ログインRowan POV The first time I noticed it, it was subtle.Small enough that most people wouldn’t have paid attention.But I did.Lyra was in the council clearing.Not standing at the edges the way she had been for weeks. Not hovering near the back like she wasn’t sure she belonged there anymore.She was seated.Closer to the center.Listening.Speaking when needed.Resuming.I stood with the warriors, a few steps removed, but my attention kept drifting back to her despite myself.It wasn’t just that she was there.It was how she carried herself.There was still weight in her posture. Still something quiet and guarded beneath the surface. But it wasn’t as consuming as it had been before.She wasn’t shrinking anymore.She wasn’t disappearing into the background.She was stepping back into place.“About time,” Tomas muttered beside me, arms crossed as he watched the same thing.I didn’t respond immediately.Because this—This wasn’t something to reduce to a simple observation.“It’s not eas
Rowan POV I didn’t sleep that night.Not properly.Every time I closed my eyes, I heard it again—her voice, soft and unguarded in sleep, saying his name like it still belonged to her in a way nothing else ever would.Kael.It stayed with me longer than it should have. Not because I didn’t expect it, but because hearing it stripped away any illusion I might have been holding onto. It wasn’t just memory for her. It wasn’t just grief fading into something quieter.It was still alive.And I was standing in the middle of it.Morning came slowly, the kind of quiet dawn that made everything feel heavier instead of lighter. The village stirred back to life piece by piece—voices returning, footsteps crossing the ground, routines settling into place again like they always did.I moved through it without thinking much about where I was going.Until I realized I had ended up near the river.It made sense.It was one of the few places that still felt separate from everything else. The noise didn
Rowan POV It was an accident.That’s what I told myself the moment it happened.There had been no plan, no intention behind it. I wasn’t trying to get close to her, wasn’t looking for an excuse to shorten the distance she kept so carefully between us. If anything, I had been doing the opposite—giving her space, holding the line I’d drawn for myself, even when the bond made that harder than I liked to admit.But accidents don’t ask permission.They just happen.---It was late.The kind of late where the village had already begun to quiet, where most of the voices had faded into softer tones and the fires burned lower, casting long shadows across the ground. A few of us were still finishing up small tasks—nothing urgent, just the kind of work that kept your hands busy when your mind refused to settle.Lyra stood near one of the tables, sorting herbs.She worked like she always did—focused, efficient, controlled. Anyone looking at her from a distance would think she was fine. That she
Lyra POV It didn’t happen all at once. There was no single moment where everything shifted, no clear line I crossed where denial became truth.It was quieter than that. More dangerous. It happened in pieces. In the way I stopped tensing every time I felt the bond.In the way my thoughts didn’t immediately reject him the second he came to mind.In the way silence around him didn’t feel like something I needed to escape.And most of all— In the way I remembered that afternoon. The walk.I sat by the window that evening, my knees drawn slightly toward me as I stared out into the dimming light of the village. The sky had softened into deep gold and shadow, the kind of calm that used to feel comforting.Now it just felt… still. My thoughts kept circling back. To him. I exhaled slowly, pressing my fingers lightly against my temple.“No.”The word came out automatically. A reflex. But it didn’t hold the same weight anymore. Because the truth— It had already started settling in. I liked bei
Lyra POV The guilt came later.Not during the moment.Not when it happened.But after.---It settled in slowly, quietly, like something patient enough to wait until I was alone.Until there was nothing left to distract me from it.---I hadn’t meant to go with him.That was the truth I held onto.It hadn’t been planned.There had been no agreement, no decision made out loud. We had simply… walked.Away from the clearing.Away from the noise.Away from everyone watching.---It happened naturally.Too naturally.And that was the first problem.---“You don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder,” Rowan said as we stepped onto the quieter trail leading toward the outer forest.“I’m not.”“You are.”I exhaled sharply, not bothering to deny it again.“I just don’t want people talking.”“They’re already talking.”That made me stop.I turned to look at him, my expression tightening.“That doesn’t help.”“It’s not supposed to.”---I stared at him for a moment longer before shaking my
Lyra POV The first time it happened, I didn’t realize it.Not immediately.It slipped out of me so easily that for a moment, I didn’t even register it as something unusual.Something… rare.---The gathering had been planned for days.Not a celebration.Not quite.But something close to it.A way for the pack to come together again after everything the war had taken. Fires were lit across the clearing, long tables set with food, voices rising cautiously at first, then stronger as the night settled in.It was… normal.Or at least, an attempt at it.---I almost didn’t go.The thought of standing in the middle of all that life—of being surrounded by people who were trying to move forward while I still felt caught somewhere behind—had been enough to make me hesitate at the edge of my room.But my mother had insisted.Gently.Firmly.And eventually, I gave in.---The moment I stepped into the clearing, the shift was immediate.Not in the air.In the people.Conversations softened sligh
Rowan POV It started as a disturbance.Not physical.Not something I could see or hear.Just… wrong.I was in the training grounds, running through drills with two of the younger warriors, correcting their stance, their timing, their awareness. It was routine. Controlled. The kind of repetition t
Lyra POV It didn’t take long to understand.That was the problem.There was no slow realization, no gradual unfolding that gave me time to adjust. The moment the bond settled—truly settled—into something undeniable, it began to pull.Not violently.Not forcefully.But with quiet certainty.Like it
Lyra POV It didn’t happen during something important.There was no warning.No build-up.No moment that felt like it should matter.That was the strangest part.---The morning after the Moon Goddess ceremony felt like every other morning.Quiet.Steady.Unremarkable.I woke before the sun fully r
Lyra POV The Moon Goddess ceremony had always been one of the quietest nights in the pack.Not silent.But… softer.Even as a child, I remembered the way everything seemed to slow when this night came. Voices lowered. Movements became more deliberate. Fires burned a little steadier, as if the ent







