Chapter 3
Ariana couldn't breathe. The word echoed through her mind before she could understand it, settling deep in her chest in a way that felt too heavy to ignore. Mate. She didn't know what it meant, but something about it felt final, like a door had just closed behind her without asking if she was ready.
The man in the doorway looked nothing like the hunters surrounding her. He was taller, broader, his presence filling the room with a quiet pressure that made everything else feel smaller. Rain clung to his dark hair, tracing down the sharp lines of his face, but it was his eyes that held her. Gold, steady, locked onto her as if nothing else in the room mattered. For a second, everything else faded. The blood. The fear. The knife at her throat. It all blurred under the weight of that gaze.
The hunter holding her laughed, and the moment shattered. "Well," he said, pressing the blade closer to her skin, "this just got interesting." The cold metal touched her throat, and Ariana flinched, her breath catching painfully. The man in the doorway moved at once. "Don't." The word was quiet, but it carried enough weight to shift the air. Even the hunters felt it. The one holding her smirked. "Careful, Alpha. One more step and I'll spill her blood."
The realization hit her immediately. Alpha. He wasn't human. He wasn't one of them either. He was something stronger, something dangerous in a different way. But he didn't look away from her. His jaw tightened slightly as he spoke. "What do you want?" The hunter shrugged lazily. "You already know." Another stepped forward. "The girl. The Fifth Blood." Ariana's stomach twisted as the faint silver light beneath her skin pulsed again, brighter now, impossible to hide.
"You've been looking for her, haven't you?" the hunter continued. "The council must be desperate." "I'm not here for the council," the Alpha said.
"Then why are you here?" The silence that followed stretched tight, heavy enough to make Ariana's chest ache. She saw his gaze drop briefly to her wrist, to the light beneath her skin, before returning to her face. Something changed in his expression. Not just tension. Something deeper. Conflict.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ariana said, her voice unsteady, her body trembling as everything closed in around her. The hunter smiled. "You will." Then he leaned closer, his voice dropping. "We weren't planning to kill her tonight. The council wants to study the Fifth Blood first." The words made her stomach turn. "But now that you're here…" His smile widened slightly. "This situation becomes useful."
"You're not leaving here alive," the Alpha said. The hunter laughed softly. "I know." Then his expression darkened as he looked at Ariana. "But she isn't either." Everything broke at once. The blade shifted against her throat, cold and final. Ariana tried to move, nothing happened. Her body locked, breath catching as panic hit, sharp and suffocating. She couldn't move.
The Alpha moved. One second he stood at the door, the next a massive black wolf tore across the room, slamming into the hunter, the impact driving him into the wall as the knife spun from his grip and clattered across the floor..
The room exploded into violence. The other hunters lunged forward, bodies shifting, claws tearing through skin, teeth bared as they attacked. Ariana stumbled back, her breath uneven as she watched the wolf move through them. It wasn't wild. It wasn't reckless. It was controlled, precise, every movement deliberate and lethal. One hunter crashed through the table. Another tried to strike from behind, but the wolf turned instantly, jaws snapping shut with a sound that made her flinch.
The last hunter staggered toward the door, fear flashing across his face. "You have no idea what you've done!" he shouted. The wolf stepped forward slowly, eyes burning with quiet fury. "You think the council will let the Fifth Blood live?" The growl that followed was low and final. The hunter gave Ariana one last look and smiled. "You just started a war." Then he ran.
The wolf moved to follow, but stopped. Ariana's legs gave out as the silver light beneath her skin flared again, stronger this time. Pain tore through her body, sharp enough to steal her breath as she collapsed to the floor. The wolf turned immediately, shifting mid-step, bones cracking as it returned to human form. Within seconds, he was in front of her again, breathing steady but tense.
Ariana looked up at him, fear tightening in her chest. "You're going to kill me too." He crouched in front of her, rain dripping from his hair as his eyes searched her face, as if he was trying to understand something he didn't want to accept. For a moment, he said nothing. Then, quietly, "No." She blinked in confusion, but his expression hardened again. "But I should."
"Why?" she whispered. His gaze dropped briefly to the light beneath her skin, then lifted again. "Because the moment I saw you, my wolf claimed you." Ariana froze. He stood slowly, his voice turning colder. "You are the Fifth Blood. That means every supernatural ruler will want you dead." Her throat tightened. "Then why did you save me?"
He hesitated. Just for a second. "Because whether I want it or not," he said, his voice quieter now, "you belong to me." Her heart stuttered at the words. Before she could respond, a howl tore through the forest. Another followed. Then more. His expression shifted instantly.
He turned toward the trees, and Ariana followed his gaze as lights moved through the forest, dozens of them, closing in fast. "The council already knows," he said. Ariana's voice dropped. "Knows what?" His eyes returned to her, steady and unyielding.
"That the Fifth Blood is alive."
And outside, the forest filled with movement. This time, they weren't ready.