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Lyra | Years Ago My cries were loud as I hid in the heart of the forest, clutching my knees tightly against my chest. My pack's village was burning. Mom had told me to run far away from home—to this exact spot—and said she would find me later. But she never came. My mother didn't come. The wind bit through the thin fabric of my white nightgown, the one Mom bought me because of the lace trim that brushed against my feet. Now, it was caked in dirt and torn to shreds. I tried to scent the air; I tried to listen beyond the snapping of branches, but I wasn't like them. My ears didn't catch what the true wolves could. I was only a half-breed: a broken half, freezing to death. A loud snap made me freeze. My eyes stung, blurred by tears, as I saw a shadow stretch across the floor of dry leaves. A man emerged from nowhere. He was tall—so tall he seemed to touch the treetops—exuding a scent of pine and something else so powerful it made me want to vanish into the ground. He knelt in front of me, closing the distance between us. I let out a low whimper, shrinking back against the roots, bracing for the worst. "Easy now," his voice was like a heavy cloak draped over my shoulders. It wasn't angry. "You’re safe now. I’m taking you home, little one." *** The car was large and dark. I was squeezed into the backseat, sitting between two men who looked as though they were carved from stone. They didn’t look at me, but they smelled of pure rage. The man who found me was driving, his large hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. "This is a mistake, Alpha," one of the men beside me said, his voice laced with venom. "She carries the blood of a traitor. Raising the daughter of those who betrayed us wasn't part of the plan. The plan was to end their lineage." "She’s just a child, a weak half-breed," the other added with a huff. "What will the others think if you bring this traitor’s pup into our stronghold?" I gripped the hem of my nightgown, my heart beating so fast it hurt. They were talking about me. They didn't want me there. In the rearview mirror, the eyes of the man who saved me glowed with a golden hue that seemed to suck the air right out of the car. "The plan changed the moment I found her," his voice cut through the argument, authoritative and final. "I didn't ask for your opinion on her lineage. I am the Alpha here, and if I’ve decided she stays, she stays under my protection. Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with me directly." The silence that followed was so deep I could hear my own trembling breath. He didn't look back, but for the first time since the fires began, I felt like the cold had finally stopped chasing me.