Chapter 3

“What is this?”

He stared at the faded wolf engraving on the pendant, then lifted his gaze to mine.

“You’ve kept this all these years?”

I snatched it back and tucked it safely inside my tunic.

“It’s nothing. Just something that matters to me.”

For some reason, he raised an eyebrow, and the sharp edge of his anger softened slightly.

This pendant had once belonged to Elias. He had dropped it the night he pulled me from the freezing lake when we were seven.

I had been foolish enough to fall in love with him over that single act of kindness, and I had carried this pendant with me for fifteen years.

“Guards,” he said, his voice losing its icy edge. “Escort Lyra back to Silverclaw territory.”

His personal warrior nodded sharply and stepped forward.

Kael was always occupied with border duties. He also kept a low profile and disliked making a big scene.

So I didn’t announce our mating publicly.

So no one in the pack had any idea I was going to bond with Kael when the monthly Full Moon Rite arrived.

Everyone was congratulating Elias and Elara.

I avoided the chattering crowds and stood alone by the moonlit lake, running my fingers over the pendant and mapping out my next move.

But Elias found me anyway.

“Your favorite wild berry tarts,” he said, setting a wooden casket down in front of me.

“I had them just for you. I’ve always wondered… why did you love me so much? You followed me around like a lost pup when we were kids. I could never shake you off.”

I kept running my fingers over the pendant.

He noticed my silence, my fingers still tracing the pendant, and leaned in.

“What is that?”

I was stunned. Even though the engraving was almost faded beyond recognition, it was unmistakably his pendant. How could he not remember?

It turned out the moment that had shaped my entire life had meant absolutely nothing to him.

That night I almost drowned in the icy lake, the boy who had pulled me from the water had set my heart ablaze. But he had never felt a single spark for me.

Fifteen years of blind devotion was more than enough.

“Never mind,” I said, not even glancing at the tarts.

“Lyra.”

He called after me as I walked away.

“No one knows you better than I do. We’ve shared ten years of war and bloodshed. No one else could ever understand you the way I do.”

It was true. Ten years of war and carnage had forged a bond between us.

But he chose Elena over me.

I said nothing.

“You will regret turning your back on me,” he continued.

“It’s none of your business, Elias.”I turned to leave and never looked back.

I turned the corner.

“Did you really think I would wait two months for Elias to make you his Luna? No!”

A hand closed around my throat from behind, cutting off my air.

I stared into Elara’s twisted, sneering face in shock.

Before I could draw breath to scream, she shoved me hard into the freezing lake.

“Why couldn’t you just let me be his Luna? If you and Selene hadn’t deliberately stood in my way, I would have become Luna long ago. Why should I have to wait another two months? You ungrateful bitch!”

She stood on the bank, looking down at me with satisfaction as I thrashed in the icy water.

Then a voice called out from the distance.

“Who’s there?”

“Elias!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Elara’s face drained of color. She threw herself into the lake.

“Lyra! Why did you push me?!”

“Elias… help…” I choked, water filling my lungs. “Elias…”

Her hand slammed down on the back of my head, forcing me beneath the surface.

I sank deeper and deeper.

Through the murky, freezing water, I saw Elias swimming towards us.

He pulled Elara out gently, wrapping his cloak around her shivering body. A crowd had gathered, fawning over her and shooting me hateful glares.

“I don’t know what came over her!” she sobbed hysterically. “She pushed me into the lake, then tried to drown me!”

“How awful! She wanted to kill me! She’s terrified I’ll take the Luna position away from her!”

“No… I didn’t do it…”

My lungs felt like they were on fire.

The boy who had saved my life fifteen years ago had his back turned to me. He didn’t even spare me a single glance.

“Enough, Lyra. Stop being this dramatic. I know you can swim. You can stay in the water as long as you want. It might help you calm down.”

I could swim, of course I could.

But no one knew the truth.

The trauma of being pushed off a cliff in my past life crashed over me, leaving me frozen in despair.

And the icy lake water numbed my limbs in an instant.

My heart was completely broken, and I had no will to struggle or save myself.

Elias and the crowds left.

I had no strength left in my body at all.

I closed my eyes, ready to die again.

Darkness began to swallow my consciousness...