Chapter 11 Best Served Cold
Catelyn stumbled back and screamed for her husband. “She’s a ghost! Aleck, she’s a ghost!”
Aleck, the Goldcrest Alpha, blinked at Lyra as if she were a hallucination that had crawled out of his worst nightmare. His jaw dropped, red beard trembling.
“What madness is this?” he barked. “This can’t be Lyra. She died. We all heard—”
“That I was mysteriously dead?” She laughed wickedly, enjoying the attention.
Aleck looked a little disoriented at her gaze and stepped back, but he was still trying to be the man. “Turn around, little girl, and get out of here. Ghost or not, I will bring you down.”
Lyra lifted her chin, letting the desert wind whip strands of her hair across her face. She felt strangely calm, almost smug, feeding on the shock on their faces.
This was just as she imagined.
“Are you so sure about that?” she slurred lazily, patting her hair as she spoke.
Catelyn looked at her, stunned. “This can’t be Lyra, you look nothing like her!”
“Oh, it’s me,” she purred. “And I want to know where you kept all my jewels. I’m here to take them back and nothing you say will stop me.”
Catelyn, standing behind her mate, gasped. Her cigarette fell straight out of her fingers and hit the dirt.
“Ghost,” she whispered hoarsely. “You’re a ghost—”
Lyra smiled darkly and let her claws out. “Glad I still haunt you.”
Catelyn shrieked and spun around, trying to run back inside the house, but her mate stepped forward, puffing up his chest.
“No one threatens my woman on my land!” he roared.
Before he could shift, Dax launched off his bike with a howl that shook the ground. He slammed into the Goldcrest Alpha, sending both men crashing into the gravel.
Ryker was off his bike a heartbeat later.
And the fight exploded.
Goldcrest wolves burst from the mansion, shifting mid-air, snarling and snapping at the IronFang intruders.
Ryker shoved two wolves to the ground and yelled over his shoulder as he turned to Lyra, “Stay behind me! I told you this was a shitty idea to start with!”
Lyra twisted away from him, scoffing. “Stop treating me like a child! I can protect myself!”
She didn’t wait for his retort. She bolted around the side of the mansion, sliding across sand as three wolves charged toward her. She moved on instinct and felt the Half-breed power within her break forth.
The first wolf lunged and Lyra grabbed its muzzle and flipped it over her shoulder.
The second went for her throat, but she drove her knee upward, breaking its jaw.
The third tried to circle behind her, but she twisted, throwing a punch that sent the wolf skidding through thorny brush.
It was clear that IronFang wolves were overpowering Goldcrest warriors.
At some point, she didn’t know when, Goldcrest began to fall back.
IronFang was winning.
Lyra finally spotted Catelyn scrambling across the back terrace, desperately trying to crawl away.
She smirked and stalked toward her.
Dax and Ryker were busy ripping through the last of the defenders, but Ryker still yelled, “Lyra, don’t go too far!”
She ignored him.
Catelyn stumbled backward until her spine hit the wall.
“I’m here to take back everything you stole from me,” she growled. “Where did you keep the jewels?”
Catelyn trembled violently, clutching her throat as Lyra pressed her down. “Please, please… I sold them! I sold them all! Don’t kill me! W-What are you?”
Lyra laughed. “I’m your nemesis, Catelyn. You thought I was weak and defenseless, too broken to notice you robbing me blind. You thought because my husband didn’t want me anymore, I was an easy target.”
Catelyn sobbed. “It wasn’t just me! Someone told me, someone close to you! They said you were losing your mind. That Alpha Ryker was planning to leave you. They said you were at your weakest and wouldn’t even notice if something went missing! I just took advantage, please—”
Lyra froze. Someone from IronFang told Catelyn about her precious family heirloom?
Her rage swelled so fast she couldn’t control it. “Who told you?”
“I can’t tell you, they’ll kill me—” Catelyn whimpered.
Lyra’s fist moved before her mind caught up. Her knuckles cracked across Catelyn’s cheek with a vicious thud. Blood splattered onto the floor.
“Will you kill me for just a few fancy stones?” Catelyn asked as she spat on the floor.
Lyra paused, staring at the mean woman’s face. She’d been the bane of her existence, and she’d made sure Lyra knew it. Her family heirloom was the only thing she had left of her lovely mother. It was the one thing that reminded her of her family and she kept it safe.
Catelyn had heard about the precious jewels and she’d stolen them from Lyra, gloating after she did.
“You call them just stones? Huh?” Lyra hissed threateningly, and the woman trembled on the floor, clearly wishing she could eat her own words. “Those jewels were all I had of my family. And you took them from me!”
“Lyra!” Ryker shouted from behind her. “Stop!”
But she couldn’t hear him anymore.
Everything inside her was vibrating. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Her vision blurred.
Her senses were thrice as alert and her skin crawled as if something inside her wanted out.
Her bones popped, stretching beneath her skin. Her clothes tore, threads snapping as her shoulders broadened and her claws extended.
Her gums ached and then fangs slid down from her jaw.
Catelyn shrieked in sheer terror, “Bloodsucker!” before collapsing on the ground, unconscious.
Lyra stared down at her, trembling, panting, every muscle twitching with violent hunger. She wanted to claw Catelyn open. She wanted blood. She wanted—
“LYRA!”
Someone screamed her name again, trying to break into this blood rage. But she couldn’t see who.
Everything was red and she felt uncontrollable anger, an anger she knew didn’t belong to her.
But just as she lifted her clawed hands, she didn’t get to bring them down when she heard a loud bang!
The gunshot deafened her and pain e
xploded in her chest.
Lyra’s body jerked violently as the silver bullet penetrated her and she fell to the ground.