Lyra hadn't slept.
The rain had chased her back to the pack house hours ago, but Kael's touch still burned on her skin. She could feel him—his presence like a phantom echo, a pulse just beneath her own. No matter how deep she buried herself in her blankets, in her anger, in her denial, it clung to her like smoke.
A bond. The word itself was a curse.
She'd grown up hearing the stories. Fated mates. Destiny's cruel joke. Love forged in war. But no one ever said it would feel like this—like her soul had been carved in half and his name written in the hollow space.
Lyra rose before dawn, boots crunching on gravel as she walked the training grounds. Her blade hissed from its sheath, and she drove it into the nearest post, again and again. Sweat slicked her brow, breath sharp in her lungs.
She was still striking when her cousin Sera approached. "You're going to splinter that thing."
"Good."
Sera leaned against the fence, arms crossed. "So, are you going to tell me why you look like a storm cloud with a sword?"
Lyra's blade stilled mid-air.
Sera tilted her head. "Does this have anything to do with the Bloodfang Alpha skulking around last night?"
Lyra hesitated.
"You know I can smell him on you, right?" Sera wrinkled her nose. "Smells like wild pine and bad decisions."
Lyra sighed. "It's the bond."
"Oh." Sera blinked. "Oh." Then she winced. "Kael Thorne? Seriously?"
"I didn't choose it," Lyra snapped. "Fate did."
"Fate's a b*tch."
Lyra slumped to the ground, dagger still in her grip. "Tell me about it."
Sera softened, kneeling beside her. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know." Her voice cracked. "Part of me wants to fight it. The other part—" She swallowed. "He's not what I expected."
"He's the enemy."
"I know." Lyra looked down at her hands. "But when I'm near him… my wolf doesn't care."
Sera put a hand on her shoulder. "That's what makes it dangerous."
A howl pierced the morning stillness—sharp and urgent. Lyra shot to her feet, instincts kicking in. The howl came again. A scout's call. Trouble.
Seconds later, Rian, the Gamma, appeared from the treeline, his coat soaked in blood. Not his own.
"Attack," he gasped. "South border. Creatures—not wolves. Witches. Something worse."
Lyra and Sera exchanged a grim look. Not a coincidence.
Kael had warned her. Something was coming.
She just hadn't expected it to come so soon.