The Snow Wolf's Mate

Even Prophecy Can’t Touch Her:

[POV: Hayden]

I didn’t sleep. Not after Dayana left my war room.

Her words followed me like ghosts—soft, honeyed things that clung to the walls of my mind, dripping with concern laced in poison.

“She’s unpredictable… She has emotional swings… Her magic is… unstable. There’s a prophecy, Hayden… She might be the one destined to bring ruin…”

I hadn’t believed her.

Not truly. But doubt has a way of growing in silence. And silence was all I had that night.

I stood in my office long after she was gone, staring down at the maps she’d interrupted, fingers twitching with the urge to rip her words apart. Not just for what she said—but for the way they nestled so easily into my fears.

Because the truth was, she hadn’t told me anything new.

Just dressed it in prettier words.

I’d seen Aria’s shadows flare out of control. Felt her panic beneath my hands. Watched her tremble in the grip of nightmares, her wolf retreating into silence. I’d seen her fury, her power, and the darkness she sometimes didn’t even try to hide.

But I’d also seen her rise.

I’d watched her stand in front of a pack that didn’t trust her and earn their respect anyway.

I’d seen her bleed to protect others. Seen her lose and still get back up. I’d held her in my arms and felt the truth of her against my chest.

She was mine. And yet…

I couldn’t ignore what Dayana said entirely—not because I believed her, but because others might.

If a whisper of that prophecy got out…

Would the pack begin to look at Aria differently? Would they turn? Would they fear her? And what if one day, they didn’t just fear her—but wanted to remove her?

The thought made something wild rise in me.

A warning. A threat.

Sirius stirred, snarling low in my mind. “She is ours. You know it. You chose her. I chose her. Why are you still standing here like a coward?”

I didn’t answer. I just left.

The night wrapped around me as I moved silently through the trees, following the pull that had haunted my every step since I first caught her scent.

She didn’t know I was watching. She couldn’t. But I needed to see her.

Not as a mate. Not as a man aching to touch her. I needed to see her through the eyes of an Alpha of the Crimson Fang.

I found her in the training clearing, alone. Sparring with one of the wooden practice dummies. Her movements were sharp, powerful—each strike echoing through the air with precision. She ducked, spun, launched herself into a kick that would’ve floored any real opponent.

Her breathing was steady. Focused.

The moonlight caught in her silver-blonde hair, her sweat-slicked skin glowing as she moved, and Goddess help me—I’d never seen anything more infuriatingly beautiful.

She was no longer the broken girl I’d found at my borders. She was becoming a leader.

My wolf rumbled in satisfaction. “Look at her. She is strength. Strength that used to build, not to ruin.”

And she truly was. Even in her silence, her sorrow, her fire. Everything she’d survived, she’d turned into armor. And the idea that anyone—any council member, any pack elder, any whispering fool—might try to brand her as a threat?

To call my mate a danger? No.

I wouldn’t allow it. Even if the prophecy were real. Even if fate itself tried to pull her from me. It would have to go through me first.