Claws In Moonlight

Midnight swallowed the palace whole. Lyra could not sit still. She paced the eastern wing like a caged animal while silver light leaked from her pores and left glowing footprints on the stone. Every few steps the power spiked and cracked the floorboards. Kael watched from the corner. Arms crossed. Shirt still missing. Bite mark on his shoulder shining dark and wet from her teeth.

“You feel him out there.”

“Yes.” Lyra’s voice scraped. “He is close. Watching. Waiting for me to slip.”

A low boom shook the walls. Not thunder. Explosions. Rowan’s wolves hitting the outer gates with magic and brute force. Shouts rose from the yards. Steel answered steel. The war had crawled closer under cover of dark.

Kael pushed off the wall. “Stay here.”

“Like hell.” She grabbed his arm. Power jumped between them. Sharp. Electric. It burned his skin but he only growled low in his throat. Liked it.

They moved through the halls together. Guards joined them fast. Mira peeked out once then slammed her door when she saw Lyra’s glowing eyes. Wise girl.

On the lower battlements the night reeked of smoke and fresh blood. Torches whipped wild in the wind. Below them shadows surged against the walls. Rowan’s pack had scaled sections in the dark. Hand to hand fighting spilled across the stones. Fur and fangs flashed where wolves shifted mid leap.

Lyra spotted him. Rowan. Fighting like a beast possessed. Sword in one hand. Claws on the other. His eyes locked on her across the chaos. Pain and fury and something broken raw in them.

“Come down.” His roar carried over the screams. “Or I tear this place apart piece by piece until you do.”

Her power answered before her mouth could. Silver light blasted from her chest and lit the night like false dawn. It slammed into the attackers near Rowan and flung them hard into the stone. Bones broke. Howls turned to yelps.

Rowan staggered but stayed up. Blood ran down his face. “That is not you Lyra. He is twisting you into his weapon.”

Kael stepped to the edge beside her. Voice cold as winter steel. “She chose. Keep pushing and I stop being polite.”

Another surge ripped through Lyra. Uncontrolled. Violent. It lifted nearby soldiers off their feet. Her own side. She screamed and tried to pull it back but the Lunar blood wanted blood. It did not care whose.

Kael grabbed her from behind. Arms like iron bands. He took the overflow into his own body. Muscles strained against her back. A roar tore out of him as the power scorched his veins. But he held her steady. Grounded her.

“Use it on them.” He growled against her ear. “Not us.”

She did. Hands thrust forward. Silver storm exploded outward and carved through the enemy climbers. Rowan dove aside at the last second. The blast left a smoking crater where he had stood.

Guilt punched her gut. But her wolf howled victory. Stronger. Wetter. It liked the destruction. Craved the king at her back feeding it right back.

Rowan rose from the smoke. Eyes glowing pure gold. Alpha rage. “I loved you. I chose wrong but I loved you. This bastard only wants your power.”

The words hit. Lyra’s knees buckled. Kael held her up. His hands slid lower. Possessive on her hips. Heat against her spine. The mix of guilt and want and chaos made her dizzy.

“I am more than power.” She shouted down. Voice cracking with silver light. “You never saw that. He does.”

Rowan charged the wall again. Leaped high. Claws scraping stone as he climbed fast. Too fast. Other wolves followed him like a wave.

Kael shoved her behind him. Sword out. “Stay back.”

She did not. She stepped beside him. Power wild and leaking. When Rowan crested the battlement she met him first. Not with steel. With her hands on his chest. Silver light poured straight into him. Not killing. Pushing. Burning.

He flew backward off the wall with a howl of pain. Landed hard in the dirt below. Selene’s voice screamed his name from the shadows.

Lyra dropped to her knees on the stones. Chest heaving. Tears mixing with sweat. “I hurt him. Gods I hurt him bad.”

Kael knelt with her. Pulled her face up. Thumb smearing blood and tears across her cheek. “He lived. That is more mercy than most get.”

The fighting below thinned. Retreat horns sounded again. Rowan’s forces dragged back into the dark dragging their wounded. But his eyes stayed on her until the night swallowed him. Promise of return thick in the air.

Back in the eastern wing the door barely closed before Lyra turned on Kael. She shoved him against the wall. Kissed him brutal. All teeth and silver fire. He lifted her clean off the floor. Legs wrapped around his waist. Power surged so hard the entire room shook. Furniture scraped across the floor. Windows cracked.

Clothes tore again. Skin met skin. Scratches. Bites. Growls. No gentleness. Only raw need and the chaos that fed on it. Her wolf sang. His answered deeper. The bond between them twisted tighter. Lunar blood and king’s darkness knotting into something new and starving.

When they broke apart on the ruined bed Lyra pressed her glowing palm over his heart. “I am losing myself.”

Kael covered her hand with his. Eyes bright silver. “No. You are finding what you really are.”

Outside the howls started again. Farther this time. But closer than yesterday.

War licked its wounds and waited.

Inside her the old blood laughed low and hungry for the next round of teeth and choices and burning.