MARRIED TO MY MATE'S BROTHER

Chapter Four: Before My World Fell apart

Lyra's POV

People say your life changes in a single moment.

They're right.

But they never tell you that before everything falls apart, life feels painfully ordinary.

Before the mating ceremony, I wasn't the girl everyone whispered about.

I was simply Lyra Ashwood.

An orphan.

A healer's apprentice.

A she-wolf who believed kindness was stronger than claws.

I lost my parents when I was six.

The elders said rogues attacked our patrol while they were returning from the northern border. I barely remembered their faces, only the warmth of my mother's embrace and the sound of my father's laughter whenever he carried me on his shoulders.

After their deaths, my Aunt Mara raised me in our small cottage at the edge of the Silver Crescent Pack.

We never had much.

Our roof leaked whenever it rained, and every winter we had to choose between buying firewood or new clothes. Aunt Mara always chose the firewood, pretending she wasn't cold whenever she wrapped the only thick blanket around me.

She called me her greatest blessing.

I called her my home.

Growing up, I wasn't the fastest wolf or the strongest fighter.

While the other girls trained to become warriors, I spent my mornings gathering herbs in the forest and my afternoons helping the pack healer treat injured wolves.

Healing made me happy.

Watching pain disappear from someone's face reminded me that even small people could make a difference.

Some wolves respected me for it.

Others thought it made me weak.

Kael Blackwood was one of them.

He barely knew I existed.

As the future Alpha, he spent his days leading warriors, attending council meetings and preparing to inherit the pack. The few times we crossed paths, he looked through me as though I were invisible.

I never expected him to notice me.

Not until the Moon Goddess decided otherwise.

The weeks leading up to the mating ceremony were filled with excitement.

Every unmated wolf my age talked about destiny.

"Imagine finding your mate," my best friend, Ivy, had sighed one afternoon while we sorted herbs.

"What if he's handsome?"

I laughed.

"What if he snores?"

She threw a handful of dried lavender at me.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I."

I smiled.

"I don't care if he's handsome. I just want someone who chooses me every day."

I didn't know how ironic those words would become.

The night before the ceremony, Aunt Mara braided my hair herself.

She smiled through watery eyes.

"Your mother would have loved to see this."

I hugged her tightly.

"What if my mate doesn't like me?"

She cupped my face.

"The wolf the Moon Goddess chooses will love you exactly as you are."

I believed her.

With all my heart.

The next evening, I wore the simple white dress she had sewn by hand.

It wasn't decorated with jewels like the dresses worn by Alpha daughters or wealthy families, but it was beautiful to me because it was made with love.

I remember staring at my reflection before leaving the cottage.

I looked... hopeful.

Hope is a dangerous thing.

After the ceremony, that hope died.

The rejection wasn't just painful.

It stole something from me.

Every whisper I heard as I walked through the village reminded me that I wasn't Lyra anymore.

I was the girl the future Alpha had rejected.

Some wolves looked at me with pity.

Others with amusement.

No one looked at me as though I still mattered.

When I finally reached home, Aunt Mara rushed to me.

Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around me.

I broke.

I cried until there were no tears left.

She held me the entire time.

"I don't understand," I whispered.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You did nothing wrong."

"Then why wasn't I enough?"

She couldn't answer.

Because she didn't know.

Neither did I.

The hours passed in silence.

I lay in bed staring at the wooden ceiling, wondering whether the Moon Goddess had made a mistake... or whether Kael was right.

Maybe I really wasn't worthy of being anyone's mate.

A sharp blast from the pack horn shattered the silence.

Then another.

Aunt Mara looked towards the window.

"The Alpha is calling every member of the pack."

I slowly sat up, wiping away the last of my tears.

"What now?"

She offered me a small, encouraging smile.

"I don't know."

As I stepped outside, dozens of wolves were already hurrying towards the Alpha's manor.

Their eyes found me immediately.

The whispers began again.

I lowered my head and followed the crowd, unaware that the meeting waiting for us would change my life once more—and that Lucien Blackwood was about to make an announcement no one in the Silver Crescent Pack would ever forget.