Chapter 8:The night the keep turned against her
1335 Words
That night, Lyra couldn’t sleep.
Snowstorm winds scraped softly against the tower windows while moonlight spilled pale silver across Kael’s room.
His room.
The thought still felt strange.
She sat near the fireplace wrapped in one of the heavy blankets from the bed, staring into the flames while Kael’s words repeated endlessly inside her head.
«Your scent doesn’t make sense.»
Ancient.
The word unsettled her more the longer she thought about it.
How could a scent feel ancient?
And why did everyone react to her like she carried some hidden danger beneath her skin?
Lyra rubbed tiredly at her eyes.
Maybe this was all a mistake.
Maybe Kael was wrong.
Maybe the North was simply paranoid after years of dealing with monsters beyond the deadlands.
That explanation sounded reasonable.
Unfortunately—
Her instincts no longer believed reasonable explanations.
Not after Blackwood Pass.
Not after seeing those creatures.
And definitely not after watching trained wolves recoil from her scent earlier.
A knock sounded suddenly at the chamber door.
Lyra stiffened.
It was late.
Very late.
Carefully, she stood.
“Who is it?”
Silence.
Her stomach tightened instantly.
The knock came again.
Slower this time.
Something about it felt wrong.
Every instinct inside her sharpened immediately.
She stepped closer to the door cautiously.
“Kael?”
Still silence.
Then—
A faint whisper came from the other side.
“…help…”
Lyra froze.
A woman’s voice.
Weak.
Barely audible.
She hesitated only a second before unlocking the door.
The moment it opened—
A hand grabbed her throat violently.
Lyra gasped as she was slammed backward against the wall hard enough to rattle the room.
A masked wolf forced the door shut behind him instantly.
Panic exploded through her chest.
The attacker smelled wrong.
Not Rotborn.
Wolf.
But strange.
Corrupted somehow.
“You should’ve stayed south,” the masked man growled.
Lyra drove her knee upward instinctively.
The attacker cursed as his grip loosened slightly.
She shoved him backward hard enough to create space before sprinting toward the fireplace poker nearby.
The wolf lunged again.
Too fast.
His claws sliced across her arm painfully as he caught her before she reached the weapon.
Lyra cried out sharply.
The attacker slammed her against the table again.
“You have no idea what you are,” he snarled.
Fear shot through her chest.
What did that mean?
The wolf raised a blade suddenly—
Then stopped.
His entire body froze.
Lyra blinked.
Confused.
Then she felt it too.
A sudden crushing pressure flooded the room.
Power.
Pure Alpha dominance slammed through the chamber so violently the windows shook.
The attacker panicked instantly.
“No—”
The chamber doors exploded open.
Kael entered like a storm.
And for the first time—
Lyra understood why entire territories feared him.
Not because he looked angry.
Because he looked lethal.
The room itself seemed colder around him.
Silver burned brightly through his eyes while fury rolled off him in suffocating waves.
The masked wolf tried to flee instantly.
He never reached the door.
Kael moved faster than Lyra could properly follow.
One second he stood across the room—
The next he had the attacker pinned against the stone wall hard enough to c***k it.
The masked wolf choked violently beneath Kael’s grip.
“Who sent you?”
The question came low.
Deadly calm.
The attacker struggled desperately.
Kael tightened his grip slightly.
Bones cracked.
Lyra flinched.
“WHO SENT YOU?”
The roar shook the room.
The attacker gasped painfully.
“She… she can’t stay here…”
Kael’s expression darkened further.
Wrong answer.
The attacker suddenly jerked unnaturally—
Then blood spilled from beneath the mask.
Lyra’s eyes widened.
The wolf collapsed instantly.
Dead.
Kael released him immediately.
Something black leaked slowly from the attacker’s mouth onto the floor.
Rot.
Lyra stared in horror.
“No…”
Kael crouched beside the body instantly.
His expression became terrifyingly unreadable.
“He poisoned himself,” he said quietly.
Lyra pressed a shaking hand against her injured arm.
The entire room spun slightly.
Kael looked up immediately.
The fury vanished from his expression the moment he saw the blood on her sleeve.
And suddenly—
Everything about him changed.
His attention locked entirely onto her.
“Lyra.”
She tried to answer.
Instead, dizziness hit her hard.
Kael crossed the room instantly.
Strong hands caught her before she collapsed completely.
“You’re hurt.”
“I noticed,” she muttered weakly.
Kael ignored the sarcasm completely.
Not a good sign.
He carefully guided her toward the bed before kneeling in front of her to examine the wound.
The claw marks across her arm burned painfully now.
Darker than before.
Kael’s jaw tightened instantly.
“The claws were contaminated.”
That sounded bad.
Very bad.
Lyra forced herself to focus despite the dizziness.
“The wolf… he had Rot inside him.”
Kael nodded once.
“Which means someone inside the Keep is infected.”
The realization hit like ice water.
Someone inside the fortress.
Someone close enough to reach her room.
Fear curled through her stomach instantly.
Kael noticed.
His expression hardened again.
“No one touches this floor without my permission,” he said quietly.
The certainty in his voice should’ve comforted her.
Instead—
It made her realize how dangerous this situation truly was.
Kael carefully cleaned the wound with warm water while Lyra tried not to hiss every time the cloth touched her skin.
“You’re terrible at pretending things don’t hurt,” he muttered.
Lyra glared weakly.
“You stabbed water directly into my soul.”
That almost earned another small smile from him.
Almost.
But tension still shadowed his expression heavily.
“Will the Rot spread?” she asked quietly.
Kael’s hands paused briefly.
Not long.
But long enough.
Her stomach dropped.
“…Kael.”
His gaze lifted toward hers slowly.
“I don’t know.”
Honest.
Terrifyingly honest.
Lyra looked away immediately.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Too warm.
Too difficult to breathe inside.
Kael wrapped fresh bandages carefully around her arm afterward.
His movements remained controlled.
Steady.
But Lyra noticed the tension in his hands.
He was worried.
Really worried.
And somehow—
That frightened her more than the injury itself.
“Why were you here so fast?” she asked quietly after several moments.
Kael tied the bandage securely before answering.
“I felt something wrong.”
Lyra frowned slightly.
“What does that mean?”
Silence.
Again.
Kael exhaled slowly.
“The bond between powerful wolves can create instinctive awareness.”
Lyra blinked.
“…Bond?”
Kael immediately looked annoyed with himself.
Interesting.
Apparently he hadn’t meant to say that much.
“What kind of bond?”
His silence returned instantly.
Lyra narrowed her eyes.
“You know what? I’m starting to think you enjoy withholding information.”
Kael stood slowly afterward.
“No. I enjoy timing.”
“That sounds equally frustrating.”
“It probably is.”
She watched him move toward the shattered doorway where guards already gathered outside nervously.
None entered the room.
Not without permission.
One of the guards lowered his head immediately.
“Alpha, the body has been secured.”
Kael’s voice became cold again instantly.
“Seal the lower corridors. No one leaves the Keep tonight.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
The guards disappeared immediately afterward.
Lyra watched Kael carefully now.
The emotional shift in him was impossible to ignore.
Protective before.
Dangerous now.
And underneath all of it—
Something else.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Kael turned back toward her slowly.
“You’re not safe here anymore.”
The quiet seriousness in his voice made her chest tighten.
Lyra swallowed.
“Then where exactly am I supposed to go?”
Kael held her gaze steadily.
And then he said the one thing she somehow wasn’t prepared to hear.
“…Closer to me.”
Silence filled the room instantly afterward.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Because suddenly—
Neither of them was talking about safety anymore.
- Writer
