LOGINPrince Luca’s POVLet me wash this hair thoroughly, I thought, tilting my head back beneath the water, the steam curling around me in the quiet of my private chambers. I had been trying, for days now, to find small rituals that kept my mind from drifting too far toward Villeron, toward three weeks that felt longer with every passing hour.I closed my eyes. And saw her.Lyra, surrounded by darkness, kissing someone whose face I couldn’t quite place, her body marked with injuries I had no explanation for, bruises blooming dark against pale skin, a thin line of blood tracing along her throat. The vision struck with such force that I lurched upright in the bath, water sloshing over the edge, my heart slamming against my ribs as though I’d just run a mile.“What…..” I gasped, gripping the edge of the tub, breathing hard.It had been a dream. I told myself that immediately, firmly, the way I’d been telling myself every strange fragment that drifted through my sleep these past weeks. A dream
Cassian’s POVI froze on the windowsill, Lyra’s weight still cradled carefully against my chest, every instinct screaming at me to retreat back into the room rather than descend into whatever waited in that garden.“I’d invite you down properly,” Tobias Vale called up, his voice pleasant despite the predatory stillness in his posture, “but I suspect you’re already weighing whether the trellis will hold both of you faster than I could reach you first. A reasonable calculation. I’ll save you the trouble of making it.”“What do you want,” I said, forcing steadiness into my voice despite the cold dread pooling in my stomach.“The same thing I’ve wanted for weeks.” His golden eyes shifted to Lyra, still unconscious against my shoulder, and something in his expression sharpened with open, unapologetic hunger. “Though I confess, I didn’t expect to find her quite this vulnerable, or quite this conveniently abandoned by the family meant to protect her. Tonight has been full of pleasant surpris
Cassian’s POVSelene’s scream of fury echoed off the walls the moment the crystal shattered, shards scattering across the floorboards like broken ice. “What is wrong with you?” she snapped, dropping to her knees to claw uselessly through the wreckage, as though she might somehow salvage whatever magic had held the recording together. “Do you have any idea what you just destroyed?”“I know exactly what I destroyed,” I said, my voice steadier than I expected given how violently my hands were still shaking. “And I’d do it again.”She rose slowly, her eyes blazing with a fury that reminded me uncomfortably of her mother’s cold, calculating anger. “You were supposed to help me. You promised me, Cassian. We had an agreement.”“I was wrong to agree to any of it,” I said, looking past her toward Lyra’s still form on the bed, guilt twisting deeper into my chest with every passing second. “This was never going to end the way you wanted. Even if I had bitten her a second time, even if that recor
Lyra’s POVSelene straightened over me, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes as she pulled a small recording crystal from the pocket of her gown. “Since she’s apparently burning people with some mysterious power she picked up at Silver Moon Academy,” she said, turning the crystal over in her fingers, “I think you should kiss her, Cassian. While I record it. I’ll make sure every pack sees it, including the Lycans. They’ll finally understand she isn’t nearly as innocent as she pretends to be. Just a cheap slut who couldn’t let her ex go, even after everything.”Through the haze still dragging at my thoughts, I saw Cassian’s expression twist with confusion, his earlier confidence entirely gone, replaced by something uncertain, almost afraid. “I can’t do this,” he said, glancing down at me, then back toward Selene. “Not after what just happened. Not after what her blood did to my mouth.”“Fine.” Selene crossed her arms, her voice hardening instantly. “If you won’t, I’ll simply tell my father
Lyra’s POVI closed my eyes, waiting for the worst.There was nothing left for me to do. My body felt weak, and I could barely gather enough strength to move away from the person standing before me. I had tried to fight, tried to understand what was happening, and tried to find a way out of the situation, but everything seemed to be working against me.Now, I could only wait.Wait for him to mark me.The thought alone sent a wave of fear through me. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want anyone forcing a bond on me, especially not someone who had no interest in what I wanted or how I felt. But I was too weak to defend myself, and the people around me seemed determined to make sure I had no choice.I clenched my hands, bracing myself for the pain.Then he bit me.For a moment, I expected to feel the familiar agony of teeth piercing my skin. I expected my body to react to the force of his bite, and I prepared myself to endure whatever came next.Instead, a terrible scream tore through the ro
Lyra’s POV“I personally instructed your sister to put the weakening substance in your drink,” Cassian said, pulling his full weight on me and pinning me down in my arms layer on the bed that I can't move my body. His expression carrying none of the warmth he’d worn in the garden only days earlier. “Since you always act like such a jerk, as though Silver Moon Academy has somehow given you all the power in this universe.”The words landed harder than any physical blow could have, each syllable dragging me further beneath the cold understanding of exactly what I’d walked back into when I’d trusted him, even for a moment, to care.Cassian’s hand tightened around my wrist, and he leaned closer, his breath warm and triumphant against my ear. “You know what I’ll do,” he murmured. “I will mark you by biting you, and we will be bound by my blood. We will be fated mates to each other, whether the Moon Goddess ever intended it or not, and no one is coming to save you. I’m for you, and you alone







