novelraw The Distance Between Us:
The Distance Between Us:
[POV: Aria]
Becoming a Junior Warrior wasn’t just a title. It came with responsibility, structure, and a whole new rhythm of life—one that hit me fast and hard the moment I stepped into my new role.
Piper wasted no time.
She walked me through my new duties with the same steely focus she carried into battle—patrol shifts, combat training, pack border rotations, first aid drills, basic strategy assignments. It was more demanding than I’d expected, but I welcomed it.
Structure kept my mind busy, my body exhausted, and my thoughts—especially the ones about him—at bay.
Sort of.
I was introduced to the other Junior Warriors too. A mix of personalities—some friendly, others standoffish—but most were at least curious about me. The new girl. The rogue who’d somehow passed all three trials and emerged with a mark above her heart. A few didn’t even bother to hide their skepticism, but I was used to that.
Their opinions didn’t matter. Only my work did.
Piper handed me a key after my first full day and pointed to the second-floor hallway just off the main wing. “That’s yours now. It’s closer to the Senior Warriors. Earned space.”
I blinked. I hadn’t expected that.
The room was small but clean, with a window overlooking the training grounds. Sunlight poured across the fresh sheets, the walls unscarred, the furniture unbroken.
It was… nice. Too nice perhaps.
I stood in the center of it, unsure whether I wanted to cry or sleep. I did neither.
Instead, I kept working. I kept busy.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Hayden was everywhere and nowhere at once—present in the strength of the command structure, in every rule, every protocol… and in my mind. More than he should be.
And Yoka wasn’t helping.
“You should go see him,” she murmured constantly now. “Go for a run. Ask him to train with us. Or hunt. Just something.”
“Yoka, stop,” I muttered one evening, pacing my room.
“Why?” Her voice was almost smug. “You want to. I know you do.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” I snapped. “It’s just instinct. A leftover echo from the heat in the air or from the shift. You’re confused. That’s all.”
“No,” she said simply. “I’m not. You are. You feel it too, Aria. You know it’s him.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “He’s the Alpha. The leader of the Crimson Fang. We’re nothing alike.”
“We are his,” Yoka insisted. “He’s our mate. Sirius knows it too.”
“No,” I whispered, breath catching. “We can’t be. I won’t believe it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not enough!” I finally exploded. “Because he’s power and command and strength—and I’m barely holding myself together. He deserves someone who matches him. Someone who belongs by his side. Not… not me.”
Yoka went quiet. And for a moment, I hated her silence more than anything.
Because I knew what came next. The truth I didn’t want to face.
I did feel drawn to him. I couldn’t stop replaying every moment we’d shared—the night he’d calmed me during my panic, when I thought I’d shatter completely. The way he’d held me, grounded me, saved me. The way he’d looked at me that day during the mark ceremony, eyes locked on mine like I was something more than just another warrior in his pack.
And when I’d shifted for the first time—when he whispered to me through the haze, guiding me through every painful, terrifying second—I had felt safe.
No. Not just safe. Chosen.
Only one other person had ever made me feel that way.
Cole.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, my hands digging into the sheets.
Cole had once been my sun, the boy who made the dark days tolerable. He was the only one who ever looked at me with kindness when everyone else saw only Dayana’s shadow.
He used to bring me wildflowers. Tell me I was strong. Smile at me when I felt invisible. He had been my hope.
My heart had whispered that he was my mate since we were young.
And then he’d chosen her. Dayana.
Just like they all did.
Stronger. More beautiful. More worthy.
Better.
I wasn’t even angry at her anymore. I was just tired. Tired of being second. Tired of being unseen. Tired of convincing myself that if I tried just a little harder, I might finally be enough.
But I never was. Not for my parents. Not for Cole.
Not for anyone.
And now I feared I was staring down the same heartbreak again.
What if Yoka was right? What if Hayden was my true mate?
What if everything in me—everything that pulled toward him, that ached when he looked away—was real? What if I let myself believe it?
And what if he chose someone else?
My throat tightened, hot and thick with emotion. My hands curled into fists in my lap.
I wasn’t sure my heart could survive that again. I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.
Because the truth wasn’t that I didn’t want him.
I wanted to run with him again, to feel his presence beside me, to hear his voice murmuring steady through the storm inside me.
I wanted to be near him, even if it made no sense.
But I also wanted to survive.
And if he looked at me the way Cole once did—soft and kind, but never real—only to turn and give himself to someone else again… it would break me in ways I wasn’t sure I could repair.