The Necklace
I was late. Again.
“ARIA!”
I nearly fell down the stairs. “I’M COMING!”
“You said that five minutes ago!”
“I know!”
I grabbed my schoolbag and ran into the kitchen, still trying to fix my hair with one hand. Aunt May was standing by the table with her arms crossed. She looked at me, then at the clock, then back at me.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was going to say you look beautiful.”
She raised one eyebrow.
I smiled. “Okay, maybe not.”
She shook her head, but I could tell she was trying not to laugh. My eyes landed on the bread sitting on the table. I grabbed one.
“Aria, at least sit down and eat properly.”
“I can’t. I’m already late.”
“You’re always late.”
“That’s not true.”
She stared at me.
I stared back.
“Okay. Maybe it is.”
I took a bite and headed for the door.
“Aria.”
I stopped.
Something about her voice made me turn around. Aunt May wasn’t looking at my face. She was looking at my necklace.
I touched it without thinking.
It was a small black stone hanging from a silver chain. There was a strange symbol carved into it, almost like a crescent moon.
I’d had it for years. Actually, I couldn’t even remember a time when I didn’t have it.
“My mum gave it to me, right?” I asked.
Aunt May’s expression changed.
“Why are you asking?”
“Because you’re staring at it.”
She looked away. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
There it was again.
That answer.
Aunt May had been saying “nothing” for as long as I could remember. Whenever I asked about my mother. Whenever I asked about my father. Whenever I asked why Mum disappeared when I was six.
Nothing.
Apparently, my entire childhood was built around nothing.
I sighed. “I’ll see you after school.”
“Be careful.”
I opened the door. “Of what?”
She hesitated.
Then she smiled. “Just be careful.”
I didn’t think much of it.
I should have.
By the time I reached school, Mia was already waiting for me. She looked at me like I had personally ruined her morning.
“You’re late.”
“Good morning to you too.”
“You know what time it is?”
“School time?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible.”
I laughed and pulled her along with me.
Mia was my best friend, which basically meant she had permission to insult me every day.
We made it to class just before the teacher walked in. Barely.
By lunch, I had forgotten about the necklace.
Almost.
Mia was telling me about some drama involving two girls in our class when she suddenly stopped talking.
“Aria.”
“What?”
“Don’t turn around.”
I immediately turned around.
She groaned. “I literally said don’t.”
“What? Now I’m curious.”
She pointed toward the school gate.
There was a black car parked outside.
It was huge. And expensive-looking.
Very expensive-looking.
“Whose car is that?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe someone’s dad.”
“Maybe.”
Mia stared at it. “That’s definitely not someone’s normal dad car.”
I laughed.
Then I noticed something.
The windows were tinted so dark that I couldn’t see inside.
For some reason, I felt like whoever was sitting inside could see me.
I looked away.
“Let’s go.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Mia followed me, but I kept thinking about that car.
After school, Mia left before me because she had somewhere to go. I stayed behind to finish an assignment.
When I finally walked outside, most of the students were already gone.
And the black car was still there.
My steps slowed.
No way.
Same car.
I looked around. Maybe I was imagining things.
Then the driver’s door opened.
A man stepped out.
He was wearing black.
He looked at me.
Then his eyes moved straight to my necklace.
I instinctively covered it with my hand.
He said something.
“What?”
He didn’t answer. He just stared for a few seconds before getting back into the car.
The car drove away.
I stood there thinking, What was that?
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
Take off the necklace.
I stared at it.
Then another message appeared.
You don’t know what you’re wearing.
My stomach dropped.
I quickly typed:
Who are you?
Nothing.
I called the number.
It wasn’t available.
I called again.
Still nothing.
So naturally, I called Aunt May.
She answered almost immediately.
“Aria?”
“Aunt May, something weird just happened.”
“What happened?”
“Someone was watching me outside school. And they sent me a message about my necklace.”
There was silence. Not normal silence. The kind of silence that made you know the person on the other end was thinking very carefully about what to say.
Then she asked, “Are you still wearing it?”
I frowned. “Obviously.”
“Take it off.”
I stopped walking.
“What?”
“Aria, go home.”
“Aunt May”
“Now.”
She hung up.
I stared at my phone.
Okay.
That was officially weird.
I started walking home faster.
I kept looking behind me.
Nothing.
Just cars passing. People walking. Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
Then I noticed a black SUV parked across the road.
I stopped.
The driver’s window was down.
Someone was sitting inside.
I couldn’t see his face clearly.
But I could feel him looking at me.
I quickly looked away and kept walking.
I didn’t know that the person inside that SUV had already taken a picture of me.
And I definitely didn’t know who he was.
His name was Leon Vale.
To everyone else, Leon was a billionaire. Young, ridiculously rich, and almost impossible to find information about.
People knew his company. They knew his cars. They knew his mansion.
But nobody knew much about the man himself.
Nobody knew that behind the expensive suits and business meetings was a secret that had been hidden for generations.
Leon wasn’t human.
He was a werewolf.
And not just any werewolf.
He was an Alpha.
His driver handed him a photograph.
Leon looked at it.
His eyes immediately went to the necklace.
For a moment, he didn’t speak.
“Where did she get that?”
“We don’t know.”
Leon zoomed in on the picture.
The symbol was unmistakable.
His father’s old symbol.
A symbol Leon had been told never to look for again.
“Find out who she is.”
The driver nodded. “We already did.”
He handed Leon a file.
Leon opened it.
ARIA BENNETT.
Sixteen years old.
Secondary-school student.
Lives with her aunt.
Mother disappeared when she was six.
Leon read the information twice.
Then he looked at the picture again.
“She doesn’t know.”
“No.”
Leon slowly closed the file.
“That makes her even more vulnerable.”
A sound came from the trees nearby.
A low growl.
Leon looked toward the darkness.
His face became serious.
“The Black Moon.”
The driver looked at him.
“You think they’ve found her?”
Leon didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said, “They already have.”
Meanwhile, I had finally reached home.
“Aunt May?”
Nothing.
I dropped my bag near the sofa.
“Aunt May?”
Still nothing.
I walked into the living room.
That’s when I saw it.
A photograph.
It was sitting on the table.
I picked it up.
My heart stopped.
It was my mother.
I hadn’t seen that photograph before.
She looked younger than I remembered.
And she wasn’t alone.
There was a man standing beside her.
I didn’t recognize him.
But something about him felt familiar.
Then I noticed the necklace around his neck.
The same symbol.
The same black stone.
My hands started shaking.
I turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Three words.
HE IS YOUR FATHER.
I stared at the words.
My father?
For sixteen years, I had known almost nothing about him.
And now, suddenly, I was holding a photograph that might finally answer the question I’d asked Aunt May a thousand times.
Who was my father?
“Aunt May?”
No answer.
Then I heard something upstairs.
Creak.
I froze.
Another creak.
Someone was walking.
I slowly looked toward the staircase.
“Aunt May?”
Nothing.
I took one step.
Then another.
My necklace suddenly became warm.
I grabbed it.
The black stone was glowing.
Actually glowing.
“What the…”
I didn’t finish.
A voice came from upstairs.
A man’s voice.
“Aria…”
I froze.
“Don’t let them find you.”
The lights went off.
And from somewhere in the darkness came a deep growl.
