#11: Nyra

Nyra

I shoved the last bundle of dried herbs into the satchel and cinched the leather strap tight, my fingers moving on instinct while my mind refused to slow down enough to think through what I was actually doing. The room looked the same as it always had, stone walls, narrow bed, the faint scent of wolf and fire, but it no longer felt like a cage. It felt like a place I was already halfway gone from, which was both relieving and terrifying in equal measure.

I told myself I wasn’t running.

I was leaving.

There was a difference, even if my heart didn’t quite believe it yet.

The door opened behind me without warning, and I felt him before I heard him. Lyr surged, pressing from my chest toward him, angry at me for daring to make decisions without consulting her first.

I closed my eyes for half a second, breathed through it, then turned.

Lucien stood in the doorway, gaze snapping immediately to the satchel slung over my shoulder. His expression shifted in real time from confusion to disbelief and then straight into something darker that curled low in my stomach.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

I adjusted the strap, forcing my posture into something casual even as my pulse started to race. “Packing.”

His eyes flicked over the room, clearly searching for some other explanation, then came back to me. “Why?”

I arched a brow. “You’re the one who told me I could leave.”

His jaw tightened. “I’m quite sure that's not what I said.”

“Details.” I stood, slinging the bag over my shoulder. The weight felt good. Familiar. “I’m leaving anyway.”

He moved faster than I expected, blocking the main door before I’d taken three steps. “No.”

I stopped, tilting my head. “No? Just like that?”

“You’re still a prisoner.”

My gaze snapped to his. “Then kill me.”

Silence.

“Kill me, or throw me back in the dungeons if you want but I am NOT going to sit here waiting for you to break the bond and then kill me right after.

I laughed, short and incredulous, before I could stop myself. “I mean, that’s what this is, right? Once the bond’s gone, you can hand me over to the elders to do whatever they like without your wolf throwing a fit. Clean conscience. Pack happy. War postponed.”

“That’s not what this is,” he snapped, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him with a sharp click that made my shoulders tense. “You’re twisting this.”

“Oh, am I?” I shot back. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like the elders want me dead, Adrian wants me delivered in a pretty little bow, and you want the bond gone so you can think clearly enough to decide which option benefits your pack the most.”

“That is not why I want it broken.”

I scoffed. “Right. You just woke up one morning and thought, ‘You know what would really improve my life? Severing an ancient soul-bond with the last hybrid alive.’”

His eyes flashed. “You think this is easy for me?”

I stepped closer, the satchel bumping against my hip. “I think you’re very good at pretending this is all strategy instead of fear.”

Silence snapped between us, tight and crackling.

He exhaled slowly, as if forcing himself to stay calm. “You don’t understand what’s at stake.”

“I understand exactly what’s at stake, Lucien,” I said, my voice steady despite the way my chest felt too tight. “My life. Your power. A war neither of us asked for but both of us are apparently supposed to bleed for.”

“You are not a pawn,” he said sharply.

“Then stop moving me like one.”

The bond pulsed hard enough to make me gasp, heat flaring through my veins, my shadows stirring in response like they had a mind of its own. I hated that Lyr reacted to him so easily, hated that my body still leaned toward his presence even while my brain screamed at me to keep my distance.

Down, girl, I thought to myself, trying to calm the beast.

“I won’t stay here waiting for you to decide whether I’m worth protecting,” I continued, forcing the words out before I lost my nerve. “I’ve done that my entire life. Waiting for someone else’s mercy. Waiting for the axe to fall. I’m done.”

He stared at me like I’d struck him.

“You think I would kill you after the bond is broken?” he asked quietly.

I swallowed. “I think you would convince yourself it was necessary.”

His expression hardened. “Don’t act like you know me.”

“I know you hate what I am,” I said. “I know your wolf wants me and you resent it. I know the elders are circling, and the moment I stop being useful, they’ll tear me apart. Forgive me if I don’t feel safe betting my future on your internal moral struggle.”

The air shifted, pressure building until it felt like the walls themselves were leaning in to listen. His wolf pushed forward, I could feel it by how strongly Lyr clawed at my insides, raw and possessive, anger bleeding into something dangerously close to need.

In two strides he was in front of me, one hand bracing against the wall beside my head, the other catching my wrist before I could step back. The impact rattled the stone, the sound echoing in my bones.

“You keep forgetting, hybrid,” he growled, voice dropping into something that vibrated through me, “that you’re mine to use however I deem fit.”

The words hit like a slap.

For a heartbeat, everything went still. Then my temper snapped.

I shoved against his chest, my shadows thrusting outwards from under my skin, sending him flying across the room.

“I belong to no one,” I snapped back, meeting his glare head-on. “Especially not a man who captured me, caged me like a wild animal and plans to parade me around in front of a bloodthirsty vampire like some fucking of trophy!”

For a moment, he said nothing, just looked at me like he was afraid of what he was seeing.

Like he was afraid of me.

“You’re wrong,” he said finally.

“Then prove it,” I shot back. “Let me leave.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, Lyr flared so violently it made my knees weak. For a moment, I thought he might actually do it. Thought he might loosen his hold and step aside.

Instead, the castle exploded into chaos.

The first scream pierced through the air, followed by the unmistakable clash of steel and the shattering of glass somewhere down the corridor. Lucien’s head snapped toward the door, his body going instantly rigid.

“What was that?” I demanded, heart pounding.

Before he could answer, the scent hit me. Cold and metallic.

Vampires.

Lucien swore under his breath and rushed over to unshackle my chains, spinning toward the door just as it burst inward. Wood splintered, shards flying, and a figure lunged through the opening with inhuman speed, eyes glowing red in the low light.

“Down!” Lucien barked.

I dropped instinctively, the vampire’s blade whistling over my head as Lucien met him head-on. The impact sent a shockwave through the room, furniture splintering as they crashed into the wall.

Another vampire slipped through the broken doorway, then another, their movements coordinated and precise in a way that made my stomach drop. This wasn’t a random attack.

This was planned.

I rolled to my feet, yanking the satchel free and slinging it aside as I drew on the darkness coiled deep inside me. Shadows stirred, responding eagerly, wrapping around my hands like living things.

Lucien tore the first vampire apart with brutal efficiency, blood spraying across the stone as claws met flesh, but the others didn’t falter. One lunged for me, fangs bared, and I reacted without thinking, sending a lash of shadow fingers straight into his chest. He screamed as the fingers tore through him, collapsing in a heap at my feet.

“Nyra, behind you!” Lucien shouted.

I spun just in time to see another vampire coming at me from the side, eyes locked on my throat. I raised my hands, shadows surging, but before I could strike, an arm wrapped around my waist and hauled me back hard.

The vampire hissed in frustration as Lucien dragged me against his chest, his body a solid wall between me and the attack.

“They’re trying to take you alive,” he snarled.

“Adrian loyalists,” I breathed, the realization clicking into place even as fear rose. “He sent them.”

A horn sounded somewhere in the keep, followed by the pounding of boots as guards flooded the corridor. Steel rang, wolves howled, and the air filled with the sharp tang of blood and magic.

Lucien shoved me toward the far wall. “Stay here.”

“Like hell,” I shot back, already summoning more shadows as another vampire broke through the line of guards and lunged toward us.