Lyra's POV
The corridors of the guest wing felt colder after the hall. My pulse hadn't steadied, not even after I slipped past the guards and into the service passageways where no Alpha dared to tread.
My skin still burned from the memory of his eyes those silver grey storms that had looked straight through the name I wore and into the ghost I'd buried.
Kaelan Draven.
Ironclaw's Alpha.
My brother's once loyal friend.
The man whose face I'd vowed never to forget… and never to forgive.
The way his voice had wrapped around me steady, low, commanding shouldn't have meant anything. But my wolf had reacted as if she'd found the sun after a decade of winter.
I could still feel the ache clawing beneath my skin, that magnetic pull that no amount of discipline could silence.
When I reached the servant quarters, my breath trembled as I pushed open the wooden door. The scent of herbs, sweat, and damp linen filled the air familiar, grounding.
A few omegas glanced up from folding sheets, their whispers sharp enough to slice through the silence.
"Did you see him? The Ironclaw Alpha?" one of them murmured, her voice bubbling with envy. "He looked at her l
"Like he wanted to devour her," another finished, her laughter low and nervous. "If I were her, I'd be shaking too."
Their gazes flicked toward me. I kept my face blank, slipping into the shadows near the washing basins.
The moment my hands hit the cold water, I forced myself to breathe slow, shallow, controlled. My wolf was restless, pacing inside me, howling for something I refused to give her.
He's not yours, I whispered inwardly. He's your enemy.
The bond pulsed in protest. That traitorous connection wasn't supposed to happen.
I had buried my bloodline, erased every trace of Lyra Hale. I was Lila Vance now a servant, invisible, small. But when his eyes found mine, it was as if the moon itself had remembered me.
My fingers trembled as I uncorked a small clay vial from the shelf. Inside was a mixture of crushed pine, salt, and a rare northern herb something I'd learned to use to dull my scent.
I dabbed it along my neck and wrists, the bitter aroma burning my nose. It wouldn't last long, but it would be enough to keep his wolf from tracking me.
"Lila," Luna voice came from the doorway.
I turned quickly and bowed my head. The Luna's silver robe caught the lantern light, her presence both gentle and commanding. She was the only one who treated me as more than a servant.
"I heard there was… tension in the hall," she said softly. "You did nothing wrong, child. But tread carefully. Alphas notice everything."
"Yes, Luna," I murmured.
My voice sounded distant, even to me.
Her eyes lingered on me a moment longer before she sighed. "Rest for a while. You look pale."
When she left, I didn't rest. I couldn't. The air itself seemed charged, humming with the echo of that gaze.
I rubbed at my arms, but the shiver wouldn't leave.
By moonrise, the corridors outside had quieted. Servants slept. Guards rotated. The Summit would resume tomorrow, but I couldn't sleep not with that bond tugging at my chest, whispering his name like a curse
Kaelan Draven.
The Alpha who ruined everything.
And yet, when I closed my eyes, it wasn't the blood on his hands I saw. It was the memory of the boy he'd once been smiling at my brother by the training fields, promising to protect us.
My chest constricted painfully.
I got up, unable to bear the silence, and slipped out of the servant quarters. The moonlight poured through the glass panels, pale and cold.
Somewhere, in one of the grand suites upstairs, the Ironclaw Alpha slept. Or maybe he didn't. Maybe, like me, he was awake and haunted by something he couldn't name.
I hated the thought that we might share that.
Kaelan's POV
The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock on the wall and the faint crackle of the fire. My armor hung over the chair where I'd left it black, gleaming, streaked with dust from the road.
The scent of travel still clung to it smoke and steel but beneath it, faint and maddening, was hers.
I tried to wash it away.
I'd bathed in scalding water, scrubbed until my skin burned, but her scent lingered earth and jasmine, threaded through every breath I took.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. The omega standing at the edge of the courtyard, eyes wide, trembling like she'd seen a ghost.
Or a monster.
I'd seen fear before. I'd inspired it often enough. But not like that. Not from her.
I ran a hand through my damp hair and exhaled sharply.
"Get control," I muttered under my breath.
The firelight flickered over the scars on my knuckles. My wolf growled softly, pacing behind my ribs.
Go to her.
"No.
Mate.
"She's nothing," I lied.
But even as the word left my mouth, my throat tightened. Because nothing had ever felt like that.
A knock came at the door.
"Enter," I called, too sharply.
Darius stepped in, closing the door behind him. He'd been my Beta for six years my second through every battle and betrayal. The only man alive who could see the cracks in my armor and not flinch.
"You're pacing," he said, eyeing me. "You only do that when you want to kill something or when you can't."
I gave him a look. "You're observant tonight."
He shrugged. "Hard not to be when half the pack feels your temper through the bond. You are planning to explain, or should I start guessing?"
I hesitated a fraction too long. That was all it took for his gaze to sharpen.
"…It's her, isn't it?"
I froze. "Who?"
"The omega in the courtyard." He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "You still went the moment you saw her. Every wolf within a mile felt it. You can lie to anyone else, Kael but not to me."
My jaw flexed. "You think I'd claim an omega?
"I think the Moon Goddess doesn't give a damn what we think.
The silence between us stretched. Fire popped in the hearth.
Finally, I turned toward the window, staring out at the crescent moon.
"Her scent…" I swallowed hard. "It's familiar."
I should have told him to forget it to leave it alone, to let this mistake fade into the dark.
But the word that left my lips betrayed me.
"Find her name."
After Darius left, I stood at the window long after the fire had burned down. The moonlight cut a pale line across the floor, silvering the edges of my hands.
I could still feel the ghost of her gaze the way it had burned straight through the years, through every scar, evey wall.
Lila Vance they'd called her.
But something in me whispered it was a lie.
Because no omega had ever looked at me with that kind of grief.