CHAPTER 6: THE ALPHA'S WARNING

KAEL'S POV

The forest is black and cold.

I run faster than I have ever run in my life. My wolf is fully in control now. Four paws pounding against wet earth. My nose low to the ground. The scent of the assassin is fresh, smoke and metal and something rotten underneath.

She is fast. But I am faster.

The trees blur past me. The river roars somewhere to my left. The border is close. I can feel it in my bones. If she crosses into neutral territory, I cannot follow. The treaties forbid it.

I push harder.

Her scent grows stronger. I see her now. A dark shape moving between the trees. She is injured. My hit must have landed harder than I thought. She is limping.

Good.

"Stop!" I growl. The sound is not human. It is wolf and Alpha and rage all mixed together.

She does not stop.

She reaches the border marker—an old stone pillar covered in moss—and throws herself across it. One second she is on my territory. The next, she is gone.

I skid to a halt.

My claws dig into the dirt. My chest heaves. The scent is still there, but I cannot cross. The treaties are iron. If I break them, three other packs will declare war on Shadowfang.

She knows this. That is why she ran here.

I stand at the border and watch her disappear into the darkness. My wolf howls inside me with frustration. We were so close.

I turn back toward the fortress.

---

By the time I return, the sky is turning gray with early morning.

Captain Dain meets me at the gate. His face is hard. His armor is still on. He has not slept either.

"Any luck, Alpha?" he asks.

"No. She crossed the border at the eastern marker."

Dain curses under his breath. "I will send scouts to watch the area. If she comes back—"

"She will not come back tonight. But she will return." I walk past him into the courtyard. "Lock down the entire fortress. No one enters. No one leaves. Every door, every gate, every wall. I want guards posted everywhere."

"Everywhere, Alpha?"

"Everywhere." I stop and look at him. "There was a blackout in the east wing. All the lights went out at once. That is not an accident. Someone inside helped her."

Dain's face goes pale. "You think there is a traitor in the pack?"

"I know there is a traitor." I climb the steps to the main building. "Find them."

---

I do not go to my office.

I go to the east wing.

My feet carry me there before my mind catches up. I tell myself I am going to question her. I tell myself I need to know what the assassin said. I tell myself this is about security.

But when I reach her door, I know the truth.

I just want to see her.

The guards step aside. I open the door.

Lyra sits on the bed with her knees pulled to her chest. Her eyes are red. She has been crying. When she sees me, her face hardens.

"Come to lock me in again?" she asks.

"No."

"Come to walk away again?"

That one hurts. I deserve it, but it hurts.

"I came to ask what the assassin said to you."

Lyra stares at me. Her brown eyes are tired and angry and sad all at once. "You first."

"Excuse me?"

"I asked you a question back in my room. Before you jumped out the window like a coward." She stands up. Her hands shake, but her voice does not. "Why did you save me? You rejected me. You locked me in this room. You want nothing to do with me. So why did you crash through that window?"

I open my mouth. Close it.

The truth sits on my tongue. Because you are my mate. Because I would burn the world down before I let anyone hurt you. Because the thought of losing you makes me want to die.

But I cannot say any of that.

"I am an Alpha," I say instead. "It is my duty to protect everyone in my territory."

Lyra laughs. It is a bitter, broken sound.

"Duty," she repeats. "Right. Of course."

She turns away from me and walks to the window—the one I shattered. Moonlight pours through the broken glass. She stares out at the mountains.

"She called me the heir," Lyra says quietly. "The heir must die, she said. What does that mean?"

My heart stops.

"The heir," I whisper.

"Yes. The heir." Lyra turns back to face me. "I am nobody, Kael. I scrubbed floors for my father. I slept in the servant's quarters. I have no title. No power. No family who wants me. So why would an assassin call me the heir? And why did you look so afraid when I told you?"

I do not answer.

Because I cannot.

The heir. After all these years. After everything I did to hide her. They found her.

---

I look down at the floor.

A black feather lies near the foot of the bed.

I kneel and pick it up. It is long and dark and smooth. It smells like smoke and death. I know this feather. I have seen it before. On the pillows of three dead women. On the windowsills of three cold rooms.

Elara. Mira. Sera.

Each of them had one of these feathers near their bodies.

I thought it was a curse. I thought it was sickness or fate or the Moon Goddess punishing me.

But it was never a curse.

It was a hunt.

"They found her," I whisper.

Lyra frowns. "What? Who found me?"

I look up at her. My mate. My Lyra. She is so small. So fragile. She has no idea what is coming for her.

"Kael." Her voice is softer now. Scared. "You are scaring me. What is happening?"

I stand up. I close my fist around the feather.

"There is a target on your back," I say. "And I do not know who put it there. But I will find out."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only one I have."

I walk toward the door. Lyra grabs my arm. Her touch burns through my skin. My wolf howls with joy.

"Do not walk away from me again," she says.

I look at her hand on my arm. Then I look at her face.

"I will not walk away," I say slowly. "But I cannot stay close either. For your own safety, you need to stay in this room. Trust no one. Not the servants. Not the guards. No one."

"Not even you?"

The question cuts deep.

"Especially not me," I say quietly.

I pull my arm free and leave before she can see the tears in my eyes.

---

The hallway is empty.

I lean against the wall and close my eyes. My hand is still closed around the black feather.

They found her.

The same ones who killed Elara. And Mira. And Sera.

But Lyra is different. She is not just a chosen Luna. She is my true mate. The bond makes her stronger. It might make her harder to kill.

Or it might make her a bigger target.

I do not know who is hunting her. But I know one thing for certain.

They will have to go through me first.

The question burns in my chest as I walk back to my office:

Who found Lyra, and why are they hunting her?