10. Cyber Claws Pack: Alek POV

Getting my twin to compose himself was the equivalent of telling a woman her favorite dress made her look fat—or telling a little girl it was time to wash that same dress. Because men, at least real men, learn to behave better than Ryan does when they don’t get their way.

As he paced the length of our private training room—large enough to fit a football field—I rubbed my temples, trying to keep my patience.

“Will you please,” I said, my tone clipped but even, “use your words to explain what is ticking you off about keeping yourself composed around our mate?”

He growled at me, animalistic and stubborn, and all I could think of was our mother’s endless lecture: behave as humans, not beasts.

I rose to my feet, letting my own anger sharpen my words.

“Teach your children it’s okay to disagree with someone,” I shouted, “but it is never okay to harm them. Now, for fuck’s sake, tell me why you disagree with staying in my shadow—and maybe we can make some kind of agreement.”

Ryan whirled, wild and frustrated, blurting the best he could manage despite his refusal to refine himself into a proper Alpha.

“She’s ours—but she hates me for making sure she stays with us! Why can’t she just want us like we do?”

I rolled my eyes at his barbaric attempt at expression and closed the distance, slamming a fist into his face. He stumbled back, blood running from his now-broken nose, while I snarled in his ear:

“She is not a fucking object—and most certainly not a damn slave, you barbarian! She is our mate. And the last time our family rejected her ancestors, do you remember what the fuck came of that?”

He staggered, holding his nose, when a strange, static-like link broke into both our minds.

‘Alpha! Help me—our Luna is walking away from the Pack House and into the open lands. It’s below twenty degrees, and she’s in her pajamas!’

The voice was not a wolf’s. It was Lyra, the little companion assigned to guard her.

The link froze me in place. As it ended, I triggered the emergency alarm, dread tightening around my chest. Ryan met my eyes, and for the first time in years, there was terror in his.

We didn’t waste another breath. We bolted from the room, no longer enemies in argument, but brothers united in fear.

Our systems flared—the cursed parts of us, half-computer, half-wolf—guiding us to Lyra’s location. As soon as I saw the pinpoint on the map, I let my wolf surge forward. My limbs shifted with the metallic crack of machinery locking into muscle, the curse reshaping me even as Ryan tore his own body apart to match.

That was the curse of our bloodline: to feel and live exactly as our twin does. When Ryan’s limbs broke, I lost mine. When I healed, he healed. We were everything and nothing at the same time—two cursed generations bound by ignorance.

But a soulmate… a soulmate isn’t someone who completes you. No. A soulmate is someone who inspires you to complete yourself, to rise and stand beside them.

By the time we reached her, Ryan was ahead. He stood frozen over Michail as she collapsed onto the frozen ground, the breath of winter stealing what little warmth she had left.

She simply lay down, silent and still, surrendering to the cold.

Ryan stared, lost, until at last he lowered himself, curling his body around hers, shielding her from the icy earth.

And watching him—my brutal, reckless twin—I realized something I never thought I’d see: he could be tamed. He could be a good man. If only he thought before he acted, if only he let himself feel as he did in this moment.

Looking at Lyra, I linked her electronically.

‘Get our pack members into a reunion and have our Beta make sure it happens, Lyra. Thank you. We’ll take it from here.’

Electronic links are like recordings, only in real time. They can be stored in the memory software of the cyborg part of a wolf—or in Lyra’s case, carried in her memory.

She bowed, then turned and sprinted toward the Pack House.

Ryan didn’t move. He stayed rooted, his body hunched protectively over her, silent.

I shifted back into my human form. Years ago, I had developed clothes that would never rip when shifting, woven to blend with our fur and keep us warm without overheating. It had been one of my proudest achievements—an act of control against the curse.

Now, standing in those clothes, I bent down to her level and took her face gently into my hands.

“Breathe,” I whispered, every word lined with honesty. “We’re not against each other.”

Her eyes met mine, and the pain there hit me harder than any blade. It shifted like storm clouds, grief and despair tearing through her until I could feel her will slipping away.

In that moment, I didn’t see her as the Luna or the fated mate we had fought over. I saw her as a soul drowning, her gaze hollowing out into the shell of the woman she was.

My chest ached. Because if she lost herself completely now, no Alpha strength, no wolf, no curse could bring her back.

Knowing she needed us now more than ever made me feel hopeless. My chest burned with guilt, and I began to hate myself for leaving her to carry the death of her firstborn alone.

I had been blind. I had believed distance was protection, that silence was strength. But all it had done was abandon her when she needed us most.

Ryan’s voice broke into my mind through the link, rough but steady.

‘I think it’s time she sees her son, brother. She needs closure. She needs to understand we don’t hate her for losing her pup. We weren’t ignorant to her all these years—this curse kept her hidden away from us. Don’t you see? It wasn’t her choice, it wasn’t ours. It was the curse.’

I closed my eyes, my breath shuddering. He was right.

The curse was a cruel, binding chain. It had forced distance where there should have been love, silence where there should have been comfort. We were paying for the sins of our ancestors, our punishment stretched longer and sharper than theirs had ever been.

And she—our Luna, our mate—had paid the heaviest price of all.

I looked up at the sky and felt the first snowflake melt against my face. Winter had begun, and I needed to move quickly. I stripped off my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

She didn’t stir. It felt like dressing a doll, fragile and unresponsive. My chest tightened with rage, but I forced it down. She didn’t deserve anger—not for the curse my ancestors had chained onto my brother and me.

Lifting her into my arms, Ryan’s voice came through the link.

‘Climb. I’ll take us home. I’ll handle the funeral arrangements. It will be more personal—it was her pup. I’m not a monster, brother. War shaped me into many things, but I know you can handle some burdens better than me. This one… I know how to help her better than I’ve shown.’

For once, I couldn’t argue.

I hated how helpless I felt, hated how I was losing focus, how I couldn’t seem to find the right way to reach her. She was our mate, and she needed us now—but my strength felt useless.

So I gave in. I climbed onto my brother’s wolf form, cradling her against me to keep her warm.

Ryan’s stride carried us swiftly through the snow. Only then did I realize how far she had walked with Lyra—over two hours of distance on foot. Too far. Farther than I ever should have let her go alone.

As we approached the Pack House, our old Beta linked us.

‘Alpha, we are ready. Let us know when you arrive.’

I knew Ryan wanted to remain by her side. He had earned that right with the way he shielded her. But duty pulled at me—I would need to address the pack members, to hold the line steady.

And even as I prepared myself, dread gnawed at me. I feared Ryan’s change of heart was only temporary, a fleeting spark. If it lasted… if this miracle endured… perhaps we could save her together.

Walking into the Pack House, I didn’t want to leave her side. The thought of Ryan being alone with her unsettled me, even if he had shown restraint. I feared the worst—feared he might take advantage—but before my worries could spiral, Lyra’s voice sparked through an electronic link.

‘Alpha, am I to meet our Luna in her room, or should I wait in the office for further instructions?’

Before I could answer, Ryan’s voice cut in, commanding through the link.

‘Come. We’ll have her open bit by bit. Just do as I say.’

I clenched my jaw but pushed the irritation aside as I stepped into the bedroom.

I covered her carefully with the sheets, leaving my jacket draped around her shoulders. I refused to take it back. She needed to feel I wasn’t abandoning her again. Even the smallest gesture mattered now.

She shifted slightly, curling into herself for comfort. My heart broke at the sight.

I knelt closer and spoke, my voice timid, almost fragile. “Please know I will come back to you. But there are secrets we can’t speak aloud. You… you’ll need to help us break what prevents us from telling the truth.”

She didn’t look up. She didn’t even acknowledge me. The silence hollowed me out.

Hopelessness clawed at me, but then I remembered her love for music. I considered replaying the song I had written, filling the room with the piano’s warmth. But doubt struck—what if it only made her pain worse? What if I reminded her of all she had lost instead of giving her peace?

Before I could decide, Ryan linked me.

‘Just kiss her and leave. She isn’t fully with us yet, but that will change soon. You’ll see.’

A command. One I wasn’t used to receiving from him. Yet… he was right. He had been right more than once these past hours, and as much as it burned my pride, I couldn’t ignore it.

So I leaned down, bent to her level, and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

It wasn’t forceful. It wasn’t a claim. It was a promise, a whisper of devotion left behind as I pulled away—praying she would feel, even if she couldn’t yet believe, that I wasn’t going to abandon her.

Leaving the room, a sharp bang struck my chest. The thought of her alone with Ryan—the beast of war—gnawed at me. I hated it. Yet I had no choice. Duty demanded I face the pack, even as my heart demanded I stay.

Every step down the corridor was heavy, my mind torn between two battles: the private one of protecting her from the man who shared my blood, and the public one of guiding my people through her grief.

I had to speak of her state. I had to speak of her pup—their Luna’s lost child—and help them understand the fragility of her spirit. I had to show them that compassion was not weakness, but the duty of every wolf who called themselves pack.

And I had to admit the truth, even if only in part. That she was my mate. That she was bound to me in ways she herself could not yet feel.

That was the cruelest part of all.

She could not sense the bond. She could not feel the pull that burned through my chest every time I looked at her. And I did not know why. The curse tangled itself between us, severing what should have been unbreakable, hiding what should have been undeniable.

I clenched my fists at my sides, forcing myself to breathe, forcing myself to steady. For her sake. For the pack’s.

I would be their Alpha, their Prince, their shield. And when I returned, I would be hers again.