He didn't look at me.
"You shouldn't have watched that," he said without turning around.
"You bled for me."
"Not everything is about you."
"Don't lie."
His shoulders tensed.
I stepped closer. "You could've killed him."
"I should have."
"Then why didn't you?"
Silence.
Then, softly, "Because I've already lost too much to power plays. I won't lose my pack too."
I hated how tired he sounded. How human.
How much it hurt me to see him that way.
"You were holding back," I whispered.
He turned finally — blood still streaked across his torso, a long cut down his side. "Would you have preferred I killed him for you?"
"No," I said. "I just… I didn't want you to die."
Our eyes locked.
The air thickened between us again.
And then he said it. Soft. Terrifying. Honest.
"I felt you."
I swallowed. "What do you mean?"
"In the pit. Every time Garrick landed a blow… I felt something pull. Like something inside me twisted."
I knew exactly what he meant.
Because when he hit the ground, it had felt like my heart had shattered.
He stepped closer, his voice low. "There's a bond, Aeryn."
"No," I said quickly. "That's impossible. I'm not one of you."
"Your scent says otherwise. Your blood says otherwise. You can lie to me — hell, lie to yourself — but something inside you knows."
I backed away until I hit the wall.
He stopped just in front of me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off his skin.
"Do you feel it?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.
I didn't answer.
Because I did.
Of course I did.
And that was the worst part.
"I came here to destroy you," I said finally.
"I figured."
"I didn't plan for this."
He gave a soft, bitter laugh. "Neither did I."
Then, silence.
The kind that swells and swells until it suffocates you.
Finally, I whispered, "Who was she?"
He stiffened.
"Your first mate," I added. "What happened to her?"
His jaw clenched. "She died. They killed her."
"Who?"
"My own pack."
I blinked.
He looked away, voice colder now. "Not all of them. Just the ones who believed I'd grown too soft. That claiming a half-blood was a betrayal."
"A half-blood?"
"She was part-witch. Her mother dabbled in old magic. They said she poisoned me. That she made me forget what it meant to be a wolf. So they slaughtered her."
My heart twisted.
"And now," he said with a hollow laugh, "I've brought you here. Another outsider. Another scandal."
"Why?"
His eyes met mine again.
"I don't know," he said. "But I couldn't let you die."
That's when the pain hit me.
Not from the wound.
But from somewhere deeper.
Hot. Burning.
I clutched my chest and fell to my knees.
Rhydan was beside me in an instant. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I— I don't know," I gasped. "Something's—something's burning—inside me—"
My vision blurred.
My skin felt like it was on fire.
And then I heard something — a voice that wasn't mine.
"The child of two bloods shall awaken when the Alpha bleeds…"
"What did you say?" Rhydan whispered.
"I didn't— I didn't say anything—"
Then everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, the room was glowing.
Not with fire.
But with runes.
Symbols on the walls, the floor, even the air — all glowing silver.
And I was floating.
My body hung above the ground, weightless, heat pouring from my veins.
Rhydan stood beneath me, wide-eyed, lips parted.
"By the moon…" he whispered.
I tried to speak. Tried to breathe.
Then I heard the voice again — this time inside my head.
"The blood of wolf and witch. The girl born of betrayal. The one who shall burn the curse into the sky."
My skin exploded with light.
And then… darkness.