Lyra's POV
I barely made it to my quarters before my knees gave out.
The moment the door closed behind me, I slid down against it, gasping as the air left my lungs in ragged bursts. My hands trembled so badly I nearly dropped the basket still clutched in them.
The scent of crushed herbs filled the room, grounding me just enough to keep from falling apart completely. But nothing could quiet the echo that still thundered in my chest his heartbeat, synced with mine like a curse I couldn't shake.
Kaelan Draven.
His name alone was a wound I thought had long healed.
And yet, just hearing it again, seeing him again… it was like every scar I'd buried deep under my skin had split open.
The bond pulsed faintly, a low, rhythmic ache beneath my ribs steady and merciless. No matter how many breaths I took, I couldn't breathe him out.
I rose on unsteady legs and stumbled toward the wash basin, splashing cold water on my face.
The reflection staring back at me wasn't mine or not the one I'd learned to recognize. My eyes glowed faintly, golden and wild, betraying the truth I'd hidden for years.
"Stop," I whispered, gripping the edge of the basin. "Stop it. You don't get to feel this."
My wolf snarled in response, low and defiant.
"He's ours."
"He's the reason they died!" I hissed, slamming my palm against the wood. "The reason we lost everything!"
The echo of my voice filled the tiny room, trembling with anger and grief.
I stripped off my outer tunic, breathing through my teeth as the heat under my skin surged again. That primal pull made my wolf restless and my body too aware.
He was close.
Even now, I could feel him somewhere in the main house. His energy was like a beacon strong, commanding, impossible to ignore.
I had to mask my scent before he found me.
Grabbing a vial of bitter leaf oil from my shelf, I poured it into a small bowl and rubbed it along my wrists, my throat, the inside of my arms anywhere the bond might betray me. The sharp, acrid smell stung my nose, but it dulled his pull slightly.
"Better," I whispered. "That's better."
But my wolf disagreed. She paced inside me, furious. You hide from what's ours.
"He's not ours," I bit out. "He's the enemy. He's Ironclaw. He"
I stopped when a faint sound reached me: heavy footsteps in the corridor.
Every muscle in my body went still.
Voices followed deep, steady, unmistakably his among them.
"…have the patrols doubled," Kaelan was saying, his tone sharp but calm. "If rogues have been this close, I want every border checked before dawn."
My pulse spiked. He was right outside.
The sound of his voice was a low rumble that sent shivers down my spine. It wasn't just commanding it carried weight, warmth, danger. And the worst part? It made my wolf purr.
I pressed my hand over my mouth, forcing myself to stay silent.
"Alpha Draven," another voice said Rowan's Beta, Tomas. "Would you like to rest before the meeting resumes at dusk?"
"No," Kaelan replied. "There's something I need to… check first."
The pause in his voice made my stomach twist.
He felt it too. The pull. The thread. He was looking for me.
Their footsteps stopped. For a moment, there was only silence.
Then came a sound I wasn't ready for: a single inhale. Deep. Slow. Deliberate.
He was scenting the air.
The bitter leaf helped, but the faint trace of me the one that wasn't physical couldn't be masked.
The mate bond carried its own scent, one that traveled deeper than breath.
And he had caught it.
I heard him move closer. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as shadows shifted under my door.
Another step. Then another.
I could almost feel him on the other side one barrier between us and disaster.
"Alpha?" Tomas asked softly.
"Nothing. Go ahead. I'll catch up," Kaelan replied, low and strained.
The footsteps receded one set fading away… the other remaining.
I clutched the side of the bed, trembling.
He hadn't left.
And I could feel his presence like heat against the door the undeniable awareness of being found.
Kaelan POV
I stopped in the corridor, every instinct in me going still.
The others had already turned the corner, their boots fading down the hall, but I couldn't move.
Her scent faint, buried under bitter herbs and smoke was here.
I drew in a breath, slow and deliberate.
It wasn't just a smell. It was recognition.
Wild jasmine. Earth after rain.
It cut through every defense I had, searing straight into my chest.
My wolf lunged forward. Mate.
The word thundered through me like a command.
My pulse leapt; my hands curled into fists to keep from tearing the door open.
I'd felt this once before, the first moment our eyes met in the courtyard.
But now it was stronger. Raw. Intimate.
She was close.
I could feel her fear through the thread that bound us, sharp and trembling like a second heartbeat.
Why was she afraid of me?
I pressed my palm against the wooden door, fingers brushing the rough grain. Heat pulsed from the other side hers.
Every breath she took stirred the air between us.
Go to her, my wolf growled. She's ours.
"No."
The word came out rough, half-snarl, half-plea.
I forced myself to step back. The corridor felt too narrow, the light too dim.
If I went in now, if I looked at her again, I wouldn't be able to stop.
And I couldn't do that not here, not when I didn't even know who she was.
I turned sharply and strode away, jaw tight, breath ragged.
The mansion's corridors blurred past stone, torches, startled servants, but all I could sense was her.
Her heartbeat was branded into my mind, the rhythm syncing with mine until it felt wrong to breathe without her.
"Alpha?" Darius's voice reached me as I rounded the stairwell. "You disappeared. Everything all right?"
"Fine," I forced composure back into my tone.
He raised an eyebrow. "You sure? You look like you're about to tear someone's throat out."
I exhaled through my nose. "Just tired. The ride south was long."
He didn't believe me, but he knew better than to press.
I pushed open the doors to the outer courtyard, letting the cold wind hit my face
The scent of pine and steel from my own warriors grounded me a little, but not enough.
The bond hummed, a living thing in my blood. Every nerve screamed to turn back, to find her, to see her again, to touch the skin that matched mine.
I gripped the hilt of my dagger until the pain steadied me.
This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.
My mate should have been someone strong, someone I could stand beside in battle not an omega hiding in another pack's house.
Yet the memory of her eyes fearful, defiant, burning told me strength wasn't what I thought it was.
Whoever she was, she wasn't ordinary.
The moon was climbing, pale and sharp above the trees, when I finally let my wolf surface enough to speak.
Find her, he whispered again, quieter now, almost mournful. She hides because she's hurt.
I shut my eyes, letting that truth sink in.
Maybe that was it. Maybe she had suffered something terrible, and fate had thrown me at her like salt in an open wound.
I didn't know.
But I would.
Because the bond wouldn't fade. It would tighten, day after day, until either she came to me or I broke trying to resist it.
I lifted my gaze to the sky, the silver glow catching in my eyes.
"I'll find you," I murmured to the night. "Whether you want me to or not."