Lyra POV
Darius’s words crashed over me like a thunderbolt, each syllable a searing jolt that set my heart into a frantic, erratic rhythm, drowning out the world. “I’ve come to take you home.” His voice, low and resolute, lingered in the twilight air, a possessive claim that shook the earth beneath my feet, threatening to unravel the life I’d painstakingly woven.
I clung to Jaxon, my fingers digging into the corded muscle of his arm, my body pressed so tightly against his that I could feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat, an anchor in the storm raging within me. My chest constricted, fear and confusion swirling like a tempest, my wolf stirring restlessly, a primal, undeniable pull toward Darius that I fought with every ounce of my will.
He stood mere meters away in the village squar
