Walk faster."
Kade's voice cut through the silence like a blade. He moved through the trees with deadly grace, never looking back to check if Lyra followed. But she did follow, because the mate bond gave her no choice.
It pulled at her chest like an unseen rope, dragging her forward even when her pride screamed to run.
The moon hung full and bright above them, sending silver light through the trees. Lyra's eighteenth birthday moon. The night that changed everything for werewolves.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Home."
"I don't have a home."
Kade stopped so suddenly she almost crashed into his back. When he turned, his ice-blue eyes blazed with something dangerous.
"You do now."
The words should have made her happy. Instead, they felt like a prison term.
They walked for hours through land Lyra remembered from childhood. Every tree, every rock, every stream brought back memories she'd tried to forget. The closer they got to Bloodhowl Pack lands, the harder her heart pounded.
What would her father say when he saw her? Would he still look at her with hatred? Would the pack still talk about curses and death?
"Stop thinking so loud," Kade growled. "Your emotions are giving me a headache."
Mate bonds worked both ways.
He could feel what she felt, just like she could sense his cold anger burning beneath the surface. But while her feelings were an open book, his were locked tight behind walls of ice.
"Why don't you want me?" The question slipped out before she could stop it.
Kade's jaw tensed. "Want has nothing to do with it."
"Then what does?"
"Duty."
The word hit her like a slap. Duty. Not love. Not happiness. Just duty.
They reached the border of Bloodhowl land as dawn painted the sky pink. Guards stepped out from behind trees, their guns raised until they saw Kade. Then they dropped to their knees.
"Alpha Fenris," the head guard said. "We weren't expecting you."
"I'm returning what belongs to your Alpha."
Belongs. Like she was property.
Lyra's wolf stirred restlessly inside her chest. The awakening had left her feeling raw and strong, like lightning trapped in a bottle. Every feeling felt sharper. Every smell stronger. Every beating louder.
The pack house came into view through the trees, and Lyra's breath caught. It looked exactly the same stone walls covered in ivy, tall windows that caught the morning sun, smoke rising from the chimney. Home.
But not really. Not anymore.
Wolves gathered on the porch as they neared. Lyra recognized some faces, though they'd aged in the ten years since she'd left. Others were new. All of them stared at her with a mixture of shock and fear. Then the front door opened, and Alpha Thorne Blackmoor stepped out.
Lyra's father had gray in his hair now, lines around his eyes that hadn't been there before. But his presence still demanded respect. Still made smaller wolves bow their heads.
His gaze found her, and for one terrible moment, time stopped.
"Lyra."
Her name on his lips sounded strange. Foreign.
"Father."
The word felt bitter.
Kade stepped forward, his power filling the space between them. "Alpha Thorne. I've come to discuss terms."
"Terms?"
"Your daughter is my mate."
Gasps spread through the watching crowd. Someone dropped something that shattered on the steps. Lyra wanted to sink into the ground.
Her father's face went pale. "That's... impossible."
"The mate bond doesn't lie." Kade's voice carried no love, no joy. Just facts. "She'll be returning to the pack as my Luna."
Luna. The word hit Lyra like a freight train. Luna meant direction. Respect. Power. Everything she'd lost when she was eight years old.
"She can't," Thorne said quickly. "She's"
"She's what?" Kade's eyes flashed dangerously. "Cursed? That's belief, not fact."
"She killed her sister!"
The charge hung in the air like poison. Lyra felt every pair of eyes on her, judging, remembering. Her wolf growled inside her chest, wanting to fight back. But what could she say? It was true, wasn't it?
"I know the story," Kade said quietly. "A child's accident. Nothing more."
"An accident that left one daughter dead and the other" Thorne's voice broke. "She's dangerous."
"So am I."
The simple comment carried such threat that several wolves stepped backward. Kade wasn't just any Alpha. He was the strongest in the northern regions, the one other Alphas feared. When he spoke, smart wolves listened.
"The girl stays," he continued. "She'll live in my territory, under my care. But she's still your daughter. That makes this a family matter as much as pack business."
Lyra watched the talk like a tennis match, feeling more like an object than a person. They were talking her future without asking what she wanted. Deciding her fate without her input.
Her wolf didn't like it.
Power stirred in her chest, different from the standard werewolf strength. This felt bigger. Wilder. Like something that had been sleeping for generations was finally waking up.
"I can speak for myself," she said.
Both Alphas turned to look at her. The watching crowd held its breath.
"Can you?" Thorne asked coldly. "Because last time you made a decision, it cost us everything."
The old pain hit her like a punch to the gut. But alongside the hurt came something new. Anger. Hot and bright and strong.
"I was eight years old!"
"Old enough to know better!"
"Old enough to be blamed for something I couldn't control!"
"You could have saved her!"
"I TRIED!"
The words exploded out of her like a dam bursting. Ten years of guilt and pain and rage poured out in that single scream. And with it came power real power that made the air around her crackle with electricity.
Every wolf within fifty feet dropped to their knees.
Every wolf except Kade.
He stared at her with new interest, his ice-blue eyes calculating. "Interesting."
Lyra looked around at the kneeling wolves, confusion replacing anger. "What just happened?"
"Alpha command," Kade said carefully. "But you're not an Alpha."
"Then how ?"
"Good question."
Before anyone could answer, a new scent floated on the morning breeze. Sweet and comforting and impossible.
Lyra's blood turned to ice.
She knew that smell. Had thought about it for ten years. Had grieved its loss every single day.
Alina.
But that was impossible. Alina was dead. Had been dead for a decade.
The smell grew stronger.
"Do you smell that?" she whispered.
Kade's nose flared. His expression changed from cold calculation to something like shock. "That's not possible."
"What's not possible?"
Footsteps crunched on dirt behind the pack house. Light footsteps. Familiar footsteps.
A figure turned the corner, and Lyra's world shattered.
It was her sister. Older now, seventeen instead of seven. Beautiful in a way that made the morning sun look dim. But definitely, clearly Alina.
Alive.
"Hello, sister," Alina said, her voice musical and strange. "Did you miss me?"
Lyra couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't understand what she was seeing.
Her dead sister. Standing right there. Smiling like nothing had happened.
But there was something wrong with Alina's eyes. They weren't the bright green Lyra remembered. They were silver now. Like moonlight.
And when she looked at Kade, her face changed completely.
"My love," Alina said, walking straight to the Alpha who was meant to be Lyra's mate. "I've been waiting."
Kade's cold mask cracked. His eyes softened. His whole body seemed to melt as Alina put her hand on his chest.
"Seraphina," he breathed.
The name hit Lyra like a physical blow. He called her sister by a different name. A stranger's name.
"Who is Seraphina?" Lyra wanted.
Alina or Seraphina turned those strange silver eyes on her. "I'm his chosen mate. His Luna. His everything."
"But the bond"
"Bonds can be broken," Alina said sweetly. "Especially when they never should have existed in the first place."
The words were poison in Lyra's blood. She looked at Kade, desperate for denial, for explanation, for anything that made sense.
Instead, she saw truth in his eyes. Guilt and longing and love all directed at her apparently dead sister.
"You knew," she whispered. "When you found me in the forest. You already knew."
Kade said nothing.
"HOW IS SHE ALIVE?"
The question echoed across the pack lands, bringing power that made windows rattle and birds take flight.
But no one answered.
Because in the distance, storm clouds were forming despite the clear morning sky. And in those clouds, Lyra swore she could see eyes.
Ancient eyes.
Watching.
Waiting.
Judging.