PRESENTED TO THE COUNCIL.

CHAPTER THREE.

LYRA’s POV.

I should have known returning to Silver Crest Realm would not be easy, I simply did not expect the Moon Goddess to test me so quickly.

The air was thick with the scent of too many powerful wolves in one place. There was tension that I could feel in my bones. I wore a veil over the lower half of my face, a tradition of the High Priestesses, but my eyes remained uncovered.

As I walked through the stone corridor toward the assembly hall, a voice stopped me in my tracks.

“I need guards at the perimeter 24/7.” That voice, the voice was deeper than it had been eight years ago, it was richer, like the sound of a distant storm, but it carried a sharpness that made my skin produce goosebumps all over.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Kael.

I turned my head slightly, peeking through the archway. Standing in the center of the courtyard was a man who looked like he had been forged in a furnace. He was taller than I remembered, his shoulders broader. He wasn’t wearing the simple furs of a pack leader. Instead, he wore a long, golden robe that swept the stone floor, the color of a setting sun.

It was the robe of a King, an Alpha of Alphas. It was the type his father used to wear, but not this majestic.

But it was his face that haunted me.

There was a jagged scar running under his left eye, down toward his jaw. It looked like claw marks.

His eyes were dark, burning gold. He looked tortured. Even from a distance, I could feel the waves of heat and misery coming off him. He looked like a man who hadn’t slept in a decade.

My hand instinctively went to my throat, to the place where his mark should have been.

I remembered his threat that he would kill me if he saw me again. Would he, really?

The bond; which had been a quiet hum for years, suddenly roared to life. What the hell? This shouldn’t be happening, we are no longer mates, why is the bond screaming with a hunger that nearly brought me to my knees? I felt his anger, his exhaustion, and a strange, hollow void that felt like a scream in the dark.

What the hell? But it was gone as soon as it was there.

“High Priestess?” My attendant asked, noticing I had stopped.

Kael’s head snapped in our direction. His wolf was sensitive, he must have heard her call me.

“Who’s there?” His voice shook the stone walls and I did not wait to hear more.

I turned and hurried down the opposite hallway, my heart racing. I couldn’t let him see me yet. I wasn’t ready for the look of hatred I knew would be in his eyes and maybe he would actually kill me.

I reached my private chambers and leaned against the door, gasping for air. The powerful, proud boy I had loved once was gone, replaced by a monster in a golden robe.

And the worst part? My wolf was pacing inside me, crying out for him. Even after the rejection, even after the years of silence, she wanted to run to him and heal the scars on his face.

“I am here for the people,” I whispered to the empty room, trying to convince myself. “I am here for the Moon, I am not here for him.”

I had spent eight years learning how to control my heart.

Yet one look at him had been enough to remind me that some wounds never truly disappear. They simply learn how to hide.

I had not returned to Silver Crest to revisit the last, I was here to find answers, nothing else mattered.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. I sighed and rearranged myself before answering.

“Enter.”

A young guard stepped inside.

“High Priestess.”

I turned. “The Council requests your presence.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

I followed him through the castle that was filled with warriors, they moved aside as I passed, some bowed, others whispered, and I ignored them. They couldn’t recognize me, because of my veil.

I had grown used to being watched.

We finally reached the council chamber. The doors opened and I sighed, preparing myself for the absolute disaster I knew was about to happen.

Several Alphas and elders sat around a long table. I recognized High Elder Magnus, he was older than I remembered, but his sharp eyes had not changed. Beside him sat several other Alphas.

And I tried everything not to look at the head of the table where I knew Kael was going to be seated. I looked forward as I was guided to where I would sit, which was in the middle of some of the Alphas facing High Elder Magnus.

Because I couldn’t hide my curiosity, my gaze found his. His arms were folded across his chest, and his expression was cold. He looked at me and I looked at him. Neither of us spoke.

Maybe he didn’t recognize me, I hope it stayed that way.

“High Priestess, thank you for accepting our Summons.” He said, the man is still as sharp with his words as ever.

He paused, expecting a response but I wasn’t ready to say anything because if I did, Kael would recognize me, then every other person at this table would recognize me. I just nodded.

“I hope you understand the urgency of this matter, our wolves are dying, some are losing their wolves. We have tried a lot of things and we understand how powerful you are, we have heard rumors that you have done what witches or priestesses of our time can’t do.” He said.

I watched all of them on the table, I looked back at Kael, I didn’t know if I felt anger at the fact that he didn’t recognize me. How dare he not recognize me? I reigned myself in and looked back at High Elder Magnus.

“Please help us.” He said again and the other people at the table nodded in agreement. I was here, wasn’t I?

But it seemed they wanted me to talk, so before I did, I looked Kael straight in the eyes, he wasn’t looking at me though, he was busy picking at something on his robe.

“If I wasn’t ready to help, I wouldn’t be here, Elder Magnus,” I said in a cold voice.

I saw the moment he knew it was me. He froze, then slowly looked back up, into my eyes.

I didn’t budge, or shake, although I was trembling inside.

I also saw the moment the shock cleared from his eyes, and then the hatred. Yes, that was what I was familiar with.

“You dared to come back into my Realm after I told you never to show your face in front of me ever again?”