LYRA
The fire didn't wake me.
His scent did.
Sharp, earthy, and cold — like smoke and leather after rain. Kairo had a way of entering a room like it already belonged to him. Like I did.
I sat up slowly, the silk sheet slipping down my shoulder. He stood by the door, arms crossed, jaw clenched — shirt clinging to his chest like he had just come from training.
"You were screaming again," he said, voice low.
I nodded. "I remember more now."
"Her?"
"And something else."
---
He stepped inside.
Slow. Careful. Like I was a flame he was trying not to stoke — or maybe one he wanted to burn from.
The mark on my chest pulsed faintly as he neared. It always did when he got too close.
> Or maybe it wasn't the mark reacting. Maybe it was me.
He reached the bed and knelt slightly, face now eye-level with mine.
His fingers grazed my collarbone — barely a touch — before they rested above the pulsing glow of the mark.
"You were born of this," he whispered. "But it doesn't define you."
I met his eyes, heart pounding. "Then why does it feel like it owns me?"
He exhaled slowly, fingers curling just slightly against my skin.
"Because fire doesn't ask for permission. It just... claims."
---
For a moment, neither of us moved.
His breath brushed my cheek.
My pulse throbbed against his touch.
If he leaned in just an inch closer—
If I tilted my lips just a little—
---
He stood abruptly.
Walls slammed back up behind his eyes.
"You're to stay inside the boundary today. Something's watching the pack again."
"What is it?"
"Not what," he said. "Who."
---
KAIRO
I had made mistakes.
But touching her like that — again — when I was supposed to be her shield, not her shadow?
That was dangerous.
Because the more she awakened… the more I did too.
And the beast inside me didn't want to protect her anymore.
It wanted to possess her.
---
Ren found me near the northern watch line an hour later.
"There's movement again," he said. "Same cloaked signature."
I nodded. "Let them come."
"What if they're not alone this time?"
I glanced back toward the packhouse. Toward her.
"Then I'm done waiting."
---
LYRA
Later that evening, I felt it.
A pull.
Like my name had been whispered across the wind.
I walked past the edge of the warding circle… and into the woods.
Not far.
Just enough to hear it.
A voice.
> "You burn brighter than she ever did."
I turned.
She stood just beyond the veil — the cloaked one.
And now… her hood was down.
And I knew that face.
Pale lips. Black eyes.
> The woman from my visions.
> "Seraphine?"
She smirked. "No, child.
I'm her sister."