CHAPTER 3
1036 Words
Lyra – POV
The room had never felt so unfamiliar. Cold air pressed against my skin, but it wasn’t what made me tremble.
It was her.
The massive black wolf with glowing green eyes still stood where she had emerged from me, watching in silence, her energy humming like a storm beneath the surface.
I edged back slowly, my body tight with fear. “Stay away from me…”
She laughed. A deep, almost musical sound that vibrated in my bones. “You’re trembling like a leaf, and I haven’t even taken a step.”
My back hit the door. I reached for the knob without thinking, but her voice pinned me in place.
“Really, Lyra? You still don’t know?” She padded closer, each movement liquid and graceful. “I came from you. I am you.”
I stared, unblinking. “You’re… you’re saying you’re my wolf?”
She tilted her head, then grinned, sharp teeth gleaming. “Took you long enough,” she said. “But yes. You may call me Bane.”
The name echoed through the room like a spell.
I swallowed hard. “That can’t be true. I don’t have a wolf. I never shifted. I was tested. I’m wolfless.”
Her glowing eyes narrowed. “Or maybe you believed what others wanted you to believe.”
My lips parted, but no words came.
Bane prowled slowly to the center of the room, her tail flicking with irritation. “You’ve been told you’re weak. Ordinary. Useless. And you believed it. That’s the only reason you couldn’t hear me until now.”
“Why now?” I whispered.
She stopped, her voice softening. “Because tonight, you chose something for yourself. For the first time. You said no. You refused to obey. That fire lit the bridge between us.”
The realization settled in. Choosing not to sign Kaelen’s papers hadn’t just been defiance. It had been freedom. And that flicker of freedom had pulled Bane from the silence inside me.
“But… your eyes…” I said, watching her. “No wolf in Ironshade has green eyes.”
“That’s because I’m not like their wolves,” she said simply.
“Then what am I?”
Her eyes met mine with eerie calm. “An Ivy. One of the lost bloodlines. Rare, wild and feared.”
I blinked. “That’s just an old myth. My caretaker told me Ivys died out centuries ago—”
“They tried,” Bane said. “They hunted us down, drowned us in silver, stripped our names from history. But Ivy wolves don’t vanish. We go dormant. We wait.”
“And I… I’m one of them?”
She nodded. “You carry our venom in your veins. You were born Ivy. But you were raised like a sheep.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“But now,” she added, “you’re awake.”
The air in the room changed. Bane stood, her form pulsing with something raw and ancient.
“We’re not like the others, Lyra. Ivy wolves don’t forgive. We don’t plead. We don’t bow.”
Her words were fire, each one igniting something inside me I didn’t know was there.
“What do you want from me?” I asked, my voice small.
She stared at me. “Choice.”
Silence stretched, then her voice turned to steel. “You can run, vanish into the wild, leave them behind and start again. Or…”
Her eyes gleamed. “You can show them what it means to wound an Ivy.”
My hands trembled. “I… I need time,” I said.
She didn’t argue. In a blink, she vanished, leaving nothing but the cold echo of her final whisper.
“We’re not done, Lyra. Not by far.”
---
Morning came like an unwelcome visitor. A knock rattled my door, sharp and impatient. Then another.
“Lyra,” Kaelen’s voice barked. “Open the door. Now.”
I rose from bed slowly, ignoring the pulse of anger under my skin. When I opened the door, Selene pushed past me immediately, swaying in designer heels and silk.
She cast a glance around the room with disgust. “Well, this is cozy.”
Kaelen stood at the threshold, arms crossed. “Where are the papers?”
I said nothing. Just walked to the table, picked up the folder, and held it out.
He snatched it, flipped it open, then frowned.
“You didn’t sign them?” he snapped. His voice rose with disbelief. “I gave you a full day.”
Estelle rolled her eyes. “Kick her out already. She’s dragging this like some sad fairytale.”
I kept my gaze low. “It’s not that I refuse.”
“Then why?” Kaelen growled.
“Because I made a promise,” I said quietly. “To your father. The late Alpha.”
He stiffened.
“I swore to bring you happiness. That was his dying wish.”
Estelle scoffed. “This again?”
I continued, ignoring her. “Give me three months. Let me help you prepare for your marriage. Let me fulfill my vow to him. After that, I’ll sign whatever you want.”
Kaelen was silent for a long beat. I thought he’d laugh. I thought he’d yell.
Instead, he said, “Fine.”
Estelle’s jaw dropped. “What?”
Kaelen gave her a look. “Let her humiliate herself in front of everyone. Let her plan our wedding and hand over the title herself. People will love it.”
A smirk tugged at his mouth. “Poetic, don’t you think?”
Estelle hesitated, then slowly grinned. “You’re cruel.”
He glanced back at me. “Three months. Then you sign and leave. Clear?”
“Yes, Alpha,” I said with a slight bow.
As they left, I heard him mutter, “She won’t last a week.”
Estelle’s laughter echoed down the hall.
I stood in silence, fists clenched at my sides. Then Bane’s voice whispered through my thoughts.
“You just planted the first seed, Ivy. Let them water it with arrogance.”
And I smiled, just a little. Because the storm hadn’t even begun yet.
- Writer
