The Snow Wolf's Mate

The Alpha’s Obsession:

[POV: Hayden]

The second trial was over. Five remained. Aria was one of them.

I stood alone in the training hall after everyone else had cleared out, the fading sun casting long shadows across the stone floor. My hands were behind my back, my eyes locked on the faint bloodstain near the edge of the maze exit.

One of the trainees had tripped a blade trap. Not bad enough to remove him from the trials, but enough to remind everyone—this wasn’t a game.

Still, it wasn’t the injury that had me thinking. It was her.

Aria had passed. Barely. First the race, where she came in second-to-last, then the maze, where she’d almost failed again. She scraped through by seconds. Seconds.

For someone who moved with the quiet grace of a soldier, who struck like she’d been trained by assassins, something wasn’t adding up.

She was hiding something. I knew it. And that wasn’t just instinct—it was Sirius. My wolf had been pacing inside me for days, restless, alert, focused entirely on her.

I ran a hand down my face and exhaled slowly.

Why hasn’t she used her strength? Is it because she can’t… or because she won’t?

The question burned through my mind, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop picturing Aria's face.

I hadn’t meant the threat at the pond. Not the way it came out. I’d warned her, teased her—“Prove yourself or be cast out”—but the way she reacted… it told me exactly how she’d heard it.

She believed me.

It sat heavy in my chest now. A weight I didn’t ask for. And the memory of her standing there, wide-eyed in the moonlight, the way her body froze.

I hadn't meant it that way, but she took it seriously.

I could still see her clearly. The dress she'd borrowed hugged every curve, outlining her figure in a way that drove me nearly insane. Her hair, loose and shimmering like moonlight itself, begged me to run my fingers through it.

And those eyes—blue, deep, irresistible—drawing me in until I couldn't think straight. Her lips parted slightly, soft and trembling, and the thought of tasting them…

“Enough,” I growled inwardly, trying to shut down the craving that pulsed beneath my skin.

This wasn’t right. These feelings, this hunger—they weren’t me. It had to be my approaching heat making me lose control, my body aching with need. Sirius wasn't helping either.

My wolf seemed obsessed, constantly pulling me toward her, desperate for her closeness.

“Sirius,” I muttered sharply, my fists clenched tight. “What the hell is happening to us?”

My wolf offered no answer, only a raw, heated pulse deep in my chest. Sirius was louder. Hungrier. On edge. And the only thing that soothed him lately was her. Aria.

Which meant one thing — I needed to get out of this space before I did something stupid.

I left the hall without a word, walking fast, barely nodding to the two guards who passed me on the way out. The air outside was cold, biting. Good. I wanted it to be.

I needed clarity.

I moved through the trees near the edge of the pack house, letting the shadows swallow me. The forest was quiet tonight. Too quiet. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

I slowed. Something shifted. There—a sound. Barely a whisper. A hitch in the silence. A breath dragged too sharply. A whimper, maybe. Or a gasp.

My head snapped toward the direction it came from.

Then Sirius surged. “Now. Go. Now!”

He didn’t wait for permission. He shoved himself forward inside my mind like a battering ram, tearing at the leash I’d been holding for days.

My pulse shot up. I didn’t hesitate.

I ran.

Deeper into the trees, feet silent against the ground, every instinct firing at once. The cold air stung my face. Branches clawed at my arms. But I didn’t stop and then I saw her.

Aria was on her knees in a small clearing, just off the ridge path. Her nightdress clung to her skin, soaked through with sweat.

Her hair was wild, tangled, sticking to her cheeks. Her skin was flushed, glowing faintly in the moonlight like she was lit from within.

But it was her eyes that stopped me. Wide. Wild. Terrified.

She didn’t see me at first. She was too far gone.

Her right hand was buried in the earth, digging like she was trying to claw her way down into it.

Her left was tearing at her neck, fingers raking at the skin there like she was trying to rip something off.