Chapter Three
866 Words
The ravine groaned under the weight of my pulse.
Bones cracked, splitting like firewood. My skin burned as though it had been peeled back, exposing muscle and marrow to the moon’s cold eye. I gasped, choking on my own scream, my body trapped between one shape and another.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Wolves shifted cleanly, power flowing like water through their veins. What rippled inside me was a storm, and I was drowning in it.
Kael’s black wolf prowled closer, teeth bared. He was massive, shadow and fury carved into living form. His eyes—those endless gold eyes—locked on mine. But instead of hatred, there was something sharp and frantic, something that almost looked like fear.
The cloaked figure raised his blade, its edge catching moonlight like liquid silver. “Moonborn,” he whispered with reverence, hunger dripping from every syllable. “Half divine, half wolf. You don’t belong to them. You belong to us.”
My knees buckled. My wolf roared inside me, pushing harder. Claws erupted from my fingertips, curling into the dirt. My vision blurred between gold and silver, a dizzying strobe of too much power for one body.
“Mine,” Kael’s growl thundered across the ravine. His wolf lunged, smashing into the leader with a sound like thunder.
Steel rang against claws. Sparks burst into the night as Kael ripped the blade from the man’s grip, sinking his fangs deep into his arm. The other cloaked hunters surged forward, slashing and striking with impossible speed.
I staggered back, torn in half by the fight within me. My wolf begged to join the fray, to tear and bite and bleed beside him. But something darker curled around her—an ancient, silken voice, whispering of destiny, of thrones, of blood spilled under moonlight.
You are not theirs. You are not his. You are ours.
“No!” I screamed, the sound jagged, distorted, not entirely human. My vision snapped white.
Light burst from my chest, raw and unbridled. It wasn’t fire or lightning—it was the moon itself, pulled down and forced through my veins. The air quaked. The ground split. Trees bent backward, their trunks cracking as if bowing to me.
The cloaked hunters shrieked, their bodies thrown like rag dolls across the ravine. Rocks shattered under the force, shards spraying into the night.
But Kael—Kael took the brunt of it.
His wolf hit the dirt with a grunt, fur singed, eyes wide in shock. For a split second, his form flickered, wolf melting back into man. He collapsed onto his knees, blood streaking his jaw, his chest heaving as though I’d carved the air from his lungs.
And I realized—I had hurt him.
The man who had rejected me, the Alpha who swore I wasn’t his, had still fought for me. And I had nearly destroyed him.
The cloaked leader staggered to his feet, blood soaking his sleeve, but a smile split his face. “Yes,” he crooned, his voice sharp with triumph. “The Moonborn awakens. Do you feel it, child? The moon bending to you? That was only the beginning.”
His eyes met mine, and I felt the weight of chains, invisible but heavy, wrapping around my ribs. “You can’t fight what you are. We’ll be back for you.”
And then he was gone, vanishing into smoke, his men melting with him, leaving behind only blood and ruin.
The forest fell silent but for my ragged breaths.
My knees gave way. The shift stuttered, bones snapping back into place with cruel violence. My claws retracted, leaving bloodied crescents where they’d torn my own palms. Fur receded, leaving me naked, raw, trembling in the dirt.
Kael stumbled forward, his body still half-shifted, skin marked with claw marks and burns from my power. His chest rose and fell in jagged bursts, his eyes burning into me like fire into dry grass.
“Lyra…” His voice was hoarse, a rasp scraped from somewhere deep. He crouched beside me, strong arms sliding around my shoulders before I could protest. His heat seared into me, even as I tried to pull away.
“You—” My voice cracked. “You rejected me. Why… why would you fight for me?”
His jaw clenched, shadows dancing across his face. His gaze dropped to my mouth, then back to my eyes, fierce and tormented.
“Because,” he whispered, each word dragged like it hurt him to say it, “I’d rather die fighting for you than watch anyone else take you.”
The truth of it slammed into me harder than the shift had. My heart twisted, furious and desperate, because even now, when I should have hated him, when he should have hated me—we burned.
But then he leaned closer, his breath hot against my ear, his words a dagger and a promise all at once.
“You are mine, Lyra,” Kael said, voice breaking with something raw. “Even if I burn for it.”
And the world tilted, my wolf howling in agreement, even as my heart screamed in protest.
- Writer
