Chapter 2 The Mark of the Forsaken

Lyra's breath came in ragged bursts as she jolted upright in her cot, sweat slicking her spine.

The same dream. Every night.

The sterile white walls of the lab. The cold steel table. Zander's voice echoing through the room-not with malice, but indifference.

"She's unstable. Sever the bond. We need a viable subject, not a broken girl."

And then silence. No resistance. No hesitation.

He let them cut her open like she wasn't even human.

"Nightmare?" Cade's voice drifted in from the adjacent room.

"No," Lyra lied, dragging the threadbare blanket off her legs. "Memory."

She pulled on her jacket and headed into the war room. The digital map on the wall glowed a sickly green, displaying the Regime's central facilities, patrol routes, and strongholds. Cade was already there, coffee in hand, eyes bloodshot.

"They moved fast," he said, pointing to a blinking sector on the screen. "Since the gala, they've doubled patrols in Sector Nine. Zander's hunting you."

"He always was."

"No," Cade muttered. "This time it's personal."

Lyra flinched, but covered it with a scoff. "Let him come. I want him to see what he made."

Cade looked at her with a softness he rarely let show. "What if you get captured?"

"I won't."

"You say that, but you're still having nightmares. That's not strength, Lyra. That's damage."

She leveled him a look. "Same difference, isn't it?"

He didn't respond.

Instead, he tapped a blinking red dot on the map.

"Command wants us to hit the Regime's DNA Archive Facility. It's where they store the last remaining copies of mate bonds-especially the erased ones. Yours might be in there."

Lyra's heartbeat stuttered.

"What do you mean, might?"

"I mean there's a chance the file wasn't fully deleted. If we get that data, we could prove what they did to you. You'd have names, dates, sign-offs... signatures."

Zander's.

Lyra stepped closer to the screen. Her jaw tightened.

"When do we leave?"

"Tonight. You, me, Kelsa, and Malek. Small team. Fast and dirty."

"Perfect."

Zander sat in his private chamber, staring at the flickering holo-recordings of the gala bombing. Every frame had been scrubbed and sharpened by his techs.

There she was. Lyra.

Same posture. Same walk. Same fire in her eyes that used to make him melt-and now froze his blood.

"She's not dead," he whispered, fingers curling into fists.

His Beta, Callen, stood in the doorway. "I thought you'd want to know-they hit another checkpoint last night. South Outpost. They're moving in patterns."

"They want something," Zander muttered. "Find out what."

"And if it's her?"

Zander looked up slowly, his eyes cold and unrelenting.

"Then I bring her back. No matter what it takes."

That night, Lyra crouched on the rooftop overlooking the DNA Archive Facility. It wasn't as flashy as the Gala building-just another forgotten gray tower-but the secrets inside were worth more than every Regime vault combined.

Cade was already inside the ventilation system, his voice sharp in her ear. "Security's light. I'm patching the cams. You're clear in three... two... go."

She leapt from the roof, rolled across the adjacent terrace, and landed silently beside the power grid. One spark, one twist, and the external motion sensors went black.

Kelsa and Malek joined her moments later. Together, the four rebels slipped into the facility's underbelly.

They moved fast. The plan was tight. Get in, get the data, get out.

But plans never survived contact with fate.

The first twist came the moment they reached the main server room.

There was already someone inside.

A woman. Tall, pale, clad in sleek black armor bearing the Regime's emblem. Her crimson eyes glowed in the dark.

"Project Revenant," Cade breathed.

Lyra's blood ran cold.

Revenant was no ordinary enforcer. She was engineered-a hybrid of magic and science. Unkillable. Unshakable. Loyal to the Regime's High Council and no one else.

Lyra had only heard whispers.

Now she was face to face with the whisper's teeth.

"Scatter," Lyra ordered. "Malek, get the data. Kelsa, cover fire. Cade, with me."

The room erupted in chaos. Blades. Bullets. Shattered glass. Revenant moved like death incarnate-her strikes silent, her precision inhuman.

Lyra fought with everything she had, dodging, slicing, firing her last pulse round.

But Revenant barely flinched.

Then-Revenant grabbed Lyra by the throat and slammed her against the wall.

"You're not supposed to exist," she said with calm cruelty. "Your bond was erased."

Lyra spat blood in her face. "Guess someone made a mistake."

Revenant raised her blade.

But then-bang.

Cade's shot took her square in the shoulder. Not enough to kill, but enough to distract.

"GO!" he yelled.

They ran.

Sirens blared. Red lights strobed.

Malek emerged from the server room clutching the drive.

"Got it!" he barked.

They escaped through the sewers, panting, bleeding, but alive.

For now.

Back in the safehouse, Lyra collapsed onto the steel bench, gasping.

Malek handed her the drive. "You won't believe what's on this."

She plugged it into the encrypted reader.

And there it was.

Project Omega-47: Lyra Ashbourne

Status: Terminated

Requesting Officer: Zander Thorne

Classified Notes: Subject was emotionally unstable. Mate bond severed for control compliance. Bond erasure incomplete. Subject retained partial emotional imprint. Recommendation: termination unsuccessful. Subject fled facility. Presumed dead.

Lyra stared.

The bond wasn't broken.

Not completely.

Some part of her still carried the imprint. Still tethered to Zander.

Her hands trembled.

Cade was silent beside her. Then: "What do you want to do?"

Lyra looked up, eyes hard.

"I want to end this. For good."

"By killing him?"

"No," she whispered. "By showing him I survived without him. By showing the world what the Regime tried to erase."

Meanwhile, Zander stood at the top of the Regime Tower, watching the city burn in little spots of rebellion.

His Beta handed him a classified report.

Subject 047: Confirmed Alive.

Archive breach successful. Revenant engagement failed.

Data may be compromised.

Zander's jaw locked.

"She has the file."

"Yes, Alpha."

"And she knows I signed it."

"Yes."

Zander looked out into the dark skyline. The regret he'd buried four years ago started to resurface-clawing up like bile.

He hadn't wanted to do it. But they'd told him she was a threat to herself. To him. To the Pack.

And he'd believed them.

Now she was a ghost set on fire.

"I'll bring her back," he said. "Even if I have to burn everything down."

Later that night, as Lyra stood alone on the rooftop of the safehouse, wind pulling at her hair, Cade stepped beside her.

"You ever think maybe... the bond wasn't fully broken because you didn't want it to be?"

She didn't look at him.

"I don't want anything from Zander."

"Then why are your hands shaking?"

"I'm not scared of him."

"Not scared," Cade agreed. "But maybe part of you still wants to know why."

She turned to him sharply. "You think I want him back?"

"No," Cade said softly. "But I think he wants you back. And that makes him dangerous."

Lyra exhaled, slow and long.

Then, softly: "Let him come."