C2

“I’ll hand over the deed to the Nightbane territory the second the blood-bond is sealed,” Darius growled, his jaw tight as he paced the small room in the Moonshadow Infirmary.

“You’re really going through with this?” I asked, leaning against the cold stone wall, my eyes tracking his every move. “Trading me away to a man who can’t even hold his own blade?”

“Liora is a delicate flower, Lyra! She’s the pride of the Nightbane line. I won’t tether her to a male who can’t shift, no matter how noble the Blackthorne name is. A wolf who can’t run with the pack is no better than an Omega in the dirt. You, on the other hand… you’ve survived the Expanse. You’re hardy enough for a broken Alpha.”

I felt the bile rise in my throat. “Hardy? Is that what you call it? We were starving, Darius. My brother died because we didn't have the gold for the healers.”

“Your mother clearly failed to teach you respect while you were rotting out there! You have no manners!” He stepped toward me, his Alpha scent flared in an attempt to suppress me.

“Respect is earned, not inherited like a stolen title,” I shot back, my voice low. I wanted to scream, to tear into him for the years of silence, but I was playing for my mother’s future. If I pushed him too far now, the deal would vanish.

“Pack your rags,” he barked, waving a hand dismissively. “We leave for Ironvale City tomorrow. The Blackthorne Pack doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Lyra, stop. I won’t let you sell your soul for me,” my mother, Selene, pleaded as soon as the door clicked shut. She pushed the tray of broth I’d brought her away, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

“Eat, Mom. You need your strength for the flight,” I said, pressing a spoon into her hand.

“I don't care about the flight! Kaelen was just a boy when I last saw Evelyne, but I hear the rumors. The silver-poisoning from that rogue ambush didn't just paralyze his legs it shattered his wolf. Marrying him isn't a life, it’s a sentence. I’d rather rot in the Expanse than see you shackled to a man out of pity or debt.”

“It’s not pity, Mom. It’s business,” I whispered, looking at the floor. “I’m taking back what he stole from you. Besides, it’s not like I’m marrying a stranger. It’s your best friend’s son, right?”

“Evelyne is gone, Lyra. The pack has changed. Please, don't use your life as a bargaining chip.”

I turned away so she couldn't see the lie in my eyes. Someone I love? That dream died in a hotel room a month ago. My heart was a frozen tundra now.

The return to Ironvale City was a blur of gray skies and bitter memories. Darius refused to let us step foot in the main Nightbane manor the place where his new mate and daughter lived. Instead, he shoved us into a cramped rental near the outskirts.

“Lola, you’re barely touching your food,” Mom whispered that evening, watching me move a piece of venison around my plate. “Are you feeling sick?”

“Just the flight, Mom. My stomach is still in the clouds.” I dropped the fork, the smell of the meat suddenly making my head spin.

I retreated to my room and locked the door, leaning my back against the wood. My hand drifted instinctively to my stomach. I’d seen the way the omegas in the Expanse looked when they were carrying—the constant nausea, the heightened senses. I was two weeks late. My skin felt too tight, and my scent was shifting into something sweeter, heavier.

The memory of that night at the Crimson Fang Lodge hit me like a physical blow. The heat, the claws, the way he had whispered into my ear. I had sold myself to save Orion, and I had failed him. Now, I was carrying the consequence.

“Get up. We’re going,” Darius’s voice boomed through the door the next morning.

I opened it, looking him dead in the eye. “Going where?”

“To meet your future mate. You’re marrying the heir of the Blackthorne Pack, Lyra. Look at you you look like a scavenger. Are you trying to humiliate me before the High Alpha?” He sneered, scanning my worn traveling clothes.

“Humiliate you?” I let out a dry, jagged laugh. “You sent us away with nothing. You want a prize-winning wolf? You should have paid for the upkeep.”

His face purpled, but he caught himself, checking his watch. “We don't have time for your bitterness. The Blackthornes are meeting us at the boutique. Move.”

The upscale boutique in the heart of Ironvale City smelled of expensive cedar and silk. Darius pushed me toward a stylist as if I were a piece of livestock.

“Fix her,” he ordered. “Something that hides how thin she is.”

The stylist led me toward the back, clutching a shimmering light-blue gown. “This way, honey. Let’s see if we can find the girl under all that grit.”

I was about to step into the changing room when a voice drifted through the thin partition a voice dripping with false sweetness.

“Kaelen, do you really have to do this? Marrying a Nightbane outcast?”

I froze. I moved toward the gap in the door, my breath hitching. A woman Mirelle, or perhaps the one they called Elowen was draped over a man sitting in a specialized charcoal-framed chair. Even seated, Kaelen Blackthorne was imposing. His shoulders were broad, his dark hair falling over intense, brooding eyes.

“It was my mother’s dying wish, Helen,” Kaelen said, his voice a deep, hollow rumble. “The blood-bond was promised. I won't dishonor her memory.”

“But she didn't know you’d be… like this,” Helen whispered, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw. “You don't need a wife. You need me.”

Kaelen’s expression darkened, a flicker of something raw crossing his face. “That night in the Expanse… when the venom took hold. Did I hurt you?”

My heart stopped. The Expanse? One month ago?

“It was… intense,” Helen lied, her eyes downcast with a practiced blush. “But I would endure anything for you, Kaelen.”

“I was out of control,” Kaelen murmured, his voice thick with guilt. “The elders said the snake’s venom turns a wolf into a beast of pure instinct. I don't even remember your face that night, only the scent of snow and fear. If I forced you”

“You didn't force me,” she interrupted quickly. “I gave myself to you.”

I clutched the blue dress so hard my claws began to poke through the fabric. He was the one. The man in the dark room. The man who had paid the price for my brother’s life and the father of the child growing inside me.

And he thought it was her.