Chapter 16 Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Chapter 16
Lyra
I wake to silence that feels wrong.
Not the peaceful kind. Not the gentle quiet of dawn. This silence is heavy, watchful, like the mountain itself is aware of me.
My eyes open slowly.
The ceiling above me is unfamiliar, dark wood carved with ancient symbols, beams thick and heavy, shadows clinging to every corner. The air smells like pine, smoke, and something deeper… something feral.
Pain greets me gently at first, then all at once.
My body aches in a way I’ve never known. Not sharp, not violent, just deep, bone-level exhaustion. As if something vital has been drained out of me.
I try to sit up.
My arms shake.
I fall back against the mattress with a soft gasp.
Fear curls tight in my chest.
My wolf is silent.
Not sleeping. Not resting.
Gone.
Panic slams into me as I reach inward, instinctively searching for her presence. For the familiar warmth, the constant hum of strength that has lived inside me since my first shift.
There is nothing.
Just emptiness.
“I…” My voice comes out hoarse, fragile. Human.
The word terrifies me.
The door opens quietly.
Riven steps inside.
He looks unchanged—dangerous, composed, impossibly powerful. Dressed in black, hair loose around his shoulders, silver eyes sharp even in the dim morning light. He pauses when he sees me awake, something unreadable flickering across his expression.
“You’re up,” he says.
I clutch the sheet to my chest, suddenly aware of how exposed I feel. Not just physically—but entirely. Like my skin is too thin. Like the world could bruise me with a single touch.
“What’s wrong with me?” I whisper.
He doesn’t answer immediately.
He crosses the room slowly, deliberately, and sits on the edge of the bed. The mattress dips under his weight. I feel it everywhere.
“You’re weak,” he says finally. “And you’re alive.”
That doesn’t comfort me.
“I can’t feel my wolf,” I say, panic bleeding into my voice now. “Riven, I can’t feel her at all.”
His jaw tightens.
He exhales through his nose, then looks at me fully. No softness. No lies.
“You won’t,” he says. “Not for a while.”
The words hit harder than any blow.
“What did you do to me?”
Something dark flashes in his eyes. Regret, maybe. Or something like it.
“I claimed you,” he says quietly. “Not with teeth. With blood and bond.”
My stomach twists.
“I didn’t agree to lose myself,” I whisper.
“You agreed to me,” he replies. “And there are rules older than both of us.”
Tears burn behind my eyes. I feel small. So small.
“Explain,” I demand weakly.
Riven leans forward, forearms resting on his knees. He looks every bit the Alpha King now—ancient power wrapped in human skin.
“I am not just an Alpha,” he says. “I rule Alphas. My bloodline is cursed and crowned by the Moon Goddess herself.”
I swallow hard.
“When an Alpha King lies with a virgin wolf,” he continues, voice low, controlled, “the bond strips her power temporarily. It’s a binding law. A way to ensure obedience. Survival.”
My heart stutters painfully.
“So I’m… what?” My voice shakes. “Broken?”
“No,” he says sharply. “Human.”
The word lands like a sentence.
“Until the next blood moon,” he adds. “Your wolf will sleep. You cannot shift. You cannot heal fast. You cannot command. You are vulnerable.”
I stare at him, numb.
Human.
Weak.
Defenseless.
“In a mountain villa,” I whisper, “full of wolves.”
“They won’t touch you,” he says instantly.
“How can you be so sure?”
His silver eyes burn into mine.
“Because you are under my protection,” he says. “And they fear me more than death.”
That should comfort me.
It doesn’t.
I pull the sheet tighter around myself, my body trembling. Every sound feels louder now—the wind outside, footsteps somewhere in the villa, distant voices. Each one makes my pulse spike.
“I can feel everything,” I murmur. “The cold. The fear. The pain.”
“Yes,” Riven says softly. “That’s what it means to be human.”
I let out a shaky laugh that turns into a sob.
“Kael will feel this,” I whisper. “The bond. He’ll know something is wrong.”
Riven’s expression hardens.
“He’s too far,” he says. “And your bond with him was never complete.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s gone.”
“No,” he agrees. “It means it will hurt.”
Silence stretches between us.
I feel exposed in ways I don’t have words for. Not just because of what happened—but because of what I’ve lost.
“What happens if they see me like this?” I ask quietly. “The pack.”
“They already know,” Riven says.
My breath catches.
“They smelled the change the moment the sun rose,” he continues. “Fear. Blood. Humanity.”
My nails dig into the sheet.
“They will test you,” he adds. “Watch you. Wait for weakness.”
“And you?” I ask. “What will you do?”
He stands.
Turns toward the window, looking out at the mountains bathed in pale morning light.
“I will remind them who I am,” he says calmly. “And what happens to those who forget.”
I swing my legs over the side of the bed, immediately regretting it as dizziness washes over me. Riven is there in an instant, steadying me with a firm grip.
His touch burns.
“Careful,” he murmurs. “You’re fragile now.”
“I hate that word,” I snap.
He looks at me sharply.
“So do I,” he says. “But it’s the truth.”
I stand anyway, swaying slightly. The floor feels cold beneath my feet. Too cold.
Riven drapes a heavy robe over my shoulders without a word.
For a moment, neither of us moves.
“I didn’t come here to betray Kael,” I whisper. “I came here to survive.”
“I know,” he says.
“And now I don’t know who I am anymore.”
He cups my face gently, forcing me to look at him.
“You are Lyra Vale,” he says. “Mate to power. Catalyst to war. And whether you like it or not—your fate is no longer small.”
His words should feel like strength.
Instead, they feel like a cage.
Somewhere far away, a wolf howls.
And for the first time in my life, I cannot answer.