The Wolf They Buried Alive

Chapter 3

Lyra

The scream tore through my skull like shattered glass. I collapsed, clutching my head as my wolf's agony became mine.

"Lyra!" Kael caught me before I hit the floor. "What's happening?"

"She's—" I gasped, tasting copper. "My wolf. She's—"

Another scream, this one making my vision go white. But with it came flashes. Memories that weren't quite mine.

The basement. Candles forming a circle. Theo naked in the center, his eyes pure black. Not Theo. Something wearing Theo's face.

"Hold her down!" Magnus's voice.

Hands pinning me. Liquid fire being poured down my throat.

Theo—not Theo—smiling as he pressed a silver blade to his own throat.

"The sacrifice is accepted," a woman's voice. Familiar. But who?

Blood. So much blood. But not Theo's. Mine. Pouring from wounds I didn't remember getting.

Then darkness. And my wolf being ripped away, caged, silenced.

"Lyra, breathe!" Kael's voice anchored me back to the present.

I was on his bed, my body convulsing. Dr. Serena was there, pressing something cool against my forehead.

"Her wolf is fighting the binding," she said. "Something triggered it."

"The note," I whispered. "Freya knew. She was there."

"Where?" Kael demanded.

"The basement. The night Theo supposedly died. There was a ritual. But it wasn't..." I struggled to find words. "Theo wasn't Theo. Something was possessing him."

Kael and Serena exchanged looks.

"That's not possible," Serena said slowly. "Possession of wolves requires—"

"Dark magic," Kael finished. "The kind that's been forbidden for centuries."

My wolf screamed again, and this time I screamed with her. My back arched as invisible claws raked down my spine.

"We need those herbs now," Serena said urgently. "The binding is fighting back. If we don't stabilize her—"

"Go," Kael ordered. "Take whatever you need from the vault."

She ran from the room. Kael pulled me against his chest, and surprisingly, the contact helped. My wolf's screams softened to whimpers.

"Tell me what you remember," he said softly.

"Fragments. They drugged me first. Wolfsbane mixed with something else. Made everything fuzzy. But I remember being dragged to the basement. Magnus was there. Freya. Jace. A few others. And a woman I didn't recognize. She led the ritual."

"What did she look like?"

"Dark hair. Violet eyes. She had markings on her skin that glowed."

Kael went rigid. "Markings like tattoos or markings like—"

"Like they were alive. They moved."

He cursed in a language I didn't recognize. "A Void Witch."

"A what?"

"They're supposed to be extinct. The last one died a hundred years ago." He pulled out his phone, typing rapidly. "But if one survived, if one was hiding in plain sight..."

"What do they do?"

"They feed on power. Wolf power specifically. They can possess, control, manipulate. And they can bind wolves permanently."

My heart sank. "So I'll never get her back?"

"I didn't say that." His golden eyes blazed. "I said permanently, not irreversibly. There's always a way. We just have to find it."

A knock interrupted us. "Come in," Kael called.

Damian entered with someone I didn't expect. Theo. In chains, but still.

I scrambled back, my wolf suddenly snarling despite her cage.

"You said she didn't have to see him," Kael growled at his Beta.

"She needs to," Theo said quickly. "Please. Five minutes. I can explain everything."

"You're dead," I whispered. "You're supposed to be dead."

"That was the plan." He couldn't meet my eyes. "I was supposed to die. You were supposed to be blamed. But something went wrong."

"Wrong?" I laughed, but it sounded broken. "Three years of torture is wrong?"

"The witch double-crossed us. She was supposed to just bind your wolf, make you weak enough that Magnus could control you. But she took more. She took your wolf's essence and gave it to—" He stopped.

"To who?" Kael demanded.

"To Freya. That's why she can shift into a white wolf now. That's why she's so powerful. She has Lyra's true wolf."

The room spun. My sister had stolen my wolf?

"That's impossible," Damian said. "You can't transfer a wolf from one person to another."

"You can if you're willing to pay the price," Theo said. "A life for a life. The witch said someone had to die for the transfer to work. I volunteered."

"Why?" The word tore from my throat.

"Magnus promised me money. Enough to start over, to leave. I never wanted to be your mate, Lyra. It was forced on me just like it was forced on you. This was my way out."

"So you let them torture me?"

"I didn't know!" He finally looked at me, and I saw tears. "I swear, I didn't know. The plan was simple—fake my death, you get blamed but Magnus protects you, keeps you as pack. I disappear. Everyone wins."

"Everyone wins?" I was on my feet, rage giving me strength. "I was beaten daily! Starved! Burned with silver!"

"I didn't know," he repeated. "I was already gone. Hidden. The witch kept me sedated for months while she completed the transfer. When I woke up, when I found out what they'd done to you..." He shook his head. "I tried to come back. Magnus threatened to kill me for real."

"Why should we believe you?" Kael asked, his voice lethal.

"Because I know where the witch is. I know how to reverse it. And I know why Magnus really wants Lyra back."

That got everyone's attention.

"She's pregnant," Theo said. "With the Alpha's child."

The words didn't make sense. "That's impossible. Magnus never—we never—"

"Not Magnus." Theo looked sick. "The witch's magic. When she transferred your wolf to Freya, something else happened. You became a vessel. A perfect incubator for something that shouldn't exist."

"Speak plainly," Kael snarled.

"The witch is pregnant. But not with a normal child. With something made from stolen wolf essence and void magic. And she put it in Lyra. That's why Magnus wants her back. That's why he's panicking. Because if that thing is born without the proper ritual..."

"What?" I demanded.

"It'll be an abomination that could destroy every pack in existence."

I touched my stomach, horror flooding through me. There was something there. Something I'd thought was just hunger pains. But now that I focused...

A heartbeat. Faint. Wrong. Not quite wolf, not quite human.

"Get it out," I whispered. "Get it out of me!"

"We can't," Theo said. "Not without killing you. The witch made sure of that."

Kael roared, shifting faster than I'd ever seen. His wolf was massive, pure black with those distinctive gold-red eyes. He lunged at Theo, jaws snapping.

"Stop!" I threw myself between them. "We need him alive! He knows where she is!"

Kael's wolf froze, jaws inches from my face. Then, slowly, he backed up and shifted back. He was naked, muscles rippling with barely contained violence.

"Where is the witch?" he demanded.

"Hidden in neutral territory. The abandoned Silvermoon Pack lands. But—"

"We go tonight."

"You can't!" Theo said urgently. "The full moon is in three days. That's when she'll be vulnerable. That's when the spell can be reversed. Go before then, and she'll kill everyone."

"Three days," I said numbly. Three days with this thing inside me.

Dr. Serena burst in with an armful of herbs. She took one look at the scene—Kael naked and furious, Theo in chains, me pale and shaking—and sighed.

"What did I miss?"

"Everything," Damian muttered.

As Serena began preparing the herbs, Kael pulled on pants and turned to Theo. "You're going to tell us everything. Every detail of that night. Every word the witch said. Everything."

"And then?" Theo asked.

"Then you're going to help us kill her."

"I can't. She has a piece of my soul. Literally. That's how the possession worked. If she dies while she has it—"

"You die too," Kael finished. "Good. Extra motivation to make sure we do this right."

He turned to me, his expression softening. "You're safe. We'll fix this."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I've never lost anything I've claimed. And make no mistake, little wolf—" His hand cupped my face. "You're mine now."

The possession—or whatever it was—inside me stirred at his words. Like it recognized him as a threat.

Or maybe as something else entirely.

Serena approached with a steaming cup. "Drink this. It'll weaken the binding enough for your wolf to rest."

I drank, grimacing at the bitter taste. Almost immediately, the screaming in my head quieted.

"Now," Kael said, all business. "Tell us about the witch."

Theo started talking, but I found myself drifting. The herbs were working, making me drowsy. The last thing I heard before sleep took me was Kael's voice:

"If anyone hurts her again, I'll paint the walls with their blood."