Chapter 336

• Aria’s POV
• The hall was alive with the scent of anticipation, coppery from blood and the faint tang of wolf fur. Torches lined the wide marble floor, their flames dancing in reflection off polished obsidian pillars. Elder warriors, their faces etched with age and wisdom, sat in rigid silence, eyes sharp as hawks. Around them, the younger warriors shifted with barely concealed excitement, a low hum of growls and whispers threading through the room like a living current.
• I walked through it all, my hands held gently but firmly by the Omega attendants, each step weighted with the echoes of the past three years. My gown, woven of midnight-blue silk and embroidered with silver threads that shimmered like stars, brushed against the polished floor. My wolf, Sia, trembled beneath my skin, restless and coiled like a spring. I kept her caged, just barely, forcing my breath steady as the crowd’s gaze pressed down on me.