All Chapters of Bound to the Night lord : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Three days after the ceremony, Lyra had learned that a rumor could move faster than any wolf.It followed her through the academy corridors, slid into the seat beside her in history class, and waited for her at the bottom of the stairs. Some students said she was a late bloomer. Others said she had been cursed. A few, bolder than the rest, said she had never been a wolf at all.Lyra kept her chin up and her face blank. It was the only defense she had.Her refuge was the library, a quiet room on the third floor where the windows looked out over the ash trees. She had gone there every afternoon since the ceremony, pretending to read while she counted the minutes until she could go home. Today, the peace did not last."There she is," said a voice she knew.Piper Holt leaned against the end of the table, arms folded, her curls bouncing as she tilted her head. Two of her friends stood behind her, smirking like they had been waiting for a cue."We heard you have a mate," Piper said sweetly.

By noon, the academy had decided what it thought of them.Lyra heard it in pieces as she walked the corridors beside Kaelen. A group of second years fell silent when they passed. Someone near the stairs said the word fraud, then laughed as if they had said something clever. Piper Holt, leaning against a locker with her arms folded, watched them go by with narrowed eyes and a smile that did not reach them.Kaelen did not look at any of them. He kept his hand at the small of Lyra's back, light and steady, the way a guardian might guide someone through a crowd. She had expected the touch to feel like a performance. Instead it felt like a warning, as though he were measuring every step she took.They left campus through the east gate, where the old stone wall gave way to a narrow path through the trees. The noise of the academy faded behind them until there was only the crunch of leaves and the distant rush of the river.Lyra did not realize where they were going until the trees thinned a

The summons arrived three days later, sealed in black wax and delivered by a silent vampire attendant who waited at the academy gate until Lyra signed for it.Kaelen read the letter in the carriage on the way to the Draven estate. He did not speak until the wheels had rattled over the last stone bridge and the iron gates of the estate rose before them, dark and tall against a bruised evening sky."My father wants to see you," he said at last. "Together. Tonight.""Why?""Because Severin Crowe has told him that the wolf girl who never shifted is living a lie, and that her mate has not yet marked her." He folded the letter with careful fingers. "The envoy has asked the council to decide whether you are a wolf under the pack's protection, or an unregistered human who should be taken into custody for questioning."Lyra's hands went cold in her lap. "Custody.""Yes.""And if I'm not registered as a wolf, what happens?"Kaelen met her eyes. "The courts decide. And the courts have never been

The Ashfall archive sat beneath the old council house, reached by a spiral of stone steps that smelled of damp earth and candle wax.Lyra had never been down them. Wolves of the pack were not permitted into the archive without the elders' consent, and as a girl she had been told that the records held only the names of the dead and the histories of the great families. She had believed it, the way she believed most things she was told.Kaelen walked beside her, his hand near her elbow but not touching. Severin Crowe followed a few paces behind, his footsteps soft and measured. Two vampire guards waited at the top of the stairs, their faces blank.At the bottom, a single lamp burned above a long wooden table. Elder Ysolde Thorne sat behind it with her hands folded on a closed ledger, her silver hair pinned neatly at the back of her head. She looked exactly as she had on the night of the ceremony: tired, gentle, and sorrowful."Lyra," she said warmly. "You came. I am so glad."Lyra's thro

The figure among the trees stepped forward, and Lyra's breath caught.It was Mara.Her sister's copper hair was tangled, and her cloak was torn at the hem. She held a short silver blade in one hand, though she was clearly not used to it. Her face was pale and fierce, and there was something raw in her eyes that Lyra had never seen before."Don't you dare touch her," Mara said to the nearest guard.The guard hesitated, glancing at Crowe. Crowe lifted one hand, and the guards fell back a step, uncertain."Lady Mara," Crowe said smoothly. "This is not your concern.""It became my concern when I heard the elders whispering in the archive last night." Mara's voice shook, but she did not lower the blade. "Thorne sent for me. She told me to bring Lyra home before the court took her. She said something terrible was coming."Lyra stared at her sister. "Thorne sent you?""She said you were the only one who could stop it." Mara swallowed hard. "She said I had to choose between the pack's lie and