The Moonfang Pack border guards had three seconds to realize they were about to die.
Not because the man walking toward them carried a weapon.
Not because he had an army behind him.
But because their wolves recognized him before their minds did.
The two guards standing at the entrance suddenly froze.
Their bodies reacted before their thoughts could catch up.
One of them grabbed his chest, breathing heavily.
“Why… why does my wolf feel afraid?”
The other stared at the stranger approaching through the mist.
The man wore a simple black coat.
His steps were calm, almost lazy, yet every movement carried an invisible pressure that made the air feel heavier.
He looked nothing like the weak, seventeen-year-old Alpha heir who had been dragged away seven years ago.
That boy had been desperate.
This man looked like someone who had already survived hell.
“State your identity,” one guard ordered, forcing himself to stand straight.
The stranger stopped.
His silver-gray eyes lifted.
“Open the gate.”
The guard swallowed.
“Only members of Moonfang Pack are allowed—”
The sentence never finished.
A terrifying Alpha aura exploded from the man’s body.
The two guards dropped to one knee instantly.
The ground beneath them cracked slightly from the force.
Their faces turned pale.
Impossible.
No living wolf should possess an aura like this.
The stranger looked down at them.
“My name is Kael Veyron.”
The guards froze.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then one of them whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Kael’s expression did not change.
“Seven years ago, the Moonfang Pack declared me dead.”
His voice lowered.
“They were wrong.”
The gates opened.
Not because the guards wanted to.
Because their instincts commanded them to.
Kael walked through the territory that had once been his home.
Seven years.
Seven years since he had been dragged away from everything he loved.
Seven years since he watched Lyra Moonveil look at him with tears in her eyes while the council forced him to reject her.
He remembered every second.
Every accusation.
Every lie.
Every person who stood silent while they destroyed him.
His hands tightened.
He had spent years imagining this moment.
The moment he would return.
The moment his enemies would finally understand what they had created.
But now that he was here, one thought kept returning.
Lyra.
He hated that his wolf still reacted to her name.
After everything.
After all the pain.
The bond still remained.
“Are you really going to pretend you don’t care?” a deep voice asked behind him.
Kael did not turn around.
Darius Vale stepped forward, his arms crossed.
The man was one of the few people Kael trusted.
His second-in-command.
His brother in everything except blood.
“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Kael replied.
Darius gave a small laugh.
“You crossed half the continent, walked into the territory of the people who betrayed you, and your first question was where she is.”
Kael remained silent.
Darius sighed.
“You still love her.”
Kael’s eyes darkened.
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Darius noticed.
Kael noticed too.
But neither mentioned it.
“I’m here for the truth,” Kael said.
“Not revenge?”
Kael looked toward the Moonfang castle in the distance.
The place where his life had been destroyed.
“Revenge comes after the truth.”
Two hours later, Kael stood outside the lower district of Moonfang.
The place looked nothing like the territory he remembered.
The nobles lived above.
The forgotten lived below.
His jaw tightened.
“This is where she lives?” he asked.
Darius nodded.
“She was stripped of her Luna status after your exile.”
Kael’s expression changed slightly.
“She was your mate,” Darius continued.
“But the council treated her as if she was part of your crime.”
A dangerous silence followed.
“What happened to her family?”
“Gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
Darius looked away.
“Some disappeared. Some left. Nobody challenged the council after your fall.”
Kael stared at the small buildings ahead.
A cold feeling settled in his chest.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
He found her near sunset.
For seven years, Kael had replayed the image of Lyra in his mind.
He imagined her angry.
He imagined her crying.
He imagined her waiting for him.
He was not prepared for this.
Lyra Moonveil walked through the crowded street carrying a box of supplies.
She wore plain clothes.
No jewelry.
No Luna symbol.
Nothing that showed she had once been the future Luna of Moonfang.
A group of young wolves passed by.
One of them laughed.
“Still working like a servant, Lyra?”
She ignored them.
Kael watched her carefully.
The old Lyra would have answered.
The woman in front of him simply lowered her eyes and kept walking.
That hurt more than anger would have.
She had changed.
Not because she wanted to.
Because the world had forced her to.
Kael stepped forward.
“Lyra.”
The box in her hands fell.
She froze.
Slowly, she turned around.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Her face went pale.
Her lips parted.
“No…”
Kael’s heart tightened.
She looked at him like she was seeing a ghost.
Because to her… he was one.
“Kael?”
Hearing his name from her mouth after seven years almost broke his control.
“I came back.”
Lyra stared at him.
Then something changed.
The shock disappeared.
Pain replaced it.
Her eyes filled with anger.
“You came back?”
Kael frowned.
“Yes.”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“After seven years?”
The people nearby began watching.
Kael ignored them.
“Lyra—”
“Don’t.”
Her voice shook.
“Don’t say my name like you still have the right.”
The words hit harder than any blade.
Kael stared at her.
“What happened to you?”
Her eyes flashed.
“What happened to me?”
She stepped closer.
“You disappeared.”
“I was exiled.”
“And I was supposed to know that?”
Kael went silent.
Lyra’s hands trembled.
“You let me believe you abandoned me.”
“I never—”
“You rejected me, Kael.”
The words stopped him.
Because that was impossible.
He never chose that.
Someone had made her believe he did.
Before he could answer, a small voice came from behind her.
“Mom?”
Kael froze.
Lyra immediately turned.
A little boy stood there holding a worn backpack.
Five years old.
Maybe six.
Black hair.
Silver-gray eyes.
Kael stopped breathing.
The child looked at him curiously.
Then his small face changed.
Confusion.
Recognition.
Fear.
“Mom…”
The boy pointed at Kael.
“Why does that man have my eyes?”
The world went silent.
Kael could hear nothing except his own heartbeat.
Lyra moved quickly, stepping between them.
“Eren, go inside.”
But Kael was no longer listening.
His eyes remained fixed on the child.
His child.
The impossible truth he had never been told.
The son he never knew existed.
And then the boy whispered something that made Kael’s entire body go cold.
“Mom…”
The child looked at Lyra.
“Is that the man you said was dead?”