Lyra’s POV

They say power comes dressed in silk and smiles.

Tonight, it came dressed in silver.

I stood before the mirror, the gown hugging my frame like it had been stitched from moonlight itself. My hair fell in dark, deliberate waves, each strand polished into perfection. My mother’s attendants circled me like bees around honey, fastening clasps, smoothing fabric, ensuring not a single thread dared to defy me.

But beneath all the glamour, my hands trembled.

Not from fear.

From hunger.

Because this wasn’t just a union. This wasn’t just marriage. This was conquest dressed as ceremony.

Kael. The infamous Alpha of Blackthorn. My soon-to-be husband.

The man who would bind our two packs with vows instead of claws, who would silence generations of bloodshed with a single kiss at the altar.

And I would be at his side.

Not just as wife.

As Luna.

I’d dreamed of this all my life. The whispered stories of Kael—the ruthless wolf who never lost a battle, the Alpha who bent even the most rebellious of his men to his will—had filled my childhood nights like bedtime tales.

Where others dreamed of love, I dreamed of crowns.

Where other girls doodled hearts in the margins of their books, I sketched thrones.

This was my destiny. To rise, to rule, to finally step out of my father’s shadow and carve my name into history.

And Kael… Kael was the key.

Of course, I knew what this was.

A political marriage. Nothing more.

Love was irrelevant. Affection unnecessary. What mattered was the end of bloodshed, the uniting of two houses sworn to each other’s destruction for generations.

If my hand in marriage could stop another war, then so be it. Let the poets write their verses about peace born from sacrifice.

But deep down, I wanted more than peace.

I wanted power.

And standing beside Kael, there was no throne I couldn’t claim.

Still, as the attendants left and I stood alone before the mirror, a sliver of unease crept in.

Because Kael was no ordinary man.

He was feared. Respected. Obeyed without question. But never tamed.

Would he ever truly see me?

Would I be a partner… or just another pawn?

I clenched my fists, chasing the doubt away. It didn’t matter. Whether he loved me or not was irrelevant. What mattered was that the world would call me Luna.

And once I was in that position, no one could take it from me. Not even him.

The door opened, and my father, Alpha Darius, entered. His presence filled the room instantly, sharp and suffocating.

“You look the part,” he said, his voice a gravelly rumble. “Now act it.”

I inclined my head, schooling my face into poise. “I always do.”

He studied me for a long moment, then stepped closer, resting a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Remember, Lyra. This marriage is not just for you. It is for our pack. For every wolf who has bled under Kael’s claws. This is bigger than you.”

I smiled sweetly. “It always has been, Father.”

But inside, I thought: Bigger than me, yes. But it will make me bigger than anyone else.

As night deepened, I dismissed the servants and sank into the velvet chair by the window, staring out at the distant border that separated our lands from Kael’s.

Soon, it would no longer be a border. Soon, those lines would blur.

And I would stand at the center of it all, cloaked in power, my name whispered with reverence—or fear.

I touched the silver chain at my neck, feeling the weight of the small pendant that marked my family’s bloodline.

By dawn, I would carry more than that.

By dawn, I would carry the future.

But as I drifted into uneasy sleep, visions filled my mind.

Not of Kael.

Not of thrones.

But of a girl.

A stranger’s face, pale beneath the moon, eyes wide with fear and something else.

And though I didn’t know her name, though I had never seen her before in my life, I felt it deep in my bones: