Chapter 6

When I woke, I was no longer in the Alpha House.

The room was quiet, and the air carried a faint scent of cedar. Nera stirred deep in my mind, her body finally loosening after being tense for too long.

The man in the raven mask sat beside the bed. He had removed his coat, and the sleeves of his black shirt were rolled to his wrists. Silver hair fell over one shoulder. When he noticed I was awake, he lifted his head, his violet eyes cold under the lamplight but without hostility.

I pushed myself up against the edge of the bed.

“Where am I?”

“My temporary residence,” he said. “A healer has already seen you. You have a mild concussion, and the wolfsbane residue in your wrist has been cleared. Do not shift for the next two days.”

I looked down at the fresh bandage around my wrist.

“Thank you.”

“You do not need to thank me. You agreed to let me take you away. I only did what should have been done.”

That sense of boundary felt strange for a moment. Cassian had always been used to deciding everything for me, including whether my wounds deserved treatment and whether I was allowed to finish explaining.

I was about to ask his name when the mate link was forced open again.

Cassian’s voice crashed into my mind, sharper and more frantic than before.

“Lyra, where are you?”

I closed my eyes.

Him again.

“Alpha Cassian, what do you want this time?”

His breathing came through the bond, heavy and restrained.

“Seraphina’s wound has worsened. The healer said the curse residue has entered her blood. She needs your blood for an antidote.”

I looked toward the window and did not answer immediately.

Cassian lost patience quickly.

“You caused this. You need to come back and take responsibility.”

“Does Raven Hollow not have a blood bank?”

He fell silent.

I continued, “You are an Alpha. You have money, people, healers, and Seraphina’s family physician. If she needs blood, buy it, request it, or find someone willing to donate. Why is your first instinct still to come to me?”

The mate link became almost laughably quiet.

“Is it because you are used to using me?” I asked. “Because you think my blood, my medicine, my wolf, even my life, can be taken whenever Seraphina needs something filled?”

“Lyra…”

“And Alpha Cassian, if your healer truly told you mate blood can cure a cursed silver wound, he should go back to the academy. Curse residue requires holy water, purifying herbs, and proper silver-wound cleaning. It does not require my blood.”

I did not give him another chance to speak and pushed the mate link back behind a wall.

Pain struck through my chest, but Nera gave a low growl in my mind, as if she had finally released a breath.

The man beside the bed did not ask what I had heard. He only placed a glass of warm water near my hand.

“Emotional strain will slow your recovery.”

I took the water and drank. The taste of blood in my throat finally faded a little.

He looked at the bruise on my face, his tone even.

“If you are being harmed by your mate or your pack, I can contact Alliance protection for you. They will take you to neutral territory until the Moon Council finishes handling your transfer and rejection.”

I looked up at him.

“You have ties to the Alliance?”

“A few.”

“What kind of few?”

He paused.

“Enough to make them send people tonight.”

That made me study him again.

He wore a raven mask, moved freely around Raven Hollow, and had come to see Alistair in person. An Alpha like that was not an ordinary visitor.

But that did not matter.

What mattered was that he could give me a place Cassian could not reach for now.

I set the glass down.

“I do need your help with something.”

He looked at me and waited.

“I want Alliance protection, but I am not just hiding.” I said. “I want the Moon Council to intervene formally. I want Seraphina’s wound examined, along with the silver blade and the wolfsbane puncture on my wrist.”

His eyes shifted slightly.

“You want to fight back.”

“I want to take apart everything Cassian believes, piece by piece, and make him look at it.”

Seraphina said I was the obstacle between her and Cassian.

Fine.

Then I would turn that obstacle into evidence, into testimony, into a scandal Raven Hollow could no longer pretend not to see.

The man was silent for a moment.

“Once the Alliance is involved, Cassian will be forced to attend the hearing. As your fated mate, his refusal to accept the rejection will also be recorded by the Moon Council.”

“That is exactly what I want.”

“He may not let go.”

I smiled faintly.

“Then let him drag the bond he hates so much in front of the Council.”

The man looked at me, and a trace of emotion finally entered his violet eyes. It might have been approval. It might have been warning.

“Lyra Rowan, you are harsher than you look.”

“I was not harsh before, and I died once.”

He did not ask about that. He only picked up his phone and dialed a number.

“Send Alliance guards here. Now.”

Someone spoke on the other end. He glanced at me.

“Yes. The victim is willing to accept protection and submit evidence.”

After he hung up, the room settled into silence again.

I leaned back against the pillow. The bond still hurt in my chest, and my cheek still burned from Cassian’s slap, but for the first time, the pain did not force me back to where I had started.

Raven Hollow owed me more than an apology.

Cassian owed me more than regret that came too late.

This time, I would make them place the truth in front of everyone with their own hands.