LOGINLyseraHenry did not stay long after that. Part of me expected him to insist on coming inside the mansion. Another part expected him to continue pushing until I softened toward him completely.Instead, Henry seemed to notice the exhaustion written all over my face because after speaking briefly with Timothy and the head maid he brought, he stepped back toward his carriage.“I’ll return tomorrow evening to check on things,” he said quietly.The words startled me faintly. Return? Why would he want to do that? I’m not his business. Before I could properly respond, he bowed his head once toward me.“Rest, Lady Lysera.”Then he left. Just like that without any pressure, no demands and no forcing himself deeper into my space.It threw me off.I stood there silently watching the Alpha carriages disappear through the estate gates while confusion twisted endlessly inside my chest.Timothy glanced sideways at me eventually. “You look disappointed.”I immediately frowned at him. “I absolutely do
Lysera“Lady Lysera.” The words wrapped around me softly, almost dangerously gentle coming from him. My pulse stumbled harder.Henry was still holding my hand. His lips had only just left the back of it, yet warmth continued spreading through my skin like fire racing beneath my veins. I could still feel the pressure of his mouth there. Still smell cedarwood and smoke surrounding me completely now that he stood this close.Moon Goddess. I hated how strongly my body reacted to him. The bond was getting stronger. Why? I couldn’t come up with any answer.The mating bond pulsed heavily inside my chest, warm and alive and painfully aware of every inch separating us. My wolf had completely woken now. I could feel her pacing restlessly beneath my skin, no longer sleepy or buried deep inside me like before.She was thrilled.Traitor.Her emotions tangled more tightly with mine that it became difficult separating where my own reactions ended and hers began. The result left me dizzy enough that
Lysera“I’ll be needing a financial manager too,” I said quietly as I stopped beside one of the flowering bushes.The pale blue petals swayed gently beneath the morning breeze, still damp from the night rain. My mother loved these flowers. She claimed they only bloomed properly when spoken to kindly every morning.I used to think she was ridiculous for that. Now, standing inside the garden she treasured more than anything else in this estate, I finally understood why she spent so much time here.This place had been her escape. The only thing my father never completely controlled. The only thing he allowed her to love openly.My fingers brushed lightly across one of the petals as old memories surfaced quietly inside my mind. I remembered being younger and watching my mother kneel in this exact spot while dirt stained the edges of her expensive dresses. She used to hum softly while planting flowers, looking more peaceful here than she ever did inside the mansion.Sometimes I wondered wh
Author’s POVThe silence inside the entrance hall stretched heavily after Lysera dismissed them.No one moved at first. The servants simply stood there staring at her as though they could not fully process what had just happened. Some looked frightened. A few looked ashamed enough they could not even meet her eyes properly anymore.The older maid’s lips trembled slightly.“Miss Lysera…” she whispered weakly, like she still hoped this was temporary.But Lysera had already turned away because if she kept looking at them too long, old memories started rising too quickly. Too vividly.She could still remember standing in this exact hallway at sixteen while blood dripped slowly from her split lip after Isyra slapped her hard enough to send her crashing against the staircase railing.None of these people helped her then. They only watched. Some pretended not to see. Others laughed quietly after Isyra walked away. And somehow, that part hurt even more than the violence itself.Timothy follo
Author’s POVTwo days after the Luna ceremony, the Monroe estate felt haunted.The massive mansion that once overflowed with noise, servants and authority now stood eerily quiet beneath the gray afternoon sky. The long stone pathways leading toward the entrance were empty. No guards stood at the gates anymore. No maids rushed through the gardens carrying trays or flowers.Even the fountains had been turned off.For years, the Monroe estate had been one of the most feared homes within the pack territory. Wolves lowered their heads when passing it. Servants trembled while working inside it. Important elders once gathered there like loyal followers surrounding a throne.Now it looked abandoned. Like a carcass left behind after something violent had died inside it.The heavy iron gates creaked open slowly as Timothy guided the carriage through the estate grounds. Lysera sat quietly across from him.She had not spoken much during the journey there.Truthfully, she still felt numb.Everythi
Author’s POVFor a moment after Lysera spoke, the entire ceremonial hall fell silent. Not the tense silence from before Not the silence of shock or fear.This silence felt heavy and filled with shame.It settled over the crowd like something living, pressing against their chests until breathing itself became difficult. Hundreds of eyes remained fixed on Lysera, on the tears slipping silently down her face, on the quiet exhaustion in her expression.And suddenly, the truth became unbearable. Because she truly had never fought back. Not really. She had endured, suffered and somehow survived. And all of them had watched it happen.Women who once whispered cruel things about her now lowered their eyes in shame. Men who mocked her looked deeply uncomfortable. Some of the older pack members looked genuinely horrified by their own memories.The hall no longer looked at Isyra with admiration. Now they looked at her with fear. And Isyra felt it. She felt the shift happening completely beneath
LyseraI snapped awake to screaming.Not the kind that belonged to nightmares or memory, but real—raw, panicked, echoing through stone and corridors like a warning bell rung too hard, too fast.“Maids! Healers! Someone come—now! The alpha is drying!”Harlow’s voice.My heart slammed against my ribs
Author’s POVThe visiting Alpha arrived just before dusk, his presence announced long before his footsteps ever crossed into the pack house.There was a shift in the air when another Alpha entered foreign territory—an instinctive tightening, a low hum of awareness that ran through the guards and se
Author’s POVHenry stood ankle-deep in water.The lake was small and shallow, the surface barely disturbed except for the faint ripples spreading out from where he stood. The water was cold enough to bite, but not enough to hurt. Pale reeds ringed the edges, bending slightly as though moved by a br
LyseraFor a long while after I fell silent, Healer Apollo said nothing.The room felt strangely small then, as though the walls had crept closer while I was talking. The quiet pressed against my ears until I almost wished he would interrupt me, accuse me of lying, do something to break the tension







