Chapter 29 TWENTY EIGHT
(NYRA'S POV)
“Alphas, we've searched everywhere and still couldn't find her," the Sentinel reports, head bowed, not daring to look Keiran or the others in the eye. “The wards are still intact, there's been no sign of a break in."
The words land like stones. My pulse begins to pound, hard and uneven.
Keiran doesn’t move at first. He just stands there, utterly still, like a storm deciding where to strike.
“Define everywhere,” he says at last, voice deceptively calm.
“All residential wings. The eastern towers. The lower crypts. The training grounds. The shadow corridors.” The Sentinel swallows. “Even the sealed passages beneath the castle.”
Lucien’s shadows lash out, scraping along the stone floor. “She didn’t walk out,” he says coldly. “I would’ve felt it.”
Riven’s jaw tightens. His hand clenches at his side. “Her scent ends at the north stairwell,” he says. “Like she vanished mid-step.”
My stomach drops.
“That’s not possible,” I whisper. “I…”
Keiran’s eyes snap to me. “Nyra.”
Before I can answer, the doors to the Enchantment Hall fly open.
Zoya storms in, braid half-undone, breath uneven like she’s been running. Her eyes sweep the room once before locking on Keiran.
“Alpha,” she says quickly. “The portal tracker just activated.”
Silence slams down hard.
Lucien straightens. “That tracker hasn’t gone off in decades.”
“Because no one’s used a portals in decades,” Zoya replies grimly. “It only responds to high-output jumps. Realm-class portals.”
Riven turns sharply. “When.”
She checks the device in her hand, runes still glowing faintly. “Roughly ten minutes ago.”
My heart lurches violently. “Ten minutes?” I echo. “That’s when I felt that pull.”
Every head in the room snaps toward me.
Keiran’s gaze sharpens. “What pull.”
I swallow. “Like something hooked into me and tugged. It wasn’t pain. It was… familiar. Like magic recognizing magic.”
Lucien’s expression darkens. “That rules out a random abduction.”
Zoya nods. “Portals leave residue. Whoever opened it knew exactly who, or what, they were reaching for.”
Riven takes a step toward me, his voice low and dangerous. “You’re saying someone opened an interdimensional portal.”
“Yes,” Zoya says. “And that’s the problem.”
Keiran turns to her slowly. “Explain.”
“The tracker didn’t log a destination,” she says. “Only an origin.”
My breath stutters. “Meaning?”
“Meaning the portal wasn’t opened from here,” Lucien finishes. “It was opened for here.”
The room seems to tilt.
Kade curses under his breath. “That shouldn’t even be possible unless…”
“Unless the person on the other side has something that resonates with her,” Keiran says quietly. “Blood, magic, or even a fragment.”
My skin prickles.
“The crest, ” I whisper holding up the crest Zoya handed to me “
Zoya’s face tightens. “If they have a similar piece… they can lock onto her frequency. Pull her through without ever breaching the wards.”
Riven’s control finally cracks. “Then we find the portal trace and tear it open.”
Zoya hesitates. “That’s not the worst part.”
Keiran’s eyes harden. “Zoya.”
She lifts the device slightly. “The tracker also recorded a secondary spike.”
Lucien’s shadows freeze.“What kind of spike?” he asks.
Zoya meets my eyes, apology flickering there.
“A counter-signature,” she says. “Old, lunar, maternal.”
The word hits harder than any blade.
Keiran exhales slowly. “Isolde.”
The room erupts at once.
“She wouldn’t—” Riven starts.
“She disappeared once before, faking her death” Lucien snaps. “And now the same thing. How sure are we, that Nyra isn't in danger?”
My chest tightens painfully. “No,” I whisper. “She wouldn’t take me. She came back to protect me.”
Zoya’s voice is softer now. “Or to spy on you.
The implication settles like poison.
Keiran turns to the Sentinel. “Seal the castle. Full lockdown.”
His gaze returns to me, fierce and unyielding.
“If a portal was opened using her mother’s signature,” he says, “then this isn’t just an abduction.”
Lucien’s eyes burn silver in the low light. “It’s a summon.”
“Now that you've been marked by the Voidsteel, there's a high chance of him getting to you," Kade says, his voice a silent warning.
Riven turns to me and takes hold of my arms. “Right now, anyone can be a suspect. Your mother is not excluded, so please be careful and don't act foolishly."
\~~~
" I don't understand it, Lyric. If no one took mom forcefully, then how did they convince her to leave?”
Lyric hums lowly in my head. “I'm confused as well."
Lyric is never confused. She senses, she knows, she feels the truth in things long before logic ever catches up.
“You felt her, didn’t you?” I press. “Her wolf. The bond you’ve always sensed.”
“Yes,” Lyric answers without hesitation. “It was her. Or… something wearing her shape very convincingly.”
I stop pacing.
“Wearing her shape?” My chest tightens. “You said it was her.”
“I said I sensed her wolf,” Lyric corrects gently. “But wolves can be bound. Suppressed, masked. Especially when someone like Xorus is confirmed.”
A cold thread of dread coils in my stomach.
“You think she was compelled?”
Lyric goes quiet for a moment, her presence shifting uneasily. “No. If she had been forced through a portal, you would’ve felt distress, panic and resistance. You felt none of that.”
I squeeze my eyes shut.
“So she went willingly.”
“Yes,” Lyric confirms softly. “But not freely.”
That distinction sends a shiver through me.
“What does that even mean?”
“It means someone showed her something,” Lyric says. “Or promised her something. Or threatened something she values more than herself.”
My hands curl into fists. “Me.”
Lyric doesn’t deny it.
“She ran before to keep you safe,” Lyric continues. “If she believed leaving again would protect you—truly protect you—she would do it without hesitation.”
My mother’s eyes flash in my mind. Fear. Resolve. Quiet devastation.
“But why now?” I whisper. “Why show up just to disappear again?”
“Because the board has shifted,” Lyric replies.
I frown. “What board?”
“You,” she answers simply. “You’ve awakened. Your power surged. You intervened with Voidsteel.”
My breath catches.
“And now?” I ask.
“And now,” Lyric says, voice heavy with certainty, “you’re no longer the piece they’re moving.”
“You’re the one they’re afraid of. Xorus has been searching for you for a while now and there's no way, he'll just let you slip.”
Something flashes in my head while she's talking, almost like a vision. I must alert the others.
I run out of the room, ignoring Lyric’s questions.