ANMELDENZANEMy 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 Elara gasps. “Oh. My. Gods.” I raise a brow in the mirror, but I already know what she’s reacting to. Because I look dangerous. The long black dress clings to every curve like it was custom-melted onto my skin. The thin straps barely hold it up, and the back dips so low I might as well
LyraMy breath catches. “What?”His eyes drop, just for a second, then lifts again, almost daring me to lie. The fabric of the thong snaps against me again. By now, I know I’m dripping on his counter.Big hands move to my lace bra, fingers softly brushing over the fabric until he finds my perked
LYRAThe next door opens, and I almost groan in relief. Thank fuck the stupid rock maze gave my arms just enough time to stop screaming. They still ache, but it’s the manageable kind now. The kind I can work through. The next room is long and wide, stark and industrial. Targets line the far wall
LYRA“The final cadet starting warrior training — Maria López.”My stomach sinks. Tabitha didn’t make it.I swallow hard, forcing myself to keep my face neutral as the weight of it settles in. Tabitha fought like hell. She deserved better. And yet, Maria is staying in her place. Bittersweet doesn







