Lyanna’s POV

I was confined to a healer’s bed, weak and dizzy.

My arms throbbed from the blood they had taken, and even the effort of sitting upright made the room spin. But none of that compared to the weight crushing my chest.

Grief.

My pup was gone.

And while I lay there trying to breathe through the pain, the world beyond the infirmary walls kept moving as if nothing had happened.

One of the younger healers slipped me a scrying crystal.

Inside it was an image of Alpha Draven Blackmark at a moon banquet, laughing as though he did not have a single burden in the world. Natalie stood beside him, glowing beneath the lantern light, his hand resting possessively on her waist as though she were the rightful Luna.

Another vision appeared later.

This time, they were seated together at a private feast. Draven lifted a piece of honey cake to Natalie’s lips, leaning close enough to make her laugh softly, as if she were the only wolf in the room.

He looked happy.

Free.

As if I had never existed.

When the healers finally released me, I left alone.

No escort.

No warrior.

No word from him.

Only a small travel bag in my hand and one quiet, humiliating truth settling in my chest.

I no longer mattered to him.

I should not have returned to the pack house, but all my belongings were still there.

I had no choice.

That was when I saw them.

Outside the birthing wing.

Natalie stood there glowing with pride, as if the world already belonged to her. Draven stood beside her, one hand resting lightly on her back, the gesture easy and familiar.

A passing healer smiled brightly.

“Alpha Draven, your Luna looks radiant today.”

My stomach twisted.

I did not correct her.

I no longer had the strength to explain what I was.

So I turned away.

Then—

“Lyanna.”

His voice stopped me cold.

Of course he saw me.

He always noticed me when I was trying hardest to disappear.

I turned slowly and met his eyes across the polished stone corridor.

“I did not come looking for you,” I said flatly. “I was released today. I did not know you would be here.”

Before he could answer, Natalie clung to his arm and tilted her head sweetly.

“Let her ride back with us,” she said softly. “I feel sorry for her… she gave me blood, after all.”

The way she said it—like my suffering had been some generous gift—made something twist sharply inside my chest.

Draven let out a quiet breath, then nodded once.

“Fine.”

Just like that.

As though I were some minor inconvenience to be decided upon.

So I climbed into the carriage.

Not because I wanted to.

Because I had nowhere else to go.

The ride was silent at first.

Then Natalie shifted beside him and glanced back at me with a smile that never reached her eyes.

“Oh,” she said suddenly, laughing under her breath. “I just remembered… I left my undergarment in here.”

My head lifted before I could stop myself.

She giggled and turned to Draven.

“Can you believe it?” she said. “After what we did in this carriage last week?”

Draven gave a low chuckle.

“You were reckless.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. “You did not complain when I was sitting in your lap outside the pack gates. Or when I loosened your clothes on the road to the border and kept you distracted the whole ride.”

A smirk tugged at his mouth.

“That is because you make every journey better.”

She laughed softly.

“And the time you had to stop the carriage because I would not let you—”

“Enough.”

My voice was quiet, but it cut through the air.

Silence fell for a brief moment.

Then Natalie only smiled wider, as though she had won.

I turned my gaze to the window and forced my breathing to steady.

With trembling fingers, I reached into my bag and pulled out a messenger crystal.

I opened the glowing message from Evander.

A travel pass.

Tonight.

At moonrise.

My chest tightened—not with pain this time, but with something dangerously close to relief.

I sent a message back.

Thank you, Evander. I am sorry I missed the last chance.

His reply came almost instantly.

What happened? Tell me.

My fingers paused.

I could have told him everything.

If I asked, he would burn this entire pack to the ground for me.

But I wanted no more blood spilled in my name.

So I wrote:

I will explain later. I only need to leave first.

I stared at the words before sending them.

Because that was the only truth that mattered now.

I needed to escape.

Draven noticed the crystal in my hands immediately.

“You have been staring at that thing the whole ride,” he said sharply. “Who are you speaking with?”

“No one important,” I answered without looking at him. “Only reading messages.”

A moment passed.

Then suddenly, the crystal was snatched from my hands.

My body went still.

Not because I was afraid.

Because I could not believe he still thought he had that right.

I turned slowly to face him.

“Really?” I said, my voice low. “You are doing this now?”

“What is the unlock rune?” he demanded.

A short, bitter laugh escaped me.

“The date of our mating ceremony, Draven. You should remember it. You pretended to love me then.”

His jaw tightened as he tried.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

Locked.

Natalie leaned toward him and laughed softly.

“Let it go,” she murmured sweetly. “She probably has no one left who wants to speak to her.”

Then she looked at me and smiled.

As though I were already nothing.

Lyanna’s POV

When we returned to the pack house, Alpha Draven Blackmark did not even look at me.

He led Natalie upstairs as though she were already the Luna of the pack, one hand steady on her back while she murmured weakly about feeling unwell. As they climbed the stairs, he mindlinked the kitchen servants, ordering them to prepare all her favorite meals.

As though she were precious.

As though she mattered.

I stood near the entrance hall with my travel case still in my hand, watching everything unfold as if I were no more than a wandering guest in someone else’s home.

As Draven descended the stairs again, he slowed when he saw me heading toward the guest wing.

Then, without even meeting my eyes, he spoke to the servants.

“Prepare two extra dishes. Lyanna’s favorites. Set another place at the table.”

I stopped walking.

For a moment, I almost laughed.

Was that supposed to mean something?

An apology?

A peace offering?

He could not remember the vows he made beneath the sacred moonfire. He could not remember the last time we spoke without Natalie between us. Yet suddenly he remembered my favorite meals?

It felt like an insult.

A scrap tossed to a wolf who had already learned she no longer belonged.

I said nothing.

I simply kept walking.

---

The guest chamber felt cold when I entered.

Not from the air.

From the emptiness.

I shut the door behind me and let out a breath I had not realized I was holding.

This was not my home anymore.

Truthfully, it had not been for some time.

I placed my case on the bed and knelt beside it, already planning how quickly I could leave once night fell.

But the moment I opened it, my hands froze.

My dresses.

My cloaks.

My belongings.

All of them had been slashed apart.

The fabric was shredded beyond repair, the cuts too deliberate to be accidental.

Someone had taken their time.

My stomach sank.

Then I found my travel papers tucked deep into the lining, untouched.

That was when I understood.

This was not carelessness.

It was a warning.

My throat tightened.

Natalie.

Of course it was her.

Yet I no longer had the strength to feel surprised.

Only tired.

I quickly gathered what little could be saved, stuffing the ruined pieces aside. I needed to leave this place as soon as I could.

Then the chamber door creaked open.

I did not need to turn to know who it was.

“Natalie,” I said flatly.

She stepped inside as though the room already belonged to her. In one hand, she held a small black vial, and her expression was calm—almost bored. Her eyes swept across the room before settling on me with a slow, mocking smile.

“Well,” she said lightly, “you are still here.”

I rose slowly to my feet.

She tilted her head.

“After everything, you are still clinging to him? That is almost embarrassing, Lyanna.”

I said nothing.

She walked deeper into the room, glancing around as if inspecting something beneath her standards.

Then she spoke again, as casually as if discussing the weather.

“Your grandmother died last moon, did she not?”

My fingers went cold.

When she saw the change in my face, her smile widened.

“You begged Draven to let you visit her,” she continued softly. “You were nearly on your knees.”

My jaw tightened painfully.

Natalie pulled out a memory crystal and brushed her thumb over its surface.

“Do you know where he was that day?”

She did not wait for an answer.

“We rode to the western cliffs together. He took me to watch the sunset. He was with me.”

She turned the crystal toward me.

An image shimmered to life.

Draven kissing her.

The room seemed to tilt.

My chest tightened so hard I could barely breathe.

I remembered that day perfectly.

The fear.

The panic.

The way I begged him to let me leave, just long enough to say goodbye to the woman who raised me.

And he refused.

Because he was “busy.”

Busy with her.

Something inside me cracked then—slow and deep, like ice finally splitting beneath too much weight.

Natalie watched me carefully, waiting for me to break.

“You never mattered to him as much as you believed,” she said softly.

The silence stretched between us.

Then something in me finally snapped.

“You think this is amusing?” I asked quietly.

She smiled.

“A little.”

My hands curled into fists.

“You tore through my life as though it meant nothing,” I said, my voice rising. “You took everything from me, and you still stand there smiling as if you earned a prize?”

Her expression barely shifted.

“I already won,” she said simply.

That was enough.

I stepped toward her.

“You have won nothing,” I said sharply. “You are nothing but a passing distraction—an amusement for a bored Alpha.”

Her smile faltered.

“And one day,” I continued, my voice shaking but steady, “he will look at you and realize exactly that.”

Her eyes hardened.

But I was not finished.

“You think being in my place means you have won,” I said. “But all you have earned is the affection of a wolf who betrays the mate chosen for him by the Moon Goddess. If he could cast me aside, he will cast you aside too.”

For the first time, her smug smile disappeared.

I stepped closer.

“One day,” I whispered, “you will understand what it feels like to be replaced.”

For a moment, she only stared at me.

Then her lips curled again, though the confidence in her eyes had faded.

“You really believe he would choose you over me?”

I let out a hollow laugh.

“No,” I said. “I know exactly what kind of wolf he is now.”

And somehow, saying those words hurt less than I expected.

Because the truth no longer broke me.

It freed me.

Lyanna's POV

She gave a smug little shrug.

“Still more than you.”

That was the final blow.

Before I could think, I struck the memory crystal from her hand. It crashed against the stone floor with a sharp crack.

Natalie barely had time to react before I lunged at her.

My hand closed around her throat.

We stumbled backward together, crashing hard into the bedside table. Something toppled and rolled across the floor.

Then the scent hit me.

Oil.

Sharp and unmistakable.

My stomach dropped.

“Natalie…” I gasped, my grip loosening. “What did you do?”

The dark bottle tipped over completely, spilling its contents across the carpet.

She smiled.

Then—

A spark.

I did not even see where it came from.

Only a sudden flash.

Then flames.

They burst upward in an instant, racing along the floor, climbing the curtains, swallowing the walls as though the room had been waiting to burn.

“Stop!” I coughed, stumbling backward as smoke rushed into the air.

Natalie grabbed my arm.

She shoved me.

I shoved back.

We both struggled blindly as the flames rose between us like a living beast.

The heat was unbearable.

The smoke scorched my lungs with the first breath.

Then, somewhere in the chaos—

Natalie screamed.

And I fell.

---

“Lyanna!”

The voice tore through the roar of the flames.

My eyes forced themselves open against the smoke.

At the doorway stood Alpha Draven Blackmark, shouting as the pack warriors tried to hold him back.

“My Alpha, you cannot go in!”

“Move!”

My heart twisted so hard it hurt.

For one foolish second, I thought—

He came for me.

“Draven!” I cried, trying to lift myself from the floor. “I am here!”

Then Natalie called out weakly from the smoke behind me.

“Draven… please… help me…”

And everything in his expression changed.

That was all it took.

He rushed past me.

Straight to her.

He did not even glance back.

---

I do not know how long I lay there after that.

The smoke grew thicker.

The heat grew heavier.

My vision blurred until the world became nothing but fire and pain.

And then—

Something inside me broke.

Or perhaps awakened.

One moment I was choking on the floor.

The next—

Pain.

Agony unlike anything I had ever known.

My bones twisted.

My skin burned.

My body tore itself apart and rebuilt again beneath the force of instinct.

I shifted.

My wolf burst free.

The world sharpened instantly.

The crackle of flames.

The smell of burning wood.

The smallest movement in the smoke.

The fire was no longer chaos.

It became something I could understand.

A wall.

A pattern.

A path.

I seized my bag in my jaws and ran.

With every ounce of strength I had left, I hurled myself through the glass window.

The shards tore into my side, but I did not stop.

I hit the ground hard outside, rolling into the wet grass, coughing violently.

Alive.

Barely alive.

I did not look back at the burning pack house.

I ran.

Through the side paths.

Through the darkness.

Through the pain ripping through my body.

I ran until I found one of the old service gates hanging open.

And I kept running.

Even when my legs trembled.

Even when my lungs burned.

Even when blood dripped from my wounds into the earth.

I did not stop until the pack lands were far behind me.

---

The moonport terminal was silent.

Too silent.

I sat alone in the far corner, wrapped in a borrowed cloak, my hands trembling.

My communication crystal glowed.

A message from Draven.

Do not play games, Lyanna. I do not have time to chase you.

I stared at the words.

No rage.

No grief.

No pain.

Only emptiness.

Slowly, I closed my hand around the crystal.

Then I crushed the light within it and turned away.