Chapter 5 Lyra's POV

I should be asleep, but my body refuses to forget him. I can still feel his breath on my neck.

Even now, miles away from the Mystic Hollows border, my body won't forget the way Alpha Kael held me down.

My hand is already between my thighs before I realize what I'm doing, chasing a memory I have no right to crave. But my body betrays me.

It remembers the way he pinned me to the window...the way his fingers parted my cunt, the way his tongue sucked every juice left in me and the way his shaft rammed into me vigorously. The way his hips rolled into mine, hard and slow, like he wanted to carve the sound of my moans into his skin...

My hips lift helplessly into my own palm, a shock ripping through me as I grind against the ache he left behind.

I've never touched myself like this.

Never needed to.

Not until him.

Not until the night he ruined my innocence. The medallion in my pocket heats suddenly-sharp, pulsing right as pleasure climbs my spine. My hips jerk, a breathless cry slipping out of me.

It's reacting.

To this.

To me.

To what I'm remembering.

I freeze, panting, but the heat doesn't stop.

It grows. Like the relic itself is answering my desire. And suddenly I'm gasping, my back arching off the thin mattress in the kitchen where Alpha Corvin makes me sleep.

I shouldn't be doing this here.

******

The moment I cross into Lunaris, the warriors at the borders of the pack stop me from going any further. The medallion lay deep in my pocket. Yet, I still tremble with the awareness that I carry something that can put me in a lot of trouble.

I have heard of the medallion years ago, that it is an important relic that can fetch me a lot of money. That is what I plan to do in Lunaris.

I'll search for a purchaser, get a lot of money, and use it to start my new life out

here, away from Aiden, Selene, and Alpha Kael. The mere thought makes me smile so wide.

"Your name," a warrior mutters, glaring at me.

His nostrils flare. Just a fraction.

As if something about me smells... wrong and different.

A cold prickle crawls up my spine. I masked my scent perfectly. I should be invisible.

So why does he look like he wants to peel back my skin and see what's underneath?

"Lyra."

"Pack?"

"My..."

I halt, my mind reeling from the fact that I almost gave myself away. I know Alpha Kael will be searching for me right now, trying to lay a hand on his medallion. But after what he and his son did to me, the least they could do is let me have it.

My mind keeps trying to replay the way Kael touched me, but every time it does, my stomach twists into equal parts, shame and a craving I hate admitting to myself.

Why couldn't he have been cruel like the others? Why did he have to look at me like he... felt me?

"Greystorm," I mutter, calling the name of a pack that is far from our region and grateful that I masked my scent before making the journey over. No one should be able to trace me back to Mystic Hollows Pack.

No one.

The warrior gives me a once-over.

"I have to take you to our Alpha."

I nod, allowing him to lead me into the small town. It is mixed with humans as well, but they cannot find the borders. They instead go through the normal route.

In here, it feels like nature and reminds me of Alpha Kael's villa. I shake my head the minute the thought settles, dispelling it. I shouldn't be thinking about him now that I am living a new life here in Lunaris. Or at least, I plan to do that.

All that is left is for their Alpha to let me in.

We reach the pack house, and I am led into the foyer. He sits up when he sees me, his eyes regarding me for a fraction.

"Alpha

Corvin," he murmurs, crossing one leg over the other. "What are you doing here?"

"Shelter,"

I respond. "And work. I am not lazy, and I am focused."

He narrows his eyes in my direction. "Lyra, right?"

His gaze is too sharp. Too knowing like Kael's but colder.

I swallow hard, refusing to let my voice shake. If Alpha Corvin suspects what I'm carrying either the relic or the child. I'm dead the moment he decides it.

I nod. The warriors must have mind-linked him.

"Can I ask why you left your former pack and travelled all the way here? You could have gone to any pack at all. You probably crossed a dozen on your way here."

The medallion is heavy in my pocket as I murmur. "I guess my wolf led me here. She..."

"I have a bar. You will work there as a bartender and table assistant. You are to be at work every single day." And then, he pauses for dramatic effect, thrumming his fingers on the table. "Including the days you are not feeling

good. I don't care if your limbs or stomach hurt. I am not running a charity organization."

I nod at once, just happy to have been given a new home without much scrutiny. A huge part of me thought he would make background checks to ensure I wasn't lying. I couldn't imagine him finding out that I had robbed from the most feared Alpha in the territory.

"You will have to pay for your accommodation, of course. Because in Lunaris, everyone earns their stay here. You search for a place to live like every other person, but for now, you can sleep in the kitchen behind the bar."

My lips fall open and then slam shut again. I mean, I should be grateful that I wasn't asked to leave at the border. But sleeping in the kitchen? Even as a pack maid, I never did that.

"Leave."

I keep standing, uncertain of my next location. He casts a lazy glance my way.

"You are still here."

"Right."

Turning around, I head out of the pack house and onto the road. No one pays me attention, ignoring me as I walk down the road and turn left, heading towards what I hope to be the market.

It isn't hard to find the people who buy ancient relics. I stop in front of the first one, but I don't bring out the medallion.

"I have something for sale," I mutter, holding the gaze of the wiry old man. He regards me for longer than a second.

"Are you new around?"

I nod.

"What do you have for sale?"

I take in a deep breath and close my eyes. "A medallion."

He doesn't flinch.

"The medallion."

And then, abruptly, he starts laughing, the odd sound traveling in the air. I stare at him in confusion, wondering what is so hilarious about my wanting to sell the medallion.

After what feels like an eternity, he stops laughing. "You want me to believe that you have the medallion?"

I shake my head. "I want to sell it."

"Girl, I have been in this business longer than you were born, and I have never seen the medallion with my eyes. At first, everyone thought it was a myth until it was known for a fact that it is now hanging on the neck of Alpha Kael of the Mystic Hollows Pack."

And then, he shakes his head slowly. "So, did Alpha Kael hand over the medallion to you, because that is the only reason you would have to sell it?"

His laughter grates against something raw inside me. I want to scream that I did hold the medallion. That I still do.

But a voice in my head-soft, old, familiar-whispers:

Not here, child. Not yet. My hands go cold. Whose voice was that?

"I really have it," I insist, already reaching for my pocket. "I can show you."

The moment my fingers brush the relic, heat flares through my veins-fast, violent, protective. My breath hitches. It was as if the medallion doesn't want to be sold.

A few more men join us as I reach into my pocket, trying to find it. When my hands circle around it, I strangely lose the willpower to bring it out.

I need the money, but something inside, something strong, is telling me not to touch the medallion.

"Never mind," I murmur, stepping away from the stall. The men snicker behind me, but I pay them no mind, walking until I am at the bar Alpha Corvin gave me a job at.

The minute I step in, the bells above the door ring, and a towel gets tossed onto

my face.

"Get to work, wench."

Just then the medallion burns against my thigh.

As if it senses something.

As if he is closer than I think.

And a single thought slams into me so violently I almost stagger:

Alpha Kael is closer than I thought.

And he's coming.