Lyra's POV
Rain lashed the windows like angry hands.
The sky had split open, bleeding lightning across the forest ridge. Every thunderclap rattled the manor walls, echoing the rhythm of my heart.
I stood before Kaelan, every instinct screaming to run yet my feet refused to move. The words I'd thrown into the air couldn't be taken back.
They're talking about my family.
I hadn't meant to say it. I hadn't meant to let him see the terror in my eyes or the cracks in my voice. But something inside me had snapped the moment I heard the council speak the word Silverfang.
Kaelan's gaze burned into me unreadable, searching, sharp as the blade at his side.
I swallowed hard. The air between us felt suffocating, thick with power. My wolf trembled under his command, but another part of me the Alpha's blood buried deep inside refused to bow.
"You heard them," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "They spoke of a survivor. Of a girl who shouldn't exist."
Kaelan took a step closer, and the world seemed to shrink.
The lightning flared again, and I saw my reflection in his eyes drenched in guilt, fear, and something else I couldn't name.
I nodded once. "Lyra Hale. Daughter of Alpha Hale and Luna Celine. The last of my line."
The words left a bitter taste on my tongue. For years, I'd buried that name under layers of obedience and silence. Now it came out raw, trembling, alive.
Kaelan's breath hitched so faint it might've been the storm. "The Silverfangs were"
"Slaughtered," I finished for him. "By those they trusted. And you were there, weren't you?"
His jaw tightened.
"I saw you," I hissed. "The night everything burned. You stood beside my brother's killer."
He flinched like I'd struck him. "That's not true. Have told you but you have chosen not to believe me".
"I remember your face!" My voice broke, but I didn't care. "The Ironclaw heir tall, calm, with the silver insignia on your chest. You were one of them. You let them kill him!"
Kaelan stepped closer, his control fracturing. "Lyra, listen to me"
"Don't." I backed away, trembling. "Don't you dare say my name like you have a right to it."
Outside, the storm howled louder. Wind slammed the shutters open, scattering papers and maps across the floor. But I barely noticed. My wolf was clawing inside me grief and rage tangled into something sharp
Kaelan's expression hardened. "You think I betrayed your family. But you don't know what happened that night."
"I know enough!" I spat. "My parents trusted the Ironclaws. They called you allies. And you delivered them to their deaths."
For a long, shattering moment, he said nothing. The only sound was the rain hammering the glass and the wild beat of my heart.
Then, softly: "You're wrong."
The quiet conviction in his tone made my throat tighten
"Your brother," he said, voice rough with something like pain, "was my brother in all but blood. When the attack happened, I wasn't in the Silverfang lands. I was sent to distract your father's rivals in the east. When I returned, the entire valley was burning."
My breath hitched. "You expect me to believe that?"
"I don't expect anything," Kaelan said. "But I swear on my wolf, I never betrayed your family."
His words trembled with fury and regret. The bond between us pulsed faint, uncertain, but real.
"I searched for you," he continued. "For years. I thought you were dead. Gods, Lyra, if I'd known"
I shook my head. "Stop."
He did. But his eyes didn't waver. They were full of stormlight fierce, pleading, raw.
My chest ached. Part of me wanted to believe him, wanted to surrender to the warmth that flickered when he said my name. But the past still screamed too loud.
"You don't get to rewrite history," I whispered. "Not when I loss my family because of your kind."
Kaelan's expression twisted half anger, half anguish. "Then hate me if you must. But don't call me a murderer."
Lightning flashed again, illuminating the distance between us.
And before I could respond, the door burst open.
Darius stood there, rain-soaked and pale.
"Alpha," he said breathlessly, "the council is gone but someone's breached the southern wall. The intruders wore Ironclaw colors."
Kaelan froze.
Lyra's stomach dropped.
Outside, wolves howled dozens of them, cutting through the storm.
The bond between them snapped taut again, alive with instinct and dread.
Kaelan's voice went low, commanding. "Stay here, Lyra."
She shook her head, fury and fear mingling. "You'll need me."
"Not this time," he growled. "I won't risk you."
Then he was gone a blur of power and command, leaving only the scent of rain and steel behind.
Lyra stood there, trembling, torn between the ghosts of her past and the storm raging outside.
And somewhere deep inside her, her wolf whispered the truth she didn't want to hear:
He wasn't lying.
Kaelan's POV
The storm swallowed the courtyard.
Rain fell like shards of glass, slicing through the air as I charged down the stone steps, wolves falling into line behind me. Valen report still echoed in my head Ironclaw colors.
My colors.
The idea twisted in my gut like a knife.
"Double the patrol on the east wing!" I barked. "No one gets through that gate!"
"Yes, Alpha!" came the chorus.
I shifted mid-stride, bones snapping, muscle tearing, my wolf exploding forward in a rush of black fur and fury. The scent of blood hit me instantly sharp, metallic, familiar.
I skidded through the mud, claws tearing the ground as I saw them: half a dozen wolves tearing through the southern wall, wearing Ironclaw insignia. My insignia.
Impossible.
A growl ripped from my chest, deep and lethal.
"Stand down!" I roared through the link. "You wear my mark!"
No response.
Only snarls, fangs, and the blur of movement as one lunged at me.
I met him head-on, slamming him into the mud, teeth sinking into his shoulder. Blood filled my mouth hot and bitter. The rogue's eyes glowed silver, the telltale sign of blood magic.
Not Ironclaw wolves. Controlled.
"Darius!" I snarled through the mind link. "Find the caster! They're puppeting them!"
"On it!"
Lightning cracked above, illuminating chaos Crescent Moon warriors fighting for their lives, the southern wall collapsing under the pressure. The scent of burnt metal filled the air, and the storm grew wild, feeding on the madness.
I tore through the next attacker, muscle and instinct blurring into one violent rhythm.
Then I smelled her
Lyra.
Her scent hit me like fire through rain wild, sweet, defiant.
No.
I turned just in time to see her emerge from the manor doors, bow drawn, eyes blazing in the stormlight. The silver insignia on her borrowed armor gleamed like a ghost from the past.
"Get back inside!" I roared, slamming another rogue into the dirt.
Her arrow sang through the air, catching one square between the ribs. "You said you didn't betray me. Prove it!"
Her voice sliced through me harder than any blade.
And before I could stop her, she was gone sprinting into the fray, her wolf energy flaring like silver lightning.
"Lyra!" I cursed and followed, rage and fear tangling in my chest.
She fought like a spirit reborn fast, precise, brutal. Every strike carried the weight of survival. But when a rogue lunged from behind, I moved on instinct, grabbing her by the waist and twisting, taking the blow meant for her.
Pain exploded in my side.
She turned, eyes wide, horror flashing across her face. "Kaelan"
"I said stay back!" I snarled, ripping the blade free. Blood poured down my ribs, hot against the rain.
Her hand trembled as she raised her weapon again, covering my flank. We fought together two storms colliding, our wolves moving as one.
And when the last of the rogues fell, silence crashed over the courtyard. Only the rain remained, washing away the blood.
I staggered back, breath ragged, every muscle trembling. Darius appeared from the treeline, dragging a body behind him
"Alpha," he said grimly, dropping the corpse. "Found your 'Ironclaw' imposter. He was no wolf. He was a warlock."
A chill crawled up my spine.
The warlock's body was thin, skeletal veins blackened with corruption. Around his neck hung a pendant engraved with a crescent moon but not Crescent Moon's mark.
Lyra's gaze narrowed. "That's… Silverfang's old alliance crest."
My pulse stilled. "You're sure?"
She nodded, her face pale. "I remember it from my father's study. He said it belonged to the council of Alphas. They oversaw peace among the packs."
Darius glanced between us. "Peace? Or control?"
The weight of that question settled heavily in the air.
I looked at the warlock again the Ironclaw insignia stitched crudely onto his cloak, the unnatural gleam in his eyes.
Someone wanted to frame me.
Someone who knew Lyra was alive.
"Burn the body," I ordered softly. "And seal every border. No one leaves Ironclaw land until I say so."
"Yes, Alpha."
When Darius left, only Lyra and I remained. The rain had softened into a steady drizzle, but the storm inside me still raged.
She stood a few feet away, drenched, shivering but her eyes met mine, unflinching.
"Now you know," I said quietly. "Someone wants you dead. And you blamed for it."
Her lips trembled. "Then who?"
I stepped closer, lowering my voice to a whisper only she could hear.
"The same people who destroyed Silverfang."
Lightning flared again and this time, it wasn't just the sky that burned. It was everything between us.