Are you finally considering giving this bond a chance

"You should start taking care of yourself, my lady," Penny said softly, as she helped Lyra clean herself. Her voice held a touch of warmth, a surprising contrast to the tension that often clouded their lives. Penny couldn't help but notice the strange turn of events: the Alpha, usually so distant and cold, had shown a rare, unexpected concern for Lyra. Penny wanted nothing more than happiness for both of them, though she wondered if Casian's attention might be a blessing or a curse.

Lyra glanced over her shoulder, her eyes meeting Penny's before she slowly turned to face her. Her thoughts were still clouded, and the newfound bond with Casian was both a gift and a mystery. She now understood how the Alpha seemed to know her so well—how he could read her mind. She wasn't sure if it was his strength, his power as Alpha, or the bond they shared as mates, but she felt it deeply now: Casian could hear her, even when she was silent.

Her gaze held Penny's, but Lyra didn't voice the storm of .thoughts swirling within her. She was still processing ever.ything—her fear of the future, the inexplicable connection she had with Casian, and the strange vulnerability she had witnessed in him. There was so much she couldn't say, so much she h.adn't yet figured out about herself or him.

After finishing the rest of her errands, Penny gently applied the medicine to Lyra's wounds. Lyra winced at the sting, but didn't pull away. The quiet intimacy of the moment was oddly comforting. Penny's hands were gentle, and she worked with the care of someone who understood pain, even if she had never experienced it in the same way.

"My lady, what are these scars on your back?" Penny asked, her voice quiet but laced with curiosity. She had seen the marks before, but it was only now, in the privacy of the chamber, that she felt bold enough to ask. She didn't mean to push, but something in Lyra's eyes made her want to understand.

Lyra let out a deep, weary sigh. Her back tensed, and she instinctively pulled away, the memories of those days flooding her thoughts. She didn't want to remember the torment she had endured at the hands of her stepmother and her children, but the scars—the physical reminders—were ever-present. They had been burned into her skin, not just by the abuse but by the hopelessness of those years.

Penny hesitated, seeing the pain flicker in Lyra's eyes. She didn't want to press further, but her concern for the girl she had come to care for was too strong to ignore.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Penny continued softly, her voice soothing. "But please, don't let yourself be harmed again. There are some threats out there… threats that are trying to invade Shadow Pack territory. Now that someone has caught wind of your presence in the Alpha's life, they'll likely come after you." Penny paused, allowing her words to sink in. "The Alpha won't be able to protect you all the time. Please, be careful."

Lyra's chest tightened at the mention of danger. The reality of her situation was beginning to set in—her life had just become infinitely more complicated. She wasn't just Casian's mate; she was a target. The thought was suffocating, but Lyra knew Penny was right. She needed to protect herself, even if it meant facing the ghosts of her past.

***

[Casian's Study]

"I don't think they will ever want her back, since they were the ones who sold her," Darius's deep voice sliced through the heavy silence. He tried to peer into his Alpha's thoughts, but it was futile—Casian had skillfully masked his emotions, a trait that made him nearly impossible to read.

Casian sat at the large oak desk, his fingers running over the edge of a map, but his mind was elsewhere. The news about Lyra weighed on him, a burden he couldn't shake. She wasn't born mute, as everyone believed—her silence was the result of trauma, a wound far deeper than anyone had ever guessed. While Darius and the rest of the pack had no idea what caused it, Casian felt a grim understanding. He could see the cracks in her history—the pieces that had been deliberately hidden.

Lyra's bloodline was a curse in itself. As the illegitimate daughter of Alpha Norman of Moonveil Pack, born of an omega, she had been branded with the title of "worthless" from the moment she drew her first breath. But it wasn't just her muteness that set her apart—it was the absence of her wolf, the hollow emptiness that was as obvious as it was damning. At eighteen, when most omegas were embraced by their wolves, Lyra had been left adrift in the void, unable to shift. Her failure to claim her wolf had sealed her fate as an outcast.

Norman, for all his status, would have tolerated a mute omega daughter. But an omega without a wolf? That was something unthinkable—something that marked her as less than nothing in his eyes. Lyra had never stood a chance.

Casian's jaw clenched, the ache in his chest growing stronger. He'd never known the full extent of her suffering, but now, he could sense it. He had always been quick to judge, quick to see weakness in others, but now that he had a glimpse of her past, he wondered just how much of her silence was truly her choice—and how much was forced upon her by a world that had rejected her from the very start.

He stood up abruptly, the chair scraping harshly against the floor as he paced to the window, staring out into the night. His mind churned with conflicting thoughts. He had won her at the auction. She had been forced into his world, into his pack. But now, Casian found himself questioning everything—questioning whether the bond that had been forced upon them was a curse or a chance for something deeper.

Darius watched him carefully, sensing the shift in Casian's mood, but he said nothing. There were no words for this kind of pain, this kind of reckoning.

"Should we still proceed with our previous plan?" Darius asked after a long pause, his voice breaking the silence in the study. Casian's gaze snapped to him, sharp and focused.

"No," Casian said firmly, his voice cold as ice. "She won't go back there. Not when they'll only find another way to get rid of her."

The thought of sending Lyra back to the very people who had discarded her made his blood boil. The idea of her going back to that place, to her family who had abandoned her, was unthinkable. For a fleeting moment, Casian had considered it—sending her back, letting her go where she clearly wanted to be. But now he understood the truth: it wasn't a choice. It was a trap.

Darius, watching his Alpha closely, raised an eyebrow. "Then what do you plan to do? Are you finally considering giving this bond a chance?"

The question hung in the air, a silent challenge. Darius's gaze was filled with something like hope, but there was a dangerous edge to it, too. He wanted to see Casian embrace his mate, to see him accept the bond that was now a part of him. But the storm in Casian's eyes stopped him short.

Casian's lips tightened into a thin line, and the room seemed to freeze in that moment. "You know that's never going to happen, Darius." His tone was hard, final—there was no room for argument.

Darius's face darkened, the hope draining from his expression. Casian had found his mate, the one who was meant for him, yet he refused to accept her. No matter what Lyra had endured, no matter the bond that was now tied between them, Casian could not, and would not, bring himself to welcome it.

The tension in the room thickened, and Darius knew better than to press further. Casian's heart was a locked fortress, one that had been shattered too many times to ever open again.

"I'll handle it," Casian muttered, turning away from Darius's searching gaze. His voice was as cold as the air outside, and his mind was already turning to the next step.

Darius nodded slowly, but there was a flicker of doubt in his eyes.