The kitchen smelled like cinnamon and coffee, the same as it did every morning. Aria had ensured that for three years now.
She worked with her sleeves pushed up and her hair tied back, flipping the last pancake onto a stack nobody was actually going to finish. She poured coffee into Kai's black mug, filling it right to the line he liked. She cut a peach into slices and fanned them out on Leo's plate, because he always laughed when she did that.
Her hands knew the routine so well she didn't have to think about any of it anymore, which left her free to listen for footsteps in the hallway. When she heard them, something in her chest lifted, hopeful in a way she couldn't quite talk herself out of.
Leo came into the kitchen in his pajamas, hair sticking up on one side, dragging the stuffed wolf she'd sewn for him when he was a baby. He saw her and grinned.
"Morning, Mama."
"Morning, baby." She crouched down to his height. "Come eat before it gets cold."
He took a step toward her.
Then the front door swung open without a knock; nobody knocked here anymore, and Lila Solace walked in like she lived there. Her blonde hair was down, and she was wearing one of Kai's old hoodies.
"Leo!" she called out.
Leo spun around so fast he dropped the stuffed wolf on the floor. He didn't stop to pick it up.
"Aunt Lila!"
He ran the rest of the way across the kitchen, and Lila scooped him up, laughing, swinging him half off his feet.
Aria stayed crouched where she was for a second, looking at the empty spot where her son had been standing a moment ago. Her throat tightened. She took a breath, stood up, smoothed down her apron, and went back to the stove.
Kai walked in a minute later, his hair still damp from the shower. He crossed the room and kissed the top of Lila's head first. Then he came over to Aria and pressed a quick kiss to her temple on his way to the coffee pot.
"Smells good," he said, reaching for the mug.
He wasn't looking at her when he said it. He was looking at the coffee.
Aria fixed his plate the way she always did with two pancakes, eggs over easy, no toast and set it down in front of him. Then she took her seat at the end of the table, the one that had somehow become hers over the years.
Kai and Lila talked about the full-moon ranking coming up. Leo tried out a joke on Lila, and she laughed loud enough that he tried it again. Aria cut her pancake into pieces and didn't eat much of it. She thought about three years ago, when Kai used to look at her the way he looked at Lila now. You're mine, Aria. My Luna. No one else. She'd believed every word of it.
She pushed the thought down before it could go any further.
Kai's phone buzzed on the table. He checked it, and his jaw tightened.
"Scouts are back," he said, already standing. "I need to hear the report."
He left without saying goodbye. Lila followed soon after with Leo on her hip, already telling him she'd take him to the training grounds that afternoon. Then the kitchen was empty and quiet.
Aria cleared the plates and washed them, taking longer than she needed to. She wiped down a counter that was already clean, just to keep her hands busy. Under her skin, her wolf paced, restless, the way it had been for weeks now.
She was still at the sink when she heard two scouts talking outside the window.
"Roman Black's been spotted again. Third time this week, out on the eastern border."
"The rogue?" the other one said. "Guy doesn't answer to anyone. No pack, no rules. Takes what he wants and burns the rest behind him."
"Alpha's gonna have to deal with him soon. That land is ours."
Their voices faded as they walked off.
Aria stood there with the towel still in her hands. Roman Black. The name meant nothing to her, just one more problem the pack would deal with eventually. She had enough problems of her own inside these four walls.
She hung the towel up and stepped into the hallway just as Kai came back inside. His face had gone still and closed off, the way it did when pack business weighed on him. Lila stood beside him with a hand resting on his arm.
Kai looked over at Aria.
"The full-moon ranking is in three nights." His voice was calm. "There's going to be a special recognition this time. For Lila."
Aria felt like the air had gone out of the room. She didn't let it show on her face.
"Of course," she said.
Kai nodded and turned to leave. Lila glanced back at her over his shoulder, not cruel, not smug, just certain, like she already knew how this was going to go.
Aria stood alone in the hallway after they walked away.
She didn't know yet how this would end.
She only knew she was tired of being the one who lost.
