Chapter 4 Lyra's Return

Several days later, the moon rose full and round in the darkness of the night. As though advising something was about to change, the air around the pack's bastion grew colder, heavier.

Footsteps reverberated from the orientation of the central gate. Four guards stood tall as a woman emerged from the trees. Tall. Gracious. Lethal. She was wrapped in a long white wolf fur cloak, her golden eyes sharp as blades, her silver hair pulled back firmly.

Lyra came back. Her smile was cold but kind. She had trained for years to be the mate of the Alpha, her blood was pure, and her physique strong; thus, she did not require authorization to enter pack territory.

Kael was standing close to the pack's map in the war room when the smell struck him. Familiar. Far too recognizable.

"You look tired, Kael."

He turned and saw Lyra's gaze.

Lyra: his tone was emotionless not because he was indifferent but rather because his heart was already crammed with another name-Aria.

She inquired with teasing sweetness, "Aren't you going to welcome me?"

Kael's eyes grew focused. "You returned sooner than anticipated."

"I understand you have begun to make decisions independently. Turning down the council's recommendations. Denying the direction of the elders. I was anxious. Her eyes narrowed. "And there are gossip."

Though Kael didn't reply, something changed in his face.

Rumors you're hiding someone. Lyra moved closer, her voice sinking. A woman. A human.

Kael's heart sped up, but he remained quiet.

If that's true, Kael... whispered Lyra, gazing intensely into his eyes.

You are leading this entire pack into disorder; you are not merely jeopardizing your throne.

Elsewhere Aria watched the silhouette of a lady dismounting a tall white horse from the small window of her room. Aria's instincts yelled at the precise, poised, domineering way she moved.

Though she didn't even know her name, she thought, "That's my opponent."

Lyra was hardly satisfied after her short chat with the Alpha. She resolved to unearth the truth on her own. Darkness arrived with an odd quiet. Low to the ground, mist clung, and the guards started to doze under the moonlight. One darkness glided between stone walls and trees.

Her exquisite gown and royal cloak had vanished. Wearing a dark hunter's attire, Lyra braided her hair tight and scanned every corner like a wolf seeking prey with her golden eyes.

She whispered, "Kael, where are you hiding her?"

Her feet were nearly noiseless. She passed the war room, ascended creaking wooden stairs; even the floorboards seemed afraid to make a sound near her. Then she sensed it. An odor. Delicate, foreign. Human. Her eyes narrowed.

She followed the corridor to the end where a door was closed firmly. No watchmen. too doubtful. She fast approached and pressed her ear against it. Inside breathing. Soft. Anxious.

Smirking, Lyra responded, "Kael, you are a fool."

The door was bolted, yet she persisted nonetheless. She pulled a slender knife from her belt, tiny enough to pick the lock with hardly any noise. But as the mechanism started clicking, feet descended.

As Rowan emerged at the top of the stairs, Lyra quickly retreated into the shadows. He stopped, grimaced, sensing something was wrong, yet saw no one. Lyra emerged from behind a pillar once he was gone, smirking.

You're here, little girl..."

She did not show up tonight. Aria was absolutely in that room, she realized at last. And Lyra never let go of anything she marked as hers.

Kael was outside Aria's door before daybreak. His chest tightened with anxiety. His Alpha impulses yelled, something was wrong. He sensed something that shouldn't be present. He swung the door open without knocking. Aria jerked awake.

"What-" Quiet. Come with me.

His tone was tough, allowing little opportunity for dispute. Though she wanted to protest, Aria realized this wasn't the moment for inquiries when she examined his gaze.

Grabbing the thin cloak given to her, she followed Kael through the stone corridors. They moved swiftly and quietly. Opening the door to his own rooms, he ushered her inside.

"From tonight on, you remain here."

Aria stiffened.

"In your room?

Kael was preoccupied shutting the drapes and locking the windows, so he didn't respond immediately.

"This is the safest spot in the whole tower. Nobody enters without my explicit approval.

Aria was still perplexed, yet she could discern the worry under his normally tranquil expression.

"This is... because of her, Lyra? Isn't it?"

Kael changed. His eyes reflected something other than wrath and terror for the first time since they met.

"She knows you're here. Last evening, I smelled her outside your door.

Aria bit her bottom lip.

"If I'm in peril... shouldn't you just let me go?"

Kael drew nearer. His tone was low but his face was stoic.

"If I could...I would have started to release you."

"But today... you are my soulmate." Letting you go would mean destroying myself.

There was silence between them. Aria felt touched, furious, terrified-all knotted in her chest-but one thing was clear for the first time: Kael was guarding her not out of duty but by choice.

Just hours after sunrise, Kael's door was struck with a loud knock. Except for one man, no one dared knock on the Alpha's chamber like that.

"Kael. Open up. It's me."

Lyra's voice calm and cold. Aria stiffened inside, her face white. Kael rose deliberately, jaw tight. He did not immediately open it. Instead, he turned to Aria and quietly said,

"Stay here. Do not budge or create a sound."

Frozen, Aria nodded, hiding behind the thick curtains. Kael cracked the door. Lyra stood there wearing complete combat equipment, her silver hair knotted firmly, her eyes daggers.

As she walked in without permission, she added, "You know, Kael..."

"I couldn't sleep last night. I kept speculating: why did I detect a human all the way from the main corridor?

Kael positioned between her and the rest of the room.

"You ought not to have detected anything." Lyra grinned sharply. "Sure? Or are you simply hiding her too well?" "There is nothing to smell."

Steps slow and calculated, her eyes scanned the space attempting to slip past him.

Kael intercepted Lyra's path. "This space is not yours."

Almost your mate I was; this room was nearly mine.

Lyra narrowed her golden eyes and tipped her chin. "But it wasn't, and it never will be." So you truly are concealing her here."

Kael moved closer, his voice ice cold and commanding. "If you enter this room without my permission, that is a straight insult to your Alpha."

Stillness. Lyra smiled next. But it was the kind of smile that cut.

"fine. I'm going to leave for now. But bear this in mind, Kael..."

"If you fall because of a human... I won't fall with you."

She left with grace, like a storm keeping back its rage. The door slammed shut behind her. Still, the danger lingered. Aria emerged from backstage, her face clenched.

"She knows..."

Kael fixed his gaze at the door. "Yes. And from this point on, she will strike from every angle."