Chapter Sixteen
1165 Words
Lyra woke to a dull ache radiating down her side and across her ribs, the memory of teeth and claws flashing like lightning through her mind. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. Her fingers dug into the blanket, trying to steady herself.
She was alive.
Barely. But alive.
She slowly lifted herself from the soft mattress. The room was dim, the candles burned low — someone must have been here watching over her… or guarding her. Her heartbeat thudded painfully as she swung her legs off the bed.
Just the bathroom. That's all. No one will notice.
Her feet touched the cold floor. She pushed herself up, swaying slightly, one hand clutching the wound near her waist.
She took one step.
Then another.
Her hand was reaching for the bathroom door when—
The double doors slammed open hard, the sharp sound slicing through the silence like a blade.
Kael strode in.
His eyes landed on her instantly, glowing with feral intensity. For a moment, he looked almost relieved—then rage drowned everything else.
“Why,” he growled, voice low, lethal, “are you out of bed?”
Lyra froze.
“Alpha—” she started, but she didn't finish.
Because he was already in front of her.
His hand shot out, gripping her waist. It wasn’t gentle; it was possessive, commanding, primal. He yanked her toward him, her body colliding against his chest. A gasp tore from her lips, breath stolen, fear and something else pooling in her stomach.
His face was inches from hers. His jaw clenched, his breath uneven, wolf energy radiating off him like heat from a wildfire.
“Answer me,” he said, voice vibrating through her bones. “Why are you not in bed?”
“I… I just needed to…” Her words trembled as she tried to speak, her breath shallow. “I was only going to the bathroom, Alpha.”
The hold around her waist tightened further, fingers digging into her skin like iron shackles.
His voice dropped even lower. “And who attacked you?”
Her heart lurched. She swallowed.
“It was… a wolf,” she whispered. “I don’t know who… it came out of nowhere and—”
“Did you see them shift?” he cut her off sharply.
She shook her head. “No. I… I just saw claws. Teeth. It happened so fast.”
His eyes darkened with a rage so potent she felt the temperature in the room shift. Something violent flickered behind his gaze, barely controlled.
“You will not,” Kael said slowly, dangerously, “step foot outside this chamber without my permission again.”
Lyra blinked, her breath catching. “But—”
He didn’t let her finish.
“You will not leave,” he snarled. “You will not go outside. You will not walk these halls alone.”
His voice sharpened with command. Alpha command. The kind that bent spines and hearts and spirits.
His grip on her tightened again, making her wince.
“Do I make myself clear?”
Her throat worked. She nodded faintly. “Yes, Alpha.”
He didn’t loosen his hold.
“Say it.” His voice was a quiet storm.
“Yes…” she breathed. “Yes, Alpha. I understand.”
Only then did he notice her wince, the way her fingers dug into his wrists, the tremor in her body.
“You're hurting me,” she whispered, barely audible.
For the first time since entering the room, something flickered across his face — not softness, never softness — but awareness. Realization. He looked down at his own hands on her waist, the imprints already reddening her skin.
He abruptly released her as if burned.
Lyra sucked in a breath and stumbled backward, steadying herself on a table before slowly turning and walking toward the bathroom, her dignity and pain held stiffly in place.
He didn’t help her.
He just stood there, breathing like a man who had been fighting himself and losing every second.
When the bathroom door closed behind her, Kael stood frozen. His fists flexed at his sides, nails leaving marks in his palms. The room felt too small, too hot, too suffocating for the storm tearing through him.
Without another word, he moved.
He strode to the balcony and threw open the doors, stepping into the icy night air. Wind whipped through his hair and cloak, but it didn't cool the fire boiling under his skin.
His wolf paced inside him, snarling, restless, furious.
Mine.
The word echoed through his mind like a drumbeat.
Mine. Hurt. Fix. Protect. Attack. Destroy.
He gripped the balcony railing, metal bending slightly beneath his hands. He closed his eyes, but it didn’t stop the thoughts.
The image of Lyra crumpled on the ground.
Blood.
Fear in her eyes.
The scent of threat in the air.
He had nearly ripped apart the entire hall when he realized she was gone. He would have torn apart every wolf in the kingdom to find the one who touched her.
But why?
Why?
His chest heaved.
She is nothing. A tool. A pawn. A means to an end.
“Then why…” he muttered to himself, voice sharp, strained, “why can’t I control myself around her?”
He dragged his hand through his hair roughly, pacing the stone balcony as though movement could shake off the frenzy clawing at him.
Lyra.
She was weak. Fragile. Human. A curse risk. A danger to his plans. A distraction he never wanted. A chain he resented.
And yet—
He could still feel her waist under his palm.
Still hear her voice saying Alpha, you're hurting me.
His jaw flexed.
The wolf inside him didn’t care about reasons or logic or strategy.
It only cared that someone hurt her.
That she bled.
That she could have died.
That she was his.
Kael exhaled hard, breath shaking.
“This is ridiculous,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead as if trying to scrub the thoughts out. “I don’t care. She means nothing.”
His wolf growled in response. A cold, primal sound that made even him pause.
He looked out across the dark courtyard, stars sharp against the night, wind howling through the royal towers like ghosts.
Something dangerous was shifting inside him — a pull, a bond, a fire he didn’t want but couldn’t extinguish.
“Why does she get under my skin?” he whispered into the night. “Why can’t I control myself?”
Silence answered him.
Except… it wasn’t silence.
Somewhere inside him, the wolf laughed.
And he hated it.
Hated her.
Hated the way she made him feel.
But even in that rage, one truth clung to him like claws sunk in deep:
He would kill for her.
And if anyone tried to touch her again, he would burn this entire kingdom to ash.
He stared into the night, jaw set, breath sharp.
What is happening to me?
- Writer
