Lyria Voss was born into a legacy of betrayal. Her parents were falsely accused of treason and executed, leaving her to be sold into slavery to the ruthless Ironclaw Pack. She learned to survive by hardening her heart, vowing never to trust an Alpha—but fate bound her to Kael Raventhorn, a ruthless alpha king, feared and respected in equal measure. When kael discovers Lyria is his mate, he refuses to accept the bond, unwilling to be shackled to an Omega with a past that could threaten his reign. But destiny is relentless. As long-buried secrets resurface and an ancient bloodline emerges from the shadows, Lyria and Kael find themselves at the heart of a war that could reshape the werewolf world. With enemies lurking in the shadows, betrayals cutting deeper than fangs, and a love that defies destiny, Kael and Lyria must decide whether to fight for each other or become the very weapons that destroy everything. In a world where power is everything, can love rewrite fate?
View MoreLyria’s POV
My breaths came in ragged gasps as I tried to keep my head above the surface of the deep, cold, and relentless river. I forgot how to catch my own breath the moment I watched my mum’s body gradually sink deeper. Desperation coursed through my entire existence as I struggled against the current. “Hold on, Mom, please!” I cried, reaching for her. After what felt like a lifetime, I was happy that I had almost gotten to her. Albeit unsettling that her head was now dangerously below the water and she wouldn't last long there, her struggling hands above it still offered me a glimmer of hope. In no time, I covered the little gap left between us, only for me to try and connect my hand with hers, and then—my fingers brushed nothing but air. To my utter bewilderment, she didn’t even drown. She just vanished. My loud scream was met with derisive laughter as I jerked back to life. To reality. I wasn’t dreaming anymore, yet water dripped down my face in a slow, steady trickle. My mat was soaked, and my saturated clothes clung to my skin. Then I looked up to see three women—three elders’ wives hovering above me. And I realized that I had just awoken from one nightmare, only for another to affront me. In a pack where I was generally treated like shit, these women were a pain in my delicate ass. It was still very early in the morning, but they seemed to be catching the fun of their lives, all laughing like the jobless women they were as one of them carried a bucket of water in her hand and another held a cup. “Finally awake, are we?” the chief elder's wife who is their leader sneered, tilting the tin cup for another pour. The second woman holding the cup scoffed. “Sleeping like a spoiled pup while work awaits. I can't even believe she's having another nightmare again.” “Of course, she would keep having nightmares,” the third woman added, crossing her arms around her bosom, grimacing. “A useless Omega like her wouldn’t be able to afford the luxury of a good sleep.” I swallowed hard, gripping the damp fabric of my dress as the third woman's mockery elicited another round of laughter from the three of them. I just stared at them in silence as their laughter danced across the storeroom, hitting the wall and bouncing back to affront me. In a bid to suppress my anger, I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath. Not that my anger would have any impact on them. It would only incur more punishment on me. Over the years, I had endured and gotten used to different levels of punishment. My wolf was so weak and quiescent. I had always been the one defending us, retaliating, and bearing the brunt. But I was starting to get worn out from the routine, and I was trying to avoid drama. That was the only reason why I wasn’t shouting back at them for this current maltreatment. For a moment, I thought my inhalation technique was working, and I was doing better at suppressing my anger before them—until the second woman’s bitter voice hit my ears again. “Close your eyes from now till eternity. It won’t change the fact that you’re just a weak omega.” I bit my lower lip to see if that would help me suppress my anger since the inhalation method had failed me, and then the third woman added, “A traitor's child at that.” Those words had my eyes snapping open instantly as I stared at the three of them one after the other, fuming, before I fixed my gaze back on the woman who had just spoken. “Don’t!” I only said, trying so much not to explode. For a moment, I thought that warning would be enough. But obviously, the woman knew no threshold. Her overfamiliarity with my weakness had eaten too deep into her for her to stop. “Don’t what?” she demanded with a smirk. “Your parents were nothing but traitors.” And that did it. That was the last straw that set me off. I didn’t register when I rose from the drenched mat. The next thing I knew, my hands were wrapped around her head in a chokehold. “I would take anything, but don’t you ever speak I'll of my parents.” As if in a daze, her two other companions didn’t say a word after chorusing a gasp. They were stunned into silence. At their friend’s throaty cry for help, they finally snapped out of their daze. It was then that I was pushed away from her and subdued. Before they could retaliate, the Chief Elder’s voice boomed—the husband of the one I had just attacked. “What’s going on here?” The elder's eyes narrowed at first when his wife, the affronted woman, started narrating what had happened to him. But those narrowed eyes started growing bigger and bigger with every lie and exaggeration she put in her words. The moment she lied that I slapped her and also attempted to pour water on her face, I thought his eyes would pop out of their sockets with how dilated they seemed. I didn’t even bother defending myself because he would never support me over anything or anyone, let alone over his wife. The moment he seized me and tried to drag me away for punishment, I made sure not to allow her lies to go to total waste. I wriggled out of his hold, and in one swift movement that they would have never seen coming even in a thousand years, I grabbed the bucket and emptied the remaining water onto their faces before my wrist was shackled again by the enormous hand of the elder. As I was dragged away for punishment, I couldn't help but smirk when I shoulder-checked them to see them drenched. Their look of discomfiture enraptured me, and their profanities were like music to my ears. As my penance, I spent the next hours doing more strenuous work than usual around the large compound designated for all the elders of the pack. The scent of wet earth and pine clung to the morning air as I scrubbed the wooden floor of the pack’s main hall, my knuckles raw from hours of work. The icy water in the bucket stung my fingers, but I couldn’t dare pause when the elders around were watching. They conferred about the Blood Moon Festival happening on the morrow and how they would compose themselves before the Alpha King, who would be attending for the first time in several years. Everyone spoke so high and mighty of this Alpha King, but that's none of my business, so I paid the elders no attention—until one of them suddenly paused and shouted at me. “Faster! More work awaits, you lazy thing.” Lazy. That was their favorite word for me. It didn’t matter that I worked from dawn till midnight, fetching, cleaning, cooking—whatever task they deemed beneath them. To them, I would always be nothing more than the orphaned slave girl they bought at a bargain. I stubbornly maintained my pace while I continued scrubbing the floor, a silent dare for him to do his worst, but he just ignored me and continued his discussion. I swallowed hard and forced myself upright when I was done scrubbing, my limbs aching from exhaustion. Twelve years had passed since I was dragged to the Ironclaw Pack, shackled and starving. Twelve years of servitude, of swallowing every insult, of knowing that no matter how hard I worked, to them, I would never be more than the omega whose parents were traitors. I should be numb by now. But the nightmares didn’t let me forget. They came occasionally, sometimes taking different forms, just like how it took the form of my mum drowning today. But all my nightmares often repeated the same themes: My mother’s voice, whispering my name. The metallic scent of blood. My father’s roar of agony before silence swallowed him whole. I hated Alphas with passion, to say nothing of the Alpha King, who was the Alpha of this pack and also the King of all werewolves. He was an unknown enemy. And I liked that, all these years, I’d never had a reason to cross paths with him. I wanted nothing more than for it to continue that way. “Hey!” I suddenly heard a voice boom from one of the elders behind me as I carried on with my task nonchalantly. But I focused on what I was doing even more, refusing to spare them a glance—until the elder unknowingly corrected himself. “Lyria, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?” he thundered. Only then did I twirl slightly toward his direction, making an effort to hide the smirk playing at the corner of my lips. But it turned out my smirk was a snitch. “What is so amusing?” he asked. “Anyways, listen, and listen well. You’re cleaning the feet of the Alpha King tomorrow to welcome him to his seat.” My smirk vanished immediately. And his came alive.Lyria's POV Maybe it was the labor pains that jolted me awake again—or the frantic way Kael and Mira were shouting my name. I didn’t even know which it was. I blinked, dazed and gasping, my vision spinning as I tried to claw my way back to reality. My breath hitched, the air felt thick, and every inch of my body screamed in pain.Gods, how long had I tapped out? Seconds? Minutes? But when my eyes finally cleared, when I saw Kael’s face hovering above me—his eyes wide and glassy, his lips trembling with relief—I knew one thing for certain.I was alive. And so was he.We were fucking alive!The searing memory of the battle came crashing back in fragments—the evil sorcerer, the blinding flashes of magic, the screams, the blood. And then… nothing. Until now.I let out a breathless sob, clutching at Kael’s hand, feeling Mira’s hands already working around me.“It’s over?” I gasped out hoarsely, barely able to form the words.Kael nodded fiercely, brushing my hair back from my sweaty face
Kael's POVA bloodcurdling scream tore from my throat as I watched Hood stumble back, clutching his side where the Chief Elder’s blade had sunk deep. Time seemed to freeze for a split second—just long enough for the horror to sear into my chest like molten iron.“No! Hood!” I roared, my voice shattering through the chaos.But my feet wouldn’t move. My heart was in a chokehold because right behind me, Lyria was still writhing in agony, her face slick with sweat, her hands gripping her swollen belly. Each cry of hers was a dagger through me, but even through her unbearable pain, her eyes darted wildly, still scanning, still searching—desperate to sense the relic we’d risked everything to find.I clenched my fists, torn between rushing to Hood and staying by her side. My instincts screamed at me to protect them both, but I was only one man—and this bastard, this traitorous bastard, had just turned everything into a nightmare.Even the warriors weren't able to catch him as he kept appeari
Kael's POVThe journey had been hellish, but as the jagged edges of the forgotten ruins finally came into view, I felt a strange mix of relief and dread settle over me. The weathered stones loomed like silent sentinels, casting eerie shadows as the dying light of the sun bled across the sky. My hands tightened around Lyria’s waist instinctively, feeling the slight tremors of her body as she writhed and moaned in pain. Her head lolled back against my shoulder, sweat plastering strands of her dark hair to her temple. Her cries had softened but carried a rawness that sliced right through me every time they rose from her throat.“We’re here,” I whispered, voice tight, as I gently slowed the horse to a stop.Hood and Mira were already scanning the area, their eyes sharp and on edge. The warriors flanked us, visibly relieved but still wearing that gnawing confusion they hadn’t shaken off since we left. And the elders—especially the chief elder—stood stiff, eyes darting around the ruins lik
Kael's POVThe evening air was heavy, almost suffocating as we set out, and though the evening light still painted a clear path ahead, everything felt shrouded in tension. I glanced behind me, my eyes scanning the silent line of warriors trailing along, their steps steady but uncertain. The chief elder walked at the head of the group, flanked by two more elders, all of them wearing the same expression—a mix of confusion and suspicion that they hadn’t bothered to hide since we left the palace grounds.I could feel their eyes on me, burning questions they dared not ask out loud.Not one of them knew where we were going, or why I’d summoned them in such a strange manner. I hadn’t offered even the smallest detail—just a cold command to prepare and follow. And yet, as puzzled as they were, nothing confused them more than seeing her.Their queen.Lyria.In labor.Even now, as I gripped the reins and guided the horse through the winding, shadow-draped path, I could feel their eyes flicking
Lyria's POVKael stepped into the room, and for a heartbeat, the only thing I felt was pure relief. My chest lifted as though a weight had been yanked off me, and a bright, uncontrollable smile stretched across my lips. I moved toward him instinctively, my heart racing for all the right reasons now.He was here. Safe. Alive.But then… my smile faltered.Kael’s eyes met mine, and something in his gaze made my breath hitch. His expression was unreadable—closed off in a way I hadn’t seen in a long while. And that wasn’t all. My eyes traveled over him quickly, drinking in every inch, and a cold knot began to form in my stomach. His clothes were a mess—dirtied and torn in places. There was a long scrape down one sleeve, dried mud along his boots, and a streak of something darker—blood?—on his arm.My stomach twisted painfully.“Kael,” I breathed, stepping closer, my hand instinctively reaching out to touch his arm, to reassure myself that he was real and standing in front of me. “What hap
Lyria's POV The breeze caressed my cheeks as I stood at the edge of the forest, golden rays of sunlight spilling through the canopy above. Everything around me felt still and serene, the kind of peace I had yearned for these past weeks. My hands were pressed gently over my stomach, feeling the soft thrum of life growing within me, and for once, I felt safe. I smiled softly as I spotted Kael in the distance, riding toward me on his black stallion just like he had promised. His hair caught the light, and even from afar I could make out the determined look in his eyes.My sweetheart was coming back to me.My heart fluttered as he drew closer, hooves thudding rhythmically across the earth. I took a step forward, joy warming my chest. But then, the air around me shifted. It grew colder. Dense.From nowhere, a cloaked figure appeared in Kael’s path.Kael pulled on the reins sharply, his horse rearing with a shrill cry as the masked man stepped into view. The stranger's face was hidden be
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