Chapter Eleven
Silas
Aria is covered in blood.
Hunter blood.Her own.Pack blood I don’t recognize.
None of it matters except the way she stands—tall, breathing hard, eyes bright and alive in a way I haven’t ever seen.And her lips on mine.When she pulls away her chest heaves.Her hands keep curling into fists like she can’t quite believe the power in them.Smoke curls around her legs in lazy spirals.
She just fought off Hunters.
She just protected Peyton.
She just became everything her leopard needed to be.
My heart is too full to hold it all.
Mate.
My dire wolf is pacing so close to the surface I feel every brush of his fur.He’s vibrating with pride and something dangerously close to awe.
“Aria,” I whisper, stepping closer through the settling dust.
Her eyes, goddess, those eyes burn gold in the scattered light.She looks fierce.Beautiful but shaken.I stand right in front of her but don’t touch.Not yet.She needs space to choose.She needs the moment to settle inside her bones.
Her breath trembles.“Was ...was that, okay?”
“It was everything,” I choke out.“But you can’t do that again until we are alone.I only have so much self-control.”
She looks around, like she is only now realizing we are still surrounded by people.Behind us, the pack tends to wounds.Peyton is being helped to her feet by Caine, who mumbles something about “reckless stubborn idiots” while wiping blood off her cheek.
“We’re alive because of you,” I say softly, needing her to know that she made a difference.
Aria’s eyes widen.“I wasn’t thinking.I just moved.”
“That’s instinct,” I murmur.“That’s your leopard.”
She looks down at her shaking hands.“I killed people.”
“The right people,” I say.“The ones who would’ve killed Peyton.Or you.Or any of us.”
Her throat works with a hard swallow.“I thought I’d freeze again.”
“But you didn’t.”
