ログインZANEMy gaze finds Lyra again. To anyone else, she probably looks composed. Her chin is lifted, and her expression carefully schooled into indifference, but I know better. The turmoil in her eyes betrays her.Her greatest secret is no longer hers alone, and for perhaps the first time in her life, there is nothing she can do to stop it from spreading.“What else?” She keeps her voice even, and Damian raises his head, his eyes flicking between us.“I know you and the alpha are supposed to be unmatched in battle, and for Khaíros to fulfill his purpose, one of you has to die.”My wolf hurls itself against the inside of my mind with such violence that the snarl reverberates through my skull.“Why?” Lyra remains calm as she questions him.“You two are balance,” Damian sighs. "The Shield contains chaos. The Weapon commands it. Separate, you're powerful, but together, you're the lock." He shakes his head. "Break the lock and the chaos escapes.”He swallows. “Only then can there be enough of
ZANELyra is right. I know she is, but I do not trust Damian enough to release him from the cells yet, so I decide to mindlink the healer. As always, Doctor Bennett responds instantly to confirm that he is on his way, while I relay everything that happened. Doctor Bennett may not know that Lyra is a lycan, but he knows about the history of my family and our search for the Relic. There are perhaps four people inside the Eclipse Pack whom I trust with the entire truth. Doctor Bennett is one of them. He has treated pack members torn apart by rogues, stitched warriors back together after battles that should have killed them, and more importantly, he has never once betrayed the secrets entrusted to him.Besides, if anyone is going to treat a wound left by the Weapon, he needs to know exactly what happened.If a Weapon forged by the goddess leaves a wound, I refuse to let pride convince me that keeping secrets is the right course of action. Even now, I struggle to reconcile the woman
LYRAI stare at my hand.Zane's Alpha aura still wraps around me like liquid gold, warm and steady against my skin, but something else is happening inside it.A thread of light hangs from my palm, swaying gently, as though someone has plucked a strand from the sun itself and placed it in my hand.I don't remember reaching for it. I don't remember even trying to summon anything. I don’t even know how to fucking do it, but here it is. A golden rope that simply... exists."What the hell is that?" I whisper, but Zane doesn’t answer. His eyes move to my hand for less than a second, before focusing back on Damian, but I hear him suck in a sharp breath. “Gods.”Yeah. That's Alpha style panic. Which means exhaling once, muttering something, and then pretending absolutely nothing is wrong.Men are weird.My attention is drawn back when the strand in my hand pulses. It glows brighter than the Alpha aura surrounding us, so brilliant I almost have to squint. Molten gold drips from it without eve
LYRAThe cells beneath the Eclipse Pack feel wrong. The heavy door slams shut behind us, a metallic boom echoing down the stone corridor. The further we descend into the lower levels, the colder the air becomes, and the smell of damp stone, blood and wet fur rolls over me.The dungeon is almost empty, but every cell is lined with enough silver to make my skin itch. Only one low, guttural sound echoes through the halls.“Ly-ra. Ly-ra. Ly-ra.”His voice slithers through the cells long before we reach him, but it doesn’t sound like a human voice anymore. Not really. It’s warped, as though something inside Damian is scraping to crawl out through his vocal cords.Is it fucking disturbing? Absolutely.Is it enough to make me turn around? Not a chance.I try to fight off the shiver running down my spine while my lycan raises her hackles in my mind.Zane and I pass the empty cells first, but the chanting grows louder with every step.Zane's fingers brush mine softly before he intertwines o
ZANE The door to the dining room cracks open, and Elara’s voice rings out from the hallway. “Is it safe? Is everyone decent?” I bite back a smirk as Lyra laughs. At least Elara understood that she needed to leave us alone for our… reconciliation. “Just come in, Elara.” She comes bouncing over, taking a seat beside Lyra and pulling her into a hug so tight it could crush bones. Immediately, the mood shifts. An unspoken understanding passes between us that Elara does not need to know about all of this just yet. Not without a plan forward. I suspect we might get more strategic advice from Lyra’s family than a twenty-one year old with a knack for the dramatics. “Sorry I’m late. For some unknown reason, Rion decided now is the right time to judge my sparring.” She rolls her eyes and begins dishing up. Naturally, my sister’s first question would be. “So when can we tell the pack we finally have a Luna?” The air shifts. What was intense and worrying before becomes…
LYRASelene sighs like it should be obvious. “Because the relic wasn’t meant for the Shield.” She points at him. "You are already everything Diana needed you to become," Selene states.A slow smile tugs at my lips."So..."I glance sideways."Congratulations."Zane raises an eyebrow."On what?""Apparently you've peaked."His deadpan stare lasts all of two seconds before one corner of his mouth twitches."Careful, love.""Oh, don't blame me."I point across the table."She's the one who said you've reached your full potential."Selene chuckles."I did."Then she turns toward me.“Anyway, the witches obeyed Diana’s order and found a powerful Alpha.” Selene smirks. “They gathered and weaved one of the greatest spells ever attempted.”Her voice grows quieter."Some of those witches knew they couldn’t survive it. So they willingly sacrificed themselves for the cause.”I stare at her."They... died?"Selene nods."But rather than allowing their souls' magic to return naturally to the ear
LYRA“You didn’t have to walk with me, you know.”I glance up at Zane, who—for reasons known only to the gods—has decided to escort me all the way to Talia’s apartment.“I have matters to discuss with my warriors,” he replies flatly.“Couldn’t you just have ‘summoned’ them?” I make exaggerated air
LYRA For some reason, I’m woken up at three-fucking-thirty the next morning. Way too early for my run at five with the other cadets. And no matter how apologetic Clara looks, it doesn’t help my annoyance the least bit. Because her only explanation? “The Alpha insisted.” And of course, when he sp
LYRA Of course, the Eclipse Alpha would have his own training hall. Of course, the Wynters wouldn’t mix their training with the rest of the pack. It explains a lot, actually. Why I’ve never seen Zane train with the warriors. Or Ellie, for that matter. But I suppose spectacularly fucking up in th
ZANE The following morning finds me seated behind my desk at pack headquarters, my office bathed in pale morning light, a neat stack of reports laid out before me. I should be focused. I am focused—at least, that’s what I tell myself.The pack is thriving. Better than thriving.Our ventures in the







