Chapter 153

Aria

I hurried away from the waterfall, hoping that my posture didn’t exude all of the fear and anxiety I felt. The warriors converged on me as I approached, and quickly ushered me back to safety. Darren was waiting for me out of sight, his hands finding mine the moment we saw each other.

Neither of us spoke until we were safely back in the packhouse, the border secured once more and the chief and his posse confirmed to be out of the territory.

Only then did Darren turn to me. “What happened?” he asked. “Tell me everything.”

I dropped my jacket on the chair, took a deep breath, and began to recount every detail of my meeting with the chief. His jaw clenched harder with each word, especially when I got to the part about declaring him the potential Alpha King and myself his Luna Queen.

“You seriously said that?” Darren asked, his eyes widening. “Why would you say something like that?”

I winced. “I don’t know; it just sort of came out. I guess I was trying to intimidate him.”

“But Aria, you can’t just go around making statements like that. Do you understand how complicated that could make things?”

My back went ramrod straight immediately at the cold, angry authority in Darren’s voice. I couldn’t recall the last time he had been so frustrated with me. Not in a very long time. Maybe not ever.

“I… I thought I was handling the situation properly,” I replied. “And I was scared.”

Darren pursed his lips. “But there isn’t even talk of an Alpha King election right now. You basically just told the enemy that we’re united when we’re not. This might make them attack with even more force. Or they’ll just find out you lied and use it against us.”

“But he was threatening to wipe out our entire pack,” I retorted, throwing my hands up in the air. “What did you want me to do? Sit there and take it? I panicked, Darren.”

“I wanted you to be smart, just like I know you can be,” Darren shot back. He strode over to the cart at the side of the room, where various crystal liquor bottles sat. He uncorked one with a clink and poured the dark brown liquid into a short glass. “Not make reckless, false statements.”

I stared at him, incredulous. “I only did what I thought was best.”

Darren glanced up at me for a brief moment before he shook his head and knocked back his drink.

“I’m sorry,” I finally said, my voice smaller than I would have liked.

Just then, Darren opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the door burst open. Wendy waltzed in first with Liam and Bella right behind her, effectively cutting our argument short.

“Oh good, you’re both here,” Wendy said, completely oblivious to the charged atmosphere. “We need to talk about our next steps. What happened out there?”

Before I could say anything, Darren cut in. “The fucker basically declared war on us if we don’t hand Alfira over,” he replied, conveniently leaving out my blunder and our argument. “We need to unite the packs quickly before it’s too late.”

Wendy frowned, glancing at me. “Unite them? What happened, Aria?”

“I—”

“We need to call a summit,” Darren cut me off, setting down his now-empty drink glass. “Wendy, can you please send out invitations to all the packs? Tell them it’s urgent. We’ll hold the summit in three days’ time.”

Wendy looked at me one last time, a question in her eyes. I just offered her a thin smile and nodded. “A summit sounds good,” I murmured. I hoped people would actually show up.

Within an hour, Wendy had already gotten a head start on the preparations. The invitations were quickly written and sent out, and I personally coordinated meals, overnight accommodations, and other matters.

As the day went on, Darren and I didn’t talk about what happened. Although that was partially because he had to launch into his own duties as well, briefing the warriors on the situation and taking preventative security measures.

Around mid-afternoon, work had begun on reinforcing the walls surrounding the village, with every able-bodied person—werewolf and human alike—working hard to help. Some strong humans even volunteered to fight if the need arose, and Alfira contacted her pack to send a troop of warriors to come and aid us.

But not everything was doom and gloom.

By that evening, Dr. Edward had created enough doses of the tincture for everyone and had distributed it throughout the pack. The transformation was almost magical. Dogs that would have previously growled or bristled now wagged their tails, approaching werewolves with nothing but excitement.

Taking a break from my work, I watched from the edge of the village square as the sun went down, a smile spreading across my face. Children laughed, puppies romped around their feet, and for the first time in a long time, pure joy seemed to radiate through our community, even if there was a threat of war on the horizon.

But then I glanced over, and there was Darren.

He was standing nearby, close enough to be present but far enough to maintain our unspoken truce. He wasn’t looking at me.

We still hadn’t discussed our earlier argument, but the tension remained. It was our first argument since becoming an official couple, and it felt strange and a little frightening. I knew Darren wasn’t angry with me per se, but he was frustrated.

Truthfully, I was frustrated with myself too. During the meeting, I had panicked in the face of the police chief’s threats, and I had tried to threaten him back.

In doing so, I had only made things worse. And now we’d have to clean up the mess. Or rather, Darren would have to clean it up, and it was all my fault. I wondered how to make it up to him.

Just then, Darren caught me looking at him. I felt my pulse race as he turned toward me and strode over, his face carefully neutral and a single strand of his raven hair coming loose from its knot..

“You look exhausted,” he said, stopping a few paces away. His voice wasn’t unkind—just a bit tense and tired. “Maybe we should call it a night.”

I gestured to the village, where people were still bustling around, preparing for the worst-case scenario on top of all the summit preparations. “But I’m needed—”

“We need to talk,” he cut me off, his eyes dropping to the ground between us. “In private.”

My stomach dropped. So, that was what this was about. Nodding, I followed him back toward the pack house in silence. My mind was already racing with potential solutions to offer, although every time I thought I had come up with something, I fell short.

For the first time in a while, I felt a bit at a loss. Maybe I’d just have to suffer the consequences of my actions. I just hoped my people wouldn’t have to suffer the same consequences.

Darren opened the pack house door for me, offering me a small smile as I passed. Inside, the air smelled like fresh bread and meat, and my mouth watered instantly. I quickly realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and my appetite was ravenous.

We were just rounding the corner to the dining hall when we saw them.

All of our friends and family—Bella, Liam, Lily, Melissa, Brandon, Darren’s father, Wendy, and even Lucas—were standing around a long table at the center of the room, grinning. The table was laden with food from end to end, with a small but delicious-looking cake in the center.

Darren and I stopped in the doorway, confused.

“What’s this about?” Darren asked.

Wendy beamed. “You two didn’t think you could get engaged without a celebration, did you?”