Chapter 6: Difficulty

Lyra pov

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The raven-haired Alpha strode in, his glare sharp enough to cut. I dropped my gaze instinctively. Meeting his eyes would only make things worse. His presence was heavy, his scorn thick in the air.

“I see you’ve made yourself comfortable already,” he sneered.

I didn’t answer. My heart thundered in my chest, but I kept my silence

“Who gave you clothes?” he pressed, voice sharp.

Dread coiled in my gut. I couldn’t betray the girl who’d helped me, not after she’d shown kindness in a place like this. So I lied.

“I stole them.”

His expression shifted, suspicious, unreadable.

The other two entered then, laughter trailing behind them like smoke. I stiffened.

“Well, well,” the dirty blonde drawled, eyes raking over me. “Looks like you finally found something worth hiding, slut. Like mother, like daughter.”

Heat flooded my cheeks, not from shame, but fury. The insult landed like a slap.

“My mother may have betrayed the pack for a man,” I snapped, “but she wasn’t a slut. She loved him.”

Silence dropped like a hammer.

The raven-haired Alpha’s gaze turned lethal. “Let that be the last time you talk back.”

His voice was low. Dangerous.

I bit my tongue. My anger still churned, but I swallowed it whole. Picking a fight now would only feed their power.

They sank onto the couch like kings, stretching out as if the world bent to their whims. I stood stiffly, refusing to let them see me flinch.

The blonde sneered. “I think this one needs discipline. All that screwing around gave her some nerve. We’re not the bums you used to spread your legs for, Lyra.”

The words hit like a punch to the gut—but before I could react, the silver-haired one spoke.

“You’ll sleep here from now on. On the couch.”

My breath caught. I blinked, unsure if I’d heard right. Stay here? With them?

A chill washed over me.

They weren’t just trying to control me, they were caging me.

I stood frozen, heart pounding. My voice scratched its way up, barely more than a whisper.

“There must be some mistake…”

“Why?” I managed, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Why would you want me here, in this room, with you? You’ve already taken everything. What more could you possibly want?”

The words hung heavy in the silence. I knew I was risking more punishment, but the bitterness was too strong. I couldn’t hold it back—my hatred, my fear, my desperation. It spilled out.

“You don’t need to keep me here,” I said, pleading now. “You’ve stripped me of everything, my inheritance, my name, my dignity. Just let me go in peace. I won’t return to the South. I swear it.”

I thought it was fair. Reasonable, even. I only wanted freedom. I needed to find my twin.

But the dirty blonde stepped closer. Too close. His breath was hot against my skin, his eyes locked onto mine with something cruel and final.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” he said softly. “Even if we wanted to.”

My stomach dropped. His voice held a kind of certainty that left no room for hope.

He leaned in further, and something darker flickered in his eyes—resentment, maybe. Or something worse.

“Fate,” he murmured, “has made that impossible. You belong to us, Lyra. Even though you’ve defiled yourself, lived recklessly… Fate still handed you to us.”

I blinked at him, stunned. The words didn’t make sense. What was he saying?

“Life is twisted like that,” he continued, voice low with quiet rage. “Fate gave us you.”

His next words came like a blow.

“You’re our fated mate, Lyra.”

My breath caught. My heart thundered in my chest.

No.

Was Lira the one fated to them? Was I here in her place?

“We can’t reject you,” he went on, each word soaked in bitterness. “If we do, we weaken. Our power, our strength, it would all start to unravel. So no matter what you are, or how much we hate it, we’re bound to keep you.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them. Their truth crashed over me like a wave.

If what they said was true—if Lira was their fated mate, then I was trapped. Lycans never rejected their fated mates. It broke them. And if they thought I was her…

Then I would never be free.

My fate was sealed.

A nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.