Chapter 6 THE SAFE HOUSE

[ARIA'S POV]

Elena led me deeper into the forest, away from the stream and into territory I'd never seen before.

"Stay close," she whispered. "And step where I step. There are traps around here."

"Traps?" My exhausted brain struggled to process that. "Who sets traps in the middle of the forest?"

"Rogues. Hunters. Paranoid pack wolves." She hopped over a pile of leaves that looked identical to every other pile. "This is the Forbidden Forest for a reason. Most wolves who come in here don't come back out."

Great. That was comforting.

But I followed her anyway, mimicking her steps as best I could. My feet screamed with every step. My whole body felt like one giant bruise.

We need real rest, my wolf said. Soon. Or we'll collapse.

I knew. I could feel my energy draining with each passing minute. The transformation had taken everything out of me, and I hadn't exactly recovered before running for my life.

"How much farther?" I asked, hating how weak my voice sounded.

"Not far. Maybe another ten minutes."

Ten minutes. I could manage ten minutes. I had to.

We walked in silence, Elena occasionally stopping to sniff the air or listen for sounds I couldn't hear yet. She moved with the practiced ease of someone who'd spent years surviving in hostile territory. Every step was deliberate. Every movement is efficient.

I tried to copy her grace and failed miserably. I stumbled over roots, nearly walked face-first into a low branch, and made enough noise to wake every creature within a mile.

Elena glanced back at me, sympathy flickering across her face. "You'll get better. Wolf senses take time to adjust to."

"How long?"

"Depends. Most wolves have years to learn. You're doing a crash course in survival." She ducked under a fallen log. "But you're alive. That's what matters."

Fair point.

"How long have you been out here?" I asked quietly, needing the distraction from my aching body.

"Two years. Since I was fifteen." She didn't look back, but her shoulders tensed. "Got banished from the Clearwater Pack for refusing an arranged mating. Alpha said I was too defiant. Too stubborn."

My chest tightened. "That's not a reason to banish someone."

Elena laughed, but there was no humor in it. "It is when the Alpha's son is the one you refused. Apparently, rejecting the future Alpha's claim is a crime worthy of exile."

Another wolf was cast out for refusing to be controlled. Another life destroyed by pack politics and male ego.

"I'm sorry," I said softly.

"Don't be." She glanced back, her blue eyes hard as ice. "Best thing that ever happened to me. I'd rather be free and hungry than caged and comfortable. Out here, I answer to no one. Do what I want. Go where I please."

I understood that more than she knew. Even after just a few hours, I understood it completely.

We pushed through a thick wall of thorny bushes. Elena showed me a hidden gap I never would have found alone, and we emerged into a small clearing.

A crude shelter stood in the center. More of a lean-to than a real structure, built from branches and bark and scavenged materials. But it had walls and a roof, which was more than I'd had last night.

"Welcome to my palace," Elena said with a slight smile. "It's not much, but it keeps the rain off and the wolves out."

I was too tired to care about aesthetics. "It's perfect."

Inside, the shelter was surprisingly organized. A pile of furs in one corner for sleeping. A small fire pit ringed with stones. Dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. A collection of scavenged items-a dented pot, a hunting knife, various tools, even a few battered books.

Elena had built herself a life out here. Alone. At fifteen.

"Sit," she ordered, pointing to the furs. "You look like you're about to fall over."

I didn't argue. I collapsed onto the furs and nearly cried at how good it felt to be off my feet. Every muscle in my body went limp with relief.

Elena knelt by the fire pit and started building a small fire with practiced efficiency. She arranged kindling, struck flint to steel, and within minutes flames crackled to life, filling the shelter with warmth and dancing light.

"Give me your feet," she said without looking up.

"What?"

"Your feet. They're bleeding all over my furs." She pulled out a small tin from a wooden box and opened it, revealing some kind of green paste that smelled like mint and something earthy. "Healing salve. It'll hurt, but it'll keep them from getting infected."

I hesitated, then slowly extended my legs. My feet were a disaster-cuts, blisters, dried blood, swollen skin. I'd been so focused on running, on surviving, that I hadn't noticed how bad it was.

Elena took one look and winced. "You walked through the Forbidden Forest in house slippers?"

"They're what I was wearing when I..." I trailed off. When I got rejected. When my entire life imploded. When I lost everything and gained everything in the same breath.

"Right." Her voice softened considerably. "Well, you're tougher than you look. Most pampered pack wolves would've given up hours ago."

She began cleaning my feet with surprisingly gentle hands. The water stung like fire. The salve burned even worse. I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, determined not to cry out.

"I know," Elena murmured, not looking up from her work. "Almost done. Just breathe through it."

When she finished, she wrapped both feet in clean strips of cloth torn from what looked like an old shirt. "That should hold until your wolf healing kicks in properly. Being a Moon Wolf, you'll probably heal faster than most. Should be good as new by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you." The words felt inadequate. This stranger was showing me more kindness than my own pack ever had in nineteen years.

Elena shrugged and moved to the fire, pulling out a cloth-wrapped bundle. "You hungry? I have some rabbit from yesterday. It's not fresh, but it's food. Better than nothing."

My stomach growled loudly in answer.

She laughed, and this time it sounded genuine. "I'll take that as a yes."

While Elena prepared the food, I let myself relax for the first time since the rejection. The shelter was warm. Safe. Hidden from the world that wanted to use me or destroy me.

For this moment, I wasn't being hunted. Wasn't running. Wasn't in constant pain.

For this moment, I could just be.

"Can I ask you something?" Elena's voice broke the comfortable silence.

"Sure."

"What was it like? The transformation?" She stared into the fire, orange light dancing across her face. "I've been a wolf since I was thirteen. Normal shift. Expected. I can't imagine what it must have been like to go nineteen years without one and then suddenly... that."

"It hurt," I said honestly. "Like dying and being reborn at the same time. Like every piece of me was being torn apart and put back together wrong. Or maybe right for the first time."

I paused, trying to find words for something that defied language.

"But underneath the pain was something else. Power. This overwhelming feeling of finally being complete. Like I'd been half a person my whole life and didn't even know it. Like I'd been walking around with a missing piece and suddenly it clicked into place."

Elena nodded slowly, still staring at the flames. "And the Alpha King. He really rejected you? Even knowing you were his fated mate? Feeling the bond?"

The question made my chest ache. The ghost of the severed bond throbbed like a healing wound.

"He didn't know what I was when he rejected me," I said quietly. "He just saw a wolfless servant. Someone worthless. Someone who would embarrass him in front of the other Alphas."

"That's not an excuse."

"I know." I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. "He felt the mate bond. I saw it in his eyes. Saw the recognition. The shock. Maybe even desire for just a second. But then he chose politics over destiny. Choose what his council wanted over what the Moon Goddess intended."

"Do you still feel it? The bond?"

I thought about that. Really thought about it. The bond was severed-I'd accepted his rejection, broken it myself with those formal words. But there was still something there. A ghost. A shadow. An ache that wouldn't quite fade, no matter how much I wanted it to.

"Yes," I admitted. "Not like before. Not that overwhelming pull. But I can still feel where it broke. Like a scar that hasn't quite healed. Like a phantom limb that's not there anymore but still hurts."

"That's rough." Elena handed me a wooden bowl filled with shredded rabbit meat mixed with some kind of root vegetable. "But maybe it's better this way. Now you're free to choose your own path. Your own destiny. No one telling you what to do or who to be."

I took the bowl gratefully, the warmth seeping into my cold hands. "That's what everyone keeps saying. Freedom. Choice. But I don't know what my path is supposed to be. Yesterday, my biggest concern was scrubbing floors without getting hit. Now I'm some legendary wolf everyone wants to capture or kill or control."

"So make it up as you go." Elena settled across from me with her own bowl, cross-legged and relaxed. "That's what rogues do. We survive. We adapt. We become whoever we need to be. There's power in that. Real power. Not the kind of packs that give you. The kind you take for yourself."

I ate slowly, savoring each bite. The meat was tough and gamey, the vegetables slightly bitter, but it was the best thing I'd ever tasted. Or maybe I was just that hungry.

As I ate, exhaustion pulled at me like a physical weight. My eyelids grew heavy. The warmth of the fire, the full stomach, the safety of the shelter, Elena's quiet presence-it all combined to drag me toward sleep I desperately needed.

"Rest," Elena said softly when she saw me struggling to stay awake. "I'll keep watch. You're safe here. I promise."

"But the hunters-"

"Won't find this place. I've hidden here for two years. Dozens of wolves have passed within feet of here and never found it. There's old magic in these woods. It hides what wants to be hidden." She moved to the entrance, positioning herself between me and the outside world. "Sleep, Moon Wolf. You've earned it. We'll figure out the next step when you wake up."

I wanted to protest. Wanted to stay alert. Wanted to be useful instead of a burden.

But my body had other ideas.

I lay down on the furs, and the moment my head touched the soft material, sleep claimed me like a lover's embrace.

For the first time in my life, I didn't dream of the packhouse. Didn't dream of scrubbing floors or cruel voices or being invisible.

I dreamed of running through silver moonlight. Of power flowing through my veins like starlight. Of forests that stretched forever and freedom so vast and wild it took my breath away.

I dreamed of becoming someone new.

Someone powerful.

Someone who would never bow her head again.