ログインCASPIAN’S POVThe forest clearing was too quiet. The only sounds were our ragged breathing and the distant rustle of leaves where the others were no doubt still searching. My arm was still around her waist, holding her against me. I could feel every curve, the frantic beat of her heart against my ribs. The scent of her—fear, anger, autumn leaves, and that underlying, maddening sweetness that was purely Lyra—filled my head, making it hard to think.Why is she like this? Why does she fight the only people trying to keep her alive?She stared up at me, those wide eyes full of defiance instead of the gratitude she should be feeling. It made something snap inside me.“Why are you running?” My voice came out rougher than I intended. I didn’t let go. “We’re trying to protect you. You could still be watched. You know that.”She shoved against my chest, but I didn’t budge. “Let go of me, Caspian.”“Not until you answer me. Why run? What do you think you’re proving?”“I’m proving I can make my
LYRA’S POVThe leather cuffs are gone, but the mark they left feels deeper than skin. I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at my hands. My own hands. I turn them over, studying the lines on my palms like they might hold a new answer.This is me. This body. This… thing I am.The thought doesn’t feel real. It sits in my head like a bad dream I can’t wake up from. A fated mate. To six men. Six werewolves. And not just any mate. Some… anomaly. A unifying bond. The words they used swirl around, heavy and strange.But one part sticks, sharp as a knife.I survived.Those men in the van, the ones who took me from Iris… they weren’t just random bad guys. They were hunters. Looking for someone like me. And I got away. A little girl. How? Why me?Was that the real reason she hated me? My own mother? Was it because I was… different? Wrong? Or was I just unlucky, a curse that brought trouble to her door?The questions have no answers. They just twist in my gut, a dull, constant ache.I don’t cry.
LYRA’S POVI woke to the low sound of voices. My head throbbed. My arms ached. Something cool and firm circled my wrists. Memory crashed back in a sickening wave. The run. The capture. The cuffs.My eyes flew open.I was in my bed, the blankets pulled up to my chest. And they were all there. All six of them. Sitting in chairs they’d dragged in from who-knows-where, forming a silent half-circle around my bed. The morning light cut through the gaps in the curtains, painting stripes across their serious faces.Jeremy was closest, elbows on his knees, head bowed. Silas sat straight-backed, his expression unreadable. Raphael looked tired, his usual wild energy subdued. Orion watched me with quiet intensity. Rowan’s gaze was full of a pain I didn’t understand. Caspian just looked… resigned.The room was still a wreck. Shards of the vase glinted on the floor. The broken lamp lay on its side. And my wrists were bound by soft leather cuffs, connected by a short chain.A hot, sour rage bubbled
LYRA’S POVThe words hung in the air between us. Mate bond. Fated. All of us.For a second, my brain just… stopped. It refused to process the sheer insanity of what he’d just said. Then, like a dam breaking, it all crashed in.A sharp, ugly laugh tore out of my throat. “You’re lying.”“Lyra—” Jeremy tried to step closer.“Don’t!” I stumbled back, my shoulder hitting the door frame hard. “You’re lying! This is another game. Another way to control me. A ‘mate bond’? Are you even hearing yourselves? You sound insane!”Silas stood from behind his desk, his face like stone. “It’s the truth.”“The truth?” I screamed, the sound raw and scraping. My voice bounced off the book-lined walls. “The truth is you kidnapped me! You brought me here, you’ve watched me, you’ve… you’ve touched me, you’ve fought over me like I’m some prize! And now you’re telling me it’s all because of some… some mystical tether? No. No way.”“It’s not mystical,” Orion said softly, his calm voice grating against my rage.
LYRA’S POVThe days blurred into a rhythm of early alarms, stiff office clothes, and the quiet hum of Blackwood Capital. I didn’t go back to Onyx. I was too tired, my mind too full of spreadsheets and meeting notes and the careful, distant politeness of my new colleagues. But a part of me missed it. Missed the loud music, the anonymity of the stage, the simple transaction of a look for a tip. Here, every glance felt loaded. Every word felt like a test.It was late, past ten. I’d been in my room, trying to read a textbook for a class I was already falling behind in. My eyes kept closing. I gave up, deciding to go to the kitchen for some tea, something to settle the restless, empty feeling in my chest.The hallway was dark, thick carpet swallowing the sound of my steps. As I neared the closed door of Silas’s study, I heard it. Raised voices. Angry, sharp words bleeding through the heavy wood.I froze. I shouldn’t listen. I knew I shouldn’t. But my feet were nailed to the floor.“—a risk
Rowan’s POVShe walked in and placed the file on his desk. “The portfolio problem. The client’s directives are contradictory because they’re based on outdated risk parameters. I cross-referenced their stated goals with their actual trading history from the last eighteen months. I proposed a new allocation model that aligns with their real behavior, not what they say they want. The math is on page two.”Silas opened the file. He scanned the page. His expression didn’t change, but I saw his eyes move quickly, absorbing.“The market reports,” she continued. “The data was in the ‘Archive_ZH’ subfolder under the Singapore server. I used a translation overlay on the system to get the gist, then correlated the key figures with the publicly reported indexes to check for discrepancies. There’s a summary on page four. The variance is within an acceptable margin, but the dip in Q3 wasn’t market-wide; it was specific to two of our holdings. I highlighted them.”She wasn’t just repeating informati







