The Alpha's Forbidden Luna

The Other Heir

The howl faded into the darkness.

Aria stood perfectly still.

Her heart was pounding.

She looked around the forest.

"Did you hear that?"

Damon's eyes narrowed.

"Hear what?"

"Someone called my name."

Cassian immediately looked toward the trees.

"Where?"

"Over there."

Aria pointed toward the northern path.

The warriors moved forward, but Damon raised his hand.

"Wait."

Everyone stopped.

Damon listened.

Nothing.

No footsteps.

No movement.

Only the river flowing over the rocks.

"You may have imagined it," he said.

Aria looked at him sharply.

"I didn't."

"I didn't say you did."

"You looked at me like I'm losing my mind."

Damon sighed.

"I'm trying to keep you alive."

"Then start telling me the truth."

His expression hardened.

"Not here."

Aria folded her arms.

"Then where?"

"Back at the packhouse."

She opened her mouth to argue.

A warrior suddenly shouted.

"Alpha!"

Everyone turned.

The warrior was standing near the riverbank.

He pointed toward the trees.

"There's something here."

Cassian approached first.

Aria followed despite Damon's warning.

Carved into the bark was the same crescent and three stars.

But this time there was something beneath it.

A name.

LYRA.

Aria stared.

"Who is Lyra?"

Nobody answered.

She looked at Damon.

His face had gone pale.

"You know that name."

Damon didn't deny it.

"Who is she?"

Cassian stepped forward.

"Alpha..."

Damon looked at him.

"Tell her."

Cassian hesitated.

Then he said,

"Lyra was Adrian Vale's first child."

Aria's heart stopped.

"His daughter?"

Cassian nodded.

"His heir."

Aria stared at the name carved into the tree.

"But I thought I was his daughter."

"You are."

"Then how can she be his first child?"

Damon looked away.

"Because your father had another daughter before you."

Aria swallowed.

"Where is she?"

Silence.

Cassian answered quietly.

"We don't know."

A cold feeling settled in Aria's stomach.

"She's alive?"

"We don't know that either."

Damon turned toward the warriors.

"Search the entire area."

The warriors scattered.

Aria watched them disappear between the trees.

Then she turned back to Damon.

"You knew."

"I knew the name."

"You knew about Lyra."

"Only what the records said."

"And what did they say?"

Damon's eyes met hers.

"That she disappeared the night Silvermoon fell."

Aria's breathing became shallow.

"Along with my father?"

"Yes."

"Then why is someone carving her name into trees now?"

Damon had no answer.

---

They returned to the packhouse before midnight.

Aria refused to go to her room.

She sat in Damon's study while Cassian searched through the old records.

Books were piled across the desk.

Pages were scattered everywhere.

Finally, Cassian stopped.

"I found something."

Aria stood.

"What?"

He held up an old document.

"Adrian Vale had two children."

Aria looked at the page.

The first name had been deliberately scratched out.

Only the second remained.

Her name.

Aria.

"Someone erased Lyra."

Cassian nodded.

"From every official record we could find."

Damon took the document.

"Not every record."

He walked to a locked cabinet.

From inside, he removed a small black journal.

Aria stared at it.

"What is that?"

"My father's private journal."

He opened it carefully.

Most of the pages were filled with dates and notes about the war.

Then Damon stopped.

His eyes moved across a particular entry.

Aria noticed his expression.

"What does it say?"

Damon didn't answer.

"Alpha."

He slowly turned the journal toward her.

The entry was dated twenty-two years ago.

The Silvermoon heir has been found.

Aria read the next line.

Adrian's daughter survived the attack.

Her eyes widened.

"Lyra survived."

Cassian leaned over the page.

"Keep reading."

Aria did.

The child has been taken to Nightfall.

She looked up.

"She's here?"

Damon's face was unreadable.

"Apparently."

"But where?"

He turned another page.

The next section had been torn out.

Aria stared at the empty binding.

"Someone removed it."

Cassian nodded.

"Recently."

Aria looked at him.

"How do you know?"

"Because the paper around the tear is fresh."

Damon closed the journal.

"We're done for tonight."

Aria shook her head.

"No."

Damon looked at her.

"I need to know who Lyra is."

"You will."

"When?"

"When I find her."

Aria stepped closer.

"What if she's the one calling me?"

Damon's expression changed.

Neither of them spoke.

Then Aria's mark suddenly began to glow.

Damon's wolf stirred.

His eyes briefly flashed silver.

Aria felt the strange warmth spread through her chest.

She stepped backward.

"What is happening?"

Damon reached for her.

Their hands touched.

The moment they did, a sharp pulse of energy moved through the room.

Every candle went out.

The windows rattled.

Cassian stumbled backward.

And Aria saw something.

Not the room.

Not Damon.

A memory.

A woman running through a burning forest.

A baby crying in her arms.

A young girl standing beside her.

Two children.

Two daughters.

Then the vision changed.

The woman handed one child to a stranger.

And whispered:

"Take Aria. Protect her from both Alpha bloodlines."

The vision vanished.

Aria gasped.

Damon released her hand.

"What did you see?"

She looked at him.

Her voice barely came out.

"My mother."

Cassian stepped closer.

"What was she doing?"

Aria looked down at her glowing wrist.

"She was running."

"From whom?"

Aria's eyes lifted.

"I don't know."

Then she remembered the final image.

The young girl.

The other child.

Lyra.

Aria whispered,

"But I know one thing."

Damon waited.

"Lyra wasn't taken from Silvermoon."

Aria's heart pounded.

"She was given away."

A heavy silence settled over the room.

And for the first time, Damon looked genuinely afraid.

Because if Aria's vision was true...

someone had deliberately separated two sisters twenty-two years ago.

And whoever had done it might still be watching them.