Kael severs his mate bond with Lyra before the entire clan. The pain nearly brings her to her knees, but she refuses to give him the satisfaction of seeing her beg. Then something impossible happens.
---
The bond began to break.
Lyra felt it first beneath her ribs.
A sharp pull.
Not physical.
Worse.
It felt as though an invisible hand had reached inside her chest and wrapped itself around something that had been growing there since childhood.
Something alive.
Something that had always belonged to her and Kael.
The hand tightened.
Lyra's breath caught.
Her knees weakened.
A gasp escaped somewhere behind her.
Kael's face twisted.
He had expected pain.
Perhaps not this much.
The silver light around his wrist intensified.
"Stop," Lyra whispered.
His eyes widened.
"I can't."
"Then finish it."
"I—"
"Finish it."
The bond pulled again.
Lyra's vision blurred.
The Moon Hall seemed to tilt around her.
She could hear the clan murmuring.
Someone said her name.
Someone else whispered that she looked ill.
Lyra wanted to laugh.
Of course she looked ill.
Her mate was tearing something out of her soul in front of three hundred wolves.
What did they expect?
Grace?
She clenched her teeth.
The pain moved through her chest and down her spine.
Her wolf screamed.
Not a howl.
A scream.
Lyra nearly dropped to one knee.
Kael moved forward instinctively.
"Lyra!"
His hand reached for her.
She slapped it away.
The sound cracked through the hall.
Everyone went silent.
Kael stared at the hand she had struck.
Lyra's palm burned.
"So don't," she whispered.
His expression was devastated.
Good.
She wanted him to feel something.
Anything.
Even if it was only guilt.
Kael lowered his hand.
"You're hurting."
Lyra looked at him.
"Whose fault is that?"
He had no answer.
The bond pulled again.
This time Lyra screamed.
Her voice echoed beneath the stone arches.
Several younger wolves flinched.
The Lunar Crystals above them flickered.
Kael staggered.
His own pain was clearly beginning to affect him.
Selene stepped forward.
"Kael."
He didn't look at her.
"Don't."
Selene stopped.
Lyra noticed.
Even now, he couldn't look at Selene.
Even after choosing her.
That should have made Lyra feel better.
It didn't.
The bond was still there.
Still pulling.
Still tearing.
Lyra shut her eyes.
Images flooded her mind.
Kael laughing beside the river.
Kael carrying her home when she twisted her ankle.
Kael asleep with his head against her shoulder.
Kael standing beneath the moon on the night they first became mates.
I'll choose you.
The memories came faster.
Then they began to disappear.
One by one.
Lyra's chest convulsed.
"No."
Kael opened his eyes.
"What?"
She didn't know whether she had spoken aloud.
Another memory vanished.
Their first kiss.
Gone.
She could still remember that it had happened.
But the feeling was slipping away.
The warmth.
The nervousness.
The way his hand had trembled against her cheek.
Gone.
Lyra's eyes filled.
"No."
Kael's face changed.
"Lyra..."
"Please."
The word escaped before she could stop it.
Kael froze.
She hated herself for saying it.
But the pain was too much.
She looked at him through blurred vision.
"Please..."
His eyes filled with something that looked almost like regret.
"Please don't make me remember this."
Kael's lips parted.
For one moment, he looked as though he might stop.
Then Selene spoke behind him.
"Kael."
Only his name.
Nothing else.
But his shoulders stiffened.
His jaw tightened.
He turned back toward Lyra.
"I'm sorry."
The final word came out barely above a whisper.
Then he pulled.
The bond shattered.
Lyra felt nothing.
For half a second.
Nothing at all.
Then the pain arrived.
It ripped through her.
Her body folded.
She hit the stone floor on one hand, the other clutching her chest.
A scream tore out of her.
The candles around the hall exploded.
Not into flame.
Into darkness.
One after another, they went out.
The seven Lunar Crystals above them flickered violently.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
Everything went black.
The clan fell silent.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Lyra remained on the floor.
Her hair had fallen across her face.
Her fingers were numb.
Her heart hammered against her ribs as if it were trying to escape.
She could hear Kael somewhere nearby.
"Lyra?"
His voice sounded distant.
She tried to answer.
Nothing came.
The silence became enormous.
Then something moved beneath her skin.
Lyra froze.
A warmth spread from the center of her chest.
Slowly.
Almost gently.
It traveled upward toward her throat.
Then down her arms.
Her fingers began to glow.
Lyra stared.
Silver light leaked through the gaps between her fingers.
Her breath stopped.
"What..."
The light climbed toward her collarbone.
Her Lunar Mark burned.
Not like before.
Not like the faint warmth she had felt as a teenager.
This was fire.
Pure silver fire.
It spread beneath her skin in branching lines.
The hall remained dark, but Lyra could see her own body clearly.
She heard a gasp.
Then another.
"Her mark..."
Someone whispered.
Lyra looked up.
Hundreds of eyes were fixed on her.
Fear had replaced curiosity.
An elderly woman near the eastern pillar had risen from her seat.
Elder Mira.
Her face had gone completely white.
She stared at Lyra's glowing chest.
Her lips trembled.
"No."
Lyra slowly pushed herself upright.
"What?"
The old woman stepped backward.
Her ceremonial staff slipped from her hand and struck the floor.
"No, no..."
"Mira?" Elder Garrick said.
The woman didn't answer him.
Her eyes remained locked on Lyra.
Then she whispered a name.
A name Lyra had never heard before.
"Blessed Luna."
The words seemed to travel through the darkness.
Someone laughed nervously.
"That's impossible."
Another elder whispered, "She's dead."
"Every one of them."
"The bloodline ended."
Lyra's breathing became uneven.
She looked from face to face.
"What are you talking about?"
Nobody answered.
Her Lunar Mark brightened.
A pulse of silver light spread across the floor beneath her.
The wolves nearest to her stumbled backward.
One of the warriors dropped to his knees.
His wolf had taken over.
Another followed.
Then another.
Within seconds, several dozen wolves were crouching on the stone.
Lyra stared at them.
"I didn't..."
Her voice broke.
"I didn't do that."
The wolves remained bowed.
Kael stood motionless.
His face had lost all color.
Selene looked terrified.
For the first time that evening, her perfect composure was gone.
She stared at Lyra's glowing mark.
"Kael..."
He didn't answer.
"Kael, what is she?"
His gaze remained fixed on Lyra.
"I don't know."
A sound came from outside.
A howl.
Deep.
Long.
So powerful that the windows rattled in their frames.
Every wolf in the hall reacted.
Their heads snapped toward the doors.
Lyra's wolf went completely still.
Not frightened.
Listening.
The howl came again.
Closer.
Lyra slowly rose to her feet.
The silver light beneath her skin pulsed once.
Then again.
And somewhere beyond the doors of Moon Hall, hundreds of wolves began to howl in response.
Aksara