Princess Lyra Raven crest has always lived in the shadow of expectation, too weak to rule as an omega but the only buffer between her kingdom and her psychotic brother's tyranny. When the Great Council strips Kael of his birthright and names her heir, there is only one problem: the throne demands she marry an alpha, in accordance with ancient law. Then she scents him in the midst of a battle beneath the full moon, pine, winter storms, and clean dominant male. Her mate. Her salvation.Too bad he's Marcus Thornfield, the deadly alpha who's sworn to destroy her kin. Marcus has been hunting for years for the Raven crest prince who murdered his family. He never imagined that he'd find his destined omega among his enemies, her fragrance calling forth every possessive instinct he's tried to bury. She's supposed to be his revenge, not his weakness. But when Kael abducts Marcus in an attempt to force Lyra's hand, she must decide: save her mate and lose her kingdom, or claim her throne and watch the man she loves die. In a world where omegas are underappreciated and alphas rule by strength alone, Lyra will discover that sometimes the greatest power is not in reigning but in summoning the strength to reunite what was always meant to be apart. Because sometimes bonds are stronger than blood. Some loves are worth going to war for. And some omegas are going to change the world.
View MoreTHE SENT OF DESTINY.
Lyra POV
"Kael is here!" the guards shouted.
The arrow whizzed past my face, grazing my skin, before sinking into the wall behind me. I crashed to the ground, my back slamming into the stone as I pressed my trembling hands on my chest.
"Damn it," I muttered.
It's Kael. My brother. Even over the clash of steel below, I could still hear his vow: that he'd take back what was his, no matter who he had to kill.
In the courtyard below, swords clashed and men screamed, their cries drowned by the ringing of steel.
I moved toward the tower window and gripped the wall.
Kael lunged at the guard and drove his sword into the guard's chest. The guard fell, and blood spread all over the ground.
I felt a sharp pain as my stomach twisted. I swallowed the pain.
This is my fault.
My throat burned as I choked back the words, If only the council had chosen my brother. A wolf howled.
Another group joined in. Kael's warriors had brought their hounds.
Should I run away? Or I should return to my room as the weak omega that I am and let the alphas kill themselves.
I couldn't move my leg as I watched people die because of a crown I never desired.
The wind changed, bringing a smell that made my wolf uneasy.
Something caught my breath.
"No!" I held the windowsill; my omega nose didn't lie. "This can't be happening," I whispered. But my body failed me. As heat rushes through my veins.
My heart pounded as I bit my lips to keep quiet. My mate is down there in the middle of the fight. Fighting my family, as the scent grew stronger and closer.
I looked across the courtyard, and I saw him, a drake shape moving between Kael's men like a shadow...
His eye locked on me from a distance..."You," I whispered without meaning to.
His lips curved into the faintest of smiles, as though he heard me, though the clash of steel still rang in the air.
Oh, no, Marcus Thornfield, the winter wolf. My brother's worst enemy. His pack's blood is on Kael's hand. And now he's here, cutting down my guards like a shadow.
He looked up like he felt I was watching him. His nose twitched. He smelled me.
The fighting ended.
For a second, everything stopped.
We gazed at each other, enemies who somehow know each other.
An arrow hit his feet.
He turned as I saw him step forward from the tower window. As his alpha pushed him to break in and take what was in the same way, my omega screamed to go to him.
Then…
"Princess!" Captain Reynolds burst in, blood streaking his armor. He bowed his head, breathless.
"How bad is it?"
"Your brother has withdrawn, Your Highness. This is just a warning; the real fight will come tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Marcus will be my enemy. This mate, fate has chosen for me, is about to destroy all I was born to protect.
"Princess!" Captain Reynolds drew closer with a concerned voice.
"You are injured? You look pale..."
"I'm fine," I interrupted, hugging myself, though my hands trembled.
"Just tired," I said, forcing a smile.
He studied me for a moment, then sighed. "Very well, your Highness. We'll double the guards at your door tonight."
"That is not necessary..."
"It is," he cut in sharply. His eyes darkened. "Your brother... He might come for you next."
His words hit me like a stone. "Come for me?"
Reynolds' jaw tightened. "Yes," your Highness. "If Kael can't take the throne overnight, he'll take you to control it. Don't underestimate him.
"I looked away. Of course," I murmured, forcing my hands to still.
Reynolds glanced back at the door. "If you need anything tonight...
"I'll call".
He hesitated, then bowed. "Try to rest.
The moment he left, I returned to the window once more. By the time I got to the window, the courtyard was empty; only the dead bodies remained.
Everybody has withdrawn to plan for another attack.
He tempts me. I pressed my head on the wall as I closed my eyes.
In some stories, mates are perfect. What if fate were somehow funny? What if it gives you a lover you will never love without you losing all that you loved?
"Marcus Thornfie," I called his name in the dark. It looks like being saved and cursed at the same time.
Tomorrow I'd like to choose the right alpha to settle with. Someone strong enough to give me the power I needed to take the throne and stop Kael's madness.
The council already had a list of alphas, powerful alphas from important packs, who could help me. But none of them smell like Marcus. None of them will make my heart race by just looking at them. Or any of them, the man the moon goddess has chosen for me.
I turned away from the window, my jaw clenched, not just in resolve but in defense. As if I could change fat itself.
"I, Lyra of Raven Crest, the next queen... I whispered to the empty room. I must protect my people, no matter what it will cost me. Even I was killed. Even if I spent the rest of my life asking myself what might have been."
The tower room grew colder as I stepped towards the door. Each step reminds me of the scent that comes from the courtyard.
And a thought came into my mind.
What if Marcus had felt it too? What if Marcus were pacing around his fortress right now, just as I am restless? What if fate knew exactly what it was doing?
This was reckless. It was treason.
As I left the tower room, moving towards my chamber, I couldn't forget the incident that happened that evening.
War is coming to Raven Crest.
Kael will stop at nothing until he takes what he thought was his. And somewhere out there, my mate is planning on how to destroy my family.
But under all the fighting and hard decisions, one thing is sure.
I found him.
Against everything, my other half is out there. Nothing, no duty, no danger, would keep him from me now. But the biggest question is, what should I do?.
I don't know.
Immediately after I entered my room, I heard the guard taking their post outside my room. Then I realized one thing is certain.
Tonight has changed everything.
There is no going back.
Operation ShadowfallThe mountain pass lay shrouded in pre-dawn mist while Captain Thorne moved silently through positions his own men had taken weeks earlier. His personal familiarity with Kael's defenses on the supply trails made him indispensable for the coordinated efforts to be thrown to break what resistance existed without a monstrous amount of bloodshed."Three-minute guard change," he panted over the communications crystal that linked him with strike teams deployed down the mountain range. "Sentry posts alpha and delta will be blinded briefly to the eastern route."Princess Lyra's voice came back over the comms, her empathic field monitoring targets' emotional states across multiple locations simultaneously. "Confirmed. The checkpoint seven guards are displaying fatigue patterns indicative of decreasing vigilance. Window opening now."From his vantage point over the supply depot, Marcus watched an intelligence play out as enemy sentries cycled through their post with clockwor
Army of the HeartThe valley whose voices rose not in cries of war but in song that carried hope across miles of terrain where despair had reigned long unchallenged. Princess Lyra stood on a natural ridge overlooking the conclave, her heightened senses reading emotions that flamed like beacon lights in the hearts of thousands who had flowed in from all corners of the kingdom to be part of what was now no longer just a war campaign.Under her, warriors of mountain clans sat with merchants of the Free Cities by campfires, their laughter bridging cultural divides that had been vast for centuries. River Selkie scouts arrived to inform of gains made without a drop of blood having been shed, and druid healers tended wounds as much spiritual as physical."Fifty thousand at last count," Marcus informed her, glancing at tallies that grew by the hour as more contingents arrived. "But less than half of those are ordinary soldiers. The rest." He gestured towards children with their families, elde
Empathic NetworkLyra remained still at the center of the waystation's communications chamber, her mind extending like tenuous threads a half thousand miles long to reach the minds that never envisioned connection with their enemy. The empathic network she had created in the midst of the crisis had grown from simple battlefield coordination - now it reached into the very center of Kael's remaining strongholds."Contact established," she panted to Master Ahldric, who monitored her life signs as she labored the deadly deep-range empathic link. "Captain Garrett in the eastern stronghold. His loyalty to Kael is unraveling."With the network, she felt the disillusioned veteran's growing doubts regarding senseless orders, his indignation at viewing supplies diverted from his men to fund ever more desperate gambles. More profoundly, she shared his memories of serving under good commanders who'd cared about the well-being of their men."Can you talk straight?" Marcus asked where he instructed
The Southern AllianceThe great hall of Winterhold Castle lay before Marcus like a battlefield where the weapons were words and honor was more valuable than gold. Seated at the massive stone table were five clan lords, their gruff faces the embodiment of the disbelief of men who had lived through decades of broken vows and shattered alliances."Sir Marcus," Ironpeak's Chief Aldwin replied, his own voice echoing with the ring of command founded upon respect, not fear. "You ask what you cannot pay for. No promise of gold dowry, no promise of easy warfare. What do you suggest the Northern Clans get in exchange for our warriors' blood?"Marcus stood without moving nearer the table, custom demanding that he prove himself worthy to sit among equals. "I bring truth, Chief Aldwin. War against corruption, if you don't join our war.""Speak." Chief Mordane of Grimhold leaned forward, his battle-scarred face showing professional interest."The corruption that tainted Prince Kael did not observe
Strategic PlanningThe room for strategy was filled with fierce focus as Princess Lyra stood before a giant map table, eyes closed in focus as her empathic senses reached across miles of terrain to locate the minds of Kael's surviving soldiers. At her side, Marcus moved wooden pieces with military precision, deciphering her supernatural thinking into practical military placement."Northern stronghold shows forty-seven unique emotional signatures," she answered without opening her lids. "Twelve of those have the artificial patterns of loyalty one will see in true corruption. The rest are following through fear, not supernatural compulsion."Marcus used red to mark tokens to mark corrupted foes and used blue to mark coerced troops. "Which means surrender negotiations might be possible with the majority. What about their command structure?"Lyra's perception penetrated further into the fortress, tracking the subtle emotional transactions which revealed command hierarchies invisible to re
Training for CombatPractice sword cut through the air in the morning as Lyra moved effortlessly through combat forms that would have been beyond her a few weeks ago. Her body had adapted to rigorous training with the enhanced healing that her omega powers gave her once she had tapped into them, and she was able to push physical limits that would have caused pain to ordinary warriors.Marcus danced around her with killer fluidity, his own sword testing her defenses with strokes that increased faster and harder than she had ever seen before. "Better. But you're still thinking too much. Let the empathic senses guide the movement."She sidestepped to the side from the push, her sharpened awareness perceiving his plan by emotional resonance instead of waiting for the visual input. The sword that was aimed to strike her between the ribs went through the air harmlessly as she shifted into a riposte that sent him retreating."Excellent work," Captain Nara bellowed from the edge of the traini
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