Chapter 5

Lyra's POV

The decision to leave should have brought me peace. Instead, it left me feeling strangely empty. For years, my entire identity had been tied to this pack; I wasn't just Lyra Blackwood, I was the Luna of the Nightfang Pack.

 I was Darius's mate and Leo's mother. Every sacrifice I made had been for them; every difficult choice had been made with their future in mind, yet somewhere along the way, I had become the only person nobody was willing to fight for. 

The realization followed me through the day like a shadow. By evening, I found myself standing outside the storage room again. There were still things I needed before I left, important things like Family heirlooms passed down through generations of Blackwood women, my personal journals and documents.

 Memories that belonged to me and nobody else. If I was walking away from this life, I wasn't leaving those behind. I grabbed two bags and began sorting through the boxes one by one.

Hours passed before I finally found what I was looking for. The moonstone jewelry set my grandmother had given me before she died, the silver bracelet my mother left behind, and the journals I had written since becoming Luna.

 I carefully packed everything into the bags. As I reached for another box, I noticed something missing: my mother's pendant. The one item I treasured more than anything else- my hands froze. I checked the box again, then another, and three more; the pendant wasn't there. 

Panic slowly began replacing frustration. I searched every nearby container, growing more desperate with each passing minute. That pendant wasn't valuable because of its price. It was valuable because it was all I had left of my family. By the time I finished searching, my hands were shaking. There was only one person I could think of who might know where it had gone. I left the storage room immediately and headed toward the dining hall where dinner was being served.

The moment I stepped inside, conversation softened around me, not completely, but just enough for me to notice. Darius sat at the head of the table; Vanessa occupied the seat beside him, and Leo sat between them, laughing about something that had happened during training.

 The sight no longer surprised me; it hurt, but it didn't surprise me. My eyes landed on Vanessa almost instantly. Around her neck hung a delicate silver chain. Attached to it was a familiar pendant, my mother's pendant.

 For several seconds, I couldn't move. I simply stared. Vanessa followed my gaze and instinctively touched the jewelry resting against her throat. The tiny gesture told me everything; she knew exactly what she was wearing.

 Slowly, I walked toward the table; every pair of eyes followed me. "Take it off." 

My voice was calm enough to surprise even me; Vanessa blinked. "Excuse me?"

 I pointed toward the pendant. "That belongs to me." 

A brief look passed between her and Darius before she offered a small smile. "Oh, this? I found it among some old boxes; I didn't realize it was important."

I laughed quietly. "You didn't realize it was important?" I repeated.

Vanessa's smile faltered slightly. "I was going to return it."

"When?"

She didn't answer because there was no answer.

The pendant hadn't accidentally found its way around her neck. She had chosen to wear it just like she had chosen my room and chosen my position beside Darius; everything was deliberate. 

Darius finally spoke. "Lyra, it's just a misunderstanding."

 I turned toward him. "Tell her to take it off." 

His expression changed. "You're making a scene again." 

The words settled over the room like ice. Around us, pack members suddenly found their food very interesting; nobody wanted to be involved or choose sides. They preferred pretending they couldn't see what was happening. 

Vanessa lowered her gaze and gently touched the pendant once more. "I'm sorry if I upset you," she said softly. "I really didn't know." The apology sounded perfect; that was the problem.

Before I could respond, Leo slid from his chair and moved closer to Vanessa. The protective gesture was small but impossible to miss 

 "Why are you always picking on Aunt Vanessa?" he asked. 

The room became even quieter. I stared at my son.

 "Leo." 

"She said she was sorry." 

His small face was filled with frustration. "You just came back, and all you've done is make everyone unhappy." 

The words hit harder than he intended; children rarely understood the damage they could cause. Darius stood immediately. 

"That's enough." 

For one hopeful second, I thought he was speaking to Leo, then he looked directly at me. 

"You've been back two days, and every conversation turns into an argument." 

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Vanessa was wearing my mother's pendant. My belongings had been dumped into storage; my place in this family had been handed to someone else, yet somehow I was the problem. 

 "Do you hear yourselves?" I asked.

Nobody answered, probably because there was nothing to say; the truth sat openly between us. Leo chose Vanessa, the pack chose Vanessa, and Darius chose Vanessa every single time it mattered.

I looked around the room. Slowly, faces turned away, and some wolves looked embarrassed. Others looked relieved that they weren't the target. Not one person spoke in my defense; the loneliness settled heavily inside me. 

For years, I had believed this pack was my home. A home was supposed to be the place where people protected you when you needed them most. Standing there now, I couldn't remember the last time anyone had protected me. My gaze returned to Darius. 

"I want the pendant back." 

He nodded once. "Fine." 

Vanessa removed it immediately and handed it over. The ease with which she surrendered it almost made things worse, as if the entire conflict had never mattered to her in the first place.

I wrapped my fingers around the pendant and looked at the three people standing together. They looked more like a family than we ever had; maybe that was the cruelest part of all, not that I had lost them, but that they seemed perfectly happy without me. 

Something inside me finally gave way not loudly or dramatically, just quietly. The way a thread snaps after being pulled too many times, I slipped the pendant into my pocket and met Darius's eyes. 

"I'm done." Confusion flickered across his face. 

"What does that mean?" 

For the first time since returning, I felt certain about something. 

"It means I'm done fighting for people who don't want me."  

Then I turned around and walked out of the dining hall; this time, nobody tried to stop me.