My fingers tighten around the phone 46

Aria’s POV
Leo’s SUV wound through the mountain roads, but I barely noticed the journey. My lips still tingled from Ethan’s bruising
kiss, his taste lingering on my tongue—pine needles and mountain air mixed with raw alpha power. The memory of his
hands on me, possessive and demanding, made heat pool in my belly despite my best efforts to forget.
“You’re sure everything’s alright?” Leo’s voice pulled me from my dangerous thoughts. In the dim car interior, concern
etched deep lines around his eyes. “You’ve been… different since you came back from the restroom.”
“Your lips…” Leo’s observation made my stomach clench. “They look…”
“Allergies,” I cut him off quickly, heat flooding my cheeks. “Something at the restaurant must have triggered it.” The lie
tasted bitter, especially to someone who had supported me through my darkest times. But how could I explain what had
happened in that corridor? How Ethan’s alpha presence had overwhelmed every sense until resistance seemed
impossible, how his touch had awakened something in me I thought long dead?
When Leo’s car pulled up to my apartment building, I practically fled, mumbling a hasty thanks. His concerned call of
“Aria!” followed me through the lobby, but I didn’t slow until I was safely behind my apartment door, heart pounding
against my ribs.
The silence of the empty apartment pressed in around me. Lucas was with Marcus tonight—both blessing and curse.
Blessing because I needed time to pull myself together, curse because being alone with my thoughts was dangerous
right now.
I kicked off my shoes and headed straight for the shower, as if hot water could somehow wash away the memory of
Ethan’s hands on my skin. But even under the steaming spray, the scene in the restaurant corridor played on repeat in my
mind.
The way his forest-green eyes had darkened with possession as he’d pinned me against the wall. How his powerful frame
had caged me in, alpha energy rolling off him in waves that made my knees weak. The raw hunger in his voice when he’d
growled against my neck, demanding I admit what was between us. Every detail was branded into my memory with
perfect clarity.
“Stop it,” I muttered, pressing my forehead against the cool tile. I was acting like a lovesick teenager instead of the single
mother and professional trainer I needed to be. But my traitorous body remembered how perfectly we’d fit together, how
natural it had felt to arch into his touch…
Emma’s POV
I stared at the ceiling of my luxurious penthouse, sleep eluding me despite the late hour and expensive sheets. Every time
I closed my eyes, I saw the same nightmare—Ethan discovering the truth about that night six years ago, watching my
carefully constructed future crumble to ash.
The crystal tumbler in my hand caught the moonlight as I lifted it to my lips, the aged whiskey burning a path down my
throat. My phone screen glowed with an incoming message from Bella: *Meet me at The Wolf’s Den. Now.*
The bar was nearly empty when I arrived, just a few scattered patrons nursing their drinks in dark corners. Bella sat in our
usual booth, her perfectly manicured nails tapping an impatient rhythm against her wine glass.
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“You saw them at the restaurant?” She didn’t bother with pleasantries as I slid into the seat across from her. “Ethan and
your former ‘best friend’?”
I gripped my fresh drink until my knuckles turned white. “The way he looked at her…” The memory made bile rise in my
throat. “And that brat of hers—those eyes…”
“Quite distinctive, aren’t they?” Bella’s smile held no warmth. “Those forest-green eyes makes one wonder…”
“We need to do something.” I drained my glass, signaling for another. “If anyone starts asking questions, if Ethan
realizes…”
“The training facility has been having trouble with wild wolf attacks lately.” Bella’s voice dropped to a dangerous purr.
“Such dangerous times we live in. Anything could happen, especially to a child whose mother has no wolf…”
The casual cruelty in her tone made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to nod. Better a quick tragedy than watching my
dreams dissolve when Ethan discovered the truth about that night. Still, as I lifted my fresh drink, my hand trembled
slightly.
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“The boy is the key,” Bella continued, her eyes gleaming with malice. “Remove him from the equation, and all our
problems disappear. After all, what mother would stay after losing her precious child?”
“But how?” I leaned closer, lowering my voice. “Aria barely lets him out of her sight.”
“Leave that to me.” Bella’s smile sharpened. “I’ve already arranged for someone to get close to them. A sympathetic she- wolf, eager to help the poor single mother adjust to pack life.”
“It has to look like an accident,” I insisted, though my voice wavered. “If anyone suspects—”
“Trust me.” Bella reached across the table, her grip on my wrist almost painful. “By the time I’m done, that little bastard
will be nothing but a tragic memory, and Aria will run back to whatever hole she crawled out of six years ago.”
“To new beginnings,” Bella raised her glass, moonlight catching on the deep red wine like blood.
“To new beginnings,” I echoed, trying to ignore how the words tasted like ash on my tongue.