Chapter 1: dragged into darkness

Chapter 1

Lyra’s POV

“You’re hurtIng me,” I whisper, my voice hoarse and splintered.

But Jack acted dumb he dragged me across the rough, cold floor by my hair, each pull igniting a fire of pain across my scalp. The agony was unbearable, each tug making it feel like my skin might tear away.

My eyes filled with tears, and no matter how hard I tried to blink them back, they spilled over, hot and unstoppable, streaming down my cheeks.

Every inch of my bare skin felt raw, scraping against the gritty, jagged stone below, each scrape opening fresh cuts th stung and burned.

through this haze of pain, one question claws at the back of my mind:

How did I become a prisoner in the kingdom I once called home?

“I was just tryIng to find her and bring her home before they did.” Three years, That’s how long I’ve chased my sis silently. I’ve crossed abandoned villages, picked through burnt-out rogue dens, bribed traders to snuck through borders, even stood to worship and pray in temples older than memory. All to find Lira, My twine, my mirror or maybe My mistake.

I used to believe I’d feel her before I saw her, and we had some invisible thread would tug at my chest and say she’s here. But the truth is quiet crueler, those things don’t happen with us maybe it was possible but not with Lira and I.

Then I found Jack, he was an old friend to us, but closer to Lira more, he said he knew something, he could help. And for a while, I believed him. I wanted to. His voice was steady, they were convincing, his eyes kind—too kind. I mistook his silence for safety. I mistook him for hope. And Now he’s dragging me like garbage toward my execution.

Lira was my only family left. I can’t let the hurt her. “Where would she be?, Who she’s become?”those where the thing popping up my head

We were born cursed. Twin daughters of a she-wolf who committed the unthinkable offense, she loved a human. Carried his children. Us. When the Council found out, they branded her a traitor to the Lycan bloodline. They burned her in front of us. Said it was law. Said it was tradition.

I was five. Lira didn’t cry but I did. That night, we ran. That night, we became shadows. And they never stopped hunting us, not just because of what we were, but what we might become. Two years ago, an entire noble Lycan family was wiped out. No survivors but A message left in blood:

We are the cursed daughters. We do not forget.

They think it was me. But I know better, this was lira’s doing. I came to the Lycan capital to find Lira before they do. But Instead, I walked into Jack’s trap like a lamb to slaughter.

And now? I’m being handed off like a package to someone even worse.

“Let me go! Let me go!” my words echoed, hollow and helpless. But Jack only sneered, his laughter a cruel reminder of my vulnerability, of the fact that, without my wolf, i was powerless against him. He dragged me towards a waiting van where another stranger stood, tall and imposing with a beard braided with thick, coarse strands.

His presence was icy, his dark, empty eye taking me in with a kind of indifference th sent chills down my spine. I couldn't stop the wave of fear that washed over me, but swallowed it, determined not to let him so me cower.

“Is she the one?” the stranger asked, his voice as harsh as sandpaper. He didn't look at me as he spoke, as though I were nothing more than a cargo to be hanged off. Jack nodded quickly, as if ridding himself of me was a prize all its own.

The man steps closer. Pulled me up with one swift, his grip unyielding. He looked me over, studying me with a detached sort of curiosity. “No wolf?” he questioned, turning to jack. “Twenty and empty,” Jack sneers. His tone was dismissive, reminding them both that i was past the age to gain my wolf, and yet here i was, wolf less, magic less, little more than an ordinary werewolf in their eyes.

“She’s a lycan?” The man asked

Jack nodded again, almost smirking. “The last lycan Luna”

And at that, the stranger's mouth curled into a chilling smile.