Chapter 29
Draven’s POV
I never believed ghosts could smell like rain.
But when I’d dragged Lyra away from that cursed grave marker, the faint scent clinging to her was the same one I’d buried thirteen years ago in the wet earth of Solas lands. Seraphina’s scent..violets and storm wind, fading into ash.
The council chamber reeked of anger when I stepped inside. Elder Thorne’s voice, sharp as a blade, cut through the air.
“Your weakness will destroy this pack, Draven,” Thorne snarled. “The girl is dangerous. She’s luring rogues into our borders. She must be exiled—before she kills us all.”
My hands curled around the edge of the table until the oak groaned. “You will not speak of her that way again.”
Thorne met my gaze without flinching. He was one of the few who still dared. “Then you’re blinded. Just like you were thirteen years ago.”
The words landed like a fist to the ribs. Everyone knew what he meant, though no one spoke Seraphina’s name. Not here. Not to me.
I leaned forward, low and calm. “Choose your next words carefully, Thorne. You are treading on ground I will not forgive.”
A ripple of unease passed through the council. Beta Dorian shifted uncomfortably at my side, eyes darting between us like he was calculating how to stop bloodshed. But Thorne…Thorne only smiled, the kind of smile that says he’s playing a longer game.
“I’ll say it plainly,” he said. “That girl is cursed. And if you can’t see it, then you’re unfit to lead.”
I slammed my palm down so hard the lanterns rattled. “Enough. I don’t need your permission to lead this pack.”
He didn’t argue. He didn’t have to. That smug glint in his eyes told me he’d already planted the seed of doubt in everyone’s mind.
⸻
That night I didn’t sleep. Couldn’t. Lyra’s voice kept echoing in my head: I’m not Seraphina.
No—she wasn’t. Seraphina was fire and steel, not this stubborn girl with untrained power and wide, reckless eyes. And yet…when she’d stood between me and Elias today, fearless and trembling all at once, I’d seen Seraphina’s defiance burn through her like a brand.
By midnight I’d given up pacing the halls and followed the scent of damp pine into the woods. No guards. No torches. Just me and the darkness.
The shrine wasn’t hard to find..Lyra had left her scent like breadcrumbs. A crumbling stone altar, half-choked with ivy, and at its base a charred plank etched with the name I’d sworn never to hear again.
Seraphina Solas.
My chest tightened. I remembered lowering that coffin into the earth myself, the weight of rain on my shoulders, the way my mother’s voice broke as she blessed the grave. Except this wasn’t where we’d buried her. This shrine was old, forgotten. And someone had marked it with the same rogue sigils Elias reported.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, crouching to trace the half-burned carving.
Why here? Why her? Was this a warning…or a message meant only for me?
The night wind shifted, and with it came a phantom of her laugh..light, teasing, cruel in how real it felt. I jerked upright, scanning the trees. Nothing but shadows.
But my heart was pounding too fast for nothing.
Is she alive? The thought came unbidden, insane. I’d seen Seraphina’s body. I’d sealed the lid myself. And yet Lyra’s face, Lyra’s scent..it clawed at me like an open grave.
“Get a hold of yourself,” I growled.
But I didn’t leave. I stood there for what felt like hours, the cold seeping into my bones, trying to make sense of the impossible. If Thorne knew something about this…about her death…
No. I’d tear it out of him.
The next morning I found Thorne alone in the war room, hunched over a map of the borderlands.
“Still moving your little pieces around?” I asked, stepping into the doorway.
He stiffened but didn’t turn. “If you’re here to threaten me again, Alpha, save your breath. My loyalty is to the pack, not your whims.”
“Funny,” I said, circling to face him. “That loyalty of yours smells a lot like ambition.”
His mouth tightened. “Say what you came to say.”
I leaned in, voice soft but edged like broken glass. “What do you know about Seraphina’s death?”
For the first time, he blinked. Just once. But I saw it..the flash of something dark, something guilty.
“Careful, Draven,” he murmured. “Some ghosts are best left buried.”
My hand shot out, gripping his throat before I even thought about it. “Answer me.”
The old wolf didn’t flinch, though his pulse thundered beneath my fingers. “You’re chasing shadows. And if you’re not careful, the pack will see you as weak. Do you want that? Do you want them to whisper that you’ve lost your edge over some girl who smells like your dead mate?”
My vision went red for a heartbeat. I wanted to crush his windpipe. Instead I let go, shoving him back against the table hard enough to scatter his map pieces.
“This is your last warning, Thorne,” I said, voice shaking with the effort to keep it level. “Stay out of my way. And stay away from Lyra. If I even suspect you’ve laid a hand on her—”
“You’ll do what?” His tone was mocking now, but I caught the faint rasp in his breath where my grip had been. “Kill me? Go ahead. See how fast the council tears you apart.”
I left before I did something I’d regret. But as I slammed the door behind me, one thing was clear: Thorne knew more than he’d ever admit in public.
⸻
That night I returned to the shrine alone, standing in the moonlight where Lyra had stood. The forest was silent except for the wind hissing through the pines.
If Lyra was being used as a scapegoat, then Thorne and whoever was marking these symbols wanted her gone. Maybe dead.
I clenched my fists. I’d buried Seraphina once. I wouldn’t do it again..not even if Lyra wasn’t her. Not even if protecting her meant turning the whole damn pack against me.
“I’ll keep you safe,” I muttered to the empty woods. “Even if it kills me.”
The vow settled like iron in my chest. Whatever game Thorne was playing, whatever secrets this shrine held..it didn’t matter. Lyra was under my protection now. And if anyone tried to take her from me…
The moon broke through the clouds, lighting up Seraphina’s name one last time before shadow swallowed it again.
I turned and walked back toward the fortress, heart pounding with rage and something I refused to name.