The forest swallowed her.
Branches whipped her skin as she ran, but Lyra didn't stop. She couldn't. Her chest burned with every step, not from exhaustion—but from the invisible tear inside her. The mate bond, once full of warmth and promise, now lay in pieces at her feet.
Rejected. Just like that.
Her lungs heaved, eyes blurred with tears. The further she got from the packhouse, the louder her wolf screamed in her mind.
> He broke us, Nyra whimpered. We weren't ready... we weren't—
"Stop," Lyra gasped out loud, pressing her hands to her temples. "Just stop."
But the pain didn't stop. It throbbed in her bones, in her soul, like something inside her had snapped and was trying to rebuild itself in the wrong shape. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed against the trunk of an old tree, sliding to the ground.
"I should've known," she whispered to herself. "I should've known he'd never want someone like me."
Omega. Weak. Cursed. That's what they all said.
She looked up at the moon, its light glowing silver through the trees. It should have been comforting. But now, it just felt like mockery. The goddess had marked her since birth—yet gifted her a bond only to have it torn away in front of everyone.
Something warm trickled down her arm. She looked and saw blood—thin scratches from the forest, maybe—but they were already healing. Too fast. Her heart skipped. That wasn't normal.
Suddenly, the ground beneath her vibrated faintly, like a distant hum.
The moonlight flickered.
Her birthmark—a crescent moon on her left shoulder—burned white-hot.
Lyra screamed.
She clutched at her skin, the mark glowing through the fabric of her dress. Her back arched as energy surged through her like lightning. Her eyes rolled back, and her mind was flooded with voices—not hers, not Nyra's. Old voices. Ancient ones.
> She has awakened…
The bloodline breathes again.
The Moon's heir has returned.
"No—no, this isn't real," Lyra cried out.
Then everything went black.
---
She woke to silence. Not the peaceful kind—but the heavy, eerie kind that made your skin crawl.
Lyra blinked slowly, adjusting to the faint blue glow around her. She was no longer in the forest. The trees here were older, twisted, and covered in glowing silver vines. The ground shimmered with frost, though the air wasn't cold.
> Where am I?
"Finally," a voice said behind her.
Lyra spun, ready to defend herself—but the woman who stood there was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
Tall, graceful, and glowing faintly, the woman's silver-white hair flowed to her waist, and her eyes shimmered with moonlight itself. Her gown looked like it was woven from starlight and fog.
"You're... not real," Lyra whispered.
"I am more real than the pain you carry," the woman said gently. "Do you know who I am, child?"
Lyra swallowed hard. "No. I—I think I'm dreaming."
The woman smiled. "You are in between. Not asleep, not awake. Not mortal, not yet divine."
Lyra didn't understand—but her wolf did. Nyra whimpered in submission.
"Selene," Lyra breathed.
The Moon Goddess nodded.
"You were not supposed to awaken this soon," Selene said, stepping forward. "The bond was meant to protect you. But now... the choice has been made."
Lyra's throat tightened. "He rejected me."
"He was manipulated," Selene replied, voice cold. "The Council fears your power. Fears what you could become."
"Then why give me the bond at all?" Lyra demanded, her voice shaking. "Why make me love someone who would tear me apart?"
"Because even gods cannot stop fate," Selene said. "Only guide it."
Lyra fell to her knees. The pain came rushing back. "I don't want this power. I just wanted to be enough. For him. For anyone."
Selene knelt in front of her, taking her chin gently.
"You were never meant to be enough for them," she whispered. "You were meant to rise above them."
A glow spread from Selene's hands into Lyra's skin, settling over her birthmark like molten silver.
"When you wake, your path will begin. You will seek answers. Find the ones loyal to the old blood. They will protect you. Train you."
Lyra's eyes brimmed with tears. "But I'm alone."
"No," Selene said, rising. "You are not. The moon will guide you. The blood will remember. And when the time comes—he will beg for what he once threw away."
A silver wolf appeared behind Selene, its eyes glowing like suns.
"Run now, child. Run before they come."
"Who's coming?" Lyra asked.
But Selene was gone.
---
Lyra jolted awake, gasping for air.
The forest was dark again, the glowing trees and vines replaced by reality. But her body felt… different. Stronger. Lighter. Her senses sharpened. She could hear the wind through leaves, the heartbeat of animals nearby, even the distant rustle of footsteps.
Then she smelled it—smoke. Fire.
She stood, wobbling slightly, and followed the scent.
It didn't take long to find it.
A group of warriors were tracking her trail. From her pack. She recognized their uniforms—black and gold with the Duskclaw emblem. At least six of them. One of them sniffed the air.
"She went this way," he growled. "Kael said she was unstable. Dangerous."
> Dangerous? Lyra clenched her fists. You're the ones who humiliated me!
They were going to kill her. She could feel it in her bones.
But something else stirred beneath her skin. Her blood whispered with power. Her wolf was wide awake now—alert, coiled, waiting.
> We don't run anymore, Nyra said.
Lyra turned, stepping deeper into the shadows, away from the trail.
She wouldn't go back. Not yet.
Not until she had answers.
Not until she could burn the entire Council to the ground.
---
By morning, she was miles from Duskclaw territory.
Hungry. Exhausted. Determined.
She found an abandoned cabin hidden in the mountains. Small. Broken. But enough to shelter for the night. As she curled into a corner, clutching her arms, the emotions finally crashed into her.
Everything she had known was gone.
The boy she had hoped for—the mate she had dreamed of—was her enemy.
But she wasn't the same girl who had stood in front of him and accepted rejection.
She was more.
And whoever stood in her way… would soon understand what it meant to cast aside the Moon's heir.