Chapter 5

Pain laced through my body dull and deep like an old wound forced open. My breath came in shallow bursts, my limbs stiff against the cold earth. The world around me wavered, the edges of the trees blurring, as if I was caught between two realities.

The whispers still clung to my mind.

"You were never meant to lead the pack. You were meant to end it."

Zephyr's words curled inside me like poison threading doubt into the fabric of my thoughts. I wanted to tear them out, to shake off the weight of them but they had settled in deep, and I could feel them waiting, waiting for me to believe.

"Lyra."

Ryker's voice cut through the haze. A hand gripped my arm steady and grounding. His touch was warm despite the chill in the air, a tether pulling me back to the present.

I forced my gaze upward, his silver eyes burned into mine sharp with something unreadable. He was still crouched beside me, his grip firm but not unkind. Around us, the forest pulsed with tension, the pack lingered in the shadows their forms half-shifted, caught between human and beast.

And beyond them, Zephyr the warlock stood just beyond the clearing, his dark cloak shifting like smoke his presence an ink stain against the silver glow of the moon. The shadows coiled at his feet restless and hungry. He had not attacked, not yet, he didn't need to. His words had already struck deeper than any blade.

I pushed myself upright, shaking off Ryker's hold. My body ached, my head heavy with the remnants of whatever magic had dragged me into that void. But I would not let Zephyr see my weakness, I would not let him win.

"You think you can plant doubt in my mind and I'll come crawling to you?" My voice was raw, but steady. "You don't know me at all."

Zephyr's smile was slow, knowing. "Oh, but I do, Lyra."

His gaze flickered just for a moment to Ryker and something in his expression shifted, understanding, Calculating as if he had already seen the ending of a story I didn't yet know I was a part of.

Ryker moved then, stepping in front of me, his body angled toward Zephyr like a shield. His voice was low, dangerous. "This is not your fight, warlock."

Zephyr chuckled, the sound soft as silk. "That's where you're wrong, Alpha. This fight has been mine since before either of you were born."

The air between them crackled with tension, the weight of something unspoken pressing between them, something I wasn't seeing or something I wasn't meant to see. A slow, creeping unease unfurled in my chest. I turned to Ryker. "What does he mean?"

He didn't answer, didn't even look at me. My stomach twisted. I had come here seeking answers about my parents' deaths. I had thought the truth was simple, that the pack had betrayed them and revenge was the only path left to me.

But now, now, there was something else. A deeper secret, a hidden thread woven beneath the surface of it all and Ryker knew.

Zephyr tilted his head, as if amused by the silent exchange. "Ah," he murmured. "So she doesn't know yet."

He took a slow step forward, the shadows shifting with him.

"Tell me, Lyra," he continued, his voice like velvet. "Has your Alpha told you why your parents were killed?"

I froze, the world around me seemed to still, the trees holding their breath, the moonlight pressing down like a weight. Ryker's shoulders tensed and in that moment, I knew he had lied to me. Not with words, but with silence. My pulse thundered in my ears. My hands curled into fists at my sides. "Tell me the truth."

Ryker finally turned to me, his expression unreadable. His voice was quiet, but it carried like a blade.

"Not here."

I took a step back. "No. No more secrets." My breath hitched, my chest tight with something dangerously close to betrayal. "What are you hiding from me?"

A muscle in his jaw tightened. I turned and saw Zephyr smiling as if some kind of plan was accomplished. And then the warlock lifted his hands, a gust of wind slammed into the clearing, carrying the scent of fire and something darker, something ancient.

The shadows surged forward and the pack roared in response, bodies shifting, claws tearing into the earth.

Ryker grabbed my arm, yanking me backward. "Run."

And before I could protest, before I could demand answers the night erupted into chaos.

"Run". The word barely had time to register before the world exploded around me. A blast of dark energy slammed into the trees, splitting bark and sending embers spiraling into the night. The scent of burning wood filled the air, sharp and acrid, mixing with the raw musk of wolves shifting all around me. The pack was moving, flesh twisting, bones snapping, rushing to intercept the shadows that poured from Zephyr's fingertips like ink bleeding into water. But my feet wouldn't move, not when my mind was still burning with something hotter than fire. "Has your Alpha told you why your parents were killed?"

Zephyr's words echoed, looping through my head like a curse, thick with a truth I hadn't yet touched.