Chapter 9. When the Howl Breaks the Fire

The air that morning pressed down with a strange weight, not heavy with humidity but laced with something more ancient. Aria felt it the moment she stepped outside—the way the light refused to touch her skin, the way every sound from the forest came half a second too late, as if reality itself was stalling.

She hadn’t told anyone where she was going. Not Jules. Not Kade. Something had stirred inside her during the night, something both foreign and deeply familiar. A subtle tug at her chest—not the wolf, not the flame—but something else, layered beneath the other parts of her she was only beginning to discover.

The pull led her beyond the school grounds, into the deeper part of the woods where even seasoned pack members hesitated to venture. The trail narrowed. Trees leaned closer. The sunlight dimmed.

Then the path opened.

A clearing unlike any she’d seen before spread out before her. No stones, no markers, no obvious magic—but the space felt charged. At the