FORSAKEN MOON

Lyra

The world was a blur of shadows and golden light.

Lyra's heartbeat thundered in her ears as she forced her eyes to focus. The clearing came into view in pieces—twisting branches, patches of scorched grass, and the dark silhouette of Kade crouched beside her.

His hands were on her shoulders. Warm. Grounding. Too much.

She jerked away, scrambling back until her spine hit the gnarled base of a tree. Her chest heaved as her breath caught on the sob stuck in her throat.

"No—no, it wasn't a dream," she whispered, pressing her palms to her temples. "I saw it. I felt it."

"Lyra, talk to me," Kade said gently, but his voice sounded far away.

She barely registered him.

Flashes of the vision licked at the edge of her mind like flames: the screaming, the silver-eyed wolves, the woman's voice—they can't find her. Her mother.

Her mother, who had always told her they'd been cast out by accident. Her mother, who swore there was nothing unusual about their lineage, no secrets in their blood.

Lies.

"I saw them," she croaked. "My parents. They were running through fire. Holding me—wrapped in a blanket. I was a baby."

Kade's golden eyes widened, the bond pulsing sharply between them. "A memory? From them?"

"No. A vision. Like... like something unlocked it," she said, swallowing thickly. "I saw my mother's face. And my father—he called her Amaris. He was trying to protect us from something. From someone."

Kade stood slowly, tension rolling off him in waves. "Did you hear any names? See symbols, anything that stood out?"

"There was a sigil painted in blood on a burning door," Lyra whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "A crescent moon with three claws through it."

Kade stiffened.

"You know it," she said, voice hollow. "Don't lie."

"It's the mark of the Forgotten Fang," he admitted after a pause. "A faction that broke from the Lunar Council nearly two centuries ago. Most think they were wiped out."

"They weren't," she whispered. "They killed my parents. I think… I think they were after me."

Silence stretched between them, thick as fog.

Lyra gripped her arms as her skin prickled with a strange heat, her power coiling tighter and tighter inside her. A flower bloomed beside her foot—violet and vivid—then crumbled to ash a second later.

"I'm losing control," she muttered. "It's getting worse. I can't stop it."

Kade crouched in front of her, eyes searching hers. "You're not losing control. You're awakening. Whatever you are—it's connected to what they wanted to bury. Maybe even what they feared."

His nearness made her heart ache.

"You don't understand," she said. "It's not just energy. It's emotion. When I get overwhelmed, things around me die or bloom without meaning. It's chaos."

"That chaos saved your life last night," he said.

"Ronan nearly died."

Kade's jaw clenched. "That wasn't your fault."

"Isn't it?" Lyra stood unsteadily, every part of her vibrating with tension. "All my life I've been hiding. Pretending I was normal, letting my mother tell me fairy tales to keep me small and quiet. But I'm not small, am I?"

Kade rose with her. "No," he said. "You're not. You're fire and blood and magic."

His voice was rough with awe and something more—something hot and intimate.

And gods help her, she wanted him.

Even now. Even when she hated him.

He took a step closer. "You think I don't feel it too? This—" He placed a hand over his chest. "It hasn't stopped since the moment I scented you under that damn moon."

She swallowed hard. "Then why did you reject me?"

"Because I didn't want to be the reason you were hunted."

"Too late," she said bitterly.

His hand lifted to her cheek but hesitated. She leaned into it before she could stop herself.

It was stupid. Reckless.

But the pull between them was undeniable.

He touched her skin like she might vanish if he pressed too hard.

"You don't have to run from me anymore," he whispered. "Let me help you."

"I don't even know who I am," she breathed.

"Then let's find out—together."

Their mouths were inches apart.

And then—

A sharp snap of a branch behind them shattered the moment.

Lyra whirled, power surging in her blood.

A figure emerged from the trees—slim, sharp-eyed, and dressed in silver robes etched with the Lunar sigil.

Council.

Lyra's heart froze.

"Kade," the woman said coolly. "You were ordered to report back. Instead, I find you alone in the woods with her."

"Matriarch Elira," Kade greeted stiffly.

The woman's pale eyes flicked to Lyra. "You've made quite the mess, haven't you, girl?"

Lyra straightened her spine. "I'm not a girl. And I'm not the one setting traps and burning secrets."

Elira raised a brow. "We'll see how defiant you are when your memories finish resurfacing."

A jolt of fear skittered through Lyra's chest.

Kade moved between them. "She needs time. You can't force this."

Elira tilted her head. "I'm not here for force. I'm here for balance. And Lyra's awakening has shifted more than you know."

Lyra's fingers sparked with power.

"You want to leash me," she said. "Just like they did my parents."

"No," Elira said softly. "We want to decide if you're a threat."

Kade growled low in his throat. "She's not."

"But if she is…" Elira trailed off, then smiled. "We'll put her down before she burns the rest of us alive."

They were given one night.

One night to prepare, to decide whether Lyra would go willingly for Council testing—or fight.

That night, Celine returned with a small book—her mother's journal. Torn, singed, but intact.

By firelight, Lyra turned the pages, her hands trembling.

Each entry was a secret unburied.

The truth of her bloodline.

The power that lay dormant until her twenty-first moon.

The prophecy that marked her as either salvation… or ruin.

She read until the words blurred through tears.

And then she found the last page.

Written in her mother's script, in hurried strokes:

"If they ever find her, they will kill her. Unless the mark is broken. Unless the true mate chooses her—fully. Blood to blood. Heart to heart."

Lyra stared at the page, heart hammering.

True mate.

Kade.

She stood suddenly, breath shallow.

Because she wasn't just hunted.

She was bound.

And if the Council found out what the mark truly meant… if Kade did…

She didn't know if he would protect her or destroy her.