Chapter 125

**ARIA**

The morning sky was heavy with snow clouds, the air thick and cold, as if the world itself was holding its breath. I stood by the bedroom window wrapped in a thick coat, one hand resting absently on the gentle swell of my belly. My fingers drifted across the fabric in small circles, grounding me while my heart pounded in my chest.

Behind me, Adam was still putting on his tactical vest. I caught his reflection in the window, eyes shadowed with worry.

"You can still change your mind," he said softly.

I turned, meeting his gaze. “I won’t.”

Adam’s jaw clenched. “We don’t have to do this today.”

“But we do,” I said. “You know we do.”

He came to me and cupped my face in his hands. “If anything feels wrong—if anything feels off—you call for me. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

The plan had been fine-tuned over the last week: a staged intel drop, a rotating perimeter of loyal guards, and me—bait, apparently the best we had. Alaric was too smart to fall for anything that smelled like a trap, so it had to look real. The information I was carrying was fake but plausible, the kind that would appeal to someone like him—coded routes, security gaps, a false emergency supply transfer. Rosalie had cloaked the information with her magic to make it feel authentic. Now, all we needed was for Alaric to take the bait.

Austin joined us by the door, his expression unreadable. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

“Just keep your senses sharp,” I said. “And don’t be late.”

He kissed my forehead, then nodded to Adam. “Let’s move.”

***

I made my way toward the forest’s edge alone, a satchel over my shoulder. The route was familiar: the old trail behind the orchard, hidden from most of the community. The trees were bare now, skeletal in the morning light, and my boots crunched against a thin layer of frost. Every sound seemed louder today—every creak of wood, every distant birdcall.

A soft wind stirred the hairs on the back of my neck. I felt it before I saw anything—a tension in the air, like static before a storm. He was near.
I kept walking until I reached the spot—the clearing with the old stone bench and the hollow tree. I sat, taking slow breaths, pretending to check the satchel for the hundredth time. A series of hushed movements to my right made me turn my head slightly, keeping my expression neutral.

“I have to say,” came that familiar voice, smooth and laced with mockery, “you’re much braver than I gave you credit for.”

I didn’t move. “Or more foolish.”

Alaric emerged from between the trees, dressed in black from collar to boots, his face pale as snow. This was the first time I’d seen him up close. His hair was white-blond and slicked back from his high cheekbones. His eyes were nearly silver, but cold—cold in a way that made me feel like I was being dissected just by standing in front of him.

“You came alone,” he said, glancing around, as if already suspecting.

“Of course.”

He smiled. “You always were the most intriguing piece on the board.”

I kept my tone even. “You’re not interested in me. You want the information.”

He stepped closer. “I want many things.”

His presence made the air feel thinner, tighter. I adjusted the satchel slightly, tilting it as if to show him the contents. His gaze flicked toward it but quickly returned to me.

“You know,” he said, his voice almost conversational, “there was a time I thought about recruiting you. Before Adam’s bite. Before the children. You would’ve made an excellent vampire.”

My fingers curled against the strap. “Too bad fate had other plans.”

His smile thinned. “Indeed. You’ve corrupted your own bloodline now. Abominations born of confusion and desperation.”

My stomach turned. “They’re innocent.”

“They’re unnatural.”

Before I could respond, I felt it—the shift in the wind, the quiet ripple of movement in the trees. Our teams were closing in, the trap springing shut. But something felt wrong. Alaric’s expression hadn’t changed. He was calm. Too calm.

Then he tilted his head, almost as if listening to something beyond my hearing.

“I see,” he said softly, almost to himself.

“What?”

He looked at me then—not with malice, but with something closer to pity. “You think you’re ahead. But you’re not. You never were.”

And just like that, he turned.

The air pulsed with magic—Rosalie’s spell had triggered, the false intel meant to bind him in place. But he didn’t freeze.

He moved faster than I could track.

I lunged for the emergency rune tucked into my pocket, slamming it against the base of the tree. A flare of golden light shot into the sky, the signal.

Then a voice screamed through the bond—Adam’s voice. “Aria, hold on!”

I stumbled back, the wind knocked out of me as a figure tackled me to the ground—Austin. He’d moved faster than I’d ever seen, catching me just as Alaric vanished in a gust of wind and falling snow.

“He slipped through,” someone said behind me—Sasha, I thought. I could barely hear anything past the ringing in my ears.

Adam skidded into the clearing seconds later, eyes wide, jaw clenched. He helped Austin lift me to my feet, checking me for injuries before pulling me into a tight embrace.

“He knew,” I whispered. “He knew it was a trap.”

Adam nodded slowly. “But he came anyway.”

Why?

As we stood in the clearing, surrounded by shadows and smoke, Rosalie came running in from the far side, hair wind-whipped and eyes wild. “The spell—he broke through it like it was nothing.”

“What does that mean?” Austin asked, his voice sharp.

Rosalie turned to us, her expression pale. “It means... he’s more powerful than we thought.”

Adam looked around, as if searching for something invisible. “Or someone warned him.”

My heart sank.

It hadn’t just been a failed trap.

It had been a message.

And we had no idea what it said.