MasukLYRA’S POV"He’s doing it again, Killian. Look."I leaned against the balcony railing of the high tower, my hair whipping around my face in the sharp mountain air. Below us, the training grounds of the Blackwood Manor were a hive of motion. But my eyes weren't on the seasoned warriors or the new recruits from the Ghost Pack. They were on the boy standing in the center of the stone circle.Cian was seven now. He had Killian’s broad shoulders and my stubborn jaw, but when he moved, he had a grace that didn't belong to either of us. He wasn't holding a wooden practice sword like the other pups. He was just standing there, his small hands open, his silver eyes fixed on a massive jagged boulder that had sat in that courtyard since before my grandfather was born.Killian stepped up behind me, his chest warm against my back. He wrapped his heavy arms around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder. He smelled like leather and the sharp, clean scent of the first winter frost."He’s not just
LYRA'S POV. "You look like a Queen, but you still smell like a wet dog, Lyra."I looked up from the mirror, a small, tired grin tugging at my lips. Sora was leaning against the heavy oak doorframe of my dressing room, her bone spear resting casually against her shoulder. She had cleaned up...sort of. The thick layer of mountain mud was gone, but the scars on her face were as red and angry as ever, and she still wore her leather armor like a second skin."It’s the wolf in me, Sora," I said, smoothed down the front of my dress. It was a deep, velvet green, the color of the pine needles in the heart of the Blackwood forest. It was heavy, warm, and far too expensive for a woman who had spent the last month sleeping on stone floors. "Besides, Killian doesn't seem to mind the smell."Sora snorted, walking into the room with that silent, predatory grace that made the Ghost Pack so terrifying. She stopped in front of me, her good eye scanning my face. She reached out, her rough, calloused th
Killian’s POV. "He’s got your stubbornness, Lyra. Look at how he’s gripping my finger. He won't let go."I didn't move my hand. I couldn't. I just sat there on the edge of the bed, staring at the tiny, breathing miracle tucked against Lyra’s chest. The silver in his eyes was fading now, turning into a deep, stormy gray, but the power I’d felt from him...the spark that had pulled me back from the edge of the Void...was still there. It was a physical thing, a warmth that made the air in the room feel thick and sweet.Lyra let out a tired, shaky laugh. She looked exhausted, her hair a wild mess of damp curls, her skin pale. But she looked at the boy with a hunger that made my chest ache. "He’s a Blackwood, Killian. What did you expect? He’s already decided he owns the place.""He does," I whispered. I leaned down, my lips brushing her forehead, then the top of the boy’s velvet-soft head. He smelled like new life and mountain rain. "The whole North is his. We just have to make sure there
LYRA’S POVThe aftermath of a war doesn't look like a victory. It looks like a graveyard.I sat on the cold stone floor of the fortress courtyard, my legs tangled with Killian’s. He was alive, his heart thumping a slow, steady rhythm against my side, but the weight of the silence around us was suffocating. The air was thick with the scent of ozone from the broken staff and the metallic tang of blood that had soaked into the very pores of the mountain."Lyra," Killian rasped, his hand tightening around mine. His voice was still thin, his throat raw from the scream the Void had pulled out of him. "The baby. Is he...?"I rested my hand over the bump of my stomach. The silver glow had faded, but a warm, humming energy remained, like the embers of a fire. "He’s sleeping. I think he used everything he had to bring you back."Killian leaned his head back against a jagged piece of the gate, his gold eyes scanning the carnage. A few feet away, Silas Vane’s body lay twisted in his blackened arm
LYRA’S POVThe silver horn blew one last time, but it wasn’t a call to arms. It was a death rattle.I shoved through a wall of smoke and the smell of burnt hair, my heart thumping so hard I thought it would crack my ribs. The fortress courtyard was a graveyard of broken shields and shattered stone. The Council had brought everything...siege engines, fire-casters, and five hundred men in gleaming plates. But they hadn’t counted on the ghosts. Sora’s pack was everywhere, a blur of teeth and jagged bone spears, tearing through the "civilized" army like a winter storm through a dry wheat field."Killian!" I screamed, my voice cracking.I didn't care about the stray arrows or the dying soldiers reaching for my ankles. My eyes were locked on the center of the chaos. There, standing over the rubble of the main gate, was a man I barely recognized.Silas Vane didn't look like a diplomat anymore. He was wearing heavy, silver-plated armor that looked like it had been molded onto his skin. In his
LYRA’S POV"Move, Lyra! Don't look back!"Killian’s hand was a vice around my wrist, pulling me through the thick underbrush. The branches slapped at my face, stinging my cheeks, but I didn't feel the pain. My lungs were on fire. Every breath felt like I was swallowing jagged glass. Behind us, the sound of that silver horn was still shaking the trees, a long, mournful note that felt like a funeral march."They're gaining," Rowan gasped. He was stumbling behind us, his face white as a sheet, his glasses lopsided. He was clutching that charred scrap of the map like his life depended on it...and it did. "I can hear the horses. Those aren't normal horses, Killian. They're moving too fast.""I know," Killian growled. He stopped for a split second, his head turning toward the ridge. His nostrils flared, his eyes turning that hot, dangerous gold. "The First Knight. He’s not here to talk. He’s here to harvest."We dove down a steep embankment, sliding through the mud and dead leaves. I hit th
Lyra's POV. The chanting finally broke, ragged breaths filling the dorm. The other heirs exchanged glances, muttered under their breath, and one by one, they started moving. I didn’t flinch as they shuffled toward the door. Eryk, Dax, and Jase lingered, eyes flicking back to me, hesitating like th
Killian's POV. I hadn’t slept well in days. Not since Rowan had stared me down in that dorm, not since he had dared to call me out, to challenge me. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him...smirking, calm, daring me to move, daring me to act. Mine. Mine, and yet… I hated him.Leading him and the o
Killian’s POV. I didn’t even have time to shout a warning before the first scream ripped through the trees. One second I was staring at the treeline, smelling that foul, rotten scent of rogues, and the next, the forest literally exploded with fur and teeth. They didn’t come at us like a normal
Killian's POV. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I watched them flail. The Alpha Heirs...my so-called elite trainees...struggling like newborn pups on the climbing rig. They groaned, slipped, grunted, muttered excuses. Some even laughed at each other’s failures. I could feel m







