Aria stood frozen in the witch's cabin, the old woman's words echoing in her mind.
"You already know the truth."
Her fingers trembled as she clenched her fists.
No.
She didn't want to remember.
She had spent years burying the pain, shoving it so deep inside her soul that she thought she could escape it. But the moment she stepped into this cabin, the moment she heard the prophecy aloud from Kael's grandmother, the walls she built inside her mind shattered.
And the memories came rushing in.
---
The Past: Aria's Suffering
She was six years old when she first realized she was different.
Her parents never looked at her the way they did her siblings. While the others received warm embraces, loving smiles, and words of encouragement, Aria received nothing but cold stares and silence.
She thought, for a time, that maybe if she tried hard enough, they would love her.
So she worked.
She trained harder than the other pups. She followed orders without complaint. She excelled in every lesson.
But it was never enough.
Her father never acknowledged her victories. Her mother never spoke of her strength. If she failed at something, even once, she was beaten for it.
And the beatings weren't the worst part.
The worst part was how normal it became.
How she stopped crying when they hit her. How she stopped expecting kindness. How she taught herself to smile even when her ribs ached from their blows.
Because if she didn't, they would punish her more.
By the time she was twelve, she understood.
They hated her.
Not because of anything she did.
But because of who she was.
Her mother told her once, in a rare moment of honesty.
"You were never meant to be born."
That was the first and last time her mother ever looked at her with true emotion.
Not love. Not regret.
Disgust.
At sixteen, when her wolf finally awakened, she thought—hoped—that things would change.
That maybe, just maybe, her parents would finally see her.
Instead, they gave her away.
---
The Rejection
Her mate—Caleb.
The one who was supposed to cherish her, protect her, love her.
He had looked her in the eyes that day, his golden gaze cold and unforgiving.
"I reject you, Aria."
Her world had shattered.
It wasn't just a rejection. It was public humiliation.
Her pack had laughed as he turned his back on her, making sure she understood that she was nothing more than a mistake.
Her parents didn't defend her.
They didn't even care.
Her father had sneered at her as if she were an embarrassment—as if she had failed at something she had never even asked for.
And her mother?
She had smiled.
Not a sad smile. Not a comforting one.
A satisfied one.
As if she had always wanted to see Aria break.
Aria had left that night.
She never looked back.
---
The Present: The Truth in the Flames
Tears burned in Aria's eyes as the memories crashed into her like waves.
She had wanted to believe that she was free of them.
That she had escaped the past.
But it had never let her go.
Her whole life had been a lie.
Her parents never saw her as their daughter.
Her mate never saw her as his equal.
The pack never saw her as one of them.
And now…
She wasn't just anyone.
She was part of a prophecy—a prophecy that said she would either love Kael or destroy him.
And she could feel it now, in her bones, in her soul.
She was meant for something greater.
All those years of pain.
All the suffering.
They had led her here.
Her destiny wasn't to be weak. It wasn't to be the girl everyone ignored.
She was more than that now.
Her mother had once told her that she was never meant to be born.
But maybe her mother was wrong.
Maybe she was born for this.
For Kael.
For the war that was coming.
For the power that was waking up inside her.
The witch studied her with unreadable eyes. "You understand now, don't you?"
Aria met her gaze.
She wasn't afraid anymore.
She did understand.
She wasn't running from her past.
She was embracing her destiny.
And nothing—not her parents, not her former pack, not even Caleb—was going to stop her.