The fierce storm raged over the northern lands, sending sharp bits of ice everywhere as if the sky were making sharp knives. Zack walked on through the snow, his breath visible in the cold wind, his senses alert across the storm. His team followed him, close but uneasy. The storm seemed unnatural, he could feel it, his wolf growled restlessly, and something felt wrong in the wind.
"We should go back," Rowan called from behind him, his voice almost lost in the storm. "We can't see anything!"
Zack didn't slow down. "We're nearly where the scouts pointed out. We must finish looking around."
Xylan walked to his right, worried, his silver eyes squinting. "Zack… something is not right."
Everything felt wrong. The storm, the quiet, the air that felt like old magic. But Zack kept moving, his jaw firm. "We find the hole," he stated. "Then we will go back."
They walked about a hundred more steps before Zack smelled it, deep black, like metal, strong.
Blood.
But not from a person.
Wolf blood.
He lifted a hand, stopping the group. "Get your weapons ready."
The group quickly made a half-circle around him. The snow fell harder, moving in fast, weird circles. The storm wasn't just weather, it was hiding something.
A perfect cover for an attack.
Zack's wolf inside him gave a warning.
Then he heard it.
Crunch.
A footstep behind them.
Zack turned fast, his claws partly out, but the attacker was already in the air, jumping at him with a knife that shined a gross purple color.
Steel that could cut the soul.
Time stopped.
Zack moved fast just as the knife cut his shoulder, making a deep wound. Pain shot through him, not normal pain. He couldn't see well for a moment, and he almost fell. Xylan jumped at the attacker, but the traitor moved too fast, fighting with strong anger.
"Zack! Watch out!" someone yelled.
Another attack came, aiming right for his heart.
Zack blocked it, just barely, but the blade cut his ribs and pain burst in his chest. A tug, rough, tearing, hurt him, as if something inside him was being pulled out.
The link.
Lyra.
A far-off scream echoed in his head, so sharp it felt like it cut him open.
Zack's wolf broke free.
Not completely, but set loose.
He couldn't see well. Shadows spread on his skin. His bones cracked, a change, but not the one he knew. Not the controlled change he learned since he was young. This one was wild, rough, driven by instinct. His wolf took over, but something darker took over with it, fighting to control him.
His team moved back in fear.
Zack didn't see them. He only saw the attacker. The traitor. His uncle Nate's tool. Someone who knew about the link, who wanted Lyra dead by killing him.
The traitor jumped again.
Zack grabbed him by the neck.
His claws, dark, long, strange, cut into the man's skin. The traitor choked, his eyes wide with fear, and swung wildly. The knife missed as Zack lifted him up as if he weighed nothing.
"Alpha, stop!" Xylan called, his voice cracking.
The wind howled loudly.
Zack growled, a sound not completely wolf. Not completely from something alive.
With one strong move, he broke the traitor's neck.
The body went still in the snow.
The storm stopped right away, as if it was put out by a ghost hand.
Zack stood by the dead body, his chest rising fast, his breath like small clouds. His pack looked at him, but not in a good way.
They looked scared.
"Zack… your eyes," Rowan said quietly.
Zack blinked his eyes.
The world changed fast from black to red to how it should look.
"What just happened to me?" he mumbled, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
The dagger that split souls fell down, still glowing a little. Xylan kicked it away with his boot, looking only at Zack.
"That wasn't just changing," Xylan said slowly. "That was something more."
Zack didn't say anything. His heart was beating wrong, like something inside him was being ripped apart.
The connection pulsed hard, wild, scared, filling him with feelings that weren't his own.
Lyra.
She felt pain.
His knees gave way.
"Zack!" Xylan caught him before he fell to the ground.
Zack grabbed his chest, breathing hard. "Something's… wrong."
But Xylan already knew that.
"It's her," he said softly. "She felt everything that happened."
---
Lyra didn't remember falling down.
One second, she was training in the yard, pushing herself harder than she had in weeks, trying not to listen to the talk about her Trial of the Flame. The next, something cut through her chest so hard that she fell to her knees, and the training spear slipped out of her hands.
Pain, very hot, cold, and strong, cut through her ribs like she'd been stabbed with something.
She couldn't take a breath.
She couldn't think at all.
Something inside her, some part that was tied to Zack, was shouting loudly.
Then her heart skipped a beat.
Everything went blurry.
"Lyra!" her sister Anny yelled, running to help her.
Voices all around her, guards, trainees, her mother, were all shouting, but she couldn't understand what they said. Her body shook as another wave of pain went through her.
Her wolf cried out inside her head.
She tried to say Zack's name but she couldn't make a sound.
Her sight got smaller at the edges, turning dark.
Then everything went quiet.
Her body fell to the ground.
---
When she woke up, she was in the healer's room, with worried faces all around her. Her mother was there. And her father. And Anny. The High Elder was there too. Also some council members. They all looked at her like she had the answer to their worries.
"What… happened?" Lyra whispered, her throat feeling rough.
The healer moved closer, looking serious. "Your heart almost stopped."
Her mother started to cry.
The Elder's voice stopped the panic. "This proves it. The connection is not safe. It's dangerous."
Lyra tried to sit up straight. The room seemed to spin. "I'm okay," she said, but her voice showed she wasn't telling the truth.
"No," the Elder said. "You are not fine. And Rivendale is not either."
Lyra felt scared. "What are you saying?"
The Elder looked at the council members. "Until we know all the risks of this connection… your Luna rise is going to be put on hold."
Lyra felt like she was falling.
Put on hold.
Taken away from the future she wanted.
Being punished for a connection she didn't want.
She held tight to the healer's bed, taking short breaths. "You can't do that."
"We can," the Elder said. "And we will do it. Until Rivendale is safe."
Safe.
From her.
Lyra shut her eyes tightly, trying not to cry.
She could feel Zack's hurt a little bit from far away through their connection, like a faint pulse scraping over something sharp.
They were both in danger.
And the world was getting smaller all around them.