Chapter 2

I woke to the smell of silver and restraints.

Not my nest.

Not anywhere safe.

"Wakey, wakey, Shadow Blade."

Kai Mercer's scarred face swam into focus above me.

Ronan's Beta.

His enforcer.

"Fuck you."

"Ronan's orders." He yanked me upright, and I realized my wrists were bound in silver-laced cord. "You don't get to run."

My wolf snarled, but she was weak—the wound on my neck still bleeding.

"He sent you?"

"He would've come himself, but his fiancée needed comforting." Kai's smile was cruel. "You really did a number on him, ripping out his mark like that."

"Good."

"Keep that attitude." He dragged me toward the door. "You'll need it."

---

Vesper main territory looked the same.

Felt like poison.

Wolves stopped and stared as Kai hauled me through the compound.

I'd walked these halls as a ghost for ten years—never acknowledged, never seen.

Now they saw me dragged in silver like a criminal.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Your training room." Kai's grip tightened. "Alpha wants a word."

My training room.

The one place that had been mine.

We stopped at the reinforced doors, and Kai punched in the code—my birthday, the one thing Ronan had remembered.

The doors opened.

Everything inside me went cold.

The space was gutted.

My weapons—gone.

My training dummies—gone.

The scars I'd carved into the walls with a decade of violence—painted over.

In their place: white and silver everywhere, crystalline snowflakes etched into mirrors, and a massive banner hanging from the ceiling.

Two wolves, heads raised in a howl.

The Dragunov crest.

"No."

"Seraphina wanted a proper training space." Kai shoved me inside. "Ronan obliged."

My knees hit the mat—new, pristine, unmarked.

This was where I'd bled.

Where I'd trained until my bones cracked.

Where Ronan had taken me against the wall more times than I could count, swallowing my screams.

All of it erased.

"Lyra."

His voice.

I looked up slowly.

Ronan stood in the doorway, three Elders flanking him, and behind them—

She was perfect.

Seraphina Dragunov, ice-blonde and ethereal, her hand possessively on Ronan's arm.

"Stand up." His tone was pure Alpha command.

My body obeyed before my mind caught up.

"Ronan, this is—" Elder Thorne's eyes narrowed at me. "The Hale girl? I thought she was just a blade."

"She is." Ronan's face was carved from granite. "The sharpest we have."

"Then why does she carry your—" Elder Thorne stepped closer, scenting the air. "Is that a bond mark?"

"No."

The word was instant, absolute.

A lie so smooth it could cut.

Elder Thorne looked between us.

"Alpha, if you've been—"

"I said no." Ronan's power flooded the room. "Lyra Hale is a weapon. Nothing more."

Each word was a blade between my ribs.

Seraphina's smile was poison-sweet.

"A weapon shouldn't have such... familiar access to an Alpha's private spaces." Her accent was thick, deliberately sensual. "Perhaps she's confused her role?"

"She's not confused." Ronan still wouldn't look at me. "She knows exactly what she is."

"And what is that?" My voice finally worked.

His eyes met mine.

Empty.

"Property of this pack. Same as any blade in our armory."

Something in my chest turned to ice.

"I see."

"Good." He turned to leave. "Kai, remove the silver. Put her in the East wing with the other soldiers."

"Not the Elite quarters?" Kai sounded surprised.

"She doesn't rank Elite anymore."

Seraphina laughed—light, delicate, victorious.

Then she did something that made every wolf in the room go still.

She released her pheromones.

Not the normal scent-markers.

Possessive pheromones—the kind a bonded female used to mark territory.

To warn off rivals.

The scent rolled over me: snow, pine, and underneath it all, Ronan.

She'd already marked him.

Already claimed him in every way that mattered.

My wolf whimpered, curling into a ball.

"I'm so sorry." Seraphina's voice dripped false sympathy. "I didn't mean to—oh, you poor thing. You actually thought—"

"Seraphina." Ronan's warning was soft.

"I'm just being honest, darling." She pressed closer to him. "It's cruel to let her keep hoping."

"There's no hope to crush." I forced my voice steady. "I understand perfectly now."

Ronan's jaw ticked.

"Then we're done here."

He left with Seraphina on his arm, her laughter echoing down the hall.

The Elders followed.

Kai started to remove my bindings.

"He fucked her in here, didn't he?" His voice was quiet. "In your space."

I didn't answer.

"Lyra—"

"Get out."

"Look, I know—"

"Get out!"

He left.

I stood alone in my gutted training room, surrounded by another woman's claim, and finally understood.

Ronan had never planned to bring me into the light.

I was always meant to stay in the dark.

The silver cord lay at my feet, still warm from my skin.

I picked it up slowly.

Tested its weight.

It would make an excellent garrote.

My phone buzzed—Kai must have missed it in my boot.

Unknown number.

Unknown: The tunnels beneath the East wing flood during full moon. Exits aren't monitored. Thought you should know. -A friend

I stared at the message.

Then at the silver cord in my hands.

Someone wanted me to run.