The moonlight was soft against the training grounds, silver dust scattering across the sand where warriors usually spared. Tonight, it was empty; everyone had either retreated to their dens or gathered in hushed corners of the packhouse to whisper about the results of Lyra's Trial of Truth.
She had no more trials left.
But something heavier hung over her.
Emotion. Uncertainty. A growing ache she couldn't explain away anymore.
Lyra stood in the center of the ring, arms crossed over her chest, her breath turning white in the cool night air. The adrenaline from her earlier truths hadn't left her system. Her chest still felt tight from the exposure from the way her own voice had betrayed her doubts and fears so plainly.
She didn't even notice Alaric approaching until his shadow crossed hers.
"You didn't come to dinner," he said.
"I wasn't hungry."
"I heard you punched a training dummy so hard it split at the seams."
Lyra didn't look at him. "Needed to hit something."
Alaric stepped into the circle, his presence grounding, intense. Always calm. Always restrained. But tonight… there was a flicker in his expression. A quiet war beneath his skin.
"You passed," he said. "You told the truth. That's more than anyone else in this pack would've done under pressure like that."
She bit her lip. "Do you want me to apologize for not saying I loved you?"
"No."
He stepped closer.
"I want you to stop fighting what we already feel."
Lyra's heart stuttered.
"Alaric…"
"No titles. No politics. No Luna Court," he murmured, voice like warm thunder. "Just us."
She turned to him, ready to protest but the look in his eyes stole the words from her mouth.
It wasn't dominance. It wasn't controlled.
It was longing.
Raw. Honest. Vulnerable in a way that only made her pulse spike.
"You said you didn't know if you loved me," he said, voice husky now. "But I know I would go to war for you. Kill for you. Die for you. I didn't ask for the bond. I didn't want it."
He paused.
"But I want you."
Her throat tightened.
Damn him for being able to say the words she couldn't.
He stepped so close she could feel the warmth of his body radiating through the chill. His hand lifted slowly, like she might run and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
Her breath hitched.
"You hate how the pack sees you," he said. "I hate how you see yourself."
"Don't."
"You think you don't belong. You think you're not strong enough, not smart enough. But I've seen what you do when you're cornered. When you're afraid. You fight harder than anyone I've known."
She shook her head, her voice barely a whisper. "You don't know what I'm really afraid of."
His thumb traced her jaw gently.
"Yes, I do."
Their eyes locked. The air between them snapped taut, thick with electricity. Heat. Hunger.
And then, without a word, Alaric leaned down and kissed her.
It wasn't soft.
It wasn't sweet.
It was everything months of tension, denial, pain, and fire pouring out all at once.
Lyra gasped against his mouth, hands flying to his chest to push him away only to clutch his shirt instead.
She melted into him.
The kiss deepened, his hands gripping her waist, pulling her body flush against his. Her spine arched instinctively, mouth opening to him. His tongue brushed hers, possessive and slow, and she moaned before she could stop it.
He tasted like smoke and danger, like everything she wasn't supposed to crave.
But gods, she craved him.
The Bloodbond pulsed faintly between them not commanding, not controlling, just amplifying.
And still, it wasn't the bond that made her kiss him back.
It was wanted.
Real. Raw. Unfiltered.
His hands slid beneath the hem of her shirt, not rushing just touching, exploring. Her skin burned under his fingers, a fire trailing wherever he made contact.
She tugged him closer, lips dragging down his jaw as she whispered, "Why now?"
His voice was thick with restraint. "Because I wanted you to know what it feels like… without the bond."
That stunned her.
She pulled back slightly, breathing hard, heart racing. "What?"
"I held it back," he said, brushing his nose against hers. "The pull. Just now. I wanted it to be real. Just us. No bond. No claim."
Her stomach twisted in the best way.
And when she kissed him again, this time she was the one who deepened it.
It didn't matter that they were in the open air, that anyone could walk by. That the Luna Court would have a heart attack if they saw their Alpha pressed up against a rogue-turned-candidate for Luna like she was oxygen and he'd been drowning.
They broke apart only when breathing became impossible.
Alaric rested his forehead against hers, chest heaving. "I didn't expect that."
Lyra laughed breathlessly. "Neither did I."
They stood like that for a long time.
No words.
Just quiet acceptance.
But not far from the training grounds, another figure stood hidden in the trees.
Cassian.
He had followed Alaric out of instinct, not mistrust but what he saw now changed everything.
His Alpha kissed the Bloodbound girl like she was his salvation.
Cassian's face darkened.
And he turned without a word, retreating into the night with a heart full of warnings and eyes full of betrayal.
Because love, as powerful as it was, could also become a weapon.
And if Alaric wasn't careful… someone would turn it against him.