Born of scandal and treated like a curse, Lyra has spent her life suppressed, her wolf silenced and her birthright stolen. When the cruel Alpha King rejects her in favor of her scheming sister and marks her for death, Lyra escapes into the forbidden land of rogues where death should await. But instead of death, she meets him. The Rogue King. A man believed dead. A man who shouldn't exist alongside his kingdom. A man with secrets darker than the forest itself. Forced into slavery at his side, Lyra uncovers the truth of her lineage, her stolen powers, and the prophecy that marks her as the Moon Goddess’s Chosen. As kingdoms prepare for war, betrayals unfold, and desire sparks dangerously between captor and captive, Lyra must decide: Will she remain a slave to fate or become Queen of all?
View MoreLyra's pov
I was never meant to survive. I’ve known that truth since the day I was old enough to understand words whispered behind locked doors. Since the first time my stepmother’s sharp slap sent me sprawling across the kitchen floor. Since my own father turned his eyes away whenever they bruised me, as if I didn’t belong in the world he ruled. “You will keep your head down,” Selene hissed beside me, her clawed hand tightening on my arm like iron talons. “You will not speak. You will not look at anyone unless spoken to. If you embarrass this family tonight, I will personally see you flogged until your skin peels.” I nodded mutely, my gaze on the polished stone floor of the grand corridor as we neared the Great Hall. The scent of fresh roses, perfumes, and wolf musk clung to the air, suffocating. My heart pounded, but not with excitement like my stepsister Celeste's, who walked proudly ahead in a crimson gown that gleamed like fresh-spilled blood. It was the Alpha King's choosing ceremony tonight. And I...I was the stain they kept hidden. The reminder of a shameful affair that no amount of noble breeding could erase. “You hear me, girl?” Selene's voice cut into my head like a blade. When I didn’t answer fast enough, pain exploded across my cheek as her hand struck me hard. My head snapped to the side, coppery taste instantly filling my mouth. “Yes, ma,” I whispered, swallowing the blood on my tongue. She sniffed in disdain and wiping her hand on a handkerchief. “See that you behave. This is the most important night of Celeste’s life. You are nothing but a shadow. Stay behind us. Be unseen.” Once again, my father walked ahead like nothing was happening. I swallowed, forcing my trembling legs to follow them into the dazzling light of the Great Hall. The Moonstone Pack's finest nobles filled the ballroom, men and women in shimmering silks, gold, and jewels that glinted like stars. Laughter and murmured gossip floated on the air, but all of it was background noise to the hammering of my heart and the cold sweat beading on my neck. Every time I stepped into these gatherings, I prayed to the Moon Goddess to make me invisible. To erase me from this world of beautiful wolves and powerful bloodlines. But the Goddess never listened. I didn’t belong here. I wasn’t like them. I was the bastard daughter of Lord Damon Blackthorn and a forgotten maid who had died birthing me. A mistake. An accident. A dirty secret that Selene scrubbed and whipped and scolded into submission every day since I could remember. I was a bad omen. Pups whose mothers die while giving birth are to be thrown into the forbidden forest to be feasted on by the rogues but my father had been “kind” enough to have me spared. I wish he hadn't. My half-siblings, Celeste and Marius looked at me with open disgust. Their perfect golden hair, their strong wolves always present beneath their skin, their confident grace...and then there was me. Plain. Small. Fragile. And worst of all, wolf-less. My beast lay silent, buried deep, as if even she were ashamed to share a soul with me. I’d never shifted. Never howled beneath the moon. I was an omega in everything but name. A broken thing. “Smile, dear sister,” Celeste whispered, casting me a vicious grin as she leaned close. “Perhaps if you bow low enough mother will spare you the dungeon tonight.” I stiffened but said nothing. I’d learned long ago that silence was my only shield. The musicians played a soft tune as the grand doors opened wider. And then he entered. The Alpha King. Kael Draven. His presence was like a thunder, commanding. The hall stilled, breaths held, every head turning toward him as he strode in. Tall, broad-shouldered, cloaked in black and gold, with emerald eyes that gleamed like cut glass. My heart faltered. He was...magnificent. Dangerous. The kind of male whose mere scent made the wolves inside the nobles stir with need and fear. I lowered my head, as Selene had ordered. But fate or cruelty had other plans. Celeste suddenly shoved back as she adjusted her gown, and I stumbled, my foot catching on the hem of her dress. My body lurched forward right into the path of the approaching Alpha King. I gasped as I collided with him. His chest was like iron, the scent of cedar and lemon washing over me, making my dormant wolf shudder deep inside. His hand shot out, gripping my arm to steady me. For one heartbeat, his eyes met mine. And the world stopped. Something deep and powerful crackled between us. A thread snapping in place. The faintest shimmer of gold light flashed in his pupils, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled sharply. A mate bond. Panic ripped through me. But before hope could bloom, before the Moon Goddess’s gift could take shape his face twisted. Revulsion. Disgust. “No,” he growled softly, his voice a dagger to my heart. "It cannot be." The hall went silent. Every gaze turned toward us. My breath caught in my throat as he pushed me away as if I were filth. "An omega bastard?" he sneered, loud enough for all to hear. "The Goddess mocks me. What sort of sorcery is this?!” A cold laughter echoed through the hall. Celeste’s smile curled like a cat’s as she stepped forward, sliding her arm through his. "Surely, my King, the Goddess meant no such thing," she purred. "You deserve a true mate. One of noble blood. Not this...thing." His grip tightened on her waist. “I, Alpha King Kael Draven of the Moonstone Pack, reject you, Lyra Blackthorn, as my mate," Kael declared, his voice booming through the hall so that all could hear it. "This disgrace is not my mate. She is nothing." My chest caved inward. It felt like a physical tearing, as if invisible claws ripped down my soul. The rejection slammed into me, sucking the air from my lungs. My knees buckled, pain searing through my heart, my veins, my very bones. No. No, no, no... The bond, the only thing that had ever stirred in my silent wolf snapped. And I broke. Laughter and whispers swirled around md. I knelt there on the polished floor, trembling, eyes burning with unshed tears. "Such audacity," Selene murmured nearby, venom lacing her voice. "To think you could ever be chosen." "My King," Celeste said sweetly, batting her lashes, "as your future Queen, I make a small request. A prize to celebrate our bond." Future queen? Kael tilted his head, amused. "Speak, my beautiful mate." Celeste turned to me, her smile cruel. "I want her head on a pike. Tonight." A gasp echoed through the hall. My blood froze. Kael smirked. "So be it." Guards grabbed me roughly, hauling me to my feet. My legs dragged behind me as they pulled me away, down the cold stone steps toward the dungeon. The distant sound of music and celebration faded behind us. I said nothing. What was there to say? I had always been unwanted. Unseen. A mistake. Now I was condemned. The cell door creaked open, iron and rot filling my nose. They threw me onto the damp stone floor, the door slamming shut behind me. Darkness swallowed me, cold and suffocating. I curled into myself, shivering as the bond’s rejection twisted in my chest. My wolf gave no comfort. No voice. No strength. She was as broken as I was. "I wish I’d never been born," I whispered to the dark, my voice cracking. "Moon Goddess...why did you make me at all?" No answer came. Only the sound of my own ragged breathing in the shadows. I was nothing. And soon, I would be dead.Lyra’s POVThe first thing I felt was warmth. Strong and comforting, all around me. For a moment I thought I was dreaming—wrapped in the kind of comfort I had never known in my past life. My lashes fluttered open slowly, and I realized the weight holding me was not a blanket. It was Ronan.His arm was slung across my waist, heavy and protective, his chest pressed firmly against my back. His breathing was slow, deep, and even—completely unlike the fast, uneven breaths he kept when awake.I shifted carefully, rolling onto my other side so I could study him. Gods, he was beautiful. The hard edges of his jaw softened, his forehead smooth, his lips relaxed instead of pulled into the stern line he wore like armor. I had never seen him like this, stripped of the burden of a crown, stripped of the weight of being king.A pang hit me square in the chest. How heavy must it be to live each waking moment with the world’s expectations pressing down? I wasn’t sure I could have borne it, not without
Lyra’s POV I wanted to repay him. It wasn't fair that I was the only one who got pleasured.I looked up at him. Ronan’s head was tipped against the headboard, his dark hair mussed, his chest rising and falling like he’d just run through battle. His eyes were pinned on me as he was lost in thought.I could still feel the slick ache between my thighs from the way he had touched me earlier, the way his finger had coaxed me open and broken me apart until I was a trembling mess beneath him. But something twisted in me now—something reckless, something that wanted to see him come undone the way I had.My lips curved before I even realized what I was doing. “I… want to try something,” I whispered, surprising even myself.His brow lifted, in dark amusement “Do you now?” His voice was deeper than usual.I felt my throat close as I nodded. My courage wavered for a second, but I slid down the bed anyway, until I was level with his broad thighs. He watched me the entire time, his smirk tugging h
Lyra’s povHis lips crashed against mine again, his lips were familiar at this point.This kiss was slower. As if he wanted me to feel every deliberate brush, every claim behind the kiss. My heart kicked against my ribs, each beat urging me closer, making me hungrier.I sighed into him, the sound caught between desperation and surrender. Ronan tasted like sweet and dangerous, like something addictive, and I didn’t care that I was tumbling headfirst into it. His hand slid around my waist, tugging me until my body was pressed against the solid wall of his chest. The sheets tangled around us, thin barriers that meant nothing when his touch set my skin aflame.“Ronan…” I breathed, not in protest, but in warning—maybe even in plea. I wasn’t sure anymore.He didn’t answer with words. His mouth trailed lower, down the curve of my jaw, grazing the sensitive skin of my throat. My breath hitched, my hands clutching the fabric of the sheets as though they were the only tether to reality. Every p
Lyra’s povThe silence in the room was deafening.I sat there with my back pressed against the headboard, staring at the floorboards as though they might offer me an escape from the storm inside me. My chest felt tight, my mind crowded with thoughts I couldn’t seem to untangle because of him.Ronan.The bond flared faintly the moment he stepped inside, reminding me that no matter how far I ran, this tether between us would always drag me back. He didn’t speak. For once, his footsteps weren’t heavy with authority or irritation—they were measured and cautious, like he was walking into dangerous territory.I braced myself, expecting anger, or questions, or maybe even disappointment. But instead, he came closer and, without a word, sat down on the edge of the bed.Silence.My throat worked uselessly around words that refused to come out. I didn’t dare meet his eyes, afraid of what I might find there—or worse, what I might not.And then… it happened.Ronan reached for me and pulled me into
Lyra’s povI woke up to darkness.The first thing I noticed was the heavy silence of the room, I was alone. My hearing was very much different, I could hear things that were miles away.The sounds of the animals in the forest sounded like it was right next to me. The hooting of the owls. It was all so… beautiful.My lashes fluttered open, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim light. The faint flicker of embers glowed in the fireplace across the chamber, casting dancing shadows on the walls. My body ached in ways I didn’t have the strength to name. Every bone, every muscle, every joint felt like it had been shattered and remade.I realized I was in Ronan’s chambers, lying on his bed, soft furs pulled over my body. I couldn’t tell how long I had been passed out—minutes, hours, maybe even an entire day. Time had no meaning after what had happened. My throat felt raw, my lips dry, and my limbs too heavy to move.But the most overwhelming feeling was relief. Relief that the
Celeste’s povI didn't repeat myself.I may be angry but I knew better than to test a half shifted wolf. If I was going to find Lyra, I needed to be alive to do so.The moment his wolf shifted back into flesh and bone, I saw the faint curve of his lips. A cruel, knowing smile tugged at Kael’s mouth as though he had been expecting my reaction all along.“I thought so,” he murmured, voice low and satisfied, almost smug.The firelight flickered across his bare skin, throwing shadows that made him look more beast than man. He stood tall and proud, every line of his body humming with restrained power. My heart should have quickened in fear—he was dangerous, unpredictable, capable of killing me in a single breath. But instead, my chest remained steady, my lips curved into the faintest mocking smile. If he thought he could scare me, he had sorely underestimated me.His expression hardened. “Stay off my path, Celeste. Do not go searching for Lyra.” His voice sharpened into steel, each word cl
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