Lyra Vane.

The smoke never left her lungs.

Even now, years later, she could still taste it burnt pine, scorched fur, blood boiling on hot stone. It haunted her every breath. She inhaled memory like oxygen.

Aria crouched low on the forest ridge, eyes fixed on the looming gates of the Nightfang stronghold.

Her heartbeat was calm. Too calm. Rage had long since replaced fear. She'd buried fear the day her parents' screams went silent under falling timber. The night her home burned, and her future along with it.

Her blonde curls were hidden beneath dyed black. Her scent masked with herbs only a rogue would know to use. Her name? Forgotten, at least here.

Here, she was Lyra Vane, a lone wolf looking to pledge allegiance to the most powerful pack in the region.

The one led by the man she came to kill.

The Nightfang Alpha. Kael. Blackthorn.

As Aria approached the gates, it was opened by two hefty wolves pulling it on both sides. Just at the entrance was a she-wolf, she watches aria walk in, her eyes sizing her up from head to toe.

“Your name?” She barked.

“Lyra..Lyra Vane” she replied.

“Origin”

“The rogue lands, south of Vikings Gorge”

The she-wolf looked her over, nose wrinkling.

“And why have you come here?” She asked.

“I want to join the Nightfangs, to serve the alpha.”

“We’d see about that, serving the alpha is no small feat.” She replied. “You’d have to prove you’re worthy of such position, you’d undertake trials and if you fail you’ll be thrown out, or worse — you face a fate worse than failure.”

“I understand. I’m prepared.” Aria replied with no form of fear in her eyes and no unsettling gestures.

She stood unshaken and unbothered by the heavy weights of the she-wolf’s words. All she had going on in her mind was more complicated compared to the picture the she-wolf was painting. She’d been through hurdles all her life and this was just going to be one more.

“Head over to the hall by your right” the she-wolf said throwing a pack of clothes on her. “Those are your new uniforms, get changed, sit in the hall and await further instructions.”

Aria affirmed the words of the she-wolf with a slight nod as she motioned towards the hall. She walked along the hallway, her brown boots hitting the stony hard floor.

“Hello pretty” a male wolf whined as he walked past her.

She ignored him. She wasn’t here to make friends or pick random fights. She had one clear goal — to gain trust and eliminate the Alpha who destroyed her home.

Things were different in the Nightfang camp. The Nightfang pack was the opposite of Silvermane — her birthplace and childhood home. In the Nightfang everyone wore black clothes and no smiles, except new recruits who wore a dark shade still — grey. The walls loomed so tall they seemed to struggle with the clouds, deep cracks ran along the surface, and Aria couldn’t help but wonder how many battles had scarred them.

Now at the waiting hall Aria sat alone at a dry corner. The waiting hall was filled with all kinds of wolves, older recruits sat at different corners around the hall, some chitchatting, some nursing wounds and others already glaring at the new comers.

“Silence” the she-wolf yelled as she walked in with the alpha—Kael. The only reason why Aria was here.

The hall became silent enough for the sound of a pin to echo. No one dared make a sound when the Alpha was present unless asked to speak. Aria seated at a corner of the hall raised her gaze to meet that of the she-wolf and Alpha Kael. Her stomach tightened with a mix of hate, dread and terror. But none of it was evident on her face.

He was taller than she remembered. His shoulders broader. His skin the color of deep bronze, his jaw sharp enough to cut silence. Those same brown eyes — still storm-dark, still unreadable — swept across the room… and landed on her.

“New recruit ?” He asked.

“Yes sir. Claims she wants to serve the alpha.” The she-wolf responded.

Kael stepped forward. Closing the distance between them. Close enough to catch the scent of her, close enough to hear the steady thump of her heartbeats. It was a hidden test, one designed by Kael to stir up fear or uncover hidden agendas among the new recruits.

But something wasn’t right this time. Kael noticed something else beneath Aria’s unspoken words and subtle gestures. It wasn’t a hidden agenda, It was calmness, a sense of belonging.

Aria stood still, her posture — straight and unyielding, her face — still and unreadable. Yet deep inside, hate stirred.

“Very well” Kael said, stepping away from Aria. Prepare her for the iron trial.” He added.

“But that’s…” the she-wolf hesitated. “Yes, Alpha.”

“Good.” He said as he walked away from the hall.

In the Nightfang’s pack, no one dares to argue with the Alpha or contradict his decisions. And so the she-wolf turned to Aria.

“Whatever you do…survive.” She said. “I don’t know why the Alpha set you — a new recruit — up for the iron trial. Come with me.

Aria went along the territory with the she-wolf. They walked passed a pack of wolves, training, the scent of iron and smoke lingered mixing with faint musk of wolf fur and sweat.

“You’d rest here.” The she-wolf said as she motioned with her hand showing Aria a bed space. “Rest well and prepare yourself early tomorrow, you have to take a drill, get a glimpse of the iron trial before you participate.” She added.

Aria nodded in affirmation. She said nothing. She was trained to follow orders not question them.

Aria sat on the cold rough wooden frame stuffed with a string stained mattress. It was far from comfort. But that didn’t matter. She wasn’t here for any of that.

She lay down. That night, sleep was a struggle. She woke more than once with her heart pounding, she was certain she heard her mother’s voice, her father’s scream but it was just the chatter of other wolves or the creaking of bunks. The night was long and cold.