Lira Fenwick has spent her life hidden away in the Duskborne Pack, protected by her overbearing father and kept in the dark about her true origins. Born under a rare lunar eclipse, whispers of her birth carry an ancient prophecy—one her father has kept buried. The pack members are protective, yet distant, leaving Lira to feel like an outsider in her own home. When the Grimhowl Pack, the largest and most powerful in the country, attacks Duskborne, Lira is captured and brought to the northern territories. There, Alpha Caius Vexmoor reveals a shocking truth: Lira is his destined mate, a bond that could either unite their warring packs or destroy them both. But Lira’s powers, long dormant and unknown, are tied to an ancient prophecy—one that a hidden enemy seeks to unleash. As Lira grapples with the weight of her newfound destiny, she must decide whether to embrace her fate or risk everything to protect the ones she loves. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that the truth may be more dangerous than anyone ever imagined. And the shadows are closing in.
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The moon looked wrong tonight. It hung lower than usual, cloaked in shadows, tinged with a dull red that bled into the dark sky. The air felt heavy, like the whole forest was holding its breath. I stood alone in the clearing, arms wrapped around myself, listening to the silence that pressed in from all sides. Something wasn’t right. Not with the moon. Not with me. I had no words for it, just a gnawing feeling under my skin—like a thousand tiny sparks waiting to ignite. “Lira!” I turned at the sound of my name. Kora’s voice cut through the quiet, loud and urgent. She pushed through the tall grass, face flushed, golden eyes scanning until they landed on me. “There you are,” she exhaled, brushing wild strands of hair from her face. “You’re not supposed to be out here.” “I needed air,” I said, not bothering to lie. “Too many eyes back there.” She frowned, stepping beside me and glancing at the sky. “You see it too, don’t you?” I nodded. “The moon looks... off.” “It’s not just the moon.” She dropped her voice. “The Leaders are asking for you. Again.” I sighed. “Of course they are.” They always wanted something—answers to questions I couldn’t give, explanations for things I didn’t understand. I’d grown used to the stares, the whispered conversations behind my back. The girl who hadn’t shifted. The one who didn’t fit. Kora touched my arm gently. “They’re not in the mood to be ignored tonight. Something’s going on.” “Something’s always going on,” I muttered. “And somehow it’s always about me.” She hesitated, then said, “They’re talking about Grimhowl.” My breath caught. “What about Grimhowl?” Kora looked uneasy, her voice lower now. “Rumors. Scouts near the northern border. The Leaders think it’s a warning—or a sign.” “A sign of what?” She didn’t answer right away. Her silence spoke louder than anything she could’ve said. “Caius Vexmoor,” she finally whispered. The name alone sent a chill racing down my spine. Alpha of Grimhowl. Ruthless. Unforgiving. The stories about him were half-myth, half-terror—his wolf black as death, his eyes silver and cold. He was the kind of Alpha who didn’t bother with threats. Just action. “They think he’s preparing for something,” Kora went on. “And they think… it might involve you.” My heart thudded against my ribs. “Me? Why?” “I don’t know,” she said. “But they’ve been whispering all evening. They won’t say anything directly, but I think they believe it’s connected to why you haven’t shifted.” I looked away, jaw tight. I hated that word—why. As if there had to be a reason I was different. As if I hadn’t asked myself the same question a thousand times. At nineteen, I should have shifted years ago. All the others had—most before they turned sixteen. But my wolf had never come. No howling under my skin. No clawing at the surface. Just silence. I tried to laugh, but it came out bitter. “So now they think Caius Vexmoor has something to do with my defective wolf?” “You’re not defective.” “You don’t have to say that.” Kora’s brows pulled together. “I mean it, Lira. You’re not broken. You’re not some mistake the Moon Goddess forgot to finish. Whatever’s happening, I don’t believe it’s about you. Not really. They just want something to blame.” Blame. That’s exactly what it felt like—being a problem they couldn’t solve, a question they couldn’t answer. I stared at the trees surrounding us, tall and unmoving. “It’s like I’m waiting for something I don’t understand. Every day I wake up hoping something will feel different. But nothing ever does.” Kora stepped closer, her voice firm. “Then maybe different is coming. Maybe it’s already here.” A shiver ran through me. The wind stirred the grass, whispering secrets I couldn’t quite hear. “You think Grimhowl’s coming?” I asked. “That Caius… he’s coming?” “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But the Leaders are scared. That’s never a good sign.” I hated the fear in her voice. I hated that mine echoed it. “What do I do, Kora?” I asked. “What if all of this leads to something I can’t handle?” She looked me dead in the eye. “Then you won’t handle it alone.” And just like that, the knot in my chest loosened. She always had a way of grounding me—of reminding me that no matter how twisted the path became, I didn’t have to walk it in the dark. “We should go,” she said, glancing toward the trees. “The Leaders won’t wait much longer. Even if you don’t want to hear what they have to say, it’s better to be there than let them spin more stories in your absence.” I nodded, casting one last look at the strange, pale moon. It felt like it was watching me. Like it knew something I didn’t. As we started walking back toward the village, I couldn’t shake the feeling crawling up my spine—like something had just shifted, and I wouldn’t understand it until it was far too late to turn back.CAIUSThe morning after the Veil always feels too bright.Even this one.We camped on the ridge just beyond its reach—bone-tired, grief-stricken, and not entirely convinced the nightmare was behind us. The Ashen Veil still hung at our backs like a second shadow, thin and curling across the hills, refusing to vanish completely.But this morning… it hadn’t followed.That meant something.A breeze stirred the dying embers of our fire. The scent of pine and cold earth replaced the Veil’s burnt stench. I sat against a boulder, the dagger wrapped in blood-inked cloth beside me. It pulsed like a second heartbeat.Lira stood some distance away, her cloak pulled tightly around her. She hadn’t said much since Daren’s sacrifice. Neither had I.There weren’t words for that kind of loss.The others moved quietly, if at all. Dain sat cross-legged, meditating or praying—maybe both. Morgana traced protective runes into the dirt around the perimeter, her lips moving silently. The remaining warriors—Al
CAIUSThe path to the third gate felt heavier than any that had come before.Not because of magic. Not because of mist. But because we knew what waited.There was no illusion this time. No test of mind or power. The Veil had taken its games and replaced them with something ancient and cruel.A price.And the toll was life.The Veil thinned around us as we walked, as if retreating to make way for something worse. Trees gave way to cracked earth. The fog settled into still sheets across the ground, refusing to rise. The sky above looked bruised, stained with deep purples and reds, as if the realm itself were bleeding.Those who remained wore it on their faces—haunted, gaunt, silent. No one spoke of the Hollow Mirror. Some wouldn’t even look at each other. Not after the truths they'd seen, or the lies they'd nearly believed.Lira walked ahead of me, her steps steady, her jaw set.She hadn’t faltered once since we left the second gate.I had.The Hollow had broken something in me. I wasn’
LIRAWe had the dagger.It pulsed at Caius’s side like a living thing—dark steel veined with molten red, forged to wound something far worse than any creature we’d faced so far. He hadn't used it yet, not truly. Even carrying it seemed to strain him.But that didn’t matter.The mission was clear: get the dagger, get out of the Ashen Veil, and bring it to the battlefield before the Dark Lord rose in full.Only one problem.The Veil wasn’t going to let us leave.The temple crumbled behind us in slow silence. Its stones, once glowing, faded into dull gray. Morgana sealed the altar before we left, just in case something worse crawled out of it.We’d hoped it would be as simple as returning the way we came.It wasn’t.The mist didn’t clear. The ground didn’t still. And the fog ahead of us thickened, curling upward like smoke from a dying god’s lungs.Dain stood at the edge of the ruined threshold, blade in one hand, a blood-soaked charm in the other. He stared into the mist like it might bi
LIRAThe shield cracked.Not like glass. Not like stone. Like bone. A sound too deep, too familiar, like something sacred was being broken open.I felt it first—a ripple in my ribs, then a sting in my palm where blood still dripped from the cut. The air screamed around us, pressing against my barrier from all sides. Each impact throbbed through my bones.“We’re losing time,” I gasped.My hands trembled. The light flickered.Caius fought just beyond the barrier, a blur of steel and shadow. The dagger in his hand pulsed with red fire, its edge singing through the air. Every time he struck, a shadow screamed—not just in sound, but in essence. They weren’t just hurt; they were undone.He was magnificent.Terrifying.And alone.“Hold the line!” Dain shouted, already intercepting a beast that had slipped past. His blade met the creature’s twisted claws with a spark of red and gold. Power surged from his strike—truth magic, unraveling the lie of the monster’s existence.But they kept coming.
LIRAAs soon as we stepped into the temple, something changed.The air turned heavy. My chest felt tight, like I couldn’t breathe deeply. The ground seemed to shift beneath my feet, even though I knew it wasn’t moving. The walls were covered in dark vines, and the fog didn’t float anymore—it crawled.“This place is wrong,” I said quietly.Caius walked beside me. His hand stayed near mine, steady and strong. I could feel his tension. He didn’t speak, but his eyes scanned every corner, watching for danger.Behind us, Morgana whispered spells under her breath. A soft glow surrounded us—her protective shield. Dain led the way through the ruins, his sword ready, and Aldric followed close behind him.We reached the center of the temple. There, sitting on a stone table, was a black box.It wasn’t big. It looked simple at first glance. But strange symbols moved across its surface. They glowed faintly, as if something inside was trying to get out.When I took a step forward, my heart started b
CAUISThe air felt heavier with every step—thicker, denser. Not like mist, not even like magic. It was something older. Something breathing.It clung to my skin like oil and filled my lungs like ash.The Veil was no longer just leaking through the seams of the world—it was bleeding. Crashing down around us like a dying god trying to take everything with it.Shadows skittered at the corners of my eyes, never fully forming, always just a little too fast to see. I didn’t acknowledge them. We all knew what they were.Tricks. Probes. Warnings.The Veil was trying to make us turn around. To falter. And it was getting desperate.I hadn’t realized how loud silence could be until we’d crossed that line—where even the wind was afraid to move, where breath sounded like thunder, and a heartbeat could give away your position to things that didn’t belong in this world.Fenrir was bound.Still.The ache of that binding hadn’t left me. It pulsed behind my ribs like something broken that hadn’t yet ac
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