The snow wasn't supposed to be red.
Aria Vale stood frozen on the ridge overlooking the valley, the bitter wind lashing her face as the smoke rose thick and black from the ruins below. Her pack—the Mooncrest—was burning. Screams echoed up the mountain like dying prayers, and she could taste the iron tang of blood on the wind.
"No," she breathed, legs trembling as she staggered forward. "Not like this…"
She had been hunting when the attack came—just a few hours, that's all she'd been gone. But it was long enough for death to arrive.
And he had brought it.
Alpha Kael Thorne. Crimson Howl's beast.
A name whispered with dread even among warriors. A name her father had sworn would never cross their borders again.
But here he was.
Aria stumbled into the heart of the village, where snow turned slush beneath bodies. Wolves—some shifted, some still human—lay scattered like broken dolls. Her chest cracked open at the sight of her mother, collapsed beside the shattered altar stone. Her golden eyes—once full of warmth—were wide and unseeing.
Aria fell to her knees beside her, screaming a sound that was part human, part wolf. The pain ripped through her like claws to the heart.
"You shouldn't have come back."
The voice was low. Cold. Male.
She turned sharply, breath catching as she looked up.
He was a silhouette against the fire, tall and still. His black cloak fluttered in the smoke, and the moonlight caught the cruel line of his jaw. His eyes burned—a shade of silver too sharp, too knowing.
Kael Thorne.
His presence was overwhelming, radiating power and darkness like a second skin. And yet… beneath the blood and fire, her wolf stirred. Restless. Drawn.
Aria lunged at him with a snarl, grief blinding her.
She didn't make it far.
With inhuman speed, he caught her by the throat and slammed her back into the snow. She fought him, fists and claws and fury, but he didn't flinch.
"Enough," he growled, his voice like thunder.
Her heart was pounding. Her wolf roared. And then—something shifted.
Their eyes met. For one horrible, impossible second, everything stopped.
The world faded. The pain vanished. All that remained was him.
And something ancient.
Something eternal.
"No," Aria whispered, struggling to breathe. "No. No. It can't be…"
But it was.
The scent hit her then. His scent.
The pull.
The bond.
"Oh Moon Goddess," Kael muttered, releasing her as if burned. He stepped back, eyes wide with horror. "Not her."
Aria clutched her chest, choking on a sob as the truth settled like poison in her blood.
Fate had mated her to the monster who slaughtered her family.
And the bond had already begun to burn.