Chapter 17 SIXTEEN
\[NYRA'S POV\]
The door creaks open, and Zora pokes her head in. She glances at us and a weird expression crosses her face. “Did I interrupt anything?"
Behind me, Riven groans, his hands retreating from my breasts and thighs. I almost cry at the loss of his touch.
When no one says anything, Zora opens the door wider and steps in the room. She takes a seat opposite Keiran and places the file she has on the table.
" I got all the documents, past records and paperwork you asked for,” she announces. " Took me a lot of begging to get Ronald to agree to this.”
“What did you find?" Kade asks, voice dripping with impatience.
“Well," she begins. “The Dark Alpha's woman is actually Isolde Cullen, former Luna of the White moon pack and wife of the late Alpha Jonas.”
" I don't get it. If she was or is Alpha Xorus's woman, then how did she marry Alpha Jonas?” Riven asks the question I had in mind ever since I heard my mother is the Dark Alpha's mate.
His mate!!
“My question is, how did Alpha Jonas survive that long when Xorus didn't waste a minute to kill him. I mean that's quite a surprise, given he didn't waste any time killing Nervayes,” Kade asks and Zoya shrugs.
“I don't have an answer to that, I'm afraid." Zoya's expression turns pensive for a while. " Maybe Isolde was protecting her husband?”
Lucien sneers. " Honestly, I don't think that's the point here. Nervayes was a sorcerer and wouldn't have needed any protection from anyone, especially Isolde.”
“Zoya, do some more digging. We need to know the details if we are going against the Dark Alpha," Keiran says and Zoya nods.
She gathers the files back into a neat stack, nods once, and rises from her chair. “I’ll start with the White Moon archives and see if anything was altered or erased. If Isolde was involved in hiding Jonas from Xorus, there’ll be traces.”
“Make it fast,” Kade says. “We don’t have the luxury of time.”
Zoya shoots him a look. “You try bribing archivists who think the Dark Alpha is a myth and get back to me.” Then she turns toward the door. “I’ll report back as soon as I find something… useful.” She pauses, glancing at me briefly—sympathy flickering in her eyes—before leaving.
The door clicks shut.
Silence settles over the room like a heavy cloak.
I clear my throat. “Okay. So let me get this straight. My mother was married to one Alpha, mated to another, possibly protecting one from the other, and somehow managed to keep all of this buried?” I let out a short, humorless laugh. “Because apparently my life needed more complications.”
Riven huffs softly behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder. “You’re handling this better than I expected.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I mutter. “I’m still processing the part where my mother’s love life might trigger the apocalypse.”
Lucien straightens from the window, arms crossing over his chest. “There’s something else you should know.” His gaze locks on Keiran. “The timeline doesn’t add up unless Isolde willingly severed the mate bond.”
My stomach drops. “She did what?”
Keiran’s jaw tightens. “A forced or broken mate bond is rare. Painful. Dangerous. Sometimes fatal.” His eyes flick to me. “If she did that, it means she chose Jonas… or chose to protect something more important than herself.”
“Or someone,” Riven adds quietly.
The room feels smaller all of a sudden. “So you’re saying my mother might’ve broken a divine bond,” I say slowly, “fooled the Dark Alpha, married another man, and somehow survived long enough to give birth to me.”
Kade scoffs. “Sounds about right.”
I twist in Riven’s lap to glare at him. “You could at least pretend this isn’t insane.”
“I never pretend,” he replies flatly. “But if Isolde truly broke the bond, Xorus wouldn’t have been able to sense her. That would explain why Jonas lived as long as he did.”
Lucien nods. “And why Xorus is obsessed with finding the Lunar Heir. If he lost his mate once, he won’t lose her legacy.”
My chest tightens. “So I’m not just some weapon to him. I’m… leverage.”
“Or redemption,” Keiran says, his voice softer than usual.
I swallow hard, Lyric stirring uneasily inside me. This keeps getting better, I think bitterly. Out loud, I say, “And if my mother is still alive?”
The brothers exchange looks.
Keiran finally speaks. “Then she’s either the most dangerous woman in this war… or the key to ending it.”
Riven’s arms tighten around me, grounding. “Either way, you’re not facing this alone.”
I lean back against him, exhaling slowly. “Good. Because if I meet my mother after all this time and she turns out to be half the reason the world’s on fire—” I pause, a sharp smile curving my lips. “...someone’s going to have a very uncomfortable conversation.”
Riven smirks. “That’s my Luna.”
Lucien rolls his eyes, but there’s the faintest hint of amusement there.
And for the first time since Zoya walked in, the tension in the room shifts—not gone, not even eased—but steadied.
Whatever secrets my mother buried, they’re clawing their way to the surface now.
And so is the truth about me.
Keiran's phone rings, bringing an end to the peaceful silence. He picks it up and turns on the speaker.
“Speak," he orders whoever is at the other end.
" My Alpha, we found Isolde. She's been spotted in Chicago.”