Chapter 5 Shadows Between Us

Lyrianna POV

The first thing I felt was agony. It wasn't just in my limbs or my body, it lived in my veins, crawling beneath my skin, clawing at my bones. My lips were cracked, my throat raw, my lungs burning with every shallow breath. For a fleeting heartbeat, I wondered if the fire had never left me, if I was still trapped in the ritual, branded by the Goddess herself.

I forced my eyes open. The world blurred around me, swaying like smoke. Rough hands gripped my arms, dragging me upright. Low voices muttered, almost whispers, yet clear enough to cut through me. The guards-calloused, unfeeling hands that had dragged me through the hall like carrion, kept me from collapsing.

"Careful with her," one grunted.

"She's no Luna," another spat. "Doesn't matter if she breaks. She's a prisoner anyways."

Their words hammered against my soul, tearing open the raw edges left by the fire. I hung between them, too heavy to resist, yet too alive to vanish.

The torchlight flickered along the walls, stretching monstrous shadows. My head lolled until a sharp shove made it snap back, pain searing along my neck.

"Stay awake, girl," a guard hissed. "Do not faint before the Alpha decides what remains of you."

I wanted to vanish, to curl into nothing, but my body refused. Survival was agony, but collapse wasn't an option.

The door ahead groaned open. I was half-thrown, half-dropped onto a bed of rough furs. The impact stole my breath. I curled into myself as the door slammed behind the guards.

Silence.

The chamber smelled of smoke and damp earth. Black stones lined the walls, torchlight weakly fighting the shadows. I wrapped the scratchy furs around me, my wrists throbbing where irons had bitten, crudely bound in linen. Relief mingled with shame, I was alive, but what kind of survival was this?

Movement. A door creaked, and my head snapped toward it, pain stabbing my skull.

Orion.

He stepped inside, tall and broad, filling the doorway like a shadow of strength. Even in the dim torchlight, I recognized the faint hazel in his eyes. His hands hung at his sides, clenched, as if struggling against the weight of being here.

"You're awake," he said, low and steady. Beneath it was something else-restraint, maybe care, something unfamiliar yet... steadying.

I swallowed, my throat raw. "Why...?" My voice cracked, tiny and brittle.

He turned his jaw, looking away. "The Alpha ordered you here. Not back to the cells."

No pity. Just fact.

Shame pressed into me like stone. I wanted to ask why he had touched me in the Hall, draped me in his robe but the words lodged in my throat.

Then the door crashed open again.

Ava.

She stood in red silk, every inch of her fury blazing. Her smile, sharp and cruel, cut through me like ice.

"What is this?" she spat. "Our Beta standing watch over the Moonwhisper whore?"

Her words stabbed at my chest. Shame and humiliation churned through me.

Orion stiffened but did not step forward. His voice, quiet and deliberate, cut through the venom. "That's enough, Ava."

She laughed, sharp and cruel. "Enough? Do you understand what you've done?" Her gaze flicked from me to him, back again. "You humiliated him. Draped your robe over her...like you see something different in her. Like she was... worthy. Do you pity her?"

Each word landed like a blow. I lifted my chin, trembling, refusing to give her satisfaction.

"You dare make her look anything but cursed?" Ava hissed. "You will not let her rise above the stain she carries."

Orion remained rooted, silent, unwavering. The tension in the room thickened, heavy enough to choke on.

Then it happened. The air shifted. The door opened slowly, and I felt it before I saw him.

Alpha Kai.

Even through the shadows, even with half his face hidden by that cruel mask, I felt him. A presence that did not merely fill the room, it devoured it, bending the space and light around him. My breath hitched. My pulse spiked. My stomach twisted. Panic surged like icy fire in my veins.

Ava straightened instantly. Her fury dissolved into a sickly, obedient sweetness. "Alpha," she whispered.

"Leave." His voice rolled through the chamber like thunder coiled in silk, low and monstrous. Each syllable pressed against me, made my bones tremble, made the walls seem to bow. My stomach flipped, my limbs shook. I could not breathe.

"But-" she tried.

"I said leave." The words were sharp, carved into stone. She froze, eyes wide, before retreating with the grace of someone fleeing both fear and fury. One last glance at me promised war, blood, and ruin.

Silence followed.

Kai's gaze fell first on Orion, unreadable and heavy, then landed on me. Every instinct screamed to bow, to cower, yet I forced my spine straight. Heart hammering, breath shallow, I held his stare through the mask.

He moved deliberately, shadows stretching across the floor like liquid black, reaching for me.

"The Goddess spoke," he said, voice deep and resonant, shaking the stones, vibrating through me. "But I have not decided what to do with you yet."

My stomach twisted. Every nerve quivered. Heat rose in my chest and thighs. His hands hovered near me, not touching, yet the energy radiating off him made my skin crawl with awareness.

"Do not mistake survival for victory, Lyrianna."

The name on his lips was both warning and claim. My body betrayed me, trembling under the weight of it. Panic gripped me, clawing my chest, yet deep inside a spark flickered. I had survived the fire. I would survive this. Somehow.

Then he turned. Shadows peeled from him like smoke, the room hollowed of warmth, and he left. The door thudded closed, leaving only emptiness and the echo of his authority.

Orion's voice, low and cautious, seeped into the silence. "Rest," he said. "You'll need your strength."

Strength for what? Survival? Punishment? Or something far worse? My throat closed around the questions. I lay back, curling into the furs, trying to find comfort. The shadows whispered around me, and I could not tell if they belonged to the fortress... or to the Alpha who had just left.

Sleep hovered at the edges of my awareness, but my mind refused. Thoughts spiraled. The fire, the chants, the ritual, they were not gone. And somewhere deep, I knew this... was only the beginning.