2. I Belong to No One But Myself

The first thing I heard was shouting. Not the distant murmur of a crowd. Not celebration. Anger.

"...can't leave her alive!"

"The Moon Goddess would never—"

"You dare question the Goddess herself?"

The voices crashed together until they became one loud, throbbing ache in my skull. I groaned and forced my eyes open. A stone ceiling greeted me. I wasn't in the temple anymore. I must have passed out. Honestly, I couldn’t blame my body. 

I was lying on a narrow chaise inside a private chamber that smelled faintly of herbs and smoke.

"...She's awake."

Every voice stopped.

Every pair of eyes turned toward me.

The High Priestess and the clan elders stood near the hearth. My mother was beside me, her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles had turned white.

Across the room, Kael Veyron leaned against a heavy oak desk with his hands gripping the edge. He stood as far away from me as the room allowed. His face was as unreadable as polished marble, every emotion locked behind a mask of perfect control.

Next to me stood Darian. The hair to the Moonshaddow Clan.

The worry written across his face disappeared the moment our eyes met, replaced with visible relief.

Relief washed over me before I could stop it. The frantic pounding in my chest eased, if only for a heartbeat. It made no sense. I barely knew him. Yet standing near him felt...safe.

In the farthest corner… The stranger.

He leaned against the wall, half-hidden in shadow. His arms were crossed, and there was the faintest ghost of amusement tugging at one corner of his mouth—not at me, but at the elders still arguing amongst themselves. 

Yet every few seconds, his violet eyes drifted back to me. Each time they did… The amusement disappeared. 

Was it fear? Worry? 

Looking at him felt like trying to remember a dream I'd forgotten. 

I pushed myself upright. Every muscle protested.

"What happened?" No one answered. Instead, the arguing began again.

"She is cursed!"

"She's the fulfillment of prophecy!"

"We don't even know what she is!"

I looked from one elder to another before letting out a frustrated breath.

"Excuse me." No one acknowledged me. "I said—"

Still nothing. I swung my legs over the side of the chaise and stood.

The room fell silent.

"If you're deciding my fate," I said, my voice steadier than I felt, "the least you can do is let me participate in the conversation."

For the first time, the room listened. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Darian's expression soften with something that looked suspiciously like pride.

Even the stranger's lips twitched into a slight smirk.

Kael’s body remained motionless but his storm grey eyes met mine. My veins heated under his gaze and I inhaled sharply. "A Luna cannot kneel beside an Alpha while sharing her bond with two other men." His voice was calm. Too calm. "The Alpha of Ironfang cannot accept a Luna whose bond is divided."

His face never changed. Yet beneath his hand, the edge of the oak desk splintered. He was hurting. He simply refused to show it.

Darian stepped forward. "Defective?" he growled. His body shifted instinctively between me and Kael, shielding me without a second thought.

"No one said defective." Kael responded.

"You didn't have to." The air between the two Alphas shifted.

Heavy.

Dangerous.

Kael straightened, and lifted an eyebrow. "So you're challenging me?"

"If protecting my mate is a challenge..." Darian's wolf flashed in his amber eyes. "...then yes."

“Doesn’t surprise me that the Moonshadow pack doesn’t have a problem with sharing their mates…” Kael replied with a smirk and a hint of suggestion in his words.

Something in the air snapped, without hesitation, Darian lunged. The sound of fists colliding echoed through the chamber.

The elders shouted. The furniture crashed. Neither man held back. Darian fought like a warrior. Kael fought like a king.

Every strike drove Darian backward. Every blow reminded everyone in the room why Kael was the Alpha of Ironfang.

"Stop!" I shouted. No one listened.

I darted between them.

"Lyra!" My mother's scream barely registered. 

Both men turned. Both attacked.

One fist. One set of claws. Both aimed directly at me.

Kael's fist stopped less than an inch from my face. Darian's claws froze against an invisible wall. Neither could move another inch.

Silence swallowed the room. The bond.

It wasn't protecting me. It was stopping them.

Slowly, both men lowered their arms. I rounded on Kael first.

"You are a cruel, ruthless idiot." I spat. The room collectively inhaled. "We don't even know what's happening, and your first instinct is to reject the bond?"

His jaw tightened.

"You don't even know what rejecting it will do!"

I spun toward Darian. "And you." His brows lifted. "You territorial bastard."

"I—"

"I don't belong to you." I snarled 

"You're my mate." He said unapologetically. 

"Yes," I snapped. "Yours…" I pointed to him. 

I pointed toward Kael. "...and his…" Kael's body visibly stiffens. 

Then toward the stranger. "...and his!". Something unreadable flickered across the stranger's face.

The room went silent again. 

"I belong to no one but myself."