Chapter 18 SEVENTEEN
(NYRA’S POV)
“I'm confused, Lyric. I don't know how to process all this. I mean, some days ago I still had the knowledge that my mother is dead and now…”
Now I hear she's still alive and was once mated to some monstrous Alpha? Too much information to process at once.
After Keiran got the call about my mother, he instantly left saying he had to investigate further. He made me give them a description of my mother to which Lucien did a sketch before he left the castle without another word.
Riven insisted that I get some rest and take time to process everything. That's what led me to my room, spending hours trying to understand whatever is going on.
“Don't sweat Ny. Keiran's going to investigate and then we'll truly know if it's your mother."
I shake my head and rise to my feet.
As much as I would love to sulk and stay in my room, I have physical combat lessons with Kade. I reluctantly dress in a pair of combat wear that Zoya got for me and black leather boots before stepping out and heading to the training grounds.
Kade is standing there, facing the east hands in his pockets. My feet come to a stop and for some insane reason, I find myself admiring his stature. He's huge, no doubt there, and looks like some Viking.
As if sensing my presence, he ever so slowly turns around, running his hand through his already messy hair in the process.
“He's cute!" Lyric squeals.
“He's annoying," I tell her even though she's right, and he is cute. His tattoos peeking out from his shirt which he left half unbuttoned, muscles stretching his shirt and that signature smirk he always has on.
But what draws my attention is his eyes. They're not deep beautiful blue like before.
Nope.
They're pale, the color of the sky on a sunny day.
“What happened to your eyes?" The words find their way out before I can stop them.
He shrugs and takes a step towards me. “Pissed off the wrong people and they had to just poison me." He says it so casually, like he's talking about the weather or a walk in the park. I open my mouth to ask what happened but he shakes his head.
“Time to see if that fire in your eyes is in your fist as well. Try to take me down without using magic.”
I roll my eyes. Not like I know the magic enough to use them anyway, considering he's been using it all his life which has been for at least a century.
I scoff. “You know, for someone who almost died from poisoning, you’re surprisingly cocky.”
Kade’s smirk deepens. “Poison didn’t kill me, baby. You think you can try? I mean they'll definitely be grateful for helping them end such a menace.”
I don't ask who “they" are. Rather, I bare my teeth in what might pass for a smile. “Keep talking and I might actually try.”
He chuckles, slow and taunting, as he rolls his shoulders. “That’s the spirit. Come on, baby. Show me what you’ve got.”
I take my stance the way he taught me; feet apart, knees slightly bent, fists up. My body still feels too stiff, too aware of his presence. The man radiates menace and confidence like a second skin, and it’s irritating how much it messes with my focus.
He circles me lazily, hands still in his pockets.
Hands. Still. In. His. Pockets.
“You’re not even trying,” I snap.
“Oh, I am,” he says calmly. “I’m just giving you a head start.”
That does it.
I lunge.
I aim low, sweeping my leg the way he drilled into me yesterday. For a split second, I think I’ve got him, and till he pivots, catches my ankle mid-swing, and yanks.
I squeal—definitely not my proudest moment—as I hit the ground on my ass.
“First mistake,” Kade says mildly, crouching in front of me. “Telegraphing your move.”
I glare up at him. “First mistake was agreeing to train with you.”
He grins. “Second mistake was assuming I’d go easy on you.”
He offers a hand. I slap it away and scramble to my feet on my own. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
His eyes rake over me slowly, deliberately. “You look better angry. I should push your buttons all the time.”
“Yeah? How about I push you off a cliff."
His smirk grows. “Kinky. Didn't know you were into such stuff."
" You're insane.” I charge again, this time throwing a punch straight for his jaw. He blocks it with his forearm, barely moving, and counters with a light tap to my ribs that still knocks the air from my lungs.
I gasp. “Asshole!”
“Best compliment of the century,” he says cheerfully. “Again.”
I grit my teeth and attack harder this time, pure frustration fueling me. I manage to land a solid hit to his shoulder.
Victory flares, just for a second before he grabs my wrist, twists, and suddenly I’m face-down in the dirt with his knee pressing between my shoulder blades.
He leans down, mouth close to my ear. “Not bad,” he murmurs. “But you hesitate right before you strike. That’ll get you killed.”
I struggle, annoyed at how my pussy clenches from the close proximity. “Get off me, you pervert!”
“Really now?” He loosens his hold just enough to let me move. “I don't think I'm a pervert if you are my mate. One day you'll squirm for me like you did for Riven.”
I push him off me and he falls on the grass laughing. I'm about to tell him how much of a jerk he is when Riven's voice rings in my head.
“My office, now!"
\~~~
When we step into Riven's office, Keiran is on his feet, phone clenched in his hand, eyes gone cold. “Lock down the inner grounds,” he orders into the receiver. “Send word to the border patrols. Full alert.”
Kade grins beside me but there’s nothing amused about it. “Guess the Dark Alpha didn’t like us digging.”
Lucien pushes off the window where he stands shadows clinging to him like they’re alive. “He’s testing us.”
My stomach knots. “Testing… how?”
Keiran’s gaze snaps to me. “By attacking the borders. He wants to see how we respond. How fast. How strong.”
“And if we fail?” I ask.
His jaw flexes. “Then he knows we are not strong enough. He knows we have you, he just wants to see how easily he can get you.”
Lyric snarls inside me, restless and furious.
“Calm down, Lyric," I tell her softly.
“We need to be at the borders. The tribes there are in danger," Riven says.
We don’t teleport there, even though that would have been faster..
Keiran says it’s safer to move in waves, to avoid drawing too much attention. That doesn’t stop the sick feeling curling tighter in my gut as the land around us changes—lush forest thinning into scorched earth, the air growing thick with smoke and blood.
I smell it before I see it.
Death.
Burned wood. Iron. Fear.
The border packs is chaotic.
Houses are half-collapsed, blackened claw marks gouged into stone walls like something enormous dragged its nails through them.
Wolves—shadow wolves—are scrambling to evacuate survivors, some injured, some barely conscious.
And then there are the bodies.
My breath catches.
They’re not torn apart the way rogue attacks usually are.
No.
These wolves look… drained. Like something sucked the life straight out of them and left the shells behind.
“What the hell did this?” I whisper.
Lucien crouches beside one of the fallen, fingers hovering just above the corpse without touching. His expression darkens. “Wraith-bound soldiers.”
I flinch. “Say that again, but less terrifying?”
“They’re constructs,” he says grimly. “Dead things animated by dark magic. They don’t feel pain. They don’t stop unless destroyed completely.”
“And let me guess,” I mutter. “They’re his specialty.”
Kade cracks his neck. “He always liked his theatrics.”
A scream cuts through the air.
My head snaps up just in time to see one of the creatures—tall, wrong, its body stitched together with shadow—slam a patrol wolf through the remains of a wall.
Lyric surges. “NOW.”
I don’t argue this time.
Power floods my veins, sharp and bright and furious. My hands glow silver-white as I sprint forward, instinct guiding me more than thought.
I thrust my palm out.
The creature freezes mid-motion as moonlight wraps around it like chains, burning straight through the darkness animating it. It lets out a sound that isn’t a scream, but something close, before collapsing into ash.
I stare at my hand.
I did that!
Riven is beside me in a second, eyes blazing with pride and concern. “You okay?”
“Define okay,” I pant. “Because I just disintegrated a nightmare with my bare hands.”
“Hot,” Kade calls from somewhere to my left, slamming another wraith into the ground. “Terrifying, but hot.”
I flip him off without looking.
The fight doesn’t last long, but it’s brutal. The wraiths don’t retreat—they dissolve when destroyed, leaving behind a strange residue that hums with leftover magic.
And then… silence.
Too much of it.
The wind dies.
Every instinct in my body screams.
“He’s here,” Lyric growls.
I don’t see him, I don’t hear him, but I feel him.
The air shifts, pressure dropping like the world itself is bowing. The shadows stretch unnaturally long, pooling at the edge of the ruined village.
Keiran steps forward, voice carrying. “Xorus.”
The shadows ripple.
A presence presses against my mind—vast, ancient, cold.
A soft whisper, almost like Mom's lullabies. My knees buckle
Lucien grips my arm, grounding me. “Don’t listen to him,” he murmurs. “He’s trying to manipulate you.”
“You know that's not true," a whisper curls through my thoughts. Soft like Mom's voice
Riven snarls, pulling me closer. “Get out of her head.”
The voice laughs in my head.
A shape forms at the far end of the village, not solid, not whole. Just an outline of something tall and broad, crowned with curling darkness.
I try to focus, to see his face, but he doesn't really have one.
“This is a warning, Xorus.” Keiran says coldly. “You won’t have her.”
The presence in my mind chuckles.
“She will come to me.” The voice is audible and coming from outside my head this time.
My heart slams against my ribs. No, the hell I won’t.
The shadows begin to withdraw, peeling back like a tide retreating.
Before they fully disappear, something drops to the ground at the center of the village.
A pendant.
Silver, cracked down the middle.
My breath leaves me in a rush. It's too familiar
“That’s…” I swallow. “That’s my mom's.”
I stare at the pendant, moonlight glinting off its fractured surface.
As the shadows vanish completely, the wind returns—howling through the ruins like a promise.
Or a threat.
I straighten, power humming under my skin.
If the Dark Alpha thinks I’m just going to sit still and wait to be claimed…
He’s about to learn how wrong he is.