All Chapters of TWO ALPHAS ONE BOND : Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

LYRA The weeks folded into each other faster than I expected. Coronation preparations swallowed whole days at a time, while Hollow Vale narrowed down to careful, quiet whispers passed back and forth in person between Orion and his two scouts, nothing ever written down, nothing ever rushed. The man from the ballroom never showed his face again, or if he did, none of us managed to catch him. Eventually, the uncertainty settled into a low hum instead of a sharp edge, just something I carried around without constantly flinching. Ravenwood and Nightshade kept merging, too, slower in some corners than others, moving faster in the kitchens than the training yard, but folding together all the same. And now, somehow, the coronation was tomorrow. I needed air before the final rehearsal that evening, something that wasn't banners, seating charts, or Ana’s increasingly precise hourly countdown. Zeviar seemed to read the exact feeling off my face before I even said a word. "Run with us," he said

LYRA Zeviar and Orion were waiting at the bottom of the staircase when I came down. Both of them were dressed for the occasion in deep green edged with silver. The sight of them together stopped me cold on the landing, my hand tightening on the banister. Zeviar saw me first, and whatever he’d been saying to Orion died mid-sentence. His whole expression softened in a way he rarely let the rest of the world see. Orion turned a beat later, and the same thing happened to him, something between awe and disbelief settling over his face as I made my way down the last few steps. "You're staring," I said, a little breathless, stopping right in front of them. "We're allowed," Orion said. "It's your birthday. There should be a rule that we're required to stare today." "I'll allow it," I said. Zeviar reached out, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear with a gentleness that made my chest ache. "Happy birthday," he said quietly, just for me, like the words were a secret he didn't want

LYRA The cake came out not long after, four tiers of it wheeled in on a cart decorated with real white roses. The room erupted into a ragged, off-key chorus of the birthday song that Mira insisted on starting a full beat before anyone else was ready. Willow stood beside me the whole time, her arm looped through mine, singing louder and worse than anyone else in the hall on purpose. When I finally blew out the candles, twenty-five of them, absurdly many and entirely Ana's doing, the cheer that went up felt like it belonged to the whole room rather than just to me. "Make a wish?" Zeviar asked quietly, close to my ear. "Already got it," I said, glancing between him and Orion, and I felt his hand tighten briefly around mine. The dancing kept going long after the cake was cut. Plates passed hand to hand faster than the staff could manage them. Darius pulled Jaxon into an increasingly ridiculous attempt at a coordinated dance that had half the room laughing. Silas stood near the edge

LYRAThe garden hit me like a wall of warmth the moment we stepped through the doors. Lantern light was strung between the trees, blending with the low murmur of a hundred conversations and the smell of crushed grass and night-blooming jasmine. Threaded through it all was a pack scent so thick and layered it was almost dizzying. Nobody out here had any idea what had just happened twenty feet behind us. For them, the night was still exactly what it looked like.I forced myself to smile. It wasn't even entirely fake. Some part of me was still achingly, genuinely happy to be crowned, celebrated, and surrounded by people who loved me, even with that other part of me standing right behind the happiness like a shadow waiting its turn.Zeviar's hand found mine the second we cleared the doorway, and Orion fell into step close on my other side. Neither of them said a word. They were just there, a wall of quiet support I hadn't even had to ask for."There she is!" Willow's voice cut through the

LYRATwo days passed before I found him. If I was honest with myself, I hadn't been looking all that hard. It wasn't because my questions had quieted, but because some stubborn part of me kept hoping he'd make the first move. That way, I wouldn't have to decide if I actually wanted answers badly enough to go looking for them.Sky decided for me in the end. I was out near the western tree line on a walk I told myself was just a walk, and she went rigid the moment his scent crossed ours. It was old, achingly familiar, and utterly changed by everything I now knew sat underneath it.He was waiting at the edge of the road like he'd known I'd come. Knowing him, he probably had. He stood with his hands loosely clasped behind his back, none of the theater from the ballroom left in him now. For the first time since I'd known him, he just looked genuinely tired."You could have made this easier," I said, stopping several feet away, "and just not shown up to my coronation at all.""I could have,