Chapter One

Lyra's Pov

“You will announce us tonight, won’t you?”

I kept my smile in place as the question left my lips, but my heart was beating too hard to let me feel calm. Across me was Cassian Thorn, he adjusted the cuff of his black formal coat and gave me the charming look that had once made every girl in Black Hollow jealous.

Tonight was the Blood Moon Ascension Ball, and everyone in the pack knew what was supposed to happen.

A mating announcement at midnight while I as the future Luna standing beside the man I had loved since I was sixteen.

The pack tradition demands that if a royal blood finds her mate on the night she clocks eighteen, she would be given the mantle of leadership but if she is unable to, she won't be able to lead the pack again in her lifetime.

Cassian touched my hand, though not tightly enough to settle the sudden unease in my chest.

“You worry too much,” he said in a low voice, like I was being foolish for asking.

“Just enjoy the night, Lyra.” His words should have comforted me, but something about his face felt wrong. He would not hold my gaze for more than a second, and the warmth I had always counted on in him felt thin, almost rehearsed.

I looked past him toward the crowded ballroom and told myself not to ruin my own night with my own emotions.

Black Hollow’s great hall glowed with silver fire bowls and moonstone chandeliers, the light falling over silk gowns, military coats, and richly dressed wolves.

Every noble family in the pack was there, and so were envoys from two neighboring territories. Tonight was a double celebration, it wasn't just my Ascension night, it was tonight we would officially sign an alliance with the Nightfang pack.

This meant a lot for me as a Luna to be in the next twelve hours.

The alliance meant strength, power and more resources to our pack.

My aunt had spent months reminding me of how Lunas act.

After my father's death, my uncle, Alpha Magnus Vale, ruled Black Hollow now, and though he called me family, I had long ago learned that blood did not always mean protection or care.

“You look pale,”

Selene said as she appeared beside us, her voice unusually calm.

I turned and saw my cousin dressed in deep blue silk, every dark curl pinned perfectly in place. Selene linked her arm through Cassian’s as if she had every right to stand behind him, then gave me a soft smile that did not reach her eyes.

“Try to eat something so you don't faint before midnight.” she added.

Cassian let out a loud laugh and the sound made my stomach churn.

I hated the way Selene had always hovered too close towards Cassian and always acted like whatever belonged to me had simply been misplaced on the way to her.

I had ignored it for years because I trusted Cassian but seeing the both of them entangle hands like high school lovers and laugh at dumb, condescending jokes made me boil with rage.

“You should save your concern for someone who needs it, Selene.” I defended because keeping shut would make her say more.

Selene leaned closer, her voice low enough that only I could hear.

“Enjoy this while you can, Lyra.”

“Moments like this don’t last for girls like you.” she whispered, her lips curling faintly. “Sometimes fate has a way of taking it all back, and I think tonight might be one of those nights.”

She let out a dark smile and even before I could answer, the drums at the far end of the hall sounded.

Conversations dropped at once and the doors to the raised platform opened.

Alpha Magnus stepped forward in ceremonial black with the crescent mark of command pinned to his chest. Beside him stood the council elders, hard-faced and solemn, which made my pulse stumble. This was too formal for a simple mating announcement.

Cassian finally stepped away from Selene and moved slightly in front of me, but not in a protective way. It looked more like he was avoiding me. Cold slid down my spine. I had known him long enough to read silence, and his silence now was the worst kind.

“My people,” Alpha Magnus called, his voice carrying through the hall. “On this sacred Blood Moon, we gather to honor loyalty, legacy, and the law that binds this pack.” He paused, his gaze sweeping the crowd before settling on me.

“It is therefore my duty to address an act of betrayal committed under my own roof.”

“We all know that some important pack items were announced missing two days before now.

The roof erupted into a loud uproar.

He cleared his throat and continued.

“The thief has been identified and we won't let this slide.”

“It hurts that the thief is no other person than, Lyra our own Luna”

I felt the weight of the whole road rest on my shoulders.

The whole room turned blurry.

The angry voices of the elders rose to a deafening roar, accusing and condemning me, but my gaze frantically searched for Cassian, hoping for some spark of support or at ke some flicker of loyalty – but he stood frozen, his eyes careful

I took one step back. “Uncle?”

Two guards entered from the side doors carrying a carved wooden box. I recognized it instantly, and all the air left my lungs. The seal burned into the lid belonged to the restricted archive, the chamber that held sacred ledgers, blood records, treaty marks, and war oaths dating back generations. Those records never left the lower vaults without direct order.

Alpha Magnus’s expression did not move. “These were found in Lyra Vale’s chambers less than an hour ago.”

The hall exploded.

Voices rose all at once, shocked, hungry, thrilled. I stared at the box as if staring hard enough could make it vanish. “That is impossible,” I said, but the words were almost lost in the noise. “I have never taken anything from the archive.”

One elder stepped forward and held up several folded pages. “We also recovered copied route maps and coded messages linked to rogue movement beyond Ravenmoor’s eastern border.” He looked at the papers with disgust, then at me. “It appears Lady Lyra has been feeding protected information to outsiders.”

“No.” My voice came out sharper now. “No, that is a lie.”

I looked at Cassian then, because surely this was the moment he would speak. Surely he would step beside me, tell them someone had framed me, remind them who I was. He knew me better than anyone. He knew the years I had spent preparing to serve this pack, knew how seriously I took law and duty, knew my father had died protecting Black Hollow. If anyone could stop this madness, it was him.

Instead, Cassian took one measured step away from me.

The movement was small but it destroyed me.

“Cassian,” I whispered, unable to hide the break in my voice now. “Tell them.”

His jaw tightened, and for one second I saw shame in his face. Then it was gone, replaced by something weaker and uglier.

Fear.

“I wanted to believe you were innocent,” he said loudly enough for the room to hear. “But too much evidence has been found. I cannot stand beside a liar.” he said, lowering his gaze to the ground.

The gasp that moved through the hall felt like a blade dragged slowly across my skin. I looked at him as if I had never seen him before. This was the same boy who had sworn beside the river when I was seventeen that he would choose me over anyone or anything.

He had kissed my hands and promised I would never stand alone. Now he couldn't even stand to look straight into my face.

Selene lowered her head and moved toward Cassian, placing a hand on his arm in a show of comfort so intimate it made me feel sick. A memory flashed through me. Selene went missing from luncheon three weeks ago. Cassian returning late from patrol with her perfume on his collar. The unease I had forced myself to ignore because I thought love meant trust. I saw it now with brutal clarity. This had not begun tonight.

“This is madness,” I said, but no one was listening with mercy. “Search my rooms again. Question the servants. Check the seals. Someone planted those records.”

My aunt stepped from the front row before anyone else could answer. The older woman’s face was bright with righteous fury, or the performance of it. “How dare you still lie,” she hissed. “After everything this family gave you.” Then she spat at my feet.

Her words hit me harder than bricks.

Humiliation burned hot around me, people stared with open disgust, some with pity, most with satisfaction.

I had been the daughter of the late Alpha, the girl expected to become Luna, the one too educated, too composed, too admired. I saw it in their faces now. Many of them had been waiting for this fall, even if they had not known it.

Alpha Magnus raised a hand for silence. “Lyra Vale, by the authority of Black Hollow, you are stripped of ceremonial rank pending judgment. Until the council decides your sentence, you will be held under guard.”

Two guards rushed towards me immediately.

My body went rigid, but it was not fear that steadied me. It was rage. It filled every shaking part of me, hardening humiliation into something sharper. I lifted my chin and looked at the platform, then at Cassian, then at Selene.

“If you think this ends with me begging you all, then you do not know me at all.”