Chapter 4 Blood and Moonlight

The moon rose red.

Not the soft amber of a harvest night, nor the cold silver of winter's peak but blood-moon red. It split the sky like a wound, and every shadow it touched stirred with something ancient.

Lyra felt it long before she saw it.

The dagger hummed in her sheath, a low, warning pulse against her ribs. Her skin crawled. Her heartbeat picked up, echoing the rhythm of something approaching.

Something fast.

Something furious.

She stood alone on the high balcony of the Crimson Court. Below her, black pines bristled in the wind. Behind her, the vampire lord studied her every move.

But it was what approached from the north that made her stomach drop.

A howl shattered the night.

Not a cry for the pack.

A challenge.

"Kael," she whispered.

The werewolf prince had found her.

She didn't wait.

Didn't hide.

She raced through the halls, the dagger drawn and glowing faintly in her hand. Each step echoed with memory her escape, her betrayal, his eyes burning gold when she fled the battlefield.

She reached the forest edge in time to see him break through the trees.

Kael.

Half-wolf, half-man caught between beast and beauty.

His chest heaved, bare and claw-scarred, muscles coiled with rage. His golden eyes locked onto hers like they were magnets, like he'd been tracking the scent of her soul for days.

He didn't speak.

Not at first.

Just stalked forward, each footstep sinking into the moss with deadly grace.

"I trusted you," he growled.

Lyra's hand gripped the dagger tighter. "I didn't betray you."

"Then why are you in his territory?"

"I didn't have a choice."

Kael's jaw clenched, his body trembling not from weakness, but from barely restrained fury.

"You had a thousand choices. You always do. And yet you chose him."

She stepped back, dagger between them. "This isn't about Verenthas"

"Don't say his name."

Lightning cracked behind him, the forest alight with sparks.

"You could've run anywhere," Kael said, eyes glinting. "You could've come back to me."

"You would've handed me to the council."

"I would've protected you!"

The air trembled between them. And still the pull remained. That electric thread that had once tied them together through war, rebellion, and sleepless nights beneath the stars.

But something had changed.

The dagger knew it. The Pact pulsed, burning cold-hot in her palm.

"You don't understand," Lyra said softly. "The dagger... it's not just a weapon. It's alive. It's showing me things. Tell me things."

"Lies," Kael snarled. "That thing poisons everything it touches. You don't hear it you obey it."

"No." Her voice was firm. "I control it now."

Kael's laughter was sharp. Bitter. "Is that what he told you? While he fed you sweet truths and shadowed promises?"

Lyra stepped closer, meeting his anger with fire of her own.

"I'm not yours to claim, Kael. Not anymore."

Something shattered in his eyes.

She saw it the pain under the fury.

He reached forward like he didn't mean to. Like the part of him that once loved her was stronger than the part that now hated her.

His fingertips brushed her cheek, and she didn't flinch.

"You were mine," he whispered, voice breaking. "Before all this. Before him."

Lyra closed her eyes.

"I was never anyone's."

Behind them, the forest screamed.

Not from wolves.

From something else.

Kael's head snapped toward the sound. His nostrils flared.

"They followed me," he muttered. "The Crimson Fang."

Lyra's eyes widened. "Your father's hunters?"

He nodded grimly. "They know you're here. They'll kill anyone who protects you. Vampires. Mortals. Me."

Lyra looked back toward the tower. "We have to go."

Kael grabbed her arm. "Not with him."

"I made a bargain, Kael. I gave my word."

"To what?" His voice cracked. "To serve a blood-sucking tyrant? To wear his mark while your city burns?"

"He's teaching me how to survive!"

"I could have taught you that," Kael said. "Without the price."

Her lips trembled. "No. You would've taught me how to obey."

He flinched.

The truth had always been their breaking point.

A horn rang in the distance low and wolfish.

Kael cursed.

"We don't have time," he said. "They'll circle the mountain. If they see you with him"

"They'll execute me."

He nodded once.

"And you?"

Kael gave a humorless smile. "They'll save the killing for later."

Lyra didn't think.

She moved.

They sprinted together through the ruins, old instincts falling into place. She ducked, he shielded. She cut left, he leapt right. They were still a team, somehow. Even with blood between them.

When they reached the high wall of the court, Kael turned.

"This is it. I can get you out if you want to go."

She hesitated

Her heart tore in two.

Part of her ached for Kael the boy she once trusted with every broken piece of herself.

But another part whispered darker things.

Power. Purpose. Destiny.

The dagger pulsed again, louder now.

Hungry.

Verenthas stepped from the shadows without warning.

"I wondered how long it would take you to crawl back, dog."

Kael bared his teeth. "I should gut you where you stand."

"Try," Verenthas said calmly. "And I'll show you what fear truly is."

Lyra stepped between them.

"Stop."

Her voice cracked like thunder.

Both males froze.

Lyra's arm was outstretched, the dagger in hand burning with red flame.

"I'm not a prize to be fought over," she said. "I am the wielder of the Pact. I chose this path."

Kael's voice was hollow. "Even if it means choosing him?"

She looked him in the eyes.

"Yes."

Silence.

Then Kael turned away.

"You'll regret this," he said, without venom. Only grief.

"I already do," she whispered.

Then he was gone into the mist, the trees, the wild.

And she stood there alone.

Except she wasn't.

Verenthas stepped to her side, hands clasped behind his back.

"You didn't kill him."

"I couldn't."

"A pity. But... useful."

He smiled.

And Lyra felt the night grow colder.