Kael stayed inside her room, days passing without stepping out.
Something about the way the air hung there told her he was gone. It pressed against her chest like a held breath even when he wasn't near. The spot on her wrist wouldn't forget his touch. Heat crept slowly upward, threading through muscle until it rooted itself low inside her ribs.
Mate.
A whisper turned heavy, hanging there much like an old curse once spoken. Then silence crept back in.
Kael finally turned away, his jaw clenched so tightly she could hear his teeth grind. "You will not leave the pack grounds without escort," he said coldly. "You will not speak to anyone unless necessary. And you will not touch me again."
Her eyes rose, steady at first. "It wasn't me who reached out."
A spark lit up his gaze. Testing him was not a good idea
He heard the click just as the frame sealed tight. A gust from outside made the walls hum low.
It wasn't until the sound of his steps disappeared that Lyra finally leaned back on the bed, gasping in jagged bursts. Inside her, the wolf raced without pause, its nails dragging across barriers carved deep by the coven's lessons.
What's making him sense things so strongly? Could it be how his mind reacts each time?
Why does he feel like mine?
A sharp ache burst deep inside her skull. Pain flashed where none had been before.
Her breath caught, fingers tightening around her skull when that old chill crept through her mind.
The coven.
Slipping through thought, their words came - slow, sharp, wrong.
Fingers clenched. "Hold back," came the sharp whisper.
"Do not weaken."
"Remember your purpose."
Flashes came fast - red smears, roaring flames, voices tearing through air. There lay her mother, still in ways that meant gone. From somewhere far off, her father's last sound ripped out. A mark seared itself deep, not just on skin.
Blackmoor.
Fury rose, sharp and wild, smothering any doubt. It moved fast, leaving no room to think.
Faintly, Lyra breathed the word yes. Her voice trembled like a leaf in wind. Memory surfaced, slow and heavy. That moment clung to her mind
That works," hummed the elders.
"The bond is awakening. That means the weapon is working."
Her stomach twisted.
Weapon.
"You will strike soon," they continued.
"When the moon reaches its peak."
"You will not fail."
The connection snapped.
Down she fell, sideways, breath loud in her ears.
It wasn't supposed to ache this way, they'd never spoken of it before.
That night, Kael stayed awake. His eyes open long past dark.
Outside, the air grew sharp as he leaned against the railing, eyes fixed on the land below while night lifted its silver face above the hills. Beneath muscle and bone, fur rippled forward then back - growls rumbling through silence like distant thunder trapped under ribs.
She is dangerous.
And yet -
Every few seconds, his eyes wandered off to where the healer lived.
That pull hit him the moment her foot touched dirt on his property. Not a whisper - more like teeth sinking deep, dragging up what he'd shoved under grief when his Luna died. A jolt. Raw. Uninvited.
Impossible.
Few understood why the Moon Reaper kept moving through villages like a storm without warning. His blade left silence where laughter once lived. Packs shattered under his presence, unable to stand together after he passed. Years folded into one another while chaos followed his shadow across the land.
Fate tossed a bond before him, just when he least expected it.
Fists met stone - a sharp crack split the air. The railing shuddered under the blow, fractured by force. Kael stood rigid, knuckles raw, breath heavy. A low echo bounced off cold walls nearby. Dust curled upward where the break began.
"No," he growled. "Not again."
Falling out of nowhere, a stabbing hurt tore into his chest.
He stiffened.
Not his pain.
Hers.
A weight dropped into his chest. That moment changed everything.
Faster than thought, Kael's body was already in motion.
Hardly a moment passed before Lyra froze. Then everything shifted.
Through the doorway he came, Kael rushing in like wind through cracked stone, gaze sharp as flame. His grip on calm trembled, close to breaking, pulse loud in his temples.
"You feel pain," he told her. A quiet moment passed between them.
A sharp jolt ran down her spine as she tried to rise. "Leave now," came the words, tight and low
"You are lying," he said, standing beside her before she could react.
A shudder ran down her spine when the coven's spell pulled harder, dragging the wolf out against her will. She clenched her teeth mid-breath, every nerve sparking like wire under pressure. The air thickened around her bones, shaping something fierce and unwilling. Light bent at odd angles as fur split skin without warning. Her fingers curled into the earth just before the shift took full hold.
Her vision blurred.
She jerked upright, breath catching mid-sound when a chill bit her palm. A shape pressed against her skin - thin, hard, silent.
Silver.
The blade.
Something caught in her throat when she saw it. The air just stopped moving inside her chest.
No - this isn't how -
Something shifted without her thinking. Motion came from nowhere.
Lyra lunged.
A sharp edge grazed Kael's side when he jerked away just in time. Fabric tore under the strike, then flesh followed. Red spilled across the cloth on his chest.
They both froze.
Her fingers shook around the knife, Lyra's eyes locked on its edge. The metal caught a sliver of light, cold against her skin. Breath came fast, uneven. A drop of sweat traced down her temple. Silence pressed in from every side. That moment stretched thin, like thread about to snap.
"I didn't - " Her voice broke. "I didn't mean to - "
His gaze fell to the silver, yet jumped again to meet hers.
Realization dawned slowly.
"Silver," he said quietly. "You came armed."
It was true, she knew that much.
Something inside her froze when the coven shouted their order straight into her mind.
"Finish it."
Fury rose in her chest, sharp as a snarl caught mid-breath.
Fight tore through her, muscles pulling in opposite directions while tears bit at her eyelids. The urge to collapse warred with something jagged and unyielding deep inside.
Forward moved Kael, not back.
His voice came out steady. "Pay attention," was what he told them next. The words hung there without rush.
She breathed the word softly. Wait. That single sound hung between them
"Look at me, Lyra."
Something pulled her head upward, hard. She did not mean to move.
Their eyes locked.
A sudden burst tore through the link, waves of fire and feeling cracking the coven's grip - just once, just long enough.
Lyra sobbed.
"I was bred to kill you."
A hush fell suddenly, heavy across the space they shared.
His eyes locked on hers, surprise spreading like a stain down his expression.
"What?" he breathed.
Her grip on the blade loosened, fingers shaking uncontrollably. "I don't want to," she said desperately. "But they made me. They made me hate you. They made me - "
A heavy silence snapped shut around the coven. Their power surged, sudden and sharp, like a door slamming in the dark.
Her back snapped taut when Lyra cried out once more.
Kael moved faster.
Her wrist snapped sideways when he grabbed it, the knife slipping free and hitting the ground with a sharp clang. Into his chest she slammed, held tight while kicking, voice torn between growl and gasp, muscles coiled like springs gone wild.
"Simple," he said, his words slicing the thick air. A pause. Then: "I'm here with you now."
Against his chest went her forehead, a quiet spill of tears dampening the fabric. A moment held tight without words, just the weight of sorrow sinking through cloth.
"I'm sorry," she choked. "I'm so sorry."
Fury surged through Kael, his arms locking around her as his wolf howled - angry not with her, but at the one who'd caused her harm.
A sharp boom split the sky overhead.
Far off, a grin tugged at the lips of the coven's oldest members.
Foolish move, thought the hunter - the Alpha swallowed it whole.