LOGINLyra’s POVThe heat hit me before the smoke did, rolling off the pack grounds in suffocating waves. I stumbled through the broken gates, my eyes streaming, my lungs burning with every breath.“Lyra, wait!” Luca’s voice barely carried over the roar of flame consuming what had once been rows of modest wooden homes.I didn’t wait. I couldn’t. Somewhere in that chaos was my father, my sister, people I had grown up beside even when they’d treated me like nothing.“Father!” I screamed into the smoke. “Alpha Ashwood!”No answer came, only the crackle of burning timber and distant screams carried on the wind. I pressed forward, shielding my face with my arm, until a figure staggered out of the haze toward me.My sister.Her face was streaked with soot, her dress torn at the hem, her eyes wide with terror when they found mine. “Lyra?”“Where’s Father? Where is everyone?”“They came from nowhere,” she gasped, coughing hard. “Lycan soldiers. They said the King ordered it said our pack harbored s
Lyra’s POVThe moment I stepped into the servants’ dormitory, I understood exactly how fast a person could fall from one world into another.Only the night before, I’d been sleeping in the royal quarters, close enough to Luca’s chambers that I could hear his footsteps whenever he returned. Now my belongings sat piled beside a narrow bed in a room I’d share with the palace’s other servants.I stood there a moment, taking in the small, cramped space.This was where I belonged now. A slave. The word Luca had used kept circling through my mind on a loop.You are just a slave and nothing more.I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and began arranging my clothes. I refused to cry, not here. I’d already spent enough tears for one night.“Lyra?”I froze. Hikky stood in the doorway, staring at my scattered belongings. “What happened?”“Nothing,” I whispered.She stepped in anyway. “Don’t give me that. Why are your things here?”I looked away. “Luca had me removed from the royal quarters.”H
Lyra’s POVLuca’s words followed me even after I left the cage. They trailed me through the palace corridors, down the stairs, into the carriage that carried me away.You’re just a slave, Lyra. Nothing more.His voice looped over and over in my head. I tried to convince myself I didn’t care that he’d only spoken in anger, that he hadn’t meant a word of it. But every time I remembered the coldness in his eyes, another piece of my heart broke a little further.I sat quietly in the carriage, watching the palace shrink behind the window until it disappeared entirely. I didn’t cry anymore. I’d already cried enough for one day. My eyes were swollen, my body exhausted, and something heavy sat lodged in my chest where hope used to be.Nyra stayed unusually quiet. No jokes, no sharp commentary just silence, because she knew.You don’t have to pretend you’re okay, she finally whispered.I looked down at my hands. I’m not pretending.A long pause. I’m just trying to survive it.When I arrived ba
Lyra’s POVThe moment they pushed Luca into the cage, his eyes found mine. For a few seconds, neither of us said a word.I had imagined this reunion so many times over the last few hours but never like this. Never inside a cage growing hotter with every passing minute.The second I understood he was truly standing in front of me, something inside me finally cracked. Tears filled my eyes before I could stop them, and I broke down completely.Luca stepped closer and laid his hand against my shoulder. “Lyra…”His touch only made me cry harder. I looked up into his eyes. “Did you actually believe I would want to hurt you?” My voice shook. “Did you believe Wendy’s lies?” I wiped my face with the back of my hand. “Why does everyone keep looking at me like I’m capable of something terrible? Even when they’ve already decided what I am, they still use it against me.” My breath hitched. “I saved you, Luca. I almost lost myself saving you.”For a moment I let myself believe he would say somethin
Prince Luca’s POVI opened my eyes slowly, moonlight spilling through the window and falling across my face. For a moment I couldn’t place where I was, couldn’t remember what had happened.Then it all came rushing back.Lyra. Her golden hair. Those bright blue eyes. The way she’d looked at me right before the darkness swallowed everything.“Lyra!” My voice came out louder than I meant it to. “Lyra! Lyra!” I tried to sit up, but hands pressed firmly against my shoulders.“Easy!”I turned and found my twin brother beside me, relief flooding his face. “You’re finally awake. You’re fine. You’re alive.”I barely heard him. My eyes swept the room, searching. Where was she? Where was the girl who’d been beside me when everything went black?My mother entered next, my sister and twin brother close behind her. “Luca!” She rushed to my side. “Thank the Moon Goddess, you’re awake.”Elara hovered close behind, and Leo lingered near the doorway, visibly relieved.I looked at each of them. “Where’s
Lyra’s POVI dragged myself free the instant the King’s grip loosened, stumbling toward the open courtyard with whatever strength I had left. My vision blurred at the edges, my body drained down to nothing but I knew exactly what I needed.The moon.I lifted my face toward the sky, where it hung full and radiant above the palace, bathing everything beneath it in pale silver light. I stepped straight into it.The moment the light touched my skin, something inside me shifted. I gasped as warmth spread from the crown of my head down through my chest, softening into a tingling current that traveled through every vein.I closed my eyes.Stay still, Nyra whispered, her voice thin and weak.I obeyed. I could feel the poison still lodged inside my heart not moving like ordinary poison, but clinging to the very thread of energy that had connected me to Luca, a dark strand that had followed the healing bond straight back into me. I could still sense the echo of that connection faintly his heart







