MasukNyra’s POV The kitchen head woman approached me again, her mouth twisting in a smirk.“Well,” she said. “Looks like you’ve caught attention.”I stayed silent.She thrust a paper toward me.“This is your new assignment,” she said. “Signed by the Alpha.”My fingers closed around it.The kitchen head’s voice turned mocking. “Transferred to the vegetable gardens.”I blinked. “Gardens?”She shrugged. “Don’t know why he decided to go easy on you.” Her eyes swept over me with open contempt. “I guess you can use your degree there and be useful. Hopefully you have a green thumb and aren’t completely useless.”Humiliation burned hot in my chest.But then she did something that shocked me.She handed me a plate.Food.Not scraps. Not leftovers. Food.My stomach clenched painfully with hunger.“The Alpha said you aren’t to be starved or bullied,” she said, and the way she said it made it sound like an insult. Like protection was something I didn’t deserve.She smirked again, leaning close enough
Nyra’s POV The moment I stepped out of the shadows, the world froze.Alpha Ethan’s voice died in his throat. My mother’s pleading expression stiffened into something like stone. Even the morning wind seemed to pause, as if the trees themselves were waiting to see what would happen to the outcast girl who had overheard too much.I hadn’t meant to make a scene.But my feet had moved before my mind could stop them, dragged forward by the ache of hearing my life discussed like a punishment that could be adjusted at will.Alpha Ethan’s guards reacted first.Two of them charged toward me like I was a threat.Like I was a criminal.Like I was something that needed restraining.Strong hands grabbed my arms and yanked me forward.My breath punched out of me.My healing might have been fast, thanks to my mother’s secret light, but my body still remembered pain. It still remembered how easily wolves could break me.My mother lunged a step forward.“Ethan, no, please!” she cried.The sound
Nyra’s POV “We would have been happy together,” Alpha Ethan said, and his voice, his voice carried something I’d never heard from him before.Pain.Not performative.Not anger disguised as authority.Real pain.“And you would have been Alpha instead of your brother?” my mother asked.I could hear the bitterness in her words, like she already knew the answer even as she asked.Alpha Ethan’s jaw clenched.He shook his head once, curt.“It had nothing to do with that.”Elaine’s laugh was soft and vicious.“It had everything to do with that,” she said. “The same reason you’re forcing Kieran into a union with Beverly.” Her voice sharpened. “I wonder if that son of yours will ever grow a spine.”Alpha Ethan’s eyes darkened.His hands flexed at his sides.“It had nothing to do with the Alpha seat,” he repeated, louder, as if saying it hard enough could make it true.Elaine didn’t back down.“It has everything to do with power,” she said. “You cannot even hear yourself anymore.”Alpha Ethan
Nyra’s POV One of the only “perks” of being wolfless, if you could call it that, was this:Most wolves didn’t clock my scent immediately.Not unless they were looking for it.Not unless they were close enough to care.My smell didn’t announce me the way theirs did. It didn’t bloom into the air with dominance or rank or heat. It didn’t cling to the world like a flag.I was easy to overlook.Easy to miss.Easy to pretend wasn’t there.And for once, that invisibility became a shield.I froze at the edge of the trees, just outside the porch, my breath held so tightly in my chest it hurt. Alpha Ethan stood at my mother’s door, broad shoulders squared, jaw hard, two of his men waiting a few paces behind him like guard dogs straining on a leash.My mother stood in the doorway, spine straight, hands clenched at her sides.They didn’t see me.They were too busy tearing at each other with words.I lingered where I was, behind the shadow of the pines, close enough to hear but far enough to va
Nyra’s POV I didn’t remember deciding to run.I only remember the way my chest felt too tight to hold my heart.The way the cheers behind me sounded like wolves celebrating my funeral.The way my feet moved on their own, faster and faster, carrying me away from the assembly grounds before my knees could give out and my tears could expose me.I didn’t stop until the pack centre was far behind me.Until the torches became distant dots.Until the voices turned into nothing but a ringing in my ears.And then I realised where my body had taken me.The path curved through the trees, familiar in the way an old scar is familiar, something you never forget how to touch.The cabin.Our cabin.The one hidden deep in the woods where the world didn’t exist and Kieran could pretend I was worth holding.I stumbled up the steps like a drunk, my breath ragged, my hands shaking so hard the draft paper crumpled further in my fist.Maid.The word was printed in ink, but it felt carved into my skin.I pu
Nyra’s POV The pack erupted before Kieran even moved, cheers, stomping, voices rising in pride. Kieran stepped forward, but he didn’t look like a man being celebrated.He looked… hollow.Like he hadn’t slept.Like something inside him had been clawing him apart for days.His shoulders were tense. His face was pale beneath the torchlight. His jaw was clenched so hard it made his cheekbones sharp.And his eyes, His eyes found me immediately.Not with the cold dismissal he wore in daylight.Not with the careful distance he always kept.With fear.Pure, raw fear.It hit me like a punch.His gaze pleaded with me in a way his mouth never dared.Don’t let go.Please.Don’t leave me.For a second, my heart faltered.For a second, the bond tugged like a hand reaching for mine.And then I remembered every time he’d looked away.Every time he’d let them laugh.Every time he’d chosen reputation over me and called it love.So I didn’t look back.I stared past him.Through him.As if he was just







