Lyra POV
I gave her a faint smile. "Seems my secret didn't last long."
Ellie's voice came from the doorway, dry and amused. "It never does when Luna's involved. She could sniff out a lie faster than a wolf in heat."
Mara gasped, scandalized. "Ellie!"
"What?" Ellie grinned, crossing her arms. "It's true."
The laughter that followed was soft, tentative, but real. It was the first time in a long while that warmth filled my chest instead of dread.
As the night deepened, Luna excused herself, leaving us by the fire. Ellie sprawled on a rug, cleaning her daggers, while Mara hummed softly as she mended a torn cloak.
"You're really not going to tell us everything, are you?" Ellie asked finally, glancing up.
"Not yet," I admitted. "Some truths need to wait until I understand them myself."
She nodded thoughtfully. "Fair. But just so you knownyou're not alone anymore, Lyra. Whatever's coming, we face it together."
Her words lingered long after they'd both gone to sleep.
I lay awake by the hearth, staring into the dying embers, feeling the distant tug of the bond in my chest a faint heartbeat in the dark, calling from miles away.
Kaelan was out there. Somewhere beyond the forests and rivers and politics of the packs. And I knew no matter how far he went the bond wouldn't let either of us forget.
The storm had passed, but its echo remained
And I wasn't sure if the calm that followed was peace… or the quiet before something far worse.
Kaelan's POV
The Ironclaw borders appeared just as dawn broke across the valley. Mist rolled low over the ridges, swallowing the ground in gray silence. The familiar scent of pine, steel, and home settled around me like a cloak I wasn't sure still fit.
Darius rode beside me, quiet but watchful. The exhaustion in his eyes mirrored my own. Neither of us had spoken much since leaving Riverbend. Every word felt unnecessary like speech might shatter the fragile calm we were holding onto.
When the main gates came into view, the sentries stiffened, eyes wide. They dropped to one knee as I passed, murmuring the old words of allegiance. It should've felt reassuring. Instead, the sound of my titlebAlphabechoed hollow in my chest.
Rowan's death still hung over these lands like smoke that wouldn't fade.
Inside the stronghold, everything was in order too much order. The men moved with mechanical precision, their eyes avoiding mine a second too long. Fear and loyalty had become indistinguishable things here. I had built this place to survive. Not to breathe.
"Beta," I said quietly, breaking the silence at last. "Any reports?"
Darius hesitated. "Nothing we can confirm. The last scouts found traces of rogues moving near the eastern ridge, but they're not acting like ordinary strays. Organized. Coordinated."
I turned to him sharply. "How many?
"At least six, maybe more. They scattered before we could track them."
"Send a team after them," I said. "But quietly. I want no rumors spreading through the ranks. Not yet."
He nodded, but there was something in his gaze a flicker of concern that wasn't entirely about the rogues.
"You've been quiet since Riverbend," he said finally.
I gave a dry, humorless smile. "You'd prefer I start talking?"
"I'd prefer you stop pretending you're not bleeding."
That pulled a short laugh from me, though it didn't last. "I've had worse wounds."
"Not this kind," Darius said. "You left your mate behind, Kaelan. You might as well have left half your soul there too."
I stiffened. "I didn't leave her. She chose to stay."
He met my gaze evenly. "And you let her."
The silence between us turned sharp, cutting through the morning air.
He wasn't wrong. I'd felt it the hollow ache the moment I turned away from Riverbend's borders. The bond had stretched, thin but unbroken, like a wound refusing to close. Every heartbeat since had carried her name.
"I couldn't risk dragging her into Ironclaw politics," I said finally, my voice low. "Not when she's just starting to breathe again."
Darius's tone softened. "You're protecting her. I get that. But you're both still bound. You can't keep her safe from what's inside you."
I said nothing. There was no answer to that.
Instead, I turned toward the north tower where my war room waited. The banners still hung heavy from the last battle, and the smell of oil and iron filled the air. The map on the central table was covered with fresh ink reports of movements near the Silver Peaks.
"Rogues," I muttered, scanning the marks. "Or someone trying to look like them."
Darius frowned. "You think it's connected to what happened in Silverfang?"
"I think nothing that clean ever dies," I said grimly.
My fingers brushed the edge of the map, tracing the line that led toward Riverbend territory. The thought of Lyra there hidden, healing, unaware of what was gathering beyond the horizonbset something dangerous stirring in my chest.
She had her secrets. I had mine. But if the darkness that destroyed her pack was truly rising again, neither of us would be able to outrun it much longer.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Enter," I said.
One of the guards stepped in, bowing quickly. "Alpha, we found tracks near the ridge. Wolf scent. Familiar."
I stilled. "Whose?"
The guard swallowed. "Female. Light stride, but trained. It leads north, then turns back toward Riverbend."
For a long moment, I said nothing. Then quietly: "Tell no one else. Not even the council."
When the guard left, Darius gave me a look that said exactly what I was already thinking.
"She's moving," he said.
I nodded. The bond flared faintly warm, electric, alive.
Lyra Hale wasn't staying behind after all.
And whatever she was hunting… it was already hunting her back.
Lyra's POV
The nights had grown colder since Kaelan left.
The Riverbend forest no longer whispered softly it watched.
Every time the wind slid through the trees, I swore I could hear his voice in it. It wasn't the bond exactly, but something deeper a low hum under my skin, as if my wolf refused to forget the sound of his heartbeat.
Ellie said I'd been distracted during training. She wasn't wrong.
"You're pulling your strikes," she warned, wooden staff clashing against mine. "If you were fighting for real, you'd be dead twice already."
I ducked under her next swing, panting lightly. "You're overexaggerating."
"Am I?" she shot back, smirking as she caught my wrist and flipped me flat on my back. The air whooshed out of my lungs. "That's twice.
Mara, sitting at the edge of the clearing, laughed. "You're losing your touch, Lila."
I glared at both of them, brushing dirt from my shoulder. "You two enjoy this too much."
Ellie offered a hand to pull me up. "Someone has to keep the infamous Riverbend omega humble."
"Infamous?"
Her grin softened. "You're not the same girl who came here three years ago. Everyone sees itbeven if you don't. The Luna especially."
That name sent a faint tremor through me.
Riverbend's Luna, Serah, had been… watching me lately. Her eyes too perceptive, her tone too careful. A few days ago, she'd caught me outside the infirmary and said quietly, 'You carry more than a wound, child. When you're ready, tell me what it is.'
I hadn't known how to answer.
Because I wasn't ready not for the truth, not for what it might cost.
Later that night, after training ended and the others left, I lingered at the edge of the forest. The moon had risen high, pale and sharp, slicing through the fog that crawled low over the earth. My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin.
Something was wrong.
I knelt, pressing a hand to the soil. The forest's rhythm had shifted its heartbeat off-tempo, as though something unnatural had brushed through.
A faint scent drifted toward me then burnt earth, mixed with something metallic. My stomach tightened.
Not Kaelan. Not Ironclaw.
Rogues.
No… not rogues. Something else. The same wrongness I'd felt the night of the storm
I rose to my feet, scanning the treeline. "Ellie?" I called softly. No answer.
The air grew colder.
A shadow flickered between the trees too fast to see clearly, but enough to raise the fine hairs on my arms. My wolf snarled low in warning.
Whoever it was… they were watching.
And they were close.
I reached instinctively for the dagger strapped to my thigh, silver edge glinting in the moonlight. "Show yourself," I demanded, voice steady despite the chill sliding down my spine.
No movement. Only the sound of distant wings and the thrum of my pulse.
Then softly, faintly the bond inside me pulled.
A spark, then a flare.
Kaelan.
The connection pulsed once like a heartbeat skipping between worlds. He'd felt it too. I knew he had.
The pull steadied me, a warmth spreading through the cold, and I whispered into the silence, "Don't come here. Not yet."
Because whatever was stalking Riverbend wasn't after the pack.
It was after me