Lyra's POV:
The first time I saw them, I thought they were soldiers.
That was my first mistake.
"Lyra!"
Mara's voice cut through the sound of clinking glass.
I looked up from the mortar and pestle in my hands. "If this is about the rosemary shortage, I already apologized."
"It's not the rosemary." She nodded toward the doorway. "It's the men."
I wiped my hands on my apron and turned.
Three of them stood just inside the apothecary.
They were too large for the room. Not in size alone but in presence. Brey Hollow was a quiet town full of bent shoulders and lowered eyes. These men stood like the air belonged to them.
The tallest one stepped forward slightly.
Black hair, broad shoulder, scarred hands, eyes that were not brown, not red, not any normal color I had ever seen. They were dark and deep, like wine held to candlelight.
He was watching me.
Not politely.
Not casually.
Watching.
I straightened my spine. "If you're here for charms, those are fake. If you're here for medicine, that's real."
The bronze skinned one beside him huffed a quiet laugh. "She's bold."
The third man said nothing. Lean, ash blonde hair falling into his face. His eyes moved once across the room, once to the windows, and then settled on me like I was a puzzle he had already decided to solve.
Mara nudged my shoulder. "Lyra blends the herbs. Tell her what you need."
The tall one did not look away.
"For sleep," he said.
His voice was low. It did not need volume.
"Trouble resting?" I asked.
"Something like that."
His gaze dropped to my throat.
I resisted the urge to step back.
Internally, I was reconsidering every life decision that led to me being the one who handled customers today.
"You don't look like farmers," I said lightly while reaching for dried valerian root.
"Because we are not," the bronze one replied.
Soldiers then. Mercenaries maybe. Or criminals who were very bad at looking harmless.
The lean one finally spoke. "We're just passing through."
"Through what?" I asked.
He tilted his head slightly. "Through."
Right. Mysterious. Of course.
I wrapped the herbs in parchment carefully. My hands were steady. I had learned to keep them steady even when I felt small.
The tall one moved closer.
The temperature shifted.
That was not dramatic exaggeration. It actually shifted. The air felt heavier and warmer.
My pulse kicked up without permission.
"Are you ill perhaps?" I asked before I could stop myself.
The bronze one smirked. "Do we look ill?"
"No," I said softly. "You look restless."
Silence fell thick between us.
The lean one's eyes sharpened.
The tall one's jaw flexed.
For one strange second, I had the ridiculous thought that I had insulted something more than men.
I handed over the bundle.
Our fingers brushed and everything stopped.
The glass jars lining the walls rattled violently.
Every candle in the room flared at once.
Heat shot up my arm and settled in my chest like something waking up.
The tall one's eyes widened just slightly.
The bronze one swore.
The lean one went completely still.
Mara gasped. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," I said.
But I felt it.
Something under my skin pulsed once.
Outside, the wind rose suddenly. The sign above the shop door slammed against the wall.
The tall one withdrew his hand slowly.
"What," the bronze one said quietly, "was that?"
I swallowed. "Static?"
He did not look convinced.
The lean one stepped closer now.
Not aggressively.
Carefully.
"What is your name?" he asked.
My mind flickered through the names I had used before.
None felt safe suddenly.
"Lyra," I said.
The tall one inhaled sharply.
The bronze one looked at him. "You smell that too, don't you."
Smell what?
I resisted the urge to sniff my sleeve.
The lean one's gaze dropped to my wrist.
"You're not from here," the tall one said.
I forced a small shrug. "No one important is."
His expression darkened.
"You're wrong."
My stomach tightened.
He did not mean the town.
He meant me.
Mara stepped forward, voice thin. "If you're finishe—"
"We are," the lean one interrupted rudely.
The tall one placed silver coins on the counter without breaking eye contact.
"We'll be in town tonight," he said.
That didn't feel like information.
It felt like a warning.
Or ownership.
They left without another word.
The door closed.
The moment it did, I exhaled like I had been holding my breath for minutes.
Mara grabbed my wrist. "What was that?"
"Men with money," I said.
She didn't laugh.
"You felt it too."
I hesitated.
The truth felt absurd.
"Yes."
That night, I could not sleep.
The moonlight spilling through my window was too bright. It painted my floor silver like water.
I rolled onto my side and squeezed my eyes shut.
Wolves were myths.
Stories told to frighten children.
There were no creatures that could make glass tremble by brushing your skin.
There were no men whose eyes changed color in the dark.
There were no—
A sound cut through my thoughts.
A low growl.
Not close.
Not far.
My heart jumped into my throat.
I pushed myself upright slowly.
The growl came again.
Outside.
Right beneath my window.
I forced myself to move quietly toward the glass.
The forest behind the apothecary was black at night. No lanterns. No houses. Just trees.
Something moved between them.
Large.
Too large to be a normal wolf.
The moonlight shifted.
And for half a second, I saw eyes.
Dark red.
Watching my window.
Watching me.
I stumbled back.
When I looked again, nothing was there.
No movement. No sound. Just trees. Just silence.
I told myself I imagined it.
I told myself wolves did not stand tall enough to look into second story windows.
I told myself those men were just travelers and nothing more.
Then something struck the side of the building.
Hard.
Wood splintered.
Mara screamed downstairs.
I froze.
Another impact.
Closer.
Claws scraped against the outer wall.
Not scratching.
Testing.
My chest tightened with a fear I couldn't explain.
A voice drifted up from below.
Low.
Controlled.
Familiar.
"Lyra."
My blood ran cold.
I had not told them where I slept.
And the way he said my name did not sound like a stranger.
It sounded like something that had just found what it was hunting.
The next blow broke my window.
Glass exploded inside.
And something massive lunged through the frame.