Novels by ANURIKA ANGELA

KAEL POVMara's words were still sitting in the room when Lyra stood up and walked out.Not dramatically. Not in anger. She just stood, set her cold cup of tea on the mantle, and walked through the door that led to the back corridor and the stairs. Quietly. Like she needed air and the room had run out of it.Mara watched her go and said nothing.I looked at the elder."Give her a few minutes," Mara sighed, answering the question I hadn't asked. "Then go.""I wasn't going to—""Kael." She looked at me with the particular patience of a woman who had known me since I was twenty-three and had no interest in my deflections. "Go."I waited four minutes. Then I went.She was on the east balcony.The one off the third floor corridor that overlooked the forest rather than the courtyard — nobody used it much because the wind came off the mountain at an angle that made it uncomfortable in anything less than a heavy coat. Lyra stood at the stone railing in her long-sleeved training top with her a

LYRA POVThe compound doors had barely closed behind us when I turned to face Mara.She was already in the entrance hall. Standing near the far wall with her arms folded and her silver braid over one shoulder, looking at me with an assessing look.She didn't ask how it went."Sit down," she said flatly. ."He walked out." The words came before I could stop them. "Darius just walked out of that arena. No ruling, no verdict, nothing. The tribunal gets suspended and he strolls out like he came to watch a show and got bored halfway through.""Sit down," Mara repeated."I don't want to—""Lyra."I sat on the chair near the fireplace, the one with the high back. Kael came in behind me and stopped near the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. He hadn't said much since the arena and almost nothing in the vehicle on the way back.He just existed at my back the entire time, steady and present, and the tether between us was the quietest it had been all day — a low even hum t

LYRA POVThe signal device disappeared back into the Adjudicator's coat.Nobody moved for three full seconds after that. The arena held its collective breath with every eye fixed on the sealed door set into the stone wall to the left of the Council seating. I hadn't noticed it when we walked in. It was flush with the wall with no handle or visible hinges.It opened inward.Four figures who were wearing black long cloaks that swept the floor stepped through.Each of them carried a single weapon — a short, dark blade, no longer than a forearm, hanging at their hip without a sheath.Unsheathed blades. In a Blood Tribunal where weapons were regulated and logged.Nobody stopped them.Not the mediator. Not the Council guards at the perimeter. Not a single grey-robed official in the tiered seating raised a hand or a voice.Shit… who are these people?They walked in a single file line and stopped at the edge of the arena floor. The lead figure reached up and pushed back their hood.An older w

Kael's Pov"What was never the plan," I asked, keeping my voice level.He looked at me with genuine curiosity. "You don't know.""Tell me.""I don't need her dead, Kael," he said. "I need her discredited. I need the Council to see what she is with their own eyes. Everything else follows from that." He paused. "Selene knows exactly what to say to make that happen."The cold moved through me fast.Selene wasn't trying to hurt Lyra.She was trying to break her anchor.She was saying whatever she needed to say to make Lyra angry enough, afraid enough, hurt enough that the draw spiked past the limit — and every wolf in this arena would watch the Shadowfang Alpha drop to his knees, and then they'd watch Lyra's eyes go gold, and the Council would have everything they needed.I took a step forward."There it is," Darius said softly, and for the first time he moved to block my path. "There's the reaction. I was wondering how long it would take.""Move," I said."If you cross this floor to help

KAEL POVThe mediator stepped off the floor.That was the signal.No horn. No countdown. Just an old man in grey robes walking to the edge of the stone circle and the understanding that everything inside it now belonged to whoever was willing to bleed for it.The mediator paused.He turned to Darius's side of the floor."It is noted by the High Council that Selene Ward is currently with child," he announced, his voice carrying the same flat authority as everything else he said. "Under Council provision 7.3, a pregnant combatant may not engage in direct physical contact during tribunal proceedings. She is designated a non-combatant second for the duration of this match. She may occupy the floor but may not strike, shift, or initiate contact of any kind with the opposing combatants."He looked at Darius. "Violation of this provision results in immediate forfeiture."Darius nodded once, entirely unbothered.Which told me everything. He never intended for Selene to fight. Whatever she was

Lyra’s POVJuno found us in the entrance hall at ten forty-five.She had traded her usual tactical gear for something slightly more formal — a fitted dark jacket over black fatigues, the Shadowfang crest on her shoulder. She held a folded document in one hand."The Council sent the final terms an hour ago," she said, handing it to Kael. "Paired combat. No weapons beyond what you carry in. No outside interference. The match ends on submission or death." She paused. "Darius filed an amendment this morning requesting that the match end in incapacitation rather than death."I looked up. "Why would he do that?""Because he wants you alive," Kael growled, reading the document. His jaw tightened. "He still wants the kidney back."The cold settled in my stomach. Of course he did. Even now, standing on the edge of a death match of his own making, Darius was still thinking about what else he could take from me."Did the Council approve the amendment?" Kael flipped through another page."They're