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.

Draven’s POV

[Tomorrow at first light, Natalie’s healer appointment. You will accompany her. Have the healer examine your lungs as well.]

I sent the message through the pack mindlink and waited for the familiar flicker that told me Lyanna had received it.

Nothing.

No answer.

Not even the faint sign that she had opened the link.

At first, I ignored it.

Lyanna often shut me out when she was upset. She would refuse my messages, avoid me for a while, and then return as she always did.

But this time…

The silence felt wrong.

Different.

Heavy.

---

The next morning, the healer’s den was quiet except for hushed voices and the scent of herbs.

Natalie clung to my arm the moment we entered.

“Draven,” she asked softly, “is everything alright? Is the pup safe?”

I nodded.

“The healer said everything is stable. The fire caused no harm.”

She let out a long breath.

“Thank the Moon Goddess…”

I should have felt relieved.

Instead, my thoughts drifted.

Lyanna’s face.

That last look she gave me through the smoke.

There had been no fear in it.

No anger.

Only acceptance.

As if she already knew I would not choose her.

And the worst part was—

I had not.

---

After the appointment, I returned Natalie to the pack house and went straight to the council hall.

The entire ride, my mindlink remained silent.

Too silent.

My beta met me as I entered.

“My Alpha, Elder Alden has returned. The summit begins tonight.”

I nodded without slowing.

But something in my chest tightened.

Lyanna still had not been found.

No reports.

No sign at the gates.

No scent on the borders.

Nothing.

It was as if she had vanished from the pack entirely.

“She did not report to the healer?” I asked.

“No, Alpha.”

I kept walking.

“Did she return to the pack house?”

“No.”

My jaw tightened.

“Then where in the hell is she?”

My beta said nothing.

Because he did not know.

None of them did.

---

I quickened my pace, speaking over my shoulder.

“Send a few new gowns and jewels to the Sterling estate.”

My steward hesitated.

“For Lady Natalie?”

I stopped.

The question felt wrong.

“…No,” I said after a moment. “Send them to Lyanna.”

If she had gone anywhere, it would be to the Sterling Pack.

But even as I gave the order, unease settled in my stomach.

And I hated that I could not name the reason.

---

A full week passed.

Council meetings.

Border reports.

Patrol rotations.

Disputes with neighboring packs.

The ordinary burdens of an Alpha.

Everything should have felt normal.

Nothing did.

Just after midnight, I returned from a long meeting with the patrol captains.

The pack house was dark, except for one lamp glowing in the sitting room.

A figure lay curled on the couch in silk.

For one foolish second, my chest loosened.

“Lyanna,” I murmured, almost amused. “I told you… I always return. You did not need to—”

Then I stopped.

It was not her.

It was Natalie.

She looked up, and the softness in her expression turned to disappointment when she saw me.

“Draven…” Her voice trembled. “She still has not come back. Not once.”

I exhaled slowly and loosened the collar of my shirt.

“She is being dramatic,” I said.

But the words sounded flat, even to me.

Natalie’s eyes glistened.

“I even apologized,” she whispered. “I do not think she will ever forgive me. Maybe I should leave.”

I sat beside her and kissed her forehead.

The gesture felt automatic.

Nothing more.

“Do not upset yourself,” I said quietly. “It is not good for the pup.”

Then after a pause, I added,

“This is your home now. Yours and the child’s.”

I hesitated before finishing.

“…Whether Lyanna accepts it or not.”

The words should have felt decisive.

They did not.

---

Later that night, I stood alone on the terrace.

Cold wind.

Moonlight over the pack lands.

Silence everywhere.

I lit a smokeleaf for the first time in years.

I did not even know why.

It did not calm me.

Nothing did.

My hand moved to the communication crystal at my belt before I even realized it.

Lyanna’s name remained there.

Untouched.

My thumb hovered over the call rune.

I did not press it.

Instead, I sent a message:

Tomorrow is Elder Alden’s eightieth moon celebration. Do not cause trouble. Do not upset Natalie or the pup.

I stared at the message before sending it.

Then I waited.

For what, I did not know.

The wind struck harder across the terrace.

My chest tightened again, sharp and strange.

It is only stress, I told myself.

Nothing more.

But for the first time in years, Alpha Draven Blackmark was not certain of anything at all.