Ryker's POV
Two days. Two long, restless days since Kate's fire tore through the arena, since her Lycan emerged before my eyes and silenced the doubts of an entire pack. Yet the image of her wreathed in flame and fury still seared my mind. I could not sleep without seeing it. Could not breathe without needing to understand what it meant.
Tonight, I finally had her alone in my study. No audience, no titles—just Kate and me.
"You fought like a queen that day," I began, my voice low, though my hands flexed on the desk. "But a Lycan… Kate, Lycans are supposed to be extinct. Even I—" I broke off, frustration edging my tone. "Even I have no record of them in the old archives. So tell me… what are you?"
Her hazel eyes widened at the question, but not with guilt. With the same raw confusion I felt. She shook her head slowly, her dark hair spilling forward.
"I don't know, Ryker," she whispered. "I didn't even know I could shift. Let alone into… that." She swallowed hard, her fingers curling into her lap. "When Lysandra came to me, I thought it was a blessing. But when my body changed… when the fire came…" Her voice trembled. "It felt ancient. Wild. As if I wasn't just shifting—I was remembering."
Her words set my teeth on edge. Remembering? No wolf spoke like that. And yet, deep down, my instincts whispered truth. This wasn't a fluke. This was blood.
I moved around the desk, lowering myself before her, forcing her gaze to meet mine. "Kate, power like that doesn't appear from nowhere. Somewhere in your line—your parents, your grandparents—someone carried this blood." My jaw tightened. "And that makes you more dangerous than you realize."
Her breath hitched, not in fear of me, but of herself. "Do you think I'm a threat to you?"
The question shattered me. "No," I growled, cupping her face in my hands. "Never to me. But others will not see it that way. Lycans were once kings among wolves. If word spreads…" My voice dropped. "You will not only be my Luna, Kate. You will be a target."
Her lips parted, her throat working as if to argue, but no words came. The fire that had blazed so brightly in her at the arena flickered with doubt now.
For the first time, I let her see my fear. "I will protect you with everything I am. But I need to know what burns in your blood, Kate. Because it's not just yours anymore. It's ours. It's the pack's. And it's already stirring the shadows."
The silence between us hummed like a storm about to break.
Kate's POV
I wanted to tell him he was wrong. That I was just a wolfless Omega who had stumbled into impossible power. But Ryker's eyes—burning, searching, desperate—pulled the truth from me.
"I don't remember my parents," I admitted softly. "Not really. My mother died when I was young, and my father…" My throat tightened. "I only remember whispers. Whispers that we weren't welcome. That we had to hide."
Lysandra stirred in my chest, her voice low and sharp. You are not hiding anymore. The fire is ours. The blood is ours.
I pressed a hand to my sternum, steadying myself. "Ryker, I don't know if my blood is Lycan or something else. But I know this—when I fought Aria, when I burned, it didn't feel like something borrowed. It felt like something waiting. Waiting to be unleashed."
His gaze darkened, a mix of pride and fear warring across his face. He leaned in, forehead brushing mine. "Then we'll find the truth together. Whatever your blood carries, whatever your fire means—it belongs to me as much as it does to you. To us."
His words settled in me like an oath, fierce and binding. Yet deep down, unease coiled.
Because even as he spoke, even as his warmth steadied me, I could still hear it—faint whispers at the edges of my mind. Voices that weren't my own. Some curious. Some fearful. Some sharp with envy.
And one… one voice darker than the rest. Not from the pack. Not from Lysandra. Something beyond.
We have found her.
My breath caught, but before I could speak, Ryker's hand tightened around mine, grounding me. His eyes, glowing faintly gold, promised strength.
I forced a smile, tucking the fear deep inside. For now.
But as the shadows in my mind whispered louder, one truth settled like fire in my bones—my battle had only just begun.