The window lock clicked open with a soft snap, and Aurelia held her breath. Her heart hammered against her chest as she pushed the glass pane wide enough to squeeze through. The ground was three stories down, but the old ivy growing up the house wall looked thick enough to hold her weight.
She had to try. She couldn't stay stuck in that room for another second, not when Kane's words kept spinning in her head like a broken record.
*Your sister is alive.*
Aurelia swung her leg over the windowsill and grabbed the ivy with both hands. The leaves rustled loudly, and she froze, listening for any sound that meant someone had heard her. But the house stayed quiet.
One hand at a time, she climbed down the wall. The ivy scratched her arms and caught in her hair, but she didn't care. All she could think about was finding Kane and making him tell her everything he knew about Lyanna.
Her feet hit the ground with a soft thud. She looked around quickly, making sure no guards were watching, then ran toward the forest where Kane had said he'd be waiting.
"Kane!" she whispered as loudly as she dared. "Kane, where are you?"
A shadow moved between the trees, and Kane stepped out. His face was grim, and his eyes kept darting back toward the house like he expected Cazriel to come storming after them any second.
"You shouldn't have come," he said, but there was relief in his voice. "It's too dangerous."
"I don't care about dangerous," Aurelia shot back. "I need to know the truth. You said my sister is alive. Prove it."
Kane studied her face for a long moment, then reached into his jacket. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out to her.
"I didn't want to show you this," he said quietly. "But you deserve to know."
Aurelia's hands shook as she unfolded the paper. It was a picture, slightly blurry like it had been taken from far away. But the face in the picture made her knees go weak.
Golden hair. Pale blue eyes. Delicate features that looked exactly like she remembered, only older.
"Lyanna," she breathed.
"That was taken three weeks ago," Kane said. "She's seventeen now. She goes by a different name Lysa. And she's living with the Stonefang Pack."
The world seemed to tilt sideways. Aurelia stared at the photo until her eyes burned, remembering every detail of her sister's face. Lyanna looked different, sadder somehow, and there was something cold in her eyes that had never been there before.
"She's alive," Aurelia whispered. "All this time, she's been alive."
"There's more," Kane said softly. "And you're not going to like it."
Aurelia looked up at him, still clutching the picture. "Tell me everything."
Kane took a deep breath. "Lyanna didn't die that day. She was taken."
"What do you mean, taken?"
"Kidnapped," Kane said. "By Alpha Valen Stonefang. He planned the whole thing to look like an accident. Made it seem like she'd fallen in the water and drowned so no one would come looking for her."
The words hit Aurelia like blows to the stomach. "That's impossible. We searched for days. We found her favorite ribbon by the water—"
"Put there on purpose," Kane interrupted. "To make you believe she was dead."
Aurelia's mind raced back to that terrible day ten years ago. She remembered everything so clearly—the way Lyanna had been crying about something their father had said, the way she'd run toward the river, the splash of water, the silence that followed.
"But I heard her fall in," Aurelia said desperately. "I heard the splash."
"You heard what they wanted you to hear," Kane said. "Valen had his men hiding in the forest. When Lyanna ran to the river, they grabbed her. The splash was just a rock thrown in the water."
"No." Aurelia shook her head, backing away from him. "No, that can't be true. My father would never"
She stopped. The look on Kane's face made her blood turn to ice.
"Your father knew," Kane said quietly. "He made a deal with Valen."
The trees spun around Aurelia. She grabbed onto a tree trunk to keep from falling. "You're lying."
"I wish I was." Kane's voice was full of pain. "Valen threatened to destroy the entire Mooncrest Pack unless Alder gave him what he wanted. So your father chose to give one daughter to save everyone else."
"But why?" The words came out as barely a whisper. "Why would Valen want Lyanna?"
"Because she's special," Kane said. "Born under the twin moon, just like you. Valen thinks she's the key to some ancient power. He's been raising her, teaching her, making her into something she was never meant to be."
Aurelia looked at the photo again. Now she could see what had looked wrong about Lyanna's eyes. They were empty. Cold. Like all the love and joy had been drained out of her.
"All these years," Aurelia said, her voice breaking. "All these years, I thought I killed her. I thought it was my fault she was dead."
"Your father let you believe that," Kane said. "He let you carry that guilt and blame yourself, because it was easier than admitting what he'd really done."
The anger hit Aurelia like a wildfire. Ten years of shame, ten years of living like an outcast, ten years of thinking she was a murderer all of it based on a lie.
"Where is she?" Aurelia demanded. "Where is my sister?"
Kane hesitated. "Aurelia, you need to understand something. The girl in that picture—she's not the same Lyanna you remember. Valen has filled her head with lies. He's told her that you abandoned her, that you never came looking for her because you didn't care."
"That's not true!"
"I know it's not. But she doesn't. As far as Lyanna knows, you're her enemy."
The words felt like blades in Aurelia's chest. Her baby sister, who used to follow her everywhere, who used to climb into her bed during thunderstorms ,that same sister now thought Aurelia had abandoned her.
"I have to find her," Aurelia said. "I have to bring her home."
"It's not that simple," Kane warned. "Valen isn't just going to let her go. He's spent ten years turning her into his weapon. And there's something else you need to know."
Aurelia looked at him, fearing whatever he was about to say.
"Cazriel knows," Kane said. "He's known all along where Lyanna is."
The world stopped. Everything went dead quiet except for the sound of Aurelia's heart breaking.
"What?"
"Your mate has been working with Valen for years," Kane said. "The alliance between their packs, the trade agreements, all of it . it's been about keeping Lyanna hidden and keeping you in the dark."
Aurelia couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The man she was bound to, the man who claimed to be protecting her, had been lying to her face this entire time.
"But why?" she whispered.
Kane's expression grew even more grim. "Because tomorrow night, Valen is bringing Lyanna here."
"Here? To this pack?"
"To meet you," Kane said. "But not for a reunion. Valen wants to use both of you for some kind of ritual. Something about twin souls and ancient power."
Before Aurelia could respond, she heard the sound that made her blood freeze ,the howl of hunting wolves coming from the direction of the mansion.
"They know you're gone," Kane said quickly. "We have to move. Now."
But as they turned to run deeper into the forest, a figure stepped out from behind the trees. Tall, broad-shouldered, with ice-blue eyes that blazed with fury.
Cazriel.
"Going somewhere?" he asked, his voice deadly calm.
And that's when Aurelia saw the others appearing from the shadows behind him. A dozen pack warriors, all in wolf form, all with their teeth bared.
They were trapped.
"Hello, sister," said a voice that made Aurelia's heart stop completely.
She turned, and there she was. Lyanna. Older, colder, but definitely her baby sister. Standing right next to a huge man with amber eyes and a cruel smile.
Alpha Valen Stonefang.
"Did you miss me?" Lyanna asked,
and her voice was like winter wind—beautiful and dangerous.
The trap had been sprung. And Aurelia was caught in the middle of it.