TWINFIRE

CHAPTER 3

I didn’t sleep.

I doubt anyone could, after being told their entire life is no longer their own.

As if my father hadn’t trained me since childhood.

As if I hadn’t bled for this pack.

As if womanhood were a flaw.

My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless, furious.

“We can lead. We were born for this.”

Her certainty only made the council’s decree feel more like a betrayal.

Dawn bled into the sky before I finally left the balcony of my room. The cold morning air slapped my face awake as I headed toward the forest training grounds. I needed noise. Movement. Something to drown the echo of the council’s decision.

Warriors were already assembled, sparring and shifting, steam rising from their bodies in the chilled air. Their heads bowed when they noticed me, and guilt twisted my stomach. *My pack. MY people.* They depended on me—trusted me.

If I failed them, we would all fall.

“Alpha Lyra?” one of the trackers called. “You’re early.”

I forced a smile. “Couldn’t sleep.”

He nodded in understanding—not that he knew why—and returned to his stance. I watched them for a moment before calling out, “Pair up. I want full-contact rounds. No holding back.”

A few eyebrows rose. Warriors never objected to high-intensity training, but I rarely demanded it before sunrise. Today had to be different. I needed to feel like I still had control over *something*.

When they moved, I joined them, choosing the largest warrior in the ring—a six-foot-four brute named Garrick who cracked his knuckles like applause before every fight.

He hesitated. “My Alpha, perhaps another opponent—”

“What’s wrong?” I hissed, circling him. “Afraid you’ll lose to a woman?”

A murmur rippled through the field.

Even Garrick flushed.

He raised his fists. “Never.”

Good.

The first punch flew straight at my jaw. I blocked, ducked, then drove my elbow into his ribs. He staggered. I pivoted, swept his legs, pinned him before he could rise.

“Yield,” I snarled.

He thumped his fist against the dirt. “Yield.”

When I stood, the pack gave me a look I’d seen on their faces since childhood: pride. Respect. Trust that I had earned.

But all I felt was dread.

Because their pride was a burden on my heart.

Every accomplishment. Every victory. Every moment that proved I *could* lead—was exactly what the council planned to use against me.

If I refused marriage, they’d say I chose selfishness over my pack’s safety.

If I accepted, I’d become a puppet for the council—an ornamental Alpha whose decisions needed a husband’s approval.

A gilded cage.

I ended training early and retreated toward the river, refusing the guards that trailed behind me. I needed space. Quiet. Something other than the expectation crushing my bones.

The river was half-frozen, water slicing around jagged ice shelves. Dead leaves floated downstream like forgotten promises. I stood there for a long time, breathing through the resentment burning my throat.

A twig snapped behind me.

I didn’t turn. “If you’re here to lecture me again, Elder Rowan, I promise you won’t enjoy the conversation.”

A deep voice—far younger, far more dangerous—answered instead.

“I’m not Rowan.”

My heart stumbled in my chest.

I turned.

Aiden Shadowclaw leaned against a tree, arms crossed, moonlight slipping over his dark hair. The air seemed to bend around him, pulled toward the quiet gravity he carried like a second skin. He watched me with eyes the color of winter storms—piercing, unreadable.

“What do you want?” I asked, sharper than intended.

His mouth curved into a half-smile. “You walked off training like the devil was biting your heels. I wanted to make sure you weren’t about to drown yourself.”

“I don’t drown,” I muttered.

“I noticed.” His gaze flickered over my body—like he was taking inventory of my strength, my anger, my exhaustion. “You fight like you’re trying to prove something.”

Everything inside me stilled.

“How much did you see?”

“Enough.”

I clenched my jaw. “Then stay out of it.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

He pushed off the tree, stepping closer. His scent hit me—smoke and pine and something sharp beneath. Dangerous. Predatory. It sent a shiver down my spine.

“Because the council is tearing at your leadership, and that affects everyone,” he said quietly. “Including me.”

I narrowed my eyes. “So you heard.”

“I hear everything worth hearing.”

His gaze searched mine, and something inside me tightened—annoyance, attraction, resentment, something unnamed but fierce.

“So.” He tilted his head. “Who is the lucky bastard they’ve chosen to marry you off to?”

My throat closed.

He noticed.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Aiden murmured. “The Northclaw envoy.” His lips curled in disgust. “A political puppet.”

“He’s… suitable,” I forced out.

“Suitable is what you call a breeding horse,” he snapped.

The wind tugged at my hair as I glared at him. “You don’t get a say in what I do.”

“You’re right,” he said coolly. “But your pack deserves a leader who isn’t bound by her council’s leash.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “What leader? They made it clear last night. A woman can’t rule alone.”

Aiden stepped closer, voice dropping to a dark whisper. “You can.”

“No,” I hissed. “Not according to the law.”

“Then break it.”

My breath hitched. “Are you insane?”

His eyes blazed. “I’d rather follow a queen who burns the old laws to ash than watch you hand this pack to some power-hungry husband.”

I froze, struck silent.

No one—not even those who loved me—had ever said something like that.

He wasn’t flattering me.

He wasn’t pitying me.

He believed it.

Which was frightening.

And intoxicating.

“You underestimate the council,” I whispered. “They won’t allow it.”

“You underestimate yourself,” he countered.

Something hot coiled low in my stomach. He was too close. Too intense. Too much. I took a step back, needing air.

“Aiden, I can’t defy them. Our pack is barely recovering from the border attacks. War isn’t an option.”

“And marriage is?” His jaw clenched. “You think they’ll respect you more once you’re bound to a man they control?”

The truth hit like a blow.

No.

They wouldn’t.

They would smother me. Clip my power. Turn me into an Alpha in name only.

But if I rejected marriage…

The pack could fracture.

The council would blame me for the chaos.

I sank onto a boulder near the river, burying my face in my hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

Aiden hesitated, then sat beside me—close enough to feel his warmth through the cold. Too close. My wolf prowled beneath my skin, restless and alert.

“You’re scared,” he said quietly.

“I’m not scared.”

His gaze held mine. “Lyra. You’re terrified of letting them down.”

I swallowed hard.

Because that was the truth.

The pack looked to me like I was their anchor. Their hope. Their future. And for the first time in my life, I felt… unworthy. Small. Trapped by the very people I protected.

“What if choosing myself breaks them?” I whispered.

“What if sacrificing yourself breaks *you*?” he replied.

Our breath mingled in the cold air. A tremor shot through me—not from the cold, but from the intensity of him. Aiden Shadowclaw wasn’t kind. He wasn’t gentle. He wasn’t safe.

But gods…

He saw me.

He always had.

“Aiden…” I started, but the words tangled on my tongue.

He stared at me for a long moment, wolf-still, like every part of him was listening to something only he could hear. “You don’t want this marriage,” he said.

My heartbeat was a frantic drum. “No,” I admitted softly. “I don’t.”

“You shouldn’t have to bind yourself to someone you don’t want.” His voice was low, dangerous. “You shouldn’t have to give your life away because a room full of old men say so.”

My breath trembled. “But if I don’t—”

“They’ll challenge you,” he finished. “Yes. Maybe. But I’d choose war over watching you be caged.”

I looked sharply at him. “War with who?”

“With anyone who thinks they can take your crown.”

Heat washed through my chest—fear and admiration tangled into something electric.

“You’re reckless,” I whispered.

“And you’re worth it.”

My heart stuttered.

Before I could respond, movement flickered across the trees. A messenger approached, head lowered, expression strained.

“My Alpha,” he said breathlessly. “The council demands your presence.”

Of course they did.

They smelled hesitation like blood in the water.

I stood, every muscle stiff with dread.

Aiden rose too, voice edged with ice. “You don’t owe them obedience.”

I forced a bitter smile. “Maybe not. But I owe my pack stability.”

He exhaled slowly, like he wanted to argue but knew the timing wasn’t right.

“Lyra,” he murmured, stepping close. “Whatever they try to force on you—remember this. You are the Alpha. Not the council. Not the laws written by men who fear powerful women.” His eyes locked on mine, fierce and unyielding. “You.”

The words lodged deep in my chest, dangerous and liberating.

I nodded once, trying to steady my breathing. “Thank you.”

He held my gaze for a heartbeat too long… then turned away, disappearing into the trees with the silent grace of a predator.

The messenger waited, nervous.

I inhaled sharply and shifted into my wolf.

If the council wanted a fight—

I wasn’t going to walk into it like prey.

I ran toward the council hall, frost cracking beneath my paws. And though fear curled in my gut, something stronger burned beside it.

Defiance.

Clarity.

Power.

For the first time since they declared me unfit to rule alone, I felt something like certainty.

I didn’t want the marriage.

And I sure as hell wasn’t ready to surrender my life to a tradition built to cage me.

If the council thought they could force my submission, they had forgotten something crucial:

A cornered wolf doesn’t bow.

She bites.