-Kade-
I couldn't stop watching her.
Lyra sat across the war room, head down, shoulders tight. The binding ritual had drained her. I could feel it through the connection she'd forged between us. A thin thread of life, pulling taut every time she breathed.
Three days. That's all we had before the council came for her.
"You should eat something," I said.
She didn't look up. "I'm fine."
"You're not."
Silas slammed his hand on the table. "She's a vampire, Kade. They don't need food the way we do."
I shot him a look. He'd been like this since Morgana left. Pacing. Snapping. His wolf was on edge, and I got it. Mine was too. But taking it out on Lyra wasn't going to help.
"She's half wolf," I said. "And she just saved my life."
"By binding you to her." Silas crossed his arms. "If she dies, you die. You see how convenient that is?"
Lyra finally lifted her head. Her eyes were dull, no fight left in them. "You think I wanted this?"
"I think you wanted to survive."
"Enough." My voice came out low. Alpha command threaded through it without me meaning to. Silas's jaw worked, but he backed off. "We focus on breaking the curse. Everything else comes after."
"And if we can't break it in three days?" Silas asked.
I didn't have an answer for that.
Lyra stood. Her legs shook, just a little. She steadied herself against the table. "I need air."
"No." I was on my feet before she'd taken a step. "You don't leave this building without me."
Her mouth tightened. "I'm not a prisoner."
"You're a target." I moved closer, kept my voice quiet. "Morgana marked you. The whole council knows where you are now. If you go out there alone, you won't make it back."
She looked at me for a long moment. Something flickered in her expression. Guilt, maybe. Or fear. Then she nodded.
"Fine."
I grabbed my jacket. Silas started to follow, but I waved him off. "Stay here. Keep the perimeter tight."
He didn't like it. I could see the argument building behind his eyes. But he gave a sharp nod and left the room.
Lyra was already at the door.
We walked in silence through the pack house. Wolves stopped and stared as we passed. News had spread fast. The alpha's dying. The healer's a vampire. Whispers followed us down every hall.
Outside, the night air hit like a slap. Cold and clean. I pulled it into my lungs, let it settle the burn under my ribs. The curse was still there. Quieter now, but coiled tight. Waiting.
Lyra walked toward the tree line. I stayed two steps behind her.
"You don't have to babysit me," she said without turning around.
"Yes, I do."
"I can take care of myself."
"Like you did five years ago?"
She stopped. Her shoulders went rigid.
I shouldn't have said it. I knew that the second the words left my mouth. But I was angry. At Morgana. At the curse. At the fact that my life was tied to someone who'd spent five years lying to me.
Lyra turned. Her face was pale in the moonlight. "You want to know what happened five years ago?"
"Yeah. I do."
"My father led a raid on your border patrol. Killed three wolves." Her voice was flat. Empty. "I gave your scouts the location of our nest. Every vampire in it. My father. My uncle. My cousins. I watched your wolves burn it to the ground."
I stared at her.
"So don't talk to me about taking care of myself, Kade. I've been doing it alone for five years."
She turned and kept walking.
I followed. My wolf was quiet now, confused. Mate, it whispered. Protect.
But how do you protect someone from their own past?
We reached the edge of the clearing. Lyra stopped by the old oak, pressed her hand against the bark. I could feel her exhaustion through the bond. A deep, bone-tired ache that made my own chest hurt.
"You should rest," I said.
"I can't."
"Lyra—"
"I can feel it, Kade." She closed her eyes. "The binding. It's not just life force. It's everything. Your anger. Your pain. The curse."
I stepped closer. "What does the curse feel like?"
"Like drowning." She opened her eyes, looked at me. "Like something's pulling you under, and no matter how hard you fight, you can't reach the surface."
That's exactly what it felt like.
A branch snapped behind us.
I spun, pulled Lyra behind me. My wolf surged forward, eyes shifting gold. Three shapes moved through the trees. Too fast to be human. Too coordinated to be rogue.
Vampires.
They stepped into the moonlight. Two men, one woman. All wearing the same dark uniform. Council enforcers.
"Alpha Thornwood." The woman in front smiled. Her fangs glinted. "Morgana sends her regards."
"She said three days," I growled.
"She said the council would come in three days." The woman tilted her head. "We're not the council."
Lyra's hand gripped my arm. "Kade, run."
"I'm not leaving you."
"They're here for me. If you stay—"
The woman moved. One second she was ten feet away. The next, she was right in front of us, hand reaching for Lyra.
I shifted. Partially. Claws out, fangs down. I caught her wrist, twisted hard. Bone cracked. She hissed and jerked back.
The two men rushed me.
I threw the first one into a tree. Heard his spine crack against the trunk. The second got a hand around my throat, slammed me into the ground. My vision blurred. The curse flared, black lines crawling up my neck.
Then Lyra was there.
She hit the vampire like a freight train. They went down in a tangle of limbs. I shoved myself up, lungs burning. The woman was back on her feet, wrist already healing.
"Traitor," she spat at Lyra. "You think binding yourself to a wolf will save you?"
Lyra didn't answer. She moved fast, faster than I'd ever seen her move. But the woman was faster. She caught Lyra by the throat, lifted her off the ground.
"Morgana wanted you alive," the woman said. "But accidents happen."
I lunged.
The woman saw me coming. She turned, still holding Lyra, and her other hand came up. Silver flashed in her grip. A blade.
She drove it toward my chest.
Lyra twisted. Broke the woman's hold. Threw herself between us.
The blade sank into her side.
No.
Lyra gasped. Staggered. I caught her before she hit the ground.
And that's when I heard it.
Two heartbeats.
One steady, slow. The other rapid, frantic. Both coming from her chest.
I looked down. Her shirt was soaked with blood. Too much blood. The wound should have been fatal. But her eyes were open, focused. And her teeth—
Her fangs were out.
Fully out.
Longer than any I'd seen. Sharp enough to tear through bone.
Her eyes weren't brown anymore. They were crimson. Bright, burning red.
"Kade," she whispered. Her voice was different. Layered. Like two people speaking at once. "You need to run."
The woman laughed. "Oh, this is going to be fun—"
Lyra moved.
She was a blur. Faster than the enforcers. Faster than anything I'd ever seen. She had the woman on the ground in half a heartbeat, fangs at her throat.
The woman's laugh cut off. Turned into a scream.
Footsteps pounded through the trees behind me. I turned. Silas burst into the clearing, three pack wolves at his back.
He took in the scene. Me on my knees. Two vampire enforcers down. Lyra crouched over the third, fangs buried in her throat, eyes glowing red.
Silas went pale.
"Kade," he said slowly. "What the hell is she?"
I didn't know.
Lyra lifted her head. Blood dripped from her fangs. The wound in her side was already closing, flesh knitting back together. That second heartbeat pounded in my ears, loud and impossible.
She looked at me. Through me.
And I realized I'd never seen her true face until now.