5

The night is thick with rain, the streets slick and shining like glass. I move beside Kael as we leave the compound, the weight of the city pressing against me, heavy with secrets, danger, and the unspoken. My wolf is restless, coiled, every sense straining. Something is coming, something I cannot ignore.

Kael notices my tension before I speak. “You feel it, don’t you?” His voice is low, a whisper meant only for me. He doesn’t ask, doesn’t expect an answer. The bond between us hums quietly, protective, tethering me to him in the storm of instincts I cannot yet control.

I nod, forcing my voice steady. “Yes. Someone is near. I can feel it.”

His hand brushes mine briefly as we walk, the contact grounding. “Stay close,” he says. “Do not act on instinct.”

I obey, though it burns to do so. My wolf flares at the warning in the air, sharp, insistent. She knows who is near before I even register it consciously. Riven. My mate. The rogue Alpha.

We reach the hotel where the DeLuca business meeting is concluding, the same one I delivered documents for earlier. The lobby is quiet now, polished marble gleaming in the dim light. My pulse quickens. I feel his presence immediately, subtle yet undeniable, like a shadow that stretches across the room and coils around me.

I freeze mid-step, hands gripping my coat. My wolf growls softly, low, warning me that he is close, watching. My chest tightens. I do not want this pull, do not want to acknowledge it, but it is impossible.

“Lyra?” Kael’s voice is calm but firm, tugging me back. His eyes sweep over me, assessing, protective. “You’re tense.”

I force a smile. “Just tired,” I lie. But he knows. He always knows. His hand finds mine, steadying, anchoring, and my wolf leans into him reluctantly, craving the safety I have chosen.

“Stay here,” he murmurs, leaning closer. His lips brush my ear. “Do not let him get to you.”

I nod, barely breathing, watching the lobby entrance.

Then he steps in.

Riven Blackmoor.

The rogue Alpha moves like a shadow made of purpose and danger. He does not rush. He does not announce himself. But the air shifts the moment he enters, heavy with power and the undeniable pull of a bond that has been waiting years to be claimed. My wolf snarls, tense and coiled, pressing against my mind, demanding attention, demanding response.

I straighten, forcing control, forcing calm. “I will not—” my voice catches. I bite it back, swallowing, focusing on Kael, grounding myself.

Riven stops a few meters from me, his silver eyes sweeping over my face. Recognition, shock, and something else—need—flickers there. He remembers me, my wolf remembers him, and yet he does not move closer. He waits, patient, confident.

“Lyra Vale,” he says finally, voice low, intimate, carrying across the marble floor. “You’ve changed.”

I force my shoulders back, trying to look composed, professional. “I’ve grown,” I reply evenly, keeping my tone steady. “Not everything is about you.”

A shadow of a smile tugs at his lips. “I never said it was.”

The pull strikes me again, sharper this time, an ache that runs through my chest, my bones, my wolf. I hate him for it. I hate the way it makes me forget myself for a heartbeat.

Kael steps in then, placing himself subtly between me and Riven. His presence is like iron, solid and unmoving, a wall against the rogue’s pull. “You should leave,” Kael says, voice smooth but cold. “Before this becomes a problem.”

Riven chuckles, low and dangerous. “Problem? Kael, you wound me. I’m only here to see her. Only to speak with my mate.”

The word hangs in the air, heavy and jagged. Mate. My wolf snaps at it, growling, coiling, straining against the control I have worked so hard to maintain. My chest aches. Pain and heat and longing mix in a way that is nearly unbearable.

“I am not yours,” I say, voice firm despite the tremor in my hands. “You rejected me once. You left.”

He takes a slow step closer, eyes locked on mine, unwavering. “I didn’t know,” he says softly, a touch of regret in the edge of his voice. “I didn’t know you were… me. My mate. I thought—”

“You thought you could walk away,” I interrupt sharply, though my voice shakes. My wolf growls louder, frustrated, angry. “You thought you could leave me alone. And you did. Years ago. I survived.”

“You survived,” he says quietly, almost a whisper, “but I didn’t. I’ve spent years chasing ghosts, running, thinking I’d never find you again. And now… now I know you’re mine. I’ve always known.”

Kael shifts slightly, tension coiling like steel around my chest. His hand brushes mine again, grounding, protective, but there is no mistaking the edge in his tone. “Riven, step back. You are not welcome here.”

Riven ignores him, taking another slow step closer. “You’re mistaken, Alpha. I am not here to challenge. I am here for her. For her choice. For her life that was intertwined with mine before either of us knew it.”

My wolf howls inside me, raw and impatient. I feel my body responding to the bond, to the pull, to the magnetic inevitability of it. My chest aches as desire and frustration collide. I hate it. I hate him. I hate myself for wanting him.

“I—” I begin, and then stop. My throat tightens. I cannot speak clearly. The tension is unbearable, the presence of both Alphas, the pull between them and me, the weight of the choices I have made and the ones I have yet to make.

Kael moves closer to me, hand resting lightly on my lower back, grounding, anchoring, steady. “Lyra,” he says softly, almost tenderly. “You are with me. You know this. Trust me. Don’t give him… any more of your attention than you must.”

I swallow hard, trying to focus on Kael’s eyes, the bond that is ours, the safety that exists in him. And yet, Riven takes another step, slow and deliberate, his gaze never leaving mine. “I didn’t come to fight,” he says quietly. “I came because I can feel it too. The bond. The part of you that is mine. I feel it every time you’re near, even when you try to hide it. Even when Kael… even when anyone else stands between us.”

My wolf growls, a deep, primal sound that escapes my throat despite my effort. The sound makes both men pause. Kael’s eyes flick to me, sharp and assessing. “Do not—” he warns, but I raise a hand, shaking slightly, trying to calm my wolf.

“You…” I manage, voice trembling, “you left. You don’t get to… show up and expect everything to change. Not now. Not ever.”

Riven’s expression softens, though his eyes remain intense, molten with desire and regret. “I know. I was a fool. But the bond doesn’t lie. It doesn’t wait for permission. I felt you before you even knew it yourself. I left because I was weak, because I was afraid. Now, I am not. I cannot, will not, ignore this again.”

Kael shifts, protective, possessive, and I can feel the tension in him radiating. “Lyra, we need to leave. Now. You will not be manipulated.”

I feel torn, the weight of loyalty and instinct, the pull of two bonds that are both undeniable and impossible. My wolf is screaming, claws at the back of my mind, urging me to act, to respond, to acknowledge the presence that has haunted my dreams for years.

I take a shaky breath, forcing control. “Enough,” I say, voice firm despite the trembling in my limbs. “You will both stop. I am not a prize to be claimed. I am not a battlefield.”

Riven tilts his head slightly, a shadow of a smile on his lips. “Then let me prove it to you,” he says softly. “Not with force. Not with anger. But with the truth. With what I should have done years ago.”

Kael’s hand tightens slightly on my back. “Do not listen,” he warns, voice low and dangerous. “You belong with me. You are my mate, Lyra. You chose this.”

“I…” I falter, the truth burning inside me. My wolf surges, desperate, impatient, wanting him, needing to answer. My chest aches, heart pounding, every nerve alight with tension.

The three of us stand there, caught in the storm, the city alive around us, the night thick with rain and danger. Two wolves. One mate. And a choice that has been waiting years to be made.

And I know, deep down, that the storm is only beginning.