CHAPTER 4
830 Words
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
Rowan’s words lingered in the air like the echo of thunder after a storm.
I’m her son.
For a moment, no one moved.
Marcus was the first to react.
“You’re lying,” he said flatly.
Rowan didn’t even look at him. His eyes stayed locked on Lyra.
The Alpha female studied him with unsettling calm.
Her silver eyes were sharp enough to peel away lies, and Rowan could feel the weight of her scrutiny pressing against his chest.
If he was bluffing…
She would know.
“You claim,” Lyra said slowly, “to be the son of Selene Nightfang.”
Rowan nodded once.
“That’s right.”
Marcus barked out a short laugh.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” Rowan replied coolly.
Marcus stepped forward, his posture shifting from wary to openly hostile.
“The Luna of the Obsidian Moon Pack doesn’t have children wandering around human territory.”
Rowan finally looked at him.
“Maybe she didn’t want people to know.”
Marcus scoffed.
“You expect us to believe the most powerful Luna in the realm had a secret human child?”
Rowan’s jaw tightened slightly.
“Half human.”
The correction came instinctively.
Lyra noticed.
Interesting.
She crossed her arms, leaning slightly against the trunk of a large oak tree as she studied him more carefully.
Now that she was closer, she could see the details she had missed earlier.
His posture.
His eyes.
The strange energy that clung to him like an unfinished storm.
He smelled human.
But beneath that…
Something ancient stirred.
Lyra’s wolf lifted its head inside her head.
Curious.
This one is not ordinary.
“Marcus,” Lyra said calmly.
The Beta stepped back immediately, though his eyes remained locked on Rowan.
Lyra stepped forward until only a few feet separated them.
Rowan didn’t flinch.
That alone impressed her.
Most humans would have been shaking by now.
“You walked into the territory of a werewolf pack,” she said quietly, “and announced yourself as the son of the strongest Luna in the realm.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“That takes courage.”
Rowan shrugged.
“Or desperation.”
Lyra tilted her head slightly.
“Why are you looking for her?”
For the first time, something flickered across Rowan’s expression.
Frustration.
Anger.
“Because she left,” he said.
The bluntness of the answer surprised several of the wolves nearby.
Lyra remained silent, letting him continue.
Rowan exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair.
“I grew up human,” he said. “At least… that’s what I thought.”
Marcus snorted quietly.
Lyra shot him a warning glance.
He fell silent.
Rowan continued.
“My father raised me alone. He told me my mother belonged to a different world.”
His eyes hardened slightly.
“A world I wasn’t allowed to be part of.”
Lyra watched him carefully.
The bitterness in his voice was real.
Not fabricated.
“What changed?” she asked.
Rowan gave a humorless laugh.
“My body did.”
Several wolves exchanged confused looks.
Lyra’s interest sharpened.
“What do you mean?”
Rowan hesitated.
Then he lifted his sleeve.
The scars were impossible to miss.
Thin claw marks running across his forearm.
Old.
But deep.
Marcus frowned.
“Where did you get those?”
Rowan lowered his arm again.
“From myself.”
Silence followed.
Even Marcus looked confused now.
“My strength started changing,” Rowan continued quietly. “My senses too.”
He looked toward the forest surrounding them.
“I can hear things humans shouldn’t hear.”
His gaze returned to Lyra.
“I can smell things they can’t.”
Lyra’s wolf stirred again.
Yes.
She could feel it now.
The dormant power buried inside him.
Like a storm trapped beneath the surface.
“So you came here,” Lyra said slowly, “hoping we would explain what you are.”
Rowan shook his head.
“No.”
Lyra raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“I came here,” he said, “to find her.”
The determination in his voice was unmistakable.
Lyra studied him for several seconds.
Then she sighed softly.
“You’re too late.”
Rowan blinked.
“What?”
“Selene Nightfang isn’t here.”
The words hit him harder than he expected.
“You know her?”
Marcus groaned quietly.
“Oh great.”
Lyra ignored him.
“Yes,” she said simply.
Rowan stepped forward instinctively.
“Then you know where she is.”
Lyra’s expression hardened.
“I do.”
“Good.”
His voice sharpened with urgency.
“Then tell me.”
Lyra didn’t move.
“Why should I?”
Rowan stared at her.
“Because she’s my mother.”
Marcus crossed his arms.
“Allegedly.”
Rowan ignored him again.
Lyra studied him carefully.
Then she said something that made the entire pack tense.
“Prove it.”
- Writer
