Chapter 2

The back of my head struck Selene’s gravestone.

Pain exploded through my skull. Warm blood slid through my hair, dripping onto the black stone beneath her name.

Darian did not release me.

He pressed me against the icy surface, fingers digging into my shoulders. His wolf eyes burned gold in the falling snow.

“Lyra, you killed my sister,” he said, voice raw, hoarse with grief. “Why are you crying at her grave?”

I looked past him. Selene’s wolf emblem was carved beneath her name—a pure white wolf with wings spread wide, frozen in stone as she had run through snow. My throat tightened until I could barely breathe.

“Darian,” I whispered, “it was not like that.”

“Then tell me what it was like.” His grip tightened.

“Before Selene died, the last pack bond she reached for was yours. What did she say? Who did she see?”

Snow fell steadily between us. I opened my mouth, but the words lodged in my throat like shards of ice.

“I cannot.”

The projection froze. Wolves in Moon Valley Plaza erupted in chaos.

“She still refuses to speak!”

“Look at her! Pretending to be pitiful!”

“She died with a pup, and she protects the murderer!”

“Traitor! Monster protector!”

Roars rolled through the plaza, echoing off the cedar trees and crystal walls. Wolves pressed forward, teeth bared, paws scraping stones. Some leapt onto rooftops, claws digging into ice and moss. Sparks flew as burning branches struck the crystal wall; a stray ember grazed my arm, blackening my skin.

I did not move. I could not. The silver needles of the Soul Recollection Device drilled deeper into my wolf soul with each heartbeat.

Darian stood outside the wall. He saw the burn, saw the blood running down my face. But he said nothing. He let the pack curse me.

The memory continued. After Selene’s death, everyone wanted me expelled. The elders demanded my exile. Luna Marla smashed three clay bowls in the council hall, her rage shaking the pillars. Alpha Aldric warned Darian I was dangerous. He refused them all.

That night, he blocked the elders from my chamber, standing alone until dawn.

The next morning, he brought a bowl of lunar energy soup, placing it carefully at the edge of my stone bed. “Drink,” he said. Calm. Neither warm nor angry. From that day, he came every morning. He ensured I ate, drank, survived.

The projection showed him standing before the council hall. “She knows who killed Selene! Why protect her?” Marla screamed. Darian remained still. “I trust her. She has her reasons for silence.”

I lay inside the crystal wall, pain tearing through my skull, but my heart hurt more than my body. I had believed him. I had trusted him for two years. I had believed the nightmare would end if I endured.

The memory shifted. Moonlight fell over the cedar grove. Darian walked beside me beneath the trees. His hand brushed mine. No elders. No curses. Only moonlight, cedar branches, and the quiet rhythm of our wolves breathing within.

“You are too thin,” he said. “You need to eat more.”

I lowered my head, smiling faintly. “Are you worried about me?”

“Yes,” he said, touching my cheek.

Wolves muttered among themselves below. “She tricked him!” “She used his trust!” Darian’s face remained cold. He still said nothing.

The memory changed again. I held the healer’s report confirming I carried his pup. Darian knelt, hand warm on my belly. “Our pup.” Tears filled my eyes. That was the happiest moment I had known since Selene’s death.

The projection went black. When it returned, I was lying on a cold iron bed. My wrists and ankles were chained. Damp stone walls enclosed me. A faint lunar crystal lamp cast pale light.

I thrashed. “Darian! Darian!”

The door opened. He entered. Warmth was gone. Only cold.

“What did Selene see?”

Only then did I understand. His gentleness had never been forgiveness. His trust had never been trust. He had been waiting—until I carried his pup.

I forced a bitter smile. “So this is why you protected me.”

“I gave you two years,” he said. “Chances no one else would have given you.”

His hand rested on my belly. I froze.

“Darian,” I whispered, “that is our child.”

His palm rested over the place where our pup slept. One second, his fingers trembled. Then his eyes turned cold again.

“Selene also carried a pup when she died.”

The words struck me like ice water.

“You say I cannot force you. Then tell me, Lyra. Who will repay my sister’s life?”

I said nothing. After a long silence, he straightened and walked out. The iron door closed behind him.

Moon Valley Plaza fell silent. Then the curses returned, louder than before.

“She deserves it!”

“Alpha Darian was too merciful!”

“Why should she keep her pup in peace?”

“She still wants sympathy?”

My stomach twisted violently. I gagged, but nothing came out.

The Soul Walker shouted, “Alpha Darian, her life energy is dropping!”

Darian remained calm. “Continue.”

The lunar infusion lever pushed. Silver light poured through me. My wolf screamed until her voice broke.

The projection flickered and returned. It was no longer the grave. It was the dungeon again.