Lyra's POV
The silver blade feels cold against my thigh.
I smile at Damon like my heart isn't breaking. Like I'm not about to destroy everything. Like the cameras watching from the shadows don't exist.
You're trembling, he whispers, taking my hands. His brown eyes are so warm, so trusting. Nervous?
Happy, I lie.
The word tastes like ash. In three minutes, he'll be dead. In four, I'll be a murderer.
The Shadow Vale Pack surrounds us under the full moon. My fingers itch to touch the hidden blade beneath my white dress, but I force myself to stay still. One wrong move and they'll see. One hesitation and Mira burns.
Elder Marcus begins the ancient words. Under the moon's witness, we bind two souls
I'm not listening. I'm thinking about Mira.
My little sister. Locked in the dungeons right now. They're going to burn her at dawn. They showed me the pyre. Showed me the chains. Told me exactly how she'll scream.
They sent me a recording of her begging.
Unless I do this.
Lyra Ashwood, Elder Marcus says, his voice echoing through the clearing. Do you accept Damon Blackwood as your mate?
Damon squeezes my hands. He's smiling. He loves me.
I do love him. That's what makes this so horrible. That's what they knew when they chose him.
I do, I say.
The pack cheers. His parents beam with joy that will shatter in moments. They have no idea their son has minutes to live. No idea that the beautiful ceremony is a stage for murder.
Then let the bond be sealed, Elder Marcus announces.
Damon pulls me close. I've waited so long for this, he breathes against my ear. You're everything to me, Lyra. Everything.
I close my eyes. I can't watch his face. Can't see the love there that I'm about to extinguish.
His lips brush my forehead. Then he leans toward my neck, where his teeth will mark me forever.
The message flashes through my mind: Kill him before the bond completes, or your sister burns. We're watching. Don't disappoint us.
I feel his breath on my neck. Warm. Alive.
I reach for the blade.
My hand shakes. For one terrible second, I think I can't do it.
Then I hear Mira's scream in my memory.
I'm sorry, I whisper.
I strike.
The silver blade slides between his ribs. Quick. Clean. Straight to the heart. Trackers know how to kill fast. Father taught me well before he died.
I just never thought I'd use it like this.
Damon's eyes go wide. He staggers back, staring at the blade buried in his chest. Blood spreads across his white shirt like blooming roses.
Lyra? His voice breaks. Confused. Hurt. Why?
I catch him as he falls. Tears stream down my face, hot and useless.
I'm sorry, I sob. They have Mira. They said they'd kill her. I had to choose. I'm so sorry
Understanding flickers in his dying eyes. Then something worse than hate.
Forgiveness.
You did... what you had to, he chokes, blood on his lips. For family.
Don't forgive me, I cry. Hate me. Curse me. Please.
But he just looks at me with love. Even now. Even as life drains from him.
Protect Mira, he whispers. His hand touches my cheek, leaving a smear of blood. I love
He stops breathing.
The world explodes.
Someone screams his mother, I think. The pack shifts into wolves, snarling, fur bristling with rage. They want me dead. They want me torn apart.
A massive gray wolf lunges Thomas, Damon's father. His teeth are bared, eyes wild with grief and fury. He's going to kill me.
I close my eyes and wait for death.
It's what I deserve.
Death doesn't come.
Power slams into the clearing like thunder. Like the sky splitting open. Every wolf drops to their bellies, whimpering. The dominance is crushing, primal, absolute.
I force my eyes open.
A man stands at the clearing's edge. Tall. Dark hair. Silver eyes glowing in moonlight like twin moons. He radiates authority that makes Alpha Thomas look like a pup.
Kael Thornheart. The Alpha King.
What is he doing here? He wasn't invited. Wasn't expected.
Unless
He walks toward me. The pack parts like water. No one dares even breathe too loud.
His silver eyes lock onto mine.
Pain explodes in my chest. Not physical deeper. In my soul. Lightning striking. Fire burning. The world tilting sideways.
No. No, this can't be happening.
The mating bond the one that should have formed with Damon is forming with someone else.
With the Alpha King.
I feel it snapping into place. Unbreakable. Inevitable. Wrong.
He stops three feet away, eyes wide with shock that mirrors my own. He feels it too. The bond searing between us like a live wire.
Impossible, he whispers.
But I know what this means. I studied the old texts when I was training to be a tracker.
If you kill your mate before the bond completes, and your true fated mate exists somewhere in the world
The bond transfers.
I killed Damon. And fate just declared my true mate is Kael Thornheart.
The most powerful Alpha alive. The most dangerous. The man who executes traitors without mercy.
His wolf has recognized me. Claimed me.
And I've just committed murder in front of him.
Nobody touches her, Kael commands, his voice cutting through the chaos. She's mine now.
Thomas tries to protest, tries to shift closer, but the King's dominance crushes him back down.
Kael's eyes meet mine. The bond pulses between us, demanding, hungry.
Get up, he orders.
I stand on shaking legs, covered in Damon's blood. The blade still in my hand.
Kael steps closer. So close I feel his heat. His power. The bond screaming for me to touch him.
You just made the biggest mistake of your life, little wolf, he says quietly, for my ears only. And I'm going to find out why. Every secret. Every lie.
His hand closes around my arm.
The bond flares like fire touching gasoline.
And I realize I've escaped one nightmare only to fall into another.
One I can never escape.
Because you can't run from your mate.
Even if he's the king who will execute you at dawn.