Chapter 2

Before Mom left, her voice turned completely cold.

“We’re done arguing, Lyra. Elara’s shift has already begun, and this door is staying closed until sunrise.”

I didn’t answer.

Not because I was angry.

Every breath felt as if I were swallowing red-hot shards of silver.

My wolf lay curled deep inside my mind, growing weaker by the second. I tried to call out to her, but all I heard were broken whimpers.

She had never been this quiet before.

The first time I was locked in this cell at twelve, she had thrown herself furiously against the silver door.

That day, I had just defeated three older boys in the training yard when my claws emerged without warning, piercing my fingertips.

Dad froze for a moment.

Then he lifted me into the air.

“The future Alpha of the Nightfall Pack is already showing her power!”

“I’m so proud of you!”

That was the first time I felt my wolf.

It was also the last time anyone celebrated her existence.

A messenger arrived from the pack estate seconds later.

Elara had gone into cardiac arrest.

She was no longer breathing.

The joy vanished from Dad’s face. He carried me back to the estate, handed me to a guard, and entered Elara’s room alone.

Several hours later, Elara finally woke up.

But when Dad came out again, the way he looked at me had completely changed.

That same night, he ordered the healer to give me my first dose of suppressants.

My wolf struggled inside me. I shook from the pain and clung to Dad’s hand as I cried.

“Dad, why are you making me take this? Did my wolf do something wrong?”

Dad wiped away my tears.

“She didn’t do anything wrong. She only needs to sleep for a while.”

“It’s the only way Elara can survive.”

He pulled me into his arms. His voice was gentle, but the decision had already been made.

“Lyra, you’re the older sister. It’s your responsibility to protect her.”

When Rowan realized I was his fated mate at sixteen, he refused to mark me because even the mate bond might awaken my wolf.

But now I could feel her fading.

I raised my hand and knocked again.

No one answered from the hallway.

In the distance, the pack erupted in cheers.

Elara’s first-shift ceremony had begun.

I reached for Caden through our mind-link.

“Caden, something is wrong with the silver cell.”

Voices and ritual chants echoed through his end of the link.

“Lower the silver wards.”

“The ceremony has reached its most critical stage,” he replied. “Dad won’t allow anyone to leave.”

“I think I’m dying…”

I hadn’t even finished before Caden cut me off angrily.

“Enough, Lyra.”

“There is nothing wrong with the cell, and you’ve been taking those suppressants for six years. Nothing has ever happened before. Why is tonight suddenly different?”

“Is it because Elara gets to shift first? Or because we’re all with her and no one stayed behind to keep you company?”

“Lyra, she is your sister. Do you really have to drag everyone away at the most dangerous moment of her life? Will you only be satisfied if she dies?”

Disappointment filled his voice as he severed our mind-link.

My mind fell completely silent.

I remained on my knees, staring blankly at the door.

Whenever I had been locked in the silver cell as a child, Caden would sit outside and tell me hunting stories until the drugs finally pulled me to sleep.

He had once promised that he would always protect me.

Now, when he heard me begging for help, his first thought was that I wanted Elara dead.

Silver light crawled up my arms, burning through my skin.

I forced myself upright and slammed my shoulder against the door again and again.

“Rowan!”

I knew he could hear me.

Fated mates didn’t need to complete their bond to feel each other’s agony.

At the ritual grounds, Rowan suddenly clutched his chest.

Mom immediately turned toward him.

“It’s Lyra.”

Rowan looked in the direction of the silver cell, his face turning pale.

“She’s in terrible pain.”

The last trace of concern on Mom’s face hardened into anger.

“She’s still carrying on?”

Mom glanced at Elara, who was writhing inside the ritual circle. Her voice grew sharper.

“She knows you’re the pack Beta. You have to remain here to hold the outer ritual circle, and she’s still trying to call you away.”

“Does she want to stand by and watch her own sister die?”

Inside the circle, Elara lay on the ground as her bones cracked and reshaped.

Rowan was silent for several seconds.

Then he deliberately closed the faint mate link between us.

The last trace of his warmth vanished from my chest.

I could no longer feel him.

A deafening cheer suddenly erupted in the distance.

Beneath the Blood Moon, a silver-white she-wolf stood for the first time and raised her head in a long howl.

Elara had completed her first shift.

Everyone celebrated, convinced that six years of sacrifice had finally meant something.

None of them knew that I was already dead inside the silver cell.