Chapter Five
Selene’s POVE
The fue crackled low. My skin was clammy with sweat, the lever still clinging to me like smoke. Kade hadn’t moved from where he sat across the cave, knife laid beside him, aims crossed over his chest like he was holding himself together?
He knew where my cousin. Was
The words spun through my mind like a broken chant impossible Impossible. Impossible But Kade had said it with the weight of someone who wasn’t lying. And now that the shock had settled in my bones, other things clawed to the surface K
The wolfsbane. The numbness in my chest. The emptiness where my wolf should have been ⠀
I closed my eyes. Tried to breathe I sat alone, curled beneath the heavy fur pelt, staring into the flames until the flickering light blurred: And still, she didn’t speak My well!!
She hadn’t stimed since I collapsed. I could sense her–dim and far away, like a whisper behind thick glass. We were bonded, blood and bone. But the wolfsbane had cracked us apart, left us limping through separate shadows ||
And I was terrified I’d lost her for good.
I closed my eyes. Focused on the shape of her presence in my mind. She used to move with me, inside me, like breath–fierce, wild, warm. A flame that refused to be extinguished.
Now she was a flicker. A fading echo
Please, I begged in silence. Come back to me. I need you}}
At first, nothing Then–A spark.A flutter Then pain
I gasped, curling in as a searing bolt lanced through my firelight dimmed behind the agony flooding my senses |
And then–A vision. Not mine. Hers..
skull, like claws taking
raking across my thoughts. My hands gripped the for. The
A memory bled through–half–broken, jogged. One we’d both buried Lyra My cousin.”
She was in a clearing, bathed in moonlight, Laughing. Eyes lit up with that look, she always
swore when she’d made up her mind. When she believed she was choosing freedom.
I’d known she’d left her mate–Ronan–and their children. Ed known she ran off with the wolf she claimed to love. She had told me herself. She hadn’t apologized. She’d said it was her right to choose her own path,
And I believed her But now I saw the rest.X
He was there–tall, dark–haired, lean, A stranger whose name she’d never shared. He held her gently at first. Kissed her knuckles. Whispered promises that curled like smoke.X
But the shadows clung too closely to him.
And Lyra–she smiled, but her shoulders stayed stiff. Her laughter never reached her eyes.
Then came the shift.A flicker in his expression. A smile that chilled
He caught her chin. Just a little too hard. Just long enough to make her blink.
My wolf growled low in warning, even from the depths of her weakness.X
The man’s eyes–black Bottomless. No shine. No reflection
No soul
The wind around them went still. The trees leaned in, holding their breath.
Then he turned–slowly–and looked directly into me!!
Through the memory My wolf froze He knows we’re watching, I thought. The vision shattered.X
I sat up with a jerk, heart pounding, hands shaking.
Kade was there in an instant. “What is it?“!
“I saw her. I saw Lyra”
He stilled “What did you see?“;
I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to slow the hammering inside. “I always knew she left Ronan. The triplets. Everyone. She said she
“And now?” he asked, voice light
“Now I think she chose a hei
Kade’s jaw tensed. “What did he look like?
“I didn’t see his full face. Just his eyes. Like voids. Like something wearing a man’s skin“i
He swore under his breath You’ve seen him
“No,” I whispered. “But I think he’s seen me.”
My wolf stirred faintly. Not with words–just raw, instinctive fear
“Rogues speak of him,” Kade said after a pause. “A shadow walker. No scent. No heartbeat Seduces, consumes. Some say he isn’t of
“Rogues speak of him,” Kade said after a pause. “A shadow–walker. N No scent No heartbeat. Seduces, consumes. Some say he isn’t of this world
I clenched my fists. “You think he has her?“%
“I think she went to him freely,” he said, “but I doubt she’s free now!
“She always thought love would save her.” My voice cracked. “But maybe she just ran into a different kind of prison.”
Kade reached out. Not to touch–but to anchor
“She’s alive,” I said, a spark of steel under my grief. “And if she is–she’s in danger. Real danger.”
“You’re still healing,” he reminded me. “If you go after her like this, you won’t come back.“!
“Then help me get strong ”
His eyes held mine. I will“X
“But no more lies,” I said. “You have to tell me everything.”
He hesitated. Then nodded once. Then you need to know–he’s not the only one watching you.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“Someone else knows you’re alive. And they don’t want Lyra back. They want her replaced.””
“Why?”
“Because the lie they built around her disappearance? It’s bigger than either of us. And you waking up just broke their perfect little story.”
I swallowed hard, a chill blooming in my gut
My cousin wasn’t dead. She might not even be free. But I wasn’t broken either Just bent.
I looked down at my trembling hands. Then at the mouth of the cave–at the darkness waiting beyond its
It was time to become something they couldn’t bury.!!
It was time to rise.
