Chapter 5:The moons warning
631 Words
(Lyria’s POV)
The forest never slept that night. Every leaf rustled with secrets I couldn’t hear, every gust of wind carried his scent — pine, smoke, and danger.
I didn’t tell anyone what happened. The council wouldn’t believe me, and my father would lock me in the tower if he thought a rogue had breached our borders. But I couldn’t forget his words.
They didn’t tell you what you really are.
By dawn, the whole palace buzzed with rumors. The guards claimed to have found strange claw marks near the eastern gate — too large to belong to any known wolf. I stayed silent, but my heart hammered against my ribs with every whisper.
At breakfast, the seat beside me was empty. Kael’s seat. He was expected to arrive today — to finalize the marriage rites. My stomach twisted at the thought. The stranger’s voice still haunted me, as if it had been stitched into my thoughts.
When the horns finally sounded, every head turned. Kael Ironfang strode into the hall like a storm in human form — broad shoulders, dark eyes that didn’t blink, and a presence that silenced even the air.
Our gazes met for a heartbeat. The world shrank.
“Lady Lyria,” he said, voice low, unreadable. “It seems the moon favors our union.”
I forced a smile. “Or warns against it.”
His lips curved — not quite a smile, not quite a threat. “Then may the moon choose wisely.”
Before I could reply, a servant stumbled in, pale and shaking. “My lord — we found… something.”
The guards brought it in wrapped in cloth. When they unfolded it, gasps filled the hall. A royal insignia — torn, blood-stained, belonging to one of our patrol captains — and beneath it, carved into the fabric, a single symbol: a crescent split in two.
Kael’s hand brushed mine under the table, steady but cold. “Where was this found?”
The guard swallowed. “At the border, my lord… right where the mist begins.”
The mist. The place I had seen him vanish.
Kael’s gaze flicked to me, sharp, knowing. “Call off all patrols,” he ordered. “No one crosses that border until I say so.”
Father frowned. “You overstep, Alpha Ironfang—”
Kael’s voice cut through him like steel. “Your daughter was seen near that gate last night. If something is moving in the shadows, it’s already inside.”
Every eye turned to me. My blood turned to ice.
“Is that true, Lyria?” my father asked quietly.
My throat went dry. “I— I couldn’t sleep. I went for air. That’s all.”
But Kael didn’t believe me. I saw it in the way his eyes lingered — not accusing, but searching. Like he knew I’d seen something.
As the hall erupted in argument, I slipped away. Out through the corridor, down the marble steps, into the forest’s edge.
The mist was thicker now. It curled around my feet, whispering like a living thing. And when I turned — he was there again.
The stranger.
But this time, his eyes weren’t gold. They were black.
“You shouldn’t have signed it,” he said softly.
My breath hitched. “Signed what?”
He stepped closer, voice almost a growl. “The moment you swore loyalty to them, the moon marked you. And now… it’s coming.”
A sudden tremor shook the ground, the trees groaned, and from somewhere deep within the forest, a howl rose — long, haunting, and unlike any wolf I’d ever heard.
The moon had sent its warning. And I realized… it wasn’t just the forest that was awake.
It was something older.
Something coming for me.
- Writer
