The atmosphere in the packhouse hall became dense with unspoken anxiety. The pack members who had been there when Lyra came from the hospital moved uneasily, their gazes alternating between Lyra, Thorne, and Elara. Elara, still patting the dog near the hearth, maintained her modest demeanor, but Lyra's gaze was focused on her, recalling that momentary, terrifying grin.
"Lyra," Thorne continued coldly, "you are awake. "That is fortunate." His remarks were short and seemingly perfunctory, as if he recognized a small annoyance rather than the miraculous reappearance of his presumed dead partner.
Lyra's breath tightened. "Fortunate?" she rasped, her voice becoming stronger, fuelled by a smouldering rage. "Fortunate? "I fought tooth and claw to get back to this pack, to you, and you stand here with…her, speaking of fortune?" She made a wild move at Elara. "Who is she, Thorne?" And what falsehoods have you believed?
Thorne's jaws constricted. He shot a harsh, warning gaze to the other pack members, drowning out their frightened muttering. "Silence, Lyra," he said, his Alpha tone ringing with frigid power. "This is not the place for theatrics."
"Theatrics?" Lyra sneered, releasing a sour chuckle from her lips. "My bleeding body, my broken spirit, the rogue attack that nearly killed me is that theatrics, Alpha?" Her stare penetrated him, hoping to get a glimpse of the guy she knew, the one who would have yelled with joy and held her with furious devotion. She discovered nothing except hard stones.
Elara selected that time to speak, her tone quiet, almost sighing. "Alpha, perhaps Luna" Lyra is still dazed from her injuries. "It must be extremely confusing." She gazed at Lyra with a fake pity that made Lyra's stomach turn.
"Confusing?" Lyra growled, her voice raised. "I recognize what I see, Elara. I know what I smell. And I know how I feel. She placed a palm on her chest, over her heart, where the mate connection had once been, now a gaping hole. "The bond is gone, Lyra," Thorne said, his voice cold and cutting her off. "It was severed when you were almost dead. Such severe damage may sever the relationship." He talked with the clinical detachment of a healer who has diagnosed a fatal sickness. "The Moon, in her wisdom, saw fit to give me another opportunity for the sake of the pack. "A Luna is essential."
Lyra looked at him, her head whirling. He was repeating it not just in the solitude of the hospital but also in the main hall, where everybody could hear. It was a public dismissal and decree.
"A second chance?" Lyra muttered, her words tasting like ash. "After I fought for this pack, what about you?" You reject me so easily? Do you believe this story? Her gaze shifted to Elara, who now seemed to be quite engaged in the puppy she was patting. "And she is your second opportunity? A she-wolf whose fragrance is as foreign as her appearance? Who seems young enough to have experienced the tug of a mate bond?"
Elara flinched, bringing the pup closer, her cheeks flushing slightly. Thorne fixed his focus on Lyra, stiffening his expression. "That's enough, Lyra. Elara has just accepted the Moon's benediction. She is now a faithful member of my group and is carrying my puppy."
The words hit Lyra like a physical blow, sucking breath from her lungs like a puppy. This was not a falsehood. It was a cold, indisputable reality. This was more than just a replacement; it was a fundamental change in the pack's future, with a new lineage formed as Lyra lay shattered.
"You… you dare?" Lyra whispered out, tears burning her eyes and distorting Thorne's expression. "Our future, our puppies... "Do you forget all that?"
"I have not forgotten," Thorne said, his voice tinted with tired frustration as if Lyra were a child having a tantrum. "But fate took a different course. The pack needs both a Luna and an heir. Cerelia is delivering that."
He turned to face the two soldiers. "Ensure Luna. Lyra is content in the Guest Den. She'll need rest and time to heal. Her responsibilities as Beta will be halted until she fully recovers.
Beta. Not Luna. A demotion, a loss of her identity. The last humiliation. Thorne had just publicly dismissed her, not as a mate, but as a leader and an essential element of the pack's hierarchy.
The two warriors approached Lyra, their expressions stern with pain. Kael, the young warrior who had been among the first to approach her, averted his sight, his shoulders bowed. Even he appeared to accept the Alpha's word, although unwillingly.
Lyra stood still, shaking not from weakness but from the sheer force of her fury. She shifted her gaze from Thorne's hard expression to Elara's deceptively kind features. The grin, the pregnancy, the timing of her injuries, it all seemed too perfect.
"You think this is over?" Lyra's voice was low and threatening, a growl that foreshadowed future wrath. "You think you can just… sever a bond, discard a Luna, and install a replacement based on a convenient story of 'destiny'?"
Thorne's eyes narrowed. "I obey the Moon's command, Lyra. And I do my best for the Moonstone Pack."
"No," Lyra said, taking a timid step forward, her eyes meeting Elara's. "You're following a falsehood. And she is a part of it.
Elara eventually glanced up completely, her naïve veneer crumbling for a brief moment. Her eyes shone with a chilly, almost victorious light. It was an unmistakable appearance. This was not a timid person. This was a calculating player in a game Lyra did not completely comprehend.
"Take her," Thorne said, his voice rougher now, with a note of steel in it. The two warriors went to each side of Lyra, hands hovering, ready to accompany her.
Lyra, however, did not resist. Not physically. Her struggle was not here, not now, and especially not with Thorne's pawns. Her struggle was for the truth.
Lyra caught Thorne's eyes for the final time as they took her away. There was no sadness in her eyes anymore, only a hard, blazing determination. He had taken her of everything, but he had also sparked something powerful inside her. He gave her a new purpose.
She would discover how her relationship was destroyed. She would discover the truth behind Elara's abrupt entrance. And she would reveal the falsehoods that had shattered her world.
Her footsteps resonated in the quiet hall as she was carried away, leaving Thorne and his new Luna behind. The last thing she heard, borne by the thick air, was Elara's gentle, pleased mutter to Thorne, "It had to be done, Alpha." "For the pack's future."
Lyra sensed a new, unexpected strength stirring inside her, a coldness unrelated to her wounds. It wasn't just about her anymore. This was about duplicity at the core of the Moonstone Pack. And she would take it apart, piece by excruciating piece, until the truth was revealed, no matter what the cost.
And Lyra knew, deep inside, that the cost would be enormous.