Silver Oath

Chapter 1

LYRA

The moon was full when they came for me.

Not because it was romantic, not because it was fate but because full moons made it easier for wolves to drag someone to their ruins.

I heard the footsteps before the knock. It was heavy, heavy in a way that made my heart heavier. It was the kind of step that didn't care if I wanted to run.

Aunt Mauren pushed open my door without knocking. The candlelight she was holding shook in her hands, throwing her face into uneven shadows.

“Lyra,” she breathed. “ the Alpha council had decided.”

My stomach tightened hardly, the past week had been nothing but whispers about the lost territory, the broken treaties and the eastern pack circling us like Vultures and every single whisker carried my name like a curse.

I was the mark-less, useless and the weakness of the Voss lineage.

“What decision?” My voice was steady, that was a lie. It was trembling beneath the fake steadiness.

My aunt's eyes softened with the kind of pity that always tasted like poison.

“You're to marry the Silver-Marked Alpha.”

Wait, what? I blinked twice.

“ Kael Draven?” the words scraped out of me.

She nodded slowly like she didn't just drop a bomb.

The room grew smaller, the candle flamed thinned and I felt the air turn sharp.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Absolutely not. Kael hates our pack, he hates me. We've been rivals since his father became an Alpha.”

“You don't have a choice Lyra.”

I laughed sadly, choking kind “You're forcing me into a political bond so he won't slaughter us, just say it plainly.”

Her silence confirmed it.

Outside, the warning horn sounded in the distance, the wolves howled, Kael’s wolves, announcing their arrival.

They're here.

Aunt Maren placed a trembling hand on my shoulder. “He asked for you specifically.”

My heart dropped. I felt a cold slithered down my spine.

What did she mean by he asked for me specifically?

Kael asking for me made no sense. No absolute sense.

I was the Voss disappointment, the girl without a bond mark, the one tradition said should never lead, marry or carry a lineage.

I wasn't someone Alphas requested.

“He wants peace,” she continued. “And marriage is the only offer he'll accept.”

Peace?

Sounds funny, because the Kael Draven I know doesn't do peace instead he does conquest.

Another knock sounded on the door, this time harder and impatient.

My aunt stepped back as my father entered, his expression was carved from stone.

“Get dressed.” he said “the Alpha is waiting in the Hall.”

“I'm not doing this,” I protested.

He glared at me and without saying anything, he didn't need to in the first place.

“You'll do it, Lyra or You'll leave this pack with nothing.” and that was the moment I understood that, this wasn’t a sacrifice, it was exile disguised as a duty.

He left the room without another word.

I stood there, staring at the walls I'd grown up inside walls that had never really belonged to me.

Mark-less wolves didn't belong anywhere. We were tolerated at best, silenced at worst and now, to be silenced, while being traded like a bargaining chip.

I dressed slowly, pulling on a deep-gray ceremonial cloak, my hand shook only once and I forced them to stay still. If Kaawl was going to see me at least I shouldn't allow him to see me with fear.

The hall was crowded when I entered every member of the Voss pack stood in tight formation, a cold wind seeped through the open does and there he was, the mighty Alpha Kael Draven.

He stood tall, while dressed in black market that glinted like obsidian, his silver undreadable eyes looked like a storming cloud, his presence rolled through the hall like thunder. It carried an oppressive aura.

When his gaze swept the room, the wolves bowed their heads without command, then slowly like a predator stalking its prey, his eyes landed on me.

I saw something strange flickered across his face immediately, a sign of curiosity before or disappeared like it never appeared in the first place.

His silver mark glowed faintly across his throat, pulsing like a second heartbeat, legends said it could burn traitors alive, some said it chose who lived and who didn't and tonight, it was aimed at me.

My fate has been sealed already.

“Lyra Voss.” he said, his voice cold enough to slice the air “Step forward.” he ordered.

I did, with a careful step that hides my trembling legs. I tried my best to walk proudly even though every instinct screamed to turn and run.

But where will I run to?

I felt his eyes study me for a second before he spoke with a loud voice for the entire hall to hear.

I felt a pulse under my skin, like a mark waking, jeezzz.

I swallowed hard “Fine,” I said, placing my hand in his “I'll marry you.”

The moment our skin touched, his sliver mark exploded with light.

“OMG!” I yelped, shockingly stumbling, as gasps echoed through the hall.

I saw Kael's eyes widened before masking it. This has never happened before!

This is strange and terrifying.

He tightened his grip on my hand, his voice low and dangerous “The ceremony is tomorrow.”

Then he turned and walked away, his cloak sweeping behind him like a living shadow and just like that, I could feel my fate sweeping behind him like his cloak.

But as he disappeared through the hall’s double door, a sharp sting pierced the center of palm, right where his skin had touched mine.

I hissed quietly, pulling my hand to my chest. A faint shimmer pulsed beneath my skin, it was silver, thin as a thread and glowed like a whispered warning.

This is not normal!

If Kael's mark reacts like this from a simple touch, a cold realization hits me.

So that means I'll die on the wedding night?

Eww, I don't even want to think about the wedding night.

Not with him. No!

He disgust me and I knew for a fact that he chose for another reason. He's not a man to pick a mark-less woman for his wife.

It's like a powerful man choosing a powerless woman.

It doesn't happen that way.

Power works with power and now Kael Draven wants a powerless woman, not just a woman but a woman he hates.

My throat tightened as my palm kept glowing faintly.

“I would rather die,” I whispered under my breath, “than marry someone as cruel as you, Kael.”

A warm breath ghosted behind my ear. I felt my entire body froze.

A deep, cold voice murmured from directly behind me. “Then do me the honor.”

I turned sharply with a startled heart and found Kael standing impossibly close and his eyes gleaming like silver fire.

Did..?

Did he..? Just teleported?

I stumbled backwards as fear gripped my legs. He held out a dagger “Take your life right here, right now and save us both the trouble.”

What?