Nyra’s POV
I woke up long before the sun even had a chance to pierce the forest canopy.
For a few quiet seconds, I remained buried beneath the heavy wool blanket, staring blankly up at the canvas ceiling of my tent.
I expected my morning thoughts to drift to the rigorous sword training ahead, or the dark clues of my mission.
Instead, a completely different face filled my mind.
Zayne.
The vivid memory of our first encounter hit me out of nowhere.
I could still see him clearly, the massive, majestic black wolf standing at the edge of the clearing.
The raw, piercing intensity in his silver-grey eyes.
The sudden, earth-shattering shift in his entire expression the exact millisecond he realized what I was to him.
A faint, involuntary smile tugged at my lips.
‘You’re thinking about him,’ Eira’s voice purred, instantly shattering the silence.
I let out an internal groan.
“Eira. What?”
I’m just pointing out the obvious.”
I think about a lot of things in the morning,’ I argued, throwing off the blanket and sitting up.’
Sure, but you were specifically thinking about the gorgeous Alpha of Blackthorn.’ Eira’s amusement flooded our mental link, her inner wolf practically preening with satisfaction.
‘You’re desperately trying to hide it, but you’re awfully transparent to me.’
“You’re my wolf,”
I sighed, reaching for my leather trousers.
“Unfortunately.”
‘Fortunately for you, I have excellent taste.’
I shook my head to clear it.
I had been spending so much intense, uninterrupted time with Riven lately that it was terrifyingly easy to forget how recently Zayne had crashed into my reality.Riven was becoming my anchor.
He was familiar now.
I knew the heavy, steady rhythm of his footsteps approaching.
I knew the exact twitch of his shoulder right before he launched an attack during sparring.
I knew the rare, genuine smile he only made when Jace said something entirely ridiculous.And, of course…
I had kissed him.
My fingers froze against the laces of my shirt.
A sudden, traitorous heat bloomed across my cheeks.
Eira’s ears practically perked up in my mind.
‘Oh, look.
There it is again.
The rogue distraction.’
“Don’t start,” I snapped internally.
‘You like him, Nyra.
Just admit it.’
I let out a slow breath, sliding my jacket over my shoulders.
‘I know.’
There was no point in lying to my own soul anymore.
I was falling for Riven.
It was slow, unexpected, and completely undeniable.
There was a magnetic pull to him, the way he understood my desperate need for independence without ever trying to cage it.
The way he respected my boundaries.
Beneath the terrifying myth of the Most Fearsome Rogue was a man who could make me laugh when the darkness got too heavy.
But then…
there was Zayne.
And that was where my life became a complicated mess.
I sat on the edge of the cot, staring at my boots.
I didn’t know Zayne the way I knew Riven.
I hadn’t spent weeks bleeding and sweating beside him on a training block.
We hadn’t shared quiet meals over a campfire or argued about survival tactics.
I hadn’t seen the walls come down around the Alpha of Blackthorn.
Yet, I remembered him.
More often than I cared to admit.
Sometimes I found myself wondering if he was eating well.
If he was safe behind his palace walls.
And sometimes…
I found myself imagining what the air would feel like when our paths finally crossed again.
I furrowed my brow, frustration pinching my features.
“I have enough lethal problems without my heart deciding to become a war zone.”
‘Your heart didn’t decide anything,’ Eira countered, her tone turning uncharacteristically gentle, yet entirely smug.
‘The fate did.
You have two fated mates, Nyra.
It’s a fact.’
“Thank you for the profound biology lesson,” I muttered, grabbing my daggers.
I wasn’t ready to choose and I will not choose between them.
Honestly, maybe the universe wasn’t demanding me to.
I wasn’t going to fake feelings I didn’t possess either, but I also wasn’t going to deny the emotions blooming inside me just because they were highly inconvenient.
Riven mattered to me deeply.
His presence was a physical flame right beside me but my connection to Zayne was a quiet, enduring ember.
It lived in the silent spaces of the night, in the memory of his deep voice, his unyielding patience, and his piercing silver stare.
“I hope he’s okay.”
Eira went completely quiet for a beat.
Then, she whispered softly,
I can feel the phantom echo of it through the bond.’
A soft smile broke across my face.
“You don’t know that for sure.”
‘Neither do you.’
“Fair.”
I gripped the hilt of my training blade tightly.
My mission still came first, always.
I had a slaughter to avenge, unidentified enemies to track down, and a royal truth about my lineage to unearth but as I stepped out into the crisp morning air, I finally allowed myself to admit the one thing I had been actively running from.
I was desperately looking forward to seeing Zayne again.
Zayne’s POV
“You’re doing it again.”
I snapped out of my daze, pulling my eyes away from the official borders document resting in my hands.
Cassian was standing across my study, his arms folded tightly over his chest.
The dry, exasperated expression on his face suggested he had been waiting quite a while for me to acknowledge his existence.
I cleared my throat, adjusting my posture in the heavy leather chair.
“Doing what?”
“Reading the exact same paragraph for the third time in a row, Zayne.”
I glanced down at the parchment.
Cassian was right.
I had been staring at the ink for ten minutes without absorbing a single syllable.
With a defeated sigh, I tossed the report onto the desk.
“Perhaps the scribe wrote a thoroughly boring report.”
A reluctant smirk tugged at Cassian’s mouth as he walked over, picking up the discarded papers.
“The eastern border patrols are begging for additional enforcement wolves.”
“I am aware.”
“The supply division needs your immediate signature for next month’s rations.”
“I know.”
“And the primary training grounds are falling apart and require funding for repairs.”
Cassian lowered the document, leveling me with a pointed look.
“And you haven’t actually processed a single word of it, have you?”
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
For the past week, I had tried to convince myself that the suffocating restlessness clawing at my chest was just the natural byproduct of finally locating my mate.
I had spent twenty long years operating in total isolation, never knowing who she was.
I should have been overflowing with gratitude that she was alive.
Instead, I had quickly discovered a brutal reality: finding your fated mate did not mean getting to keep her beside you.
Nyra was still out there.
Somewhere in the wild.
Training, investigating, pursuing a dangerous, classified goal that she deemed important enough to walk away from both of her fated Alphas.
I respected her autonomy.
I truly did.
And honestly, that was the most infuriating part of the entire situation.
I couldn’t even bring myself to be angry with her.
She had been ruthlessly honest from the second the bond snapped into place.
She had told me she had a bloody slate to wipe clean before she could ever belong to a pack.
She hadn’t offered a timeline or empty promises.
She had simply looked me dead in the eyes and asked for time.
And because I was entirely captivated by her, I had given it to her.
But my wolf?
My wolf wasn’t built for patience.
‘She belongs at our side.
In our territory.
Safe.’
“How long has it been?”
I muttered aloud, staring blankly at the map on my wall.
Cassian’s strict expression softened, a look of genuine sympathy crossing his face.
“Since you last saw her?” I met his gaze.
“Yes.”
“Not long, Zayne. Barely a week.”
“It feels like a lifetime.”
Cassian let out a low chuckle, setting the papers back down.
“If the council lords could see you now. The most feared, unyielding Alpha in half the continent, and a lone girl has you counting down the hours like a lovesick pup.”
A dark smile broke through my grim expression.
“She isn’t remotely afraid of me, Cassian.”
“Clearly.”
That was precisely what I liked most about her.
The entire world altered their behavior the moment they stepped into my presence.
They weighed every syllable.
They cast their eyes to the dirt.
They constantly remembered the lethal title of Alpha before they ever stopped to realize I was a man.
But Nyra?
Nyra had pinned a silver blade against my throat, looked directly into my eyes, and demanded to know who the hell I thought I was.
I could still feel the sheer shock of that moment rattling through my veins.
I remembered her absolute, unshakeable confidence.
The fiery spark in her dark eyes.
The unwavering composure she held when she casually informed me that she already shared a bond with a rogue leader.
I stood up, walking over to the sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows.
Below, the territory of Blackthorn stretched out in sprawling, organized prosperity.
Wolves moved seamlessly between the stone sectors, elite guards patrolled the iron perimeters, and the rhythmic cracks of training combat drifted up from the lower yards.Everything was running flawlessly.
Everything was exactly where it belonged.
Yet, looking out at my kingdom, it felt entirely hollow.
“I miss her.”
The realization settled over my soul with a quiet, undeniable finality.
It wasn’t because I needed a woman to complete my strength.
I had spent two decades meticulously building the most powerful pack in the realm on my own.
But now that I knew Nyra existed out there in the dark, her absence was a gaping, noticeable void in my life.
I wondered what she was doing right now.
If she had eaten.
If she was safe from harm.
And if she ever thought about me.
Deep within my chest, my wolf stirred, a powerful, possessive rumble vibrating in my mind.
‘She does.
The bond pulses with her heat.’
My lips curved slightly.
“You don’t know that for a fact.”
‘She is our mate.
She feels the distance just as we do.’ I didn’t argue further.
Cassian watched me from the center of the room, his voice breaking the silence.
“You’re lost in your head again, Alpha.”
“I am simply wondering when she will return,” I admitted, not bothering to hide the vulnerability from my closest friend.
“She gave you her word, Zayne. She will be back.”
“I know.”
“Then trust the bond.”
I nodded slowly, my eyes locked onto the distant, smoky horizon where the rogue territories began.
“I do.”
And I meant it.
Whatever vengeance Nyra was hunting, whatever secrets she was digging up, I would grant her the freedom she demanded.
But as the sun began to cast long shadows across my study, I couldn’t stop the quiet prayer from leaving my lips.
“Just come back to me safely, Nyra.”
Octavia’s POV
“Do you know what I’m going to wear the day I am officially crowned Luna?”
A chorus of high-pitched laughter erupted through the lavishly decorated parlor.
Octavia, the councilwoman’s daughter sat dead center on the velvet chaise lounge, swirling a glass of expensive wine, looking entirely pleased with herself.
The daughter of the high-ranking Councilwoman didn’t possess a single shred of doubt.
“I haven’t even settled on the exact shade of crimson yet,” Octavia continued, tilting her chin up proudly.
“Something deeply elegant, obviously. I have absolutely no intention of walking into the Blackthorn palace looking like an ordinary pack wolf.”
One of her friends leaned in, eyes wide with gossip.
“Are you really that certain the arrangement is a done deal, Octavia?”
“Of course it is.” Octavia smirked, taking a delicate sip.
“My mother has already had a private audience with the dowager Queen. The marital contract is currently being drafted by the elders as we speak.”
The girls exchanged ecstatic, envious glances.
To become the Luna of Blackthorn was the highest honor a high-society female could dream of.
Blackthorn was a massive, terrifying superpower, the largest and most lethal pack operating under the High Council’s jurisdiction, and its Alpha was a warrior king spoken of in whispers across the territories.
Octavia had admired Zayne from afar for years.
His absolute, crushing strength.
His untouchable political position.
His devastatingly handsome appearance.
Everything about Alpha Zayne was designed to command an entire room without saying a word.
She had vividly imagined herself standing on the royal balcony right beside him more times than she could count.
And very soon, she believed, the world would bow to her.
“But… have you actually spoken to Alpha Zayne about the mating contract yet?” another friend asked hesitantly.
Octavia’s flawless smile faltered for a fraction of a second, a flicker of irritation crossing her features before she smoothed it over.
“Not explicitly, no.”
“Then… what happens if he refuses the Council’s arrangement?”
Octavia waved a manicured hand through the air, dismissing the concern instantly.
“He won’t. He can’t.”
“You sound incredibly confident.”
“Because I am realistic,”
Octavia said, leaning back against the silk cushions.
“He is an Alpha in his prime. He rules the largest pack in the realm. He desperately needs a Luna of high-born blood to secure his political alliances, and my family possesses the exact influence required to make his reign permanent. It’s a perfect match.”
Another girl grinned, raising her glass.
“So, you’re already planning your royal Luna duties?”
“Obviously. Someone has to bring class to that fortress.”
The room erupted into cheerful laughter once more.
Octavia joined them, her chest swelling with pride as she envisioned walking through the grand stone corridors of Blackthorn with the ultimate title attached to her name.
She could practically feel the absolute power radiating from the position.
The unmatched status.
The bowing crowds.
And Zayne’s powerful frame hovering protectively over her.
Her smirk widened, her eyes gleaming with raw ambition.
“I’ve bided my time long enough,” she stated firmly, lifting her crystal glass in a lone toast.
“Very soon, the entire werewolf world will know exactly who the future Luna of Blackthorn is.”The girls clinked their glasses together, cheering to her golden future.