Lyra’s POV
“I’ve accepted Alpha Thoren Dravenwood’s proposal.”
The admission felt like frost cutting through my throat.
My father—Alpha Mike Solari—froze mid-stride by the war table, where the air smelled of ink and burning cedarwood. His head lifted slowly, his eyes widening as if the words themselves defied reason.
“You can’t be serious,” he said at last, voice tight, suspicion darkening his gaze.
But I was. More than ever.
Alpha Thoren Dravenwood—the illustrious heir of the Dravenwood Pack. Revered, formidable, feared. Until the night he was poisoned by vampire blood tainted with shadowroot. He’d fallen mid-hunt and never opened his eyes again.
No spell, no healer, no priest had stirred him from that living death. Only the royal blood of his wolf kept his heart beating, his body preserved—trapped in a cruel parody of life.
No woman volunteered to become his Luna. Who would? To bind your soul to a man locked in unending sleep was worse than widowhood.
Except I stepped forward. And I had my motives.
“The Dravenwood Pack is pressing for the ceremony,” I said, my tone measured. “You know they won’t tolerate delay.”
“They asked for Elowen,” he said stiffly.
“I know,” I replied, my voice cool and even. “But Elowen can’t stomach being Luna to a cursed man. So I’ll take her place.”
He exhaled sharply, then the sharp lines of calculation began to soften his face. “It could work,” he murmured. “Their demand is met, the alliance holds, our northern border stays secure. I’ll have the council begin preparations—”
“I expect payment.”
His head snapped up. “What did you just say?”
I met his gaze without flinching. “You’re bartering me off for convenience, not affection. So if I’m to be chained to a man who may never wake—all to protect your precious bastard daughter—I want something in return.”
His jaw tightened. “Lyra, don’t start with theatrics—”
“I want half of the treasury,” I cut in, stepping forward. “Not a ceremonial dowry. Half of the pack’s gold. Including your private reserves.”
He bristled. “That would ruin me.”
“Perfect.”
He looked at me as though I were a stranger—perhaps realizing that he had never really known me at all.
“And,” I added, turning for the door, “I want Kael reassigned.”
His brows lifted. “To whom?”
“To Elowen. He’ll be her guard now.”
“You’re giving him up?” he asked, stunned. “You once said you meant to claim him as your mate.”
“I don’t anymore.” I didn’t look back.
He didn’t stop me—not when my heels echoed down the marble hall, not when the heavy door closed behind me. But I knew he’d comply. He always did when it came to Elowen.
Let him. For once, I wanted something too.
My mother had died of madness the night she learned he’d taken another woman. The betrayal had shredded her mind, and she’d gone feral—howling, foaming, breaking until her heart simply stopped. I was there. I saw everything.
Since then, I had despised him. And Elowen most of all—the living proof of everything he’d stolen from us.
Maybe that’s why I’d clung to Kael. Because he’d been the one thing that still felt mine. Until tonight.
It was well past midnight when I reached my home on the edge of the Solari lands, the moon spilling silver light across the trees. Most wolves lived near the Pack Heart, close to the training fields and patrol stations. I preferred the outskirts. Distance was honest.
But as I neared the side hall, a sound stopped me—low, breathless, rhythmic.
Panting.
Then came the scent—raw desire, thick and undeniable.
Kael.
The door to the guest quarters was ajar. I should’ve walked past. I should’ve kept my dignity. But I didn’t.
I leaned closer. And my world broke.
He sat on the edge of the bed, bare-chested, skin slick with sweat, hand moving furiously. In his other hand—my breath hitched—was a photo.
Her photo. Elowen’s.
He whispered her name with a reverence that made my stomach twist.
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe. My wolf whimpered, trembling beneath my skin.
Kael. My loyal knight. My chosen guardian. The man I’d hand-picked three years ago from a line of elite warriors.
I remembered that day. The others had stood proud and eager, eyes bright with hunger for glory. Kael, though—he was still as stone, silence wrapped around him like armor. Power radiated from him quietly, gravitational.
I’d tried everything to crack that composure—silks, perfume, staged “accidents,” even near-fatal ones. He never touched me. I thought it was restraint. It was disinterest.
Then his phone buzzed. He answered immediately, voice shifting—cold, commanding, unmistakably Alpha.
“I’ve been pretending to serve Lyra for years,” he said. “You think I’d quit now? I need to keep Elowen safe. Lyra’s just my access point.”
My blood froze.
“No, she doesn’t suspect a thing,” he continued. “She actually thinks she’s seducing me. Pathetic.”
My hands shook.
“She’s nothing compared to Elowen,” he said. “Elowen’s the one from the seer’s golden vision—you know that.”
That was the strike that finished me.
“I’ll stay until Elowen understands her role. Keep my pack running in my absence. Luminara holds until I return.”
Luminara. The name jolted through me. A phantom pack whispered about in the dark. Unmapped. Ruthless. And he was their Alpha?
The betrayal burned through me like acid.
I should’ve turned and walked away. Should’ve howled my grief into the forest. Should’ve become the mad thing my mother once was.
Instead, I kicked the door open.
