By the time we made it back to camp, the sky was just beginning to lighten — streaks of silver pushing through the dark. The others walked in silence. No one spoke of what happened near the ridge, though I could feel their unease like static in the air.

Mara peeled off first, giving me a look that said you can’t hide this forever. She was right.

Kane waited at the edge of the clearing, broad-shouldered and still like the pines behind him. The early light caught the scars along his forearms; old reminders of the life he’d crawled out of. He didn’t move until the others were gone.

“Report,” he said simply.

I stood at attention, forcing my voice to be steady. “We confirmed Nightbane presence along the southern ridge. Fresh sigils. No direct contact. Their Alpha’s pushing the border again.”

He nodded, slow, expression unreadable. “And you? You keeping it together?”

“Yes.”

“Funny.” He crossed his arms. “Because Mara doesn’t think so.”

That hit like a gut punch. “She told you?”

“She’s your second. It’s her job to tell me when my best warrior comes back looking like she saw a ghost.”

I bit down hard. “I’m fine.”

“Lyra.” His tone softened, but the weight behind it didn’t. “You’ve been with me long enough to know I don’t do fine. Tell me what’s actually going on.”

The words burned at the back of my throat. I wanted to lie — to bury it again. But something in his gaze stripped away the armor. The truth came out in a single, shaking breath.

“I smelled him.”

Kane didn’t flinch. “Who?”

“The one who destroyed my pack.”

Silence stretched, thick and cold. Then he said quietly, “You told me they were all gone.”

“They were,” I whispered. “All but me.”

________________________________________

I told him everything.

About the fire.

The blood.

The screams.

How I ran until my legs gave out and the river swallowed me.

I told him my true name — Silverfang. The heir to a pack burned to nothing under a Blood Moon.

And then I told him the part that scared me most.

“The bond,” I said, voice raw. “I felt it. I thought it died that night, but it’s back. It’s him, Kane. The Alpha of Nightbane. He’s the one who killed my father.”

His expression didn’t change, but I saw the flicker of something deep in his eyes — recognition, maybe even pity.

“So,” he said slowly. “You’re telling me the wolf who destroyed your life… is your mate?”

The word made me flinch. “Don’t call it that. It’s not… it’s not something I want.”

He studied me for a long, heavy moment. Then he walked to the window, staring out at the rising light.

“Bonds don’t ask what we want,” he said. “They just happen. The Moon ties two wolves for a reason — even if that reason looks like hell.”

I shook my head. “There’s no reason good enough for this. He murdered my family. My father. Everything I had.”

Kane turned, eyes hard now. “Are you sure your father was worth mourning?”

I blinked, startled. “What are you talking about?”

“I knew Theron Silverfang,” Kane said quietly. “Not well, but enough. He was proud. Ruthless when cornered. The kind of wolf who thought strength meant never being questioned. He wasn’t the monster some have made him out to be — but he wasn’t the saint you remember, either.”

I stared at him; words caught in my throat.

“You think I’m defending him?” Kane said. “I’m not. I’m telling you the truth: even Alphas fall. Sometimes the ones we love are the ones who burn us most.”

I turned away, and jaw tight. “Then what does that make me? The daughter of a monster bound to another?”

“That makes you alive,” he said, voice low. “And maybe the only one with a chance to break the cycle.”

________________________________________

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

For a long moment, the only sound was the wind against the cabin walls. Then Kane stepped closer, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it.

“You’ve carried this alone too long, Lyra. Secrets have teeth. Let this one breathe before it eats you alive.”

He let the silence hang, then added, “You said he’s your bond. That means whatever happens next, he’s tied to you — body and soul. You can hate him. You can hunt him. But don’t lie to yourself about what he is.”

My throat felt raw. “And what if what he is… ruins me?”

“Then ruin him first.”

For the first time that morning, I almost smiled.

________________________________________

After he left, I stood by the window, watching the forest sway in the early light. The bond pulsed faintly again, like a heartbeat beneath my skin.

I closed my eyes and whispered to the wind,

“You took everything from me once.”

The wolf inside me stirred, low and hungry.

“Let’s see what you can take now.”