3: Doing me

Lyra 

“Lu... Luna?” Owen turned around, the confidence draining from his face.

The training ground fell silent. Not a single warrior dared to laugh.

Seraphina was the first to break the silence. She smiled and tilted her head. “Hi, Luna. I'm Seraphina Rosewood, Alpha Caleb's friend.”

Her sickeningly sweet friendliness made my stomach turn.

Caleb finally approached, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. “Lyra? What are you doing here?”

I stared at him coldly.

“They were just joking. Don't take it seriously.” He stepped forward, his arms half-open as if to steady me.

I took a sharp step back before he could touch me.

I could smell her on him. Night-blooming jasmine, thick as perfume. How nauseating. And those hands of his—the very hands he'd used to bring himself to climax while thinking of her. Everything disgusted me.

“You were all laughing so loud. It must be a really good joke,” I said, slowly sweeping my gaze around the training ground. “So, tell me. Which part is the funniest?”

Owen immediately lowered his head. “I... I'm sorry, Luna. I w-was just joking. I'm so sorry.”

His words tangled on his tongue. It was a spectacular collapse from the confidence he'd displayed moments ago.

“Hey Owen. Don't worry about it. Luna won't take it to heart,” Seraphina said soothingly, slipping effortlessly into the role of the understanding peacemaker.

"I apologize if Owen's actions offended you,” Caleb said, “It was inappropriate. It won't happen again.”

Owen seized the opportunity to offer a hasty half-bow. “Sorry again, Luna. No offense intended.”

I held his gaze for a long moment. I'd seen that same hollow bow countless times over the past three years. Every single one had meant exactly what this one did.

Nothing.

“I don't accept your apology, Owen,” I said calmly. “And don't call me Luna. The title demands a level of respect you clearly haven't learned to show.”

Gasps rippled through the clearing.

Seraphina's sweet smile vanished. “Lyra, please. We're all family here. When family teases you, it's because they care.”

“Family?” I gave a cold laugh. “You’ve been back less than a day, Seraphina. Know your place before you lecture me about manners. Though, judging by your combat record, I shouldn’t expect much.”

Her face flushed scarlet. Tears welled in her eyes as she turned to Caleb, her expression pleading for him.

He didn't hesitate.

His Alpha command slammed into the clearing, an invisible force that crushed the air from my lungs. Warriors around us instinctively bowed their heads and hunched their shoulders in submission.

My knees nearly buckled. I clenched my jaw and locked them in place, refusing to let him see me bend.

“Sera was only trying to comfort you. Why are you getting so angry?”

His tone carried a hint of helplessness, as if he was patiently explaining something obvious to me.

I let out a cold laugh. He was never standing on the side of right or wrong. He was only standing on the side of the person he loved.

And I was nothing more than an outsider who had forced her way into their world.

I swallowed the bitterness in my chest and turned away with a cold smile.

Behind me, even as I hurried toward the tree line, I could make out the mumbled whispers.

*Why’s she so sensitive?*  

*Always causing a scene…*

I wanted to shift to my wolf and leave immediately. But it was hopeless, I was stuck with a limp. 

I did not cry. Not there.

I did not go back to the estate.

With shaking fingers, I booked a ride out of the territory, then a hotel room two blocks from the Lycan War Academy testing grounds.

The moment the hotel door clicked shut behind me, the cold, solitary room swallowed me whole.

The sharp, impenetrable composure I had worn in front of them finally cracked. My knees gave out and I sank onto the edge of the bed, weeping until my ribs ached.

I missed my wolf so badly it felt like an open wound. Owen’s mocking imitation echoed in my mind, accompanied by thirty voices howling into the night. And Caleb, sitting in the middle of it all, smiling.

For three years I had quietly managed the Silvermoon Pack’s internal supply logistics. Balanced their medical relief budgets. Organized winter aid for lower-tier families while Caleb ran the front lines.

What a fool I had been.

I cried until my eyes ran dry. Then I forced myself up, went to the bathroom, and scrubbed my face with ice-cold water until the skin stung.

The mirror showed swollen eyes, blotchy cheeks, hair a wreck.

This is not how an aspiring commander walks into an examination room.

I braced both hands on the sink and took a deep, steadying breath.

Tomorrow was the assessment. Tomorrow was the beginning of my exit.

I lay down and forced myself to sleep.

By dawn my phone had thirty-one missed calls. Several from Caleb, a handful from Maddison, and a few unknown numbers.

I turned the device to silent and shoved it face-down into my bag. 

An hour later, I stood in the main hall of the Lycan War Academy testing center.

The assessment was brutal, covering strategy, logistics, field triage, and live command simulations. I moved through each section with calm precision, executing troop maneuvers and complex supply plans I had spent three years studying in silence.

When the final bell rang, the senior evaluator closed my booklets and gave me an approving smile.

It was the first time in years I felt proud of myself.

I walked through the heavy stone archways into the bright mid-morning sunlight.

For the first time in three years, I could see a horizon that didn’t end at the gates of Caleb’s estate.

I was still taking in the unfamiliar sense of freedom when footsteps sounded behind me.

“Lyra.”

Caleb’s deep voice cut through the courtyard.

I spun around. His dark hair was disheveled, his tie undone, and his brows furrowed as if he were struggling to contain his anger.

I really didn't want to see him right now. I lowered my head, silently staring at the tips of my shoes.

He bent slightly, trying to catch my eyes. “Are you still angry with me? talk to me.”

I finally looked up at him. I had no intention of answering a question when he already knew perfectly well why I was angry.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was?” he asked in that familiar, gentle tone of his.

His gaze swept over my coat and face, apparently satisfied that I was unharmed. Then his attention shifted to the open zipper of my tote bag, and he reached for it as if to take it from me.

I took a sharp step back and reached into my bag to straighten my things. My study materials and stationery were all in there, and I didn't want him rummaging through them.

In the process, I accidentally exposed the heavy, gold-embossed cover of my official assessment registration booklet.

The black crest of the Lycan War Academy gleamed in the sunlight.

Caleb's eyes locked onto it.

“Lyra...” His gaze remained fixed on the booklet peeking out of my bag.

He reached for it, his long fingers stretching toward the cover.

“What's this?”