Chapter 2
1135 Words
Lyra froze for a while. Everything still seemed to be a dream to her. She had just lost the only person who truly cared about her, and all this was going on.
She was not even given time to mourn, and the matter was decided there and then. She felt something strange in her stomach; it was a mixture of pain and shock.
No. No, this wasn't real. This wasn't possible. She wasn't strong. She wasn't important. She was nobody. A low-ranking warrior who just barely passed training. A girl who hid behind others. A timid shadow.
“Lyra Emberfang,” Malric announced, “you will enter a binding contract with Alpha Kael Ironclaw. For one moon cycle, you will live with him, answer to him, and represent Emberfang.”
The hall erupted again.
“No!” Lyra’s voice broke before she knew she’d spoken. “I—I can’t. Please. Anyone but me.”
She pushed through the crowd, her eyes wide with false concern. "She's too weak. Choose someone else. I'll do it instead." Her gaze darted momentarily to Lyra, a flashing look of jealousy, of anger, before being suppressed.
But Malric shook his head. “The decision is final.”
Finally, the deep voice of Kael echoed.
"I do not need a weak mate."
The words struck like a slap.
Lyra's chest constricted. She hung her head low, ashamed, humiliated.
Malric smirked. "You need peace, Alpha Kael. And the contract ensures it."
Kael's jaw clenched. He didn't agree, yet he didn't refuse. His gaze held onto Lyra once more- longer this time. Maybe he was trying to understand why she was chosen. Maybe he was already judging her.
Lyra attempted to stand, but her knees buckled. She fell forward and let out a whoop as she caught herself with her hands. A few of the Emberfang wolves snickered among themselves. Someone muttered, "This weakling will embarrass us all."
She wanted to disappear.
Finn, Kael’s Beta, moved to stand beside his Alpha. “She can’t even stand,” he whispered. “The Council is trying to humiliate you.”
Kael didn't answer. His eyes hadn't left Lyra.
The guards strode towards her, arms outstretched to draw her away from Roran's body.
“No!” she exclaimed, clutching his arm more tightly. “Please—don’t take me. Don’t— Roran wouldn’t want this—”
A guard grabbed her shoulder.
Kael growled. It was low, deep, and dangerous. The guard instantly released her.
Everyone froze.
Kael slowly walked toward her, his footsteps even and measured. He stopped before her, looming over her and casting a long shadow on the floor.
Up close, he was even more intimidating: broad shoulders, sharp jaw, amber eyes that saw everything.
Lyra kept her head down, not even daring to look in his direction.
“Stand,” he said quietly.
“I… can’t.”
Kael sighed. It wasn't angry or annoyed-almost resigned. He reached down, grasped her arm firmly but not harshly, and pulled her to her feet.
For a moment, she leaned against him, dizzy. His warmth steadied her.
Her heart pounded. She stepped back quickly.
Kael's eyes flickered with something she couldn't read.
“This contract is not my choice,” he said. “But I will honor it.”
Lyra swallowed hard. “I won’t survive in Ironclaw.”
“Then get stronger,” he said simply.
His words were not comforting, nor gentle, but neither were they cruel. They felt like a challenge, a dare.
Malric cleared his throat loudly. “The contract begins now.”
There was no turning back.
Two guards from the Council again approached Lyra, this time not to harm but to usher her forward. She stepped stiffly, awkwardly, still shaking.
The Emberfang wolves glared at her, as if she had betrayed them, as they walked her toward Kael's side of the hall. Some spat insults at her. Others cried into their hands.
She was leaving her pack, her home, everything familiar.
All because she opened her mouth and begged for peace.
Kael walked beside her, calm, silent, watching every movement around them, protecting her without looking like he was protecting her.
Lyra's chest tightened again.
This wasn't her world. She didn't belong beside someone like him. She wasn't brave. She wasn't strong. She wasn't meant to stand next to the most feared Alpha in the kingdom.
Yet, here she was.
When they reached the center of the hall, Varyn held out a glowing silver scroll-the contract.
“Lyra Emberfang,” Varyn said, “do you accept the binding alliance?”
She looked down at the scroll. Her reflection shimmered in the silver light—pale skin, wide, frightened eyes, silvery-black hair soaked with sweat and tears.
She didn't want this.
But if she refused… Emberfang would be destroyed.
Her voice had trembled. "I accept."
“And you, Kael Ironclaw?”
"Accepted," said Kael without hesitation.
A thread of silver light shot from the scroll, making Lyra flinch. It wrapped around her wrist, then Kael's, joining them in a glowing bond.
She gasped as warmth spread through her skin. Not painful—just strange. Heavy.
The contract was sealed.
The hall erupted with noise.
Some cheered. Most screamed.
Kael turned to his warriors. "Prepare to leave."
Lyra's breath caught. Leaving? Now?
She looked back at Roran’s body, still lying in a pool of blood. Her vision blurred with tears.
She barely even got to say goodbye.
Kael noticed her stare. His voice softened—barely. “You can say your farewell.”
Lyra nodded weakly and hurried to Roran’s side. She knelt, took his cold hand in hers, and whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll fix this. I promise.”
She didn’t know how. She didn’t know if she even could.
But she had to try.
When she rose again, Kael was waiting.
“Time to go,” he said.
He turned, his cape sweeping across the stone floor, and Lyra followed—not because she was brave, not because she wanted to… but because she no longer had a choice.
As they reached the doors, she felt a heavy stare drilling into her back.
She turned.
Elder Malric stood at the far end of the hall, his arms folded, his lips curved into a thin smile.
When he caught her gaze, he mouthed three silent, chilling words:
“It begins now.”
A cold shiver shot down Lyra's spine.
She didn’t know what he meant.
But Kael did.
He stepped closer to her, his voice low. “Stay near me at all times. Do you understand?”
Lyra nodded quickly as fear seized her chest.
Because suddenly, it felt like she hadn't been chosen to stop a war.
She had been chosen to start something far worse.
- Writer
