REJECTED BY ONE DESIRED BY THREE

CHAPTER 4

THE SHADOW IN THE FOREST

Lyra's: POV

I should have run.

Every instinct screamed at me to run.

Instead, I stood frozen.

The enormous black wolf stared at me.

His eyes weren't normal.

They were gold.

Not amber.

Not brown.

Gold like molten metal.

"You're a shifter."

The wolf tilted his head.

Obviously.

I almost laughed.

The fact that I was apparently having a conversation with a giant wolf should have terrified me more than it did.

"Why can I hear you?"

His gaze dropped toward my pendant.

Because you aren't what they told you.

My fingers closed around it.

"What am I?"

The wolf stepped closer.

I stepped backward.

He stopped immediately.

That surprised me.

You are afraid.

"Yes."

Good.

I frowned.

"Good?"

Fear keeps people alive.

He moved around me slowly.

Not touching.

Observing.

Especially people like you.

"People like me?"

He stopped behind me.

I felt his presence before I heard him.

People carrying dead blood.

The pendant burned against my skin.

"You're talking about my family."

The wolf said nothing.

"Tell me."

Silence.

"Who was my mother?"

His eyes returned to mine.

Not here.

"Then where?"

Not safe.

I clenched my jaw.

"Everyone keeps telling me that what isn't safe."

My voice cracked.

"I'm tired of being afraid."

The wolf watched me.

Then it started shifting into human form.

His body shifted.

Bones cracked.

Fur disappeared.

The enormous creature became a man.

He was tall.

Very tall.

Black hair fell messily across his forehead.

His body was covered in scars.

He wore dark clothing torn at the edges.

But it was his eyes that held me.

Those same golden eyes.

He looked at me like he'd known me forever.

"Who are you?"

His mouth curved into a slow smile.

"Riven."

The name meant something.

I'd heard it before.

Everyone had.

Riven Blackthorn.

The Rogue King.

The man who had disappeared into the Forbidden Wilds.

The man parents used to frighten children.

Behave, or Riven will find you.

I stared.

"You're him."

His smile widened.

"Disappointed?"

"You should be dead."

"People keep saying that."

He stepped closer.

I held the knife between us.

He looked at it.

Then at me.

"You won't need that."

"You don't know what I need."

"No."

His gaze moved over my face.

"But I know what you are."

My heartbeat quickened.

"What am I?"

He leaned closer.

"Angry."

I froze.

He smiled.

"Good."

Something about him unsettled me.

Not because he frightened me.

Because he didn't.

That was worse.

I turned away.

"I have to keep moving."

"You'll die before morning."

"Then I'll die."

"Your Alpha sent hunters after you."

I stopped.

"What?"

Riven's expression darkened.

"They aren't trying to bring you back."

My blood ran cold.

"Then what?"

His eyes became almost predatory.

"They were ordered to make sure you never reach the northern border."

I swallowed.

"Why?"

Riven looked at the pendant.

"Because someone is terrified of what happens if you do."

A branch snapped behind us.

Riven's head turned.

His entire body changed.

The relaxed man disappeared.

The predator returned.

"Stay here."

"No."

His eyes flashed.

"Lyra."

I froze.

He knew my name.

"How?"

He didn't answer.

Three figures emerged between the trees.

The same masks.

The same hunters.

One pointed at me.

"There."

Riven sighed.

"I was hoping they'd be smarter."

The first hunter attacked.

Riven moved.

I barely saw him.

One second the man was standing.

The next, he was on the ground.

The second attacked.

Riven caught his wrist.

A sickening crack echoed through the forest.

The hunter screamed.

The third raised a weapon toward me.

Riven turned.

Too late.

I moved instinctively.

The shadows beneath my feet exploded upward.

Black tendrils wrapped around the hunter.

He screamed.

I stared.

The shadows released him.

He collapsed.

Silence.

I looked at my hands.

"What did I just do?"

Riven stared at me.

For the first time, he didn't look amused.

He looked stunned.

Then fascinated.

"That's impossible."

"What?"

He stepped toward me.

"The Nocturne blood died twenty years ago."

My heart pounded.

"What is Nocturne?"

Riven's gaze locked with mine.

Then he whispered:

"Your mother's bloodline."

The forest seemed to disappear.

"My mother..."

He nodded.

"Was the last Shadow Queen."

I couldn't breathe.

Before I could ask anything else—

A howl echoed from somewhere beyond the trees.

Riven's expression changed.

"We have to leave."

"Why?"

His eyes darkened.

"Because that wasn't a wolf."