LOGINLyra’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
Lyra’s POVRowan and Hikky had vanished somewhere into the blur of the courtyard, gone to find help, I told myself, though the panic clawing up my throat didn’t care about reasonable explanations. They shouldn’t have left me alone. Not here. Not like this.I felt like I was dying.My body gave out entirely before I could reach the nearest bench, and I sank onto the dry, dusty ground beside a bed of wilting flowers, the earlier fragrance of roses now sharp and nauseating in my nostrils.You will be fine, Lyra, Nyra said inside my mind, though even her voice sounded strange, stretched thin and distant, as though the drug muddling my thoughts had reached even her.I tried to think past the fog settling over everything. Selene had been overseeing the drinks tonight, directing the servers, arranging which trays went where. I hadn’t thought anything of it until now, drifting in and out of clarity on the cold ground. Why did this feel so different from everyone else’s reaction to the same wi
Lyra’s POVThe letter with the crescent seal sat unopened in the bottom of my travel chest for three days before the party finally arrived, tucked beneath a folded shawl where I wouldn’t have to look at it every time I dressed. I told myself I would read it once the celebration had passed, once I had a single evening to simply breathe without another impossible choice waiting to unravel everything I’d rebuilt.Tonight, I wanted to be ordinary. Just for a few hours.The courtyard had been transformed almost beyond recognition, lanterns strung in warm, glowing rows between the trees, long tables draped in pale gold cloth and laden with more food than I’d seen since my return. Musicians tuned their instruments near the garden’s edge, and the scorch marks from the fire, still visible if you looked closely enough, had been softened beneath garlands of fresh flowers woven through every post and archway.I stood in front of the small mirror in my room, smoothing the fabric of the gown Elara
Lyra’s POVTobias Vale’s grip tightened around my wrist, and for one terrible moment I thought this was truly how it would end, defenseless and burned out in the middle of my father’s ruined pack grounds. Then the horn sounded again, closer this time, and his head snapped toward the sound with an expression I hadn’t expected to see on his face.Uncertainty.“That’s not Jordan’s call,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.The wolves’ answering howls rose louder across the valley, dozens of voices joining together in a chorus that sent a visible shudder through him, and his grip on my wrist loosened just enough for me to twist free, stumbling backward with nothing left in me but raw survival instinct.“Reinforcements,” he said grimly, eyes narrowing toward the tree line. “How inconvenient.”He was gone before I could ask who, melting back into the smoke the same way he’d arrived, and moments later a line of unfamiliar wolves crested the ridge above the pack grounds, moving in discip
Lyra’s POVI spun toward the sound of his voice, silver light flaring instinctively around both hands despite the exhaustion already dragging at every limb. “Show yourself,” I called into the smoke.“In due time.” Tobias Vale’s voice drifted closer, unhurried, carrying easily over the roar of the flames and the shouting villagers still fighting to contain them. “I prefer to watch a performance from the best seat available, and tonight, Lyra Ashwood, you are giving quite the performance.”Kieran stepped close beside me, his eyes scanning the tree line with the same desperate urgency I felt clawing at my own chest. “He’s toying with you.”“I know.” My jaw tightened. “That’s exactly what worries me.”A fresh crash sounded from somewhere behind us, another section of roof collapsing under its own weight, and the villagers’ shouts grew more frantic as the fire line shifted, flames now licking hungrily toward the storage barns Kieran had warned me about moments earlier. If those caught, the







