LIRA
He wasn’t supposed to be real. The stories didn’t do him justice. Caius Vexmoor stood like a shadow carved from moonlight—broad-shouldered, cloaked in black leathers, and dangerous. His presence was a storm wrapped in silence, and his silver eyes… gods, those eyes. Like frost over steel. Cold. Sharp. Unrelenting. But it wasn’t the strength in his stance or the silent power he commanded that shook me. It was the way he looked at me. Like I already belonged to him. “Step back, Lira,” Tobias warned, his voice tight with authority, his stance rigid. I could feel the tension thrumming through him, the way his energy shifted as he stood between us like a wall ready to collapse. But Caius didn’t stop. He took a single step forward—and that one step changed everything. “I won’t repeat myself, Tobias,” he said, voice low, carved from ice and stone. “She comes with me.” My heart kicked hard against my ribs, as if it recognized something my mind couldn’t yet grasp. I tasted iron at the back of my tongue, my breath catching. “Why?” I asked, surprised by the steadiness of my voice. Inside, I was trembling like a leaf caught in a gale. “Why me?” He looked at me then—really looked. Not the surface glance that measured threats or weaknesses, but the kind that saw through bone and blood and memory. And for the briefest second, something flickered behind his gaze. Doubt. Sadness. Longing. I couldn’t be sure. “You’ll understand soon enough,” Caius murmured. It wasn’t a threat. Not a promise. Just a truth waiting to unravel. But that didn’t make it any less terrifying. There was a moment—so sharp, so fragile—where I thought I might be able to move, to speak again. But I didn’t get the chance. Because everything shattered. The Duskborne warriors surged forward like lightning unbound, moving with a terrifying unity. Cloaks flared, blades flashed, and the air exploded with the metallic tang of magic and violence. Tobias shifted beside me—bones snapping, fur erupting, his body twisting into the powerful wolf I’d always known. His silver-gray form hit the earth with a growl that cracked through the night like thunder. He didn’t hesitate. His instincts overtook him. But neither did Caius. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t raise a hand. He didn’t even blink. Because his warriors were already there. They emerged from the shadows of the trees like wraiths—silent, calculating, lethal. They moved through the chaos with precision only trained killers possessed. No war cries. No wasted movement. Only blood and smoke and silence. Tobias lunged, jaws bared, aiming straight for Caius’s throat. But Caius was gone. One blink—and he was right in front of me. His hand closed around my arm—not rough, but final. His grip was the kind you couldn’t break, not even with all the strength in the world. Not forceful, yet immovable. Like I was already claimed. Like I’d always been his. “Let me go!” I thrashed, panic crashing over me like a wave. My blood roared in my ears, my vision pulsing at the edges. My fingers clawed at his arm, but it was like trying to tear apart a mountain. I couldn’t breathe. And yet… His touch wasn’t magic. It wasn’t brute strength. But it felt different. Familiar. Terrifying. Like I belonged in his arms. Like I had always belonged. Bond. The word whispered through me, unspoken, undeniable. A truth etched into my marrow. Caius looked down at me, eyes flickering with something unreadable. “I’m not here to hurt you.” “You already are,” I hissed. And still, he didn’t let go. Behind us, growls tore through the air. Claws raked across earth and skin, wolves collided with warriors in an explosion of fury—but none of it mattered. Not in this moment. Not when the world had narrowed to his hand on my arm and the sound of my heart breaking. “You don’t belong here,” he said softly, as if the words themselves hurt. “And I won’t leave without you.” “Even if I say no?” I whispered. His jaw flexed. He didn’t answer. Because we both knew—some choices weren’t ours to make. Some were written into blood. Into bone. Into fate. I tried to ignore the way my skin burned beneath his touch, the way something ancient stirred inside me, like a memory that didn’t belong to me—or maybe one that had been taken. “Please,” I said, but I didn’t even know what I was pleading for. For him to let go. For him to stay. For the bond to be a lie. His eyes softened, just for a breath. “I didn’t choose this either, Lira.” And that—that shattered me more than anything. Because I’d expected hunger. Command. Possession. Not regret. Not pain. The battlefield raged around us. I could hear Tobias’s snarl, hear the thuds of bodies colliding, the sharp clang of blades meeting blades. But all I could feel was the bond. Pulling. Tearing. Binding. My knees buckled, but Caius caught me. His arms wrapped around me, strong, certain. And for a fleeting, dangerous second—I didn’t want him to let go. I hated myself for it. “I don’t know you,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “But I know you,” he said. “I’ve seen you. In dreams. In visions. And I swore, the moment I found you, I would never let you fall.” He leaned in, so close I could feel his breath ghost across my cheek. “You don’t remember yet. But you will.” And just like that, the world tilted. A flare of heat surged through me, sharp and golden, blooming beneath my ribs. Not pain. Not fear. Recognition. A name—his name—echoed through something deeper than thought. And I realized this wasn’t the beginning. It was the return. The return of something old. Ancient. Ours. And as I stared into those silver eyes, I knew the truth would destroy me. Or set me free.
