Lyra “You look like hell,” Martha said, before I’d even managed to catch my breath from stepping off the bus.
I spun around, and my stomach dropped straight to my knees.
“Martha?
What are you doing here, of all places?” “I could ask you the same question.” She crossed her arms, studying me with a mix of relief and worry that made my throat tighten.
“Do you have any idea how many packs I’ve called looking for you?” “Why would you look for me?” I laughed, bitter and sharp.
“My own father expelled me, nobody’s supposed to be looking for me.” “Lyra.” Her voice cracked on my name.
“Something happened, something big.
You need to sit down for this.” “I don’t want to sit down.” I hitched my bag higher on my shoulder, already itching to walk away from whatever conversation was about to ruin what little peace I’d scraped together.
“Whatever it is, I don’t care.
I’m starting over…away from all of you.” “Even from your mate?” I froze mid-step.
“Excuse me?” “Did you meet someone last night?” Martha stepped closer, eyes searching my face like she already knew the answer and was just waiting for me to catch up.
“At a bar, maybe?
Someone you didn’t get the name of before you ran?” The blood drained from my face.
“How could you possibly know that?” “Because he came looking for you this morning, and he tore my mate’s home apart doing it.” Her jaw tightened.
“King Darius, Lyra.
You spent the night with the King.” I actually laughed, a short, disbelieving bark of sound.
“That’s not funny.” “Do I look like I’m joking?” I searched her face, and my stomach turned to lead when I realized she wasn’t.
“That’s impossible.
He didn’t…
he wouldn’t have gone to a bar alone if he was a king.
Kings don’t do that.” “Apparently this one does and apparently he’s furious, because he woke up and you were gone, and all he had left was your scent and a very light wallet.” Martha’s eyebrows shot up.
“Care to explain that part?” Heat crawled up my neck.
“I needed cab fare, I wasn’t about to wake him up and ask politely.” “You stole from the King.” “I stole from a stranger,” I snapped.
“I didn’t know who he was!” “Well, now you do, and now he’s turned the pack upside down trying to find you.
He grabbed Selene, thought she was under that ridiculous wig and also pulled economic support from your father entirely.” Martha shook her head slowly.
“The whole pack’s in chaos, Lyra.” Good, some vicious little part of me thought.
Let them choke on the mess they made.
“That’s not my problem anymore,” I said instead, forcing my voice flat.
“I don’t belong to that pack.
I don’t owe them anything, and I certainly don’t owe him anything either.” “He’s your mate.” “He’s a stranger who happened to share my bed for one night,” I shot back, my wolf snarling in disagreement somewhere beneath my ribs.
Mate…ours.
She’d been insufferable about it since the moment I woke up in his sheets, and she was no less insufferable now.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” “It means everything and you know it.” Martha reached for my hand, and I let her take it, mostly because I didn’t have the energy to pull away.
“Lyra, please.
Come back with me.
Let me explain to him what really happened, what your father did…” “No.” The word came out sharper than I intended.
“I am not going back to beg for scraps of affection from a man who only wants me because the universe told him to.
I’ve spent my whole life being an afterthought.
I won’t spend the rest of it being a consolation prize just because some bond decided I belonged to him.” “That’s not fair to him.
He doesn’t even know…” “None of this is fair to me either,” I cut in, my voice cracking despite myself.
“But here we are.” Martha’s eyes glistened, and for a second I thought she might actually cry.
“At least let me walk with you, let me make sure you’re safe.” “I’ll be fine, Martha.” I squeezed her hand once before letting go.
“Go home and tell my father I said nothing at all, because he doesn’t deserve even that.” She called after me twice as I walked away, and twice I ignored her, forcing one foot in front of the other until the sound of her voice faded into the noise of the town.
My wolf whimpered the entire time, mourning a bond I refused to acknowledge, but I shoved her down and kept walking.
I made it three blocks before the hair on the back of my neck rose straight up.
“Well, well.” A man’s voice, low and amused, curled out from the mouth of an alley ahead of me.
Two more shapes peeled off the shadows behind him, boxing in the sidewalk.
“Look what wandered right into our laps.” “I’m not looking for trouble,” I said, forcing steel into my spine even as my heart slammed against my ribs.
“I’m just passing through.” “Passing through,” he repeated, stepping closer, nostrils flaring as he dragged in a long breath.
His grin spread slowly and sharply.
“You smell like roses, sweethearts and something else….something really interesting.” My stomach dropped.
“Get out of my way.” “Now why would we do that?” One of the others laughed, circling wide to cut off my only exit.
“Word’s already out, you know.
A king’s been tearing through three territories looking for an unclaimed little thing that smells exactly like you.
Bet he’d pay real handsomely to get you back in one piece.” Ice slid down my spine.
They didn’t want to hurt me, they wanted to sell me.
“You’re wrong about me,” I said, already backing away, already calculating how fast I could shift, how far I could run before they closed the distance.
“Am I?” the leader murmured, and lunged.
I turned to bolt, but a hand like iron closed around my arm and yanked me backward into a chest built like a wall.
I sucked in a breath to scream, and a cloth reeking of something sickly sweet clamped over my nose and mouth before a single sound could claw its way out.
The last thing I saw was the rooftops spinning above me, blurring into a smear of gray and gold.
The last thing I thought, right before the darkness swallowed me whole, was that I’d run from one king only to land, gift-wrapped, in the hands of something far worse.