Chapter 72 Wild Lessons
LIRA POV
I didn't wait for dawn.
The moment I heard Kael's footsteps fade down the corridor toward wherever Mira waited, I was moving. My hands shook as I threw clothes into a pack—not the Luna gowns he'd given me, but practical hunting gear I'd stolen from the armory weeks ago.
Just in case I ever needed to run.
"You're really doing this?" Selwyn's voice was steady in my mind, no judgment. Just quiet support.
"I can't watch him choose her again." I grabbed my mother's journal from its hiding place. "I won't."
The window opened silently. I'd practiced this escape route a dozen times in my head, during those long nights when Kael's indifference cut too deep to bear.
Now I finally had reason to use it.
The drop to the garden below was twenty feet. I landed in a crouch, cushioning my fall just enough to keep bones from breaking. Pain still jolted through my ankles, but I welcomed it.
Physical pain was easier than the agony in my chest.
I ran.
Through the packhouse gardens, past the training grounds where I'd proven myself in combat. Past the luna quarters where I'd bled out while my mate attended his pregnant lover.
Past everything that had promised sanctuary and delivered only suffering.
The forest swallowed me whole.
"Lira, wait." Ryn's voice called from the shadows.
I spun, flames coating my hands. He stood between two ancient oaks, a pack slung over his shoulder.
"I'm not going back." My voice came out flat. "Don't try to stop me."
"I'm not here to stop you." He stepped forward carefully. "I'm here to come with you."
"What?"
"You think I'm going to let you run into the wilderness alone?" His smile was sad. "After everything we've survived together?"
"Ryn, you can't. The pack"
"The pack can deal without me for a while." He moved closer. "But you shouldn't be alone, not like this."
Through the bond, I felt Kael realize I was gone. Felt his panic surge. Good, at least let him feel a fraction of what I'd endured.
"We need to move." I turned toward the deep forest. "Before he tracks us."
We ran together through the darkness, Ryn matching my pace easily. He'd always been faster than he looked, more capable than anyone gave him credit for.
Like me. The bond screamed as Kael realized I'd actually left. His alpha command crashed through our connection, trying to force me back. I severed it brutally, walls slamming down between us.
The sudden silence was deafening.
"How far do you plan to go?" Ryn asked as we crossed into unclaimed territory.
"As far as it takes." I vaulted over a fallen log. "Until I can't feel him anymore, until I'm just me again."
We traveled for hours, putting miles between us and Darkfang. The bond pulsed weakly now, stretched thin by distance.
But I could still feel him. Still felt his desperation, his rage, his guilt.
Dawn found us at an abandoned hunter's cabin deep in neutral territory. The door hung crooked on rusted hinges, windows broken and overgrown with vines.
"Home sweet home." Ryn pushed inside, checking for threats. "Could use some work."
"It's better than the cellar." I dropped my pack, exhaustion hitting me all at once. "And no one telling me I'm not good enough."
"You were always good enough." He started clearing debris from the main room. "Kael's just an idiot who can't see what's in front of him."
I sank onto a dusty chair, my body finally giving out. The adrenaline that had carried me this far evaporated, leaving only bone-deep weariness.
"I almost died for him." The words came out whisper-soft. "Literally died of heartbreak while he worried about her comfort."
Ryn knelt in front of me, his hands gentle on my knees. "Then he doesn't deserve you, it is as simple as that."
"The bond doesn't care what he deserves." I touched my chest where the connection pulsed weakly. "It just keeps pulling me back toward him."
"So we'll stay out here until you're strong enough to resist it." He squeezed my hands. "However long that takes."
"What if I'm never strong enough?" The question terrified me. "What if I'm always going to be that desperate girl begging for scraps?"
"You won't be." His voice was fierce. "Because I'm going to teach you to hunt, to fight, to survive without anyone. Even him."
"I already know how to fight." I gestured at my scarred hands. "I won the combat trial, remember?"
"Fighting in a ring with rules is different from surviving in the wild." He stood, pulling me up with him. "Out here, there's no referee. No pack to back you up, just you and your wolf."
"And you." I managed a weak smile.
"And me." He agreed. "Now rest. We'll start training at sunset."
I curled up on a relatively clean patch of floor, using my pack as a pillow. Sleep came reluctantly, filled with dreams of eyes and accusations I couldn't answer.
When I woke, Ryn had transformed the cabin. The windows were covered with salvaged boards, a fire crackled in the restored hearth, and he'd laid out supplies like a proper camp.
"How long was I asleep?" I sat up, disoriented.
"Six hours." He handed me dried meat and water. "Eat. Then we train."
"Train what exactly?"
"Everything Darkfang never taught you." He grinned. "Starting with how to truly be one with your wolf."
"Selwyn and I are already connected." I took a bite of the meat, my stomach growling. "We shifted together, fought together."
"But have you let her lead?" His eyes gleamed with challenge. "Have you trusted her instincts completely, without your human mind interfering?"
I hadn't. Even during my first shift, even when Selwyn's power had saved us, I'd maintained control, i had refused to fully surrender to her wildness.
"That's what I thought." Ryn headed for the door. "Come on. Time to meet your wolf properly."
We walked deep into the forest, away from any pack territories. The bond with Kael grew fainter with each step.
"Now shift." Ryn commanded. "And this time, let Selwyn have complete control."
"What if she"
"What if she's exactly what you need?" He started removing his clothes, preparing for his own shift. "Stop being afraid of your own power, Lira. That's what they wanted, what they all wanted."
He was right. Everyone from Garrick to Kael had taught me to fear my strength, to suppress the very thing that made me dangerous.
No more.
I stripped efficiently and called to Selwyn. She came eagerly, surging forward with joy.
This time, I didn't hold the reins.
The shift was different when I let go. Faster, smoother, more natural. My wolf form settled around me like a second skin, and suddenly the world exploded with new sensations.
"Good." Ryn's wolf appeared beside me, brown and sturdy. "Now run. Don't think, just run."
Selwyn took off like a silver arrow. Trees blurred past, the forest floor soft beneath my paws. I could smell everything—rabbits in their burrows, deer miles away, the faint scent of water to the east.
This was freedom.
For hours, we ran. Selwyn hunted, bringing down a rabbit with efficient intensity. She played, wrestling with Ryn's wolf in a clearing. She explored, marking territory and learning the land.
And I let her. Just observed, learned, trusted.
When we finally shifted back at the cabin, I was covered in dirt and blood and grinning like a fool.
"That was incredible." I laughed, the sound rusty from disuse. "I've never felt anything like that."
"That's because you've never truly trusted yourself." Ryn handed me clean clothes. "You've spent your whole life waiting for permission to exist."
"Not anymore." I dressed quickly, energy still thrumming through me. "What's next?"
"Tomorrow, we hunt something bigger." His expression grew serious. "And you learn to kill without hesitation. Because the wolves tracking us won't show mercy."
"What wolves?"
"The ones Kael sent." He gestured toward the forest. "They've been circling for the past hour. Keeping their distance, but watching."
My newfound peace shattered. "He sent trackers?"
"Of course he did." Ryn stoked the fire. "You're his mate. He's not going to let you go without a fight."
"Then we'll fight." I moved to the window, scanning the darkness. "I'm done running from confrontation."
"Not tonight." He blocked my path. "Tonight, we rest and plan. Tomorrow, we deal with them."
But as I lay down that night, the bond suddenly flared to life. Not with Kael's presence, but with blinding pain.
He was hurt, badly hurt.
And despite everything, despite the betrayal and heartbreak, my first instinct was to run back to him.
"Lira, don't." Selwyn's warning came sharp. "It could be a trap."
"What if it's not?" I clutched my chest, his agony echoing through our connection. "What if he's actually dying?"
"Then that's his problem." Ryn grabbed my shoulders. "You can't save someone who keeps breaking you."
But through the bond, I felt something else. Something that made my blood run cold.
Not just pain. Not just injury.
Betrayal. Deep, soul-destroying betrayal.
And a single word that Kael screamed through our connection before the bond went completely silent:
"Lira—AMBUSH."
Then nothing. Just terrifying emptiness where he used to live in my mind.
"We have to go back." I was already grabbing my weapons. "Something's wrong. Something's really wrong."
"It's a trap." Ryn insisted. "They're using your bond to lure you."
"What if it's not?" I turned on him, flames dancing along my skin. "What if he actually needs me and I let him die because I was too proud to answer?"
"And what if you run into a trap and die?" He grabbed my wrist. "What then?"
I stared at the door, torn between self-preservation and the screaming need to help my mate. Even the mate who'd betrayed me. Even the mate who'd chosen everyone else over me. Because despite everything, some traitorous part of me still loved him.