Chapter Six: The Re-Entry

The tires of the black sedan crunched over the gravel of the Silver Moon driveway. This was the same path I had crawled down six months ago, bleeding and broken.

The packhouse was ablaze with light. Music spilled out of the open windows, a upbeat rhythm that felt like a slap in the face. They were celebrating. They were happy I was gone.

Darius sat beside me, his presence a wall of freezing stone. He didn't look at the house. He looked at me.

"Ready?" he asked.

I looked at my reflection in the darkened window. My hair was sleek, falling in dark waves that caught the light. My dress was a gown of midnight silk that seemed to move even when I was still. It didn't just cling to my body, it felt like it was made of the very shadows I now controlled.

The leather cuff on my wrist hid the grey, rotting mark of the rejection. I wasn't that girl anymore.

"I've been ready since the moment I left," I said.

The valet opened the door. I stepped out, the cool night air hitting my skin. I didn't feel the sting of the cold. I felt the pulse of the earth, the heartbeats of every wolf in that building.

I took Darius's offered arm. His suit was the color of a crow's wing, and his aura was so heavy it made the guards at the door stumble back. They didn't even ask for our names. They just bowed, their eyes glued to the floor.

We walked into the ballroom.

The chatter died down instantly. It started at the door and rippled through the room like a wave. Heads turned. Drinks were lowered.

I kept my chin high. I didn't look for my father. I didn't look for my sister.

I looked for him.

Kael was standing near the buffet, a glass of champagne in his hand. He looked the part of the new Alpha. His suit was expensive, his hair perfectly styled. But to my new eyes, he looked small. He looked like a child playing dress up in a dead man's shoes.

I felt his gaze lock onto me. I saw the way his glass tilted, nearly spilling. He didn't recognize me. All he saw was a beautiful woman in a black dress, a stranger who radiated a power he couldn't understand.

"He's coming over," Darius murmured, his voice a low vibration in my ear.

I didn't answer. I just watched Kael weave through the crowd, his eyes fixed on mine with a hungry, desperate intensity.

He stopped a few feet away. He ignored Darius entirely, his focus pinned on me. He looked like a man who had just seen a ghost and a goddess at the same time.

"I don't believe we've been introduced," Kael said. His voice was smooth, but I could hear the slight tremor of excitement in it. "I am Alpha Kael. Welcome to my home."

The irony was a hot coal in my throat. His home. My prison.

I tilted my head, letting a small, dangerous smile touch my lips. I didn't speak. I wanted him to sweat. I wanted him to feel the pull of the woman he had discarded, even if he didn't know it was her yet.

Kael took a step closer, his scent filling my nose. Cedar and soap. It used to make my heart race. Now, it just made my stomach churn.

"You're the most captivating woman I've ever seen," he whispered, his eyes scanning my face, searching for something he couldn't quite name. "Do I know you?"

Before I could answer, I felt a heavy, warm weight on my waist.

Darius stepped forward, pulling me flush against his side. His large hand splayed across the small of my back, his fingers digging slightly into the silk of my dress. It was a clear, aggressive claim.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

Kael's eyes finally shifted to Darius. He went pale, his jaw tightening as he realized who was standing in front of him.

"Alpha Darius," Kael stammered, his bravado vanishing in an instant. "I... I didn't realize you were attending."

Darius didn't offer a handshake. He didn't even acknowledge the greeting. He just pulled me closer, his eyes like two chips of blue ice as he stared down his son.

"I don't go anywhere without my companion," Darius said.

The word companion hung in the air, thick and provocative. Kael looked between us, his confusion turning into a sharp, ugly spark of jealousy. He was captivated by me, and it was eating him alive that I belonged to the man he feared most.

I felt Nyx stir in my mind. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to show him exactly who was under the silk and the shadows.

Darius leaned down, his lips almost touching my cheek in front of the entire pack.

"Everyone is watching, Lyra," he whispered, loud enough for Kael to hear.

Kael froze. The name hit him like a physical blow. His eyes traveled from my face down to the leather cuff on my wrist, and then back up to my dark, void like eyes.

The glass in his hand shattered, shards of crystal and champagne exploding across the floor.