Chapter 28 TWENTY SEVEN
(NYRA'S POV)
“You really need to let me get out and get some air, you know? I'm fine," I tell Riven who for the past two days has been watching me like a hawk.
He insisted that I get some rest and not be allowed to move around. Keiran and the others agreed and that's how I ended up in bed for a whole two days.
He doesn’t even glance up from the chair he’s dragged right beside my bed. Arms crossed, aw set. Full Alpha Guard Mode activated.
“No,” he says flatly.
I blink. “Wow. Such a compelling argument.”
“You almost died the moment you tried to get out of bed, Nyra.”
“I fainted,” I correct. “Very gracefully, I might add.”
He finally looks at me then, one dark brow lifting. “You glowed, screamed, and passed out for twelve hours.”
“Details which are not really necessary ”
Riven exhales through his nose, the corner of his mouth twitching despite himself. “You’re not leaving this room.”
I sigh dramatically and flop back against the pillows. “Do you know what two days in bed does to a person like me?”
“Yes,” he replies calmly. “It keeps them alive.”
“Barely.” I glance at him sideways. “If I don’t move soon, I might start biting people.”
“That’s not a threat,” he says dryly. “It’s a promise.”
I grin. “See? You know me.”
He shakes his head, reaching out to adjust the blanket when I kick it off for the fifth time. His movements are careful, almost reverent, like he’s still afraid I might break.
“I can walk,” I insist. “I can breathe. I can even be unsupervised for short periods of time.”
He snorts. “You set yourself on fire with moonlight.”
“Again, dramatic phrasing.”
What actually happened was, I lost control last night, channeled magic from the moon and almost burned down my bedroom. Mb
Riven’s hand pauses mid-tuck. His voice softens. “You scared us.”
The grin slips from my face.
“…I know,” I say quietly.
A beat passes. Then I brighten deliberately. “But look at you. Sitting here like my personal guard dog. Very intimidating.”
“I bite,” he says.
“Do you?” I tease. “Because I feel like I’d remember that.”
His lips curve then, slow and dangerous. “Careful.”
I laugh softly, the sound easing some of the tightness in the room. “Riven, if I stay in this bed any longer, I’m going to start narrating my own thoughts out loud. No one wants that.”
“I might,” he says. “It’d be useful. Less guessing.”
“Oh no,” I groan. “You’d regret it within minutes.”
“Still,” he adds, standing and offering me his hand, “five minutes. Balcony, fresh air, nothing else. I will stay with you.”
I eye his hand, then his face. “Five minutes?”
“Six,” he concedes. “But if you sway even a little…”
“I know,” I finish, taking his hand. “Back to bed, no arguing.”
He helps me up, steady and solid, and for the first time in two days, I feel like myself again.
“Well,” I say, glancing up at him as we head for the balcony, “look at that. The mighty Alpha can be negotiated with.”
He huffs a laugh. “Don’t let it get around.”
“Too late,” I reply sweetly. “I’m absolutely telling everyone.”
We haven't gotten out of my bedroom when the door opens and Zoya bursts in. “Keiran and the others are in the enchantment hall. They ask that you two be there.”
Riven nods and Zoya heads back out.
Without a word, Riven picks me up in his arms and heads down the corridor to the familiar room I've been in several times.
You'd think Enchantment Hall meant magical items were kept inside, like potions and stuff like that. But in reality it's just a simple room that has wards so thick that even sound can't leave. Lucien told me it was made that way to discuss pertinent issues that couldn't fall in the wrong ears.
The moment we step into the Enchantment Hall, Lucien's gaze is the first to fall on me. Blank and unreadable, as always.
The door seals behind us with a dull thud, and just like that, the outside world ceases to exist.
Keiran stands at the center of the room, arms folded behind his back, posture rigid. Lucien leans against one of the stone pillars, shadows pooled lazily at his feet, too lazily. That alone tells me there's no good news
And then there’s Kade.
He looks… tired.
Not physically—the asshole never looks physically tired—but there’s something sharp and unsettled in his eyes, like someone who followed a trail all the way to the end only to lose it.
Riven sets me down gently but doesn’t let go completely. One arm remains wrapped around my waist, solid and grounding.
“How are you feeling, Cara Mia?" Keiran asks, gaze boring into mine.
“I am fine” I reply mildly. “Just…tired from excess bed rest.”
Lucien snorts. Keiran doesn’t look amused, but he lets it slide.
“Kade,” Keiran says instead. “Report.”
Kade exhales slowly and straightens. “Vegas was a dead end.”
My stomach dips. “Dead end how?”
“The Lunar Crystal archives were wiped,” he says bluntly. “Not destroyed…wiped. As if the records never existed.”
“That’s impossible,” Lucien says sharply. “Those archives are older than the First Packs.”
“Which is exactly why I went,” Kade replies. “I thought the same. But the keeper—the man who’s been guarding that archive for over two centuries—had no recollection of the crystal’s fragmentation.”
I frown. “No recollection as in… he wouldn’t tell you?”
“No recollection as in,” Kade says carefully, “the knowledge was removed.”
The room goes very, very quiet.
Keiran’s jaw tightens. “Mind magic.”
“Advanced mind magic,” Kade corrects. “The kind that doesn’t just erase memories, but seals the gap so the subject doesn’t even realize something’s missing. He knows of the crystal, but not what happened to all information regarding it.”
I feel a chill crawl up my spine.
Lucien pushes off the pillar. “That level of spellwork requires either a coven…or someone who predates modern magic.”
Kade nods. “The keeper told me something else before the wards triggered and shut him down completely.”
My pulse quickens. “What?”
“He said the Lunar Crystal was never meant to be whole,” Kade says. “That it was split intentionally… and hidden across realms, not just territories.”
Lucien scoffs. “Of course it was. The Moon goddess did so after the war between light and shadow wolves that almost wiped out the entire wolf race."
Riven stiffens beside me. “But you said it was hidden across realms?”
“Yes,” Kade says. “And whoever has erased the information is aiming at retracing those fractures. Not just to restore the crystal, but to control what it is locking away.”
A cold weight settles in my chest.
“What was it locking away?” I ask quietly.
Kade’s gaze lifts to mine, steady and unflinching. “Power. The kind that can unite the Wolf race or shatter it to pieces. They'll likely come for you as well.”
Of course they will. I'm the Lunar Heir, and the only one who can activate the crystal.
Keiran seems thoughtful. “Arashida once called you the Living Seal. If you ever fully came into your power, the fractures would start responding.”
Lucien’s shadows writhe now, agitated. “Which explains the Voidsteel test. The assassination attempt. Riven.”
My fingers curl into Riven’s shirt. He says nothing, but his arm tightens around me.
“So let me get this straight,” I say slowly. “Someone erased centuries of records, fractured a mythical crystal, stabbed an Alpha with illegal weapons, and is now circling me like prey…”
“Yes,” Keiran says. “Because whatever you’re becoming terrifies them.”
A sharp, humorless laugh escapes me. “That makes two of us.”
Kade steps closer. “There’s more. Vegas wasn’t the only place I checked. There are whispers—black-market rumors—about a buyer gathering fragments. Paying in blood, favors, souls.”
Lucien’s eyes darken. “Xorus.”
Kade nods once. “He’s not acting alone anymore.”
The words hang heavy in the warded air.
I lift my chin, power humming faintly beneath my skin—unsteady, but present. “Then we stop him.”
Keiran studies me for a long moment. Then, slowly, he nods. “We prepare.”
Riven leans down, his mouth brushing my ear. “And this time,” he murmurs quietly, “you are not doing this alone.”
I glance up at him, meeting his gaze. “I wasn’t planning to.”
The door opens and Zoya comes rushing in, breathing heavily. “Ny…Nyra…Nyra your mom…your mom is missing”
" What?” I ask and she nods.
" And in her bedroom I found this.” She holds out a crest like item, glowing with an intense amount of magic.