LOGINFor several heartbeats, Lyra couldn’t breathe.The room faded, the ruined stone, the shattered door, the flickering torches—all dissolving into a ringing silence as the queen’s words echoed through her skull.Your father is the Shadow King.No sound.No breath.Just cold.Rylan caught her before she collapsed, his arms wrapping around her as if he could shield her from a bloodline she’d never asked for.“Lyra,” he whispered, voice raw. “Stay with me.”Her fingers dug into his shirt, anchoring herself in the heat of him, the solidity.But her heart beat like a trapped bird.“My mother… she never told me…” Lyra breathed, struggling to find air. “She made me believe I was just… normal. Just wolf.”Rylan’s grip tightened.“You were never just wolf,” he whispered.“But you were never meant to face this alone.”A harsh scoff cut through her panic.Kade.He stood across the room, wiping blood from his jaw, eyes burning—not with fear.But with something hotter.Sharper.Darker.Envy.“Of cour
Lyra lay motionless on the floor, moonlight still flickering under her skin like dying embers. He crawled toward her on trembling limbs, half-shifted, claws scraping stone as if something inside him refused to fully return to human form.He reached her, hands shaking.“Lyra… Lyra, look at me.”Her chest rose shallowly. Too shallow.Her lashes fluttered—but she wasn’t waking.Kade staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his jaw, armor cracked. “Is she—”“Don’t,” Rylan snarled without looking up. “Don’t finish that sentence.”Isolde leaned heavily on a guard, face white with shock. “She unleashed Ascendant magic… without training, without control. Her body may not withstand—”“Don’t,” Rylan growled again, voice vibrating with barely-leashed violence.Because if anyone suggested that Lyra might not survive…Something inside him would break.He gathered her into his arms, lifting her with a gentleness that contradicted the blood still wet on his claws. Her head lolled against his shoul
The howl shook the castle to its foundations.Lyra’s breath froze in her lungs as the echo coiled through the stone corridors—ancient, hungry, and far too familiar. Rylan dragged her behind him, one arm braced protectively across her front, as torches guttered and guards shouted down the hall.“South wing breach!”“Shields—NOW!”“Something just tore through the ward lines!”Another thunderous snarl rattled the doors.Lyra clutched Rylan’s cloak.“I know that sound,” she whispered. “I heard it when I was a child.”Rylan’s head snapped toward her, muscles coiled, eyes burning molten gold.“You remember more?”“It hunted my mother,” Lyra breathed. “It—”She stopped.Because suddenly she felt it.A tug in her blood.A call beneath her heartbeat.A pull that wasn’t the Moonbound bond—But older. Darker.Something that recognized her.Rylan grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.“Lyra—whatever you feel, fight it. Do you hear me? Don’t answer it.”“I’m not trying to,” she whispered.
For a long moment, no one moved.The sentinel’s final message hung in the frozen air like a curse, the words carved into the snow burning into Lyra’s vision:YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO LIVE.The silence was suffocating.Rylan was the first to rise. His jaw clenched so tightly a muscle twitched along his cheek.“Get her inside,” he said, voice low and lethal. “Now.”Kade bristled. “This is my territory—”“And your territory has been breached twice in one night,” Rylan snapped. “Keep arguing, and she’ll be dead before sunrise.”Kade surged forward, but Queen Isolde’s hand shot out, halting him.“Enough.” Her voice was thin, trembling beneath the steel. “Rylan is right. Lyra must be moved. Now.”The queen’s gaze flicked to Lyra’s wrist—where the Moonbound mark glowed faintly beneath her skin, pulsing like a heartbeat.Not her heartbeat.Rylan’s.The connection thrummed stronger by the second, responding to fear, fury, grief—whatever storm now churned inside her chest.Rylan stepped close, h
Snow fell like silent ash as they led Lyra down to the frozen gates.The moon hung low and heavy, casting a ghostly glow across the courtyard. Guards rushed back and forth, shouting orders, tracking scents, scanning shadows for the assassin. But Lyra barely heard any of it.Her heartbeat was a drum of dread.Rylan walked beside her, keeping pace with every shaky step. He didn’t touch her—but she felt him as if he did. The Moonbound mark pulsed faintly, responding to his presence, syncing with his breath.Kade followed behind them, expression carved from cold marble, every step rigid with control.Queen Isolde moved like an apparition, her ice-silver cloak dragging across the snow, leaving a long trail.Lyra forced herself to inhale.The scent hit her like a punch—smoke, blood, grief.Her knees nearly gave out.Rylan saw. With a low growl, he stepped closer.“You don’t have to see this.”Lyra tore her gaze from the ground. Her voice cracked.“I do.”He swallowed but didn’t argue.They
The hall erupted into chaos.Wolves surged forward, guards scanning the shadows for the assassin. Lyra barely had time to breathe before a strong arm grabbed her waist and yanked her backward.Rylan.His body pressed against her back, shielding her as his eyes flashed a predator’s gold.“Don’t move,” he growled in her ear.Her pulse jumped. She wasn’t sure if it was fear or the way his voice slid down her spine like warm lightning.Kade barked orders, cold and sharp.“Seal the doors. No one leaves. Find who fired that arrow.”Lyra stared at the wall—the arrow’s black feathers glistened with some oily poison.That was meant for me.Why?She didn’t even know these people.Rylan gently turned her to face him. His hands stayed on her waist longer than necessary—warm, grounding, dangerous. When he saw the glow beneath her wrist, his expression changed.Softened.Deepened.Darkened.“Show me,” he said quietly.Lyra hesitated before she lifted her sleeve.The matching sigil burned beneath he







