Ariana was still scrubbing blood from under her claws when the wind shifted — the copper scent mixing with damp earth and the faint, fresh bite of pine. Lucian prowled the treeline, every sense tuned to danger, but she could tell he was listening to her heartbeat more than anything.
He'd been doing that since the vault — since she'd broken Kael's mark and let something older coil inside her ribs. She could feel it too — a hum in her blood, a silvery echo that pulsed when she flexed her claws. Lyra was a prowling shadow in her mind, restless and eager.
She knelt by the small creek that snaked through the ruins, dipping her hands into the cold current. The water turned pink and red, swirling around her fingers like smoke.
"You keep washing, you'll scrub the skin off," Lucian called out. He leaned against a gnarled tree trunk, arms crossed, an infuriating smirk tugging at his lips. His hair was damp with sweat, sticking to his temples, his shirt torn wide enough that every scar was visible.
Ariana flicked water at him without looking up. "And you'll keep hovering like an anxious hen."
He chuckled, low and rough. "You're bleeding. I don't like it."
She glanced over her shoulder, brow arched. "Since when do you care if I bleed?"
His eyes darkened, the golden glow threading through the blue. "Since you decided you're mine."
Heat rose up her throat so fast she nearly splashed herself. "I did not—"
Lucian pushed off the tree in a single, easy movement and was at her side before she could blink. He crouched low, his big body blocking out the dawn light. His fingers brushed her jaw, tilting her face up so her reflection rippled in the creek.
"Look at you," he murmured, his voice so low it was almost a growl. "You think they don't see it? The pack. Kael. Every wolf in the realm will feel it now — that you're not just some scorned girl anymore."
She hated the way her skin shivered under his touch. Hated how her wolf leaned into it, craving more. She grabbed his wrist, not to push him away — to keep him there.
"They'll see a threat," she said. "They'll hunt me harder."
He grinned, teeth flashing. "Good. Let them choke on it."
A twig snapped in the distance. Ariana's head jerked up — Lyra surged in her mind, claws out, eyes bright. She was already shifting, half-fur, half-flesh, when a shape stepped from the shadows.
It was a woman — older than Ariana but not by much, with a shock of white hair braided tight to her scalp and a cloak that smelled of herbs and smoke. A rogue witch. Ariana's wolf bristled.
Lucian stood, claws flexing at his sides. "Sera. You should know better than to sneak up on us."
The witch grinned, unbothered by the tension bleeding off Ariana in waves. "Relax, princeling. If I wanted you dead, I'd feed you to the crows while you sleep."
Ariana didn't shift back fully, her voice a rumble through her half-changed throat. "Friend of yours?"
Sera tilted her head, sharp eyes raking Ariana up and down like she was reading every secret under her skin. "Depends who you ask. I owe Lucian a favor or three."
"And you're here for…?"
Sera tossed something at Lucian's feet — a scrap of fabric, torn and bloodstained, marked with Kael's family crest.
"Your brother is calling a hunt," she said. "He's promising the other Alphas a taste of the old crown's power if they bring her back alive."
Ariana let out a short, brittle laugh. "He wants me alive now?"
Sera's eyes glittered. "He wants what's inside you. You broke his bond but you didn't bury what he thinks he owns. You're the Thorn and the Crown now, girl."
Lucian's snarl rattled the trees. "He can come and try."
Sera ignored him, stepping closer to Ariana. She smelled like old magic — sharp, metallic, alive. "The packs will come, girl. They'll come with silver chains and sweet lies. You think you're strong enough?"
Ariana bared her teeth. "Try me."
---
They made camp deep in the shadow of the ruins that night — a small fire tucked into the hollow of a fallen stone tower. Ariana sat across from Lucian, her legs crossed, her hands bare and streaked with ash. The witch was gone, slipping back into whatever dark places rogues called home, but her warning lingered like smoke.
Lucian was sharpening his claws against a flat stone, the sound grating and familiar. Ariana watched him — the way his shoulders tensed whenever the wind shifted, the way his eyes flicked to her every few seconds as if to make sure she hadn't vanished like the rest of his old world.
"You're worried," she said.
"I'm annoyed," he shot back. "There's a difference."
She smirked. "Sure. You're annoyed that you can't hover over me while I sleep."
His gaze snapped up, sharp as a blade, but there was a flash of teeth — a hint of that wolfish grin she'd come to crave.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, the firelight dancing in her eyes. "Maybe."
For a heartbeat the tension crackled between them like a live wire — the air thick with smoke and unspoken things. Ariana felt her wolf lean forward inside her, pressing up against her ribs. She could taste him on the back of her tongue, that dangerous edge she never wanted to dull.
Then Lucian's smirk faded, replaced by something rawer. He tossed the sharpening stone aside and reached across the fire. His palm settled at her jaw, thumb brushing her bottom lip.
"You scare the shit out of me sometimes," he murmured. "Do you know that?"
Her heart thudded painfully. "Why?"
"Because I'd burn every pack in this realm to the ground if it meant keeping you free."
He didn't kiss her. He didn't have to. The truth in his eyes sank deep, anchoring her to this moment in a way no mark or crown ever could.
---
Hours later, Ariana lay awake in the shallow nest of furs they'd salvaged. Lucian was close, not touching but near enough that she could feel his warmth. Moonlight filtered through the broken roof, painting silver stripes across his bare chest. His scars looked softer in the pale glow — old wounds that had never healed properly, reminders of the family that exiled him.
She didn't mean to say it out loud. "What did Kael do to you, Lucian?"
His chest rose and fell once, then again, before he turned his head toward her. He didn't open his eyes. "He did what Kael does. He took."
"Took what?"
Lucian's mouth twitched — a ghost of a smile or a snarl, she couldn't tell. "My father's crown. My mother's grave. My place. My name."
She wanted to reach for him, to smooth the worry from his brow. Instead she curled her claws into her palm. "Then maybe we should take it back."
His eyes cracked open, gold and bright even in the dark. "You want to start a war, Thorn?"
She smiled, all teeth and wolf. "No. I want to finish one."
---
They broke camp before dawn. The old rogue paths stretched ahead, tangled with mist and secrets. Lucian kept one hand on the hilt of his blade, the other loose at his side — but every few minutes he'd glance back at her, like he half-expected her to vanish if he didn't anchor her to him with that burning look.
Ariana didn't mind. She felt different now — sharper at the edges, softer in places she'd thought were gone. Her wolf prowled at her back like a promise. The pack would come. Kael would come. And when they did, they wouldn't find the trembling mate they'd cast aside.
They'd find the Thorn. And this time, she'd bite back hard enough to break the whole realm.