You look like you've seen a ghost."
Aria spun around from her window. Kade stood in her doorway, arms crossed, that familiar wicked grin on his face. His dark hair was messy, his clothes torn at the knees.
"How did you get in here?" she asked. "Climbed through your window about five minutes ago." He shrugged. "You were too busy staring at the trees to notice." Her heart hammered. "Someone's watching me.
I saw" "Yeah, me." Kade pushed off the doorframe. "Been keeping an eye on you since Kieran left. My brother's got a silver tongue, but his plans usually end with someone getting hurt." "He's trying to help" "He's trying to use you." Kade's eyes flashed. "Same as everyone else in this pack. Except me."
"What do you want?" "To get you out of here before you suffocate." He jerked his thumb toward the window. "When's the last time you actually had fun, Aria?" She blinked.
"Fun?" "You know, laughing? Smiling? Acting like an eighteen-year-old instead of a prisoner?" His grin widened.
"Come on. Let's go cause some trouble." "I can't. It's not safe" "Nothing's safe." Kade moved closer, his presence filling the room with wild energy.
"That's what makes it interesting." Before she could argue, he grabbed her hand. Lightning shot up her arm, different from Kael's protective fire or Kieran's calculating ice. This was pure electricity, wild and uncontrolled. "Whoa." Kade's eyes went wide.
"That's new." The link between them snapped into place like a rubber band.
Aria felt his reckless joy, his desperate need for freedom, his total lack of fear about anything.
"You feel it too," she whispered.
"Hell yes." He squeezed her fingers. "But unlike my boys, I'm not going to spend hours analyzing it. Come on." He tugged her toward the window.
"Kade, no" "Trust me." His eyes met hers, serious for the first time. "Just once, trust the crazy brother." Something in his voice made her stop fighting. Maybe it was the link. Maybe it was the fact that she'd been stuck in fear for days. Or maybe she just needed to feel alive again.
"Okay," she said. Kade's smile could have lit up the whole forest. "Now we're talking." He helped her climb through the window, his hands steady and sure. They dropped to the ground outside, and instantly Aria felt better.
The night air was cool on her skin, full of forest scents and potential.
"Where are we going?" she asked. "Somewhere they'll never think to look for you."
Kade started walking toward the tree line. "The forbidden zone." Aria stopped dead. "We can't go there. It's off-limits for a reason."
"Yeah, because Father's paranoid about old legends." Kade looked back at her. "But legends are just stories, right? And I've been sneaking out there for years."
"Kade" "Do you want to spend the rest of your life being afraid?" His voice turned aggressive.
"Or do you want to see what you're really capable of?" The question hit her like a slap. She'd been afraid for so long, she'd forgotten what it felt like to be brave. "Fine," she said. "But if we die, I'm blaming you." "Deal." He held out his hand.
"But we're not going to die. We're going to live." They ran into the forest together, hand in hand. The bond between them made Aria faster, stronger.
Her wolf surged forward, eager for the chase. Kade led her deeper than she'd ever gone, past the marked trees that warned pack members away. The forest grew wilder here, older.
Ancient oaks stretched toward the stars, their branches forming a canopy so thick it blocked out the moon.
"This is crazy," Aria panted as they jumped over a fallen log.
"The best kind of crazy." Kade's laughter echoed through the trees. "Keep up, slowpoke." He released her hand and shifted mid-run. His wolf was huge, black with silver stripes, built for speed and power. He looked back at her with bright eyes that seemed to say your turn.
Aria had always struggled with changing. Her wolf was smaller than most, weaker. But with the bond singing in her blood, everything felt different. She closed her eyes and let the change take her.
The change came easier than ever before. Her wolf was still small, still silver-gray, but now she moved with confidence. Power flowed through her muscles as she ran after Kade through the forbidden forest.
They ran for what felt like hours, chasing each other through streams and over rocks. Kade showed her hidden caves and secret paths. He taught her how to climb the old trees, how to move silent as a shadow. For the first time in years, Aria laughed. Really laughed, until her sides hurt and tears ran down her face.
Finally, they fell in a clearing beside a crystal-clear pond. Both had changed back to human form, breathing hard but grinning.
"When did you last laugh like that?" Kade asked, lying on his back and looking at the stars.
"I don't remember." Aria sat beside him, pulling her knees to her chest. "Maybe never." "That's what I thought."
His voice turned sad. "This pack has a way of crushing the joy out of people." "Is that why you break all the rules?" "I break the rules because someone has to."
Kade sat up, his face serious. "Father wants us all to be perfect little fighters. Kieran plays the game, pretends to follow directions while planning his own moves.
Kael tries to be the good kid while fighting his own nature." "And you?"
"I refuse to pretend." He looked at her with those wild golden eyes.
"I'd rather be honest about being a mess than fake being perfect." Something in his voice made her study his face more carefully. In the starlight, she could see faint scars along his jaw, disappearing under his shirt collar.
"Kade," she said softly. "What happened to your face?" His face went blank.
"Nothing." "Those are scars. Recent ones." She reached toward him, but he caught her wrist.
"Don't." "The curse," she whispered.
"Kieran mentioned something about transformations during the full moon."
Kade's grip on her wrist tightened.
"He shouldn't have told you that." "Show me."
"No." "Kade." She used the same tone he'd used with her earlier. "Trust me." He stared at her for a long moment. Then, slowly, he released her hand and pulled his shirt over his head. Aria gasped.
His chest and back were covered in scars. Some old, some fresh. Claw marks that looked like they'd been made by something huge and vicious. Bite marks from fangs larger than any regular wolf possessed.
"The curse makes us change," he said softly. "But not into our normal dogs. Into something else. Something hungry and angry and wrong." "How often?"
"Every full moon. Sometimes more when we're stressed or angry." He touched a particularly nasty scar across his chest.
"We can't control it. We can't remember what happens. We just wake up covered in blood and hope we didn't hurt anyone." Aria's heart broke for him.
"That's why you stay away from people." "That's why I break the rules. If I'm going to be a monster anyway, I might as well enjoy the time when I'm not." She reached out, her fingers tracing one of the scars. Kade shivered at her touch.
"You're not a monster," she said. "You don't know what I become." "I know what you are right now." She met his eyes. "You're brave and funny and free. You made me laugh when I thought I'd forgotten how."
"Aria" "The curse isn't your fault." "Isn't it?" His voice turned bitter.
"Maybe we deserve it. Maybe this is payback for something our family did." "No." She moved closer, her hand flat against his chest.
"You don't deserve to suffer." The link between them pulsed, sending warmth through both their bodies. For a moment, Kade's scars seemed to fade, his pain easing.
Then a howl split the night air. Long, angry, looking. Kade jerked away from her touch, his body going tense.
"We need to go. Now." "What was that?" "Father."
Kade pulled his shirt back on, moving fast. "He knows we're gone." Another howl answered the first. Closer this time.
"The pack guards," Aria breathed. "They're tracking us."
Kade grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. "We have to get back before" A third howl cut through the air. Different from the others. Higher, more desperate.
"That's not a guard," Aria whispered. Kade's face went white.
"No. It can't be." "What?" "That's Kieran." His voice shook. "And he's not howling because he's looking for us."
"Then why?" Kade's golden eyes met hers, filled with terror she'd never seen before. "Because the curse just started. Three days before the full moon."
The forest around them suddenly felt alive with danger. Branches creaked. Shadows moved. And somewhere in the darkness, something was hunting.
"Run," Kade whispered. "Run now."