Lyrean's pov
I stood up to the door, pulling it open, and like a magnet, he turned back and walked back to me.
"I-I'm sorry," He stuttered, his eyes red.
"Thank you," I cut in.
"What do you mean by thank you, what's there to thank me for?" He asked, staring at my face in confusion.
"For saving me, Raze, if you didn't send Elena to me years ago, with my baby, so thank you," I said, and he nodded, a small smile pressed on his face.
"Lyrean," he called again, moving closer.
"I know this is too much to ask or maybe this isn't the time right now, but,"
"No buts, don't say it,"
"Be my Luna,"
His words cut through the silence like a blade.
"Be my Luna."
For a heartbeat, the world tilted. I stared at him, my chest rising and falling like I'd just run miles, though I hadn't moved an inch. My lips parted, but no sound came. My mind scrambled, grasping for air, for logic, for anything that would ground me.
Raze didn't falter. His storm-grey eyes held mine, steady, unyielding, but there was a glint there—something I wasn't used to seeing in him. Vulnerability.
I shook my head, the words tumbling out sharp, breathless. "No. Don't—don't say that. Not now."
His jaw flexed, a muscle ticking in his cheek. "Why not now? We've wasted years hiding, pretending, bleeding for bonds that were already broken. I won't waste another second. I want you by my side—not just as the mother of my son, not just as the woman fate shoved into my path. I want you as mine. My Luna."
My knees weakened, and I sank down onto the edge of the bed, gripping the sheets like they could anchor me. I could still hear his words echoing in my skull. Be my Luna. The words every girl dreamed of hearing from her mate, the words that should've filled me with joy… instead they felt like a weight pressing against my chest.
"Do you even hear yourself?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "You're asking me to be yours when I can't even breathe in the same room as you without remembering that night. Without feeling this… this war inside me. Raze, you can't just erase everything with three words."
He crouched in front of me, close enough that I could feel his breath, smell the faint trace of smoke and pine that clung to him. His hand hovered, almost touching my knee, but he stopped himself—like he knew I wasn't ready.
"I'm not trying to erase it, Lyrean," he said quietly. "I'm trying to build from it. You think I don't hate myself for that night? For letting it happen the way it did? For not giving you the truth sooner? But I can't change it. What I can do is fight for what's real, for what's still burning between us even when you try to deny it." His voice dropped, raw, almost breaking. "For once, I'm asking you not to run."
My chest ached, because a part of me wanted to believe him. A part of me wanted to let my anger go, to reach out, to fall into the arms that had carried me out of fire and betrayal more than once. But another part—the louder, bitter part—screamed against it.
"You think it's that simple?" I snapped, the sting of tears filling my eyes again. "You think I can just forget that you kept everything from me? That you watched me suffer under Talon's lies while you held your silence? You talk about not running, but all you've ever done is hide, Raze."
His eyes flickered with pain, but he didn't look away. "I hid because I loved you," he admitted. "Because I saw the way you looked at him, even when he didn't deserve it. Because I thought I'd rather burn in my own silence than see that light in your eyes die when you looked at me. But that doesn't mean I don't deserve to try now."
My throat closed up. His honesty, his damn honesty—it was too much. Too raw.
I rose to my feet again, putting space between us, pacing the room like a caged wolf. My hands trembled as I ran them through my hair. "You don't understand. I need… I need space, Raze. I need time to breathe without your shadow swallowing me whole. Every time I see you, I feel torn in half—between hate and something I don't want to name. I can't be your Luna, not when I don't even know who I am anymore."
Silence. Heavy, suffocating silence.
When I finally turned, he was watching me, his expression unreadable now, all that rawness locked away behind the mask of an Alpha. But his voice, when it came, was softer than I'd ever heard it.
"Then I'll wait," he said simply. "I'll wait until you're ready to see me. To see us. Because no matter how far you run, Lyrean, you can't kill what fate has tied. You can hate me, you can blame me, you can curse the ground I walk on—but you're still mine. And I'm still yours."
The words lodged in my chest, a cruel, beautiful truth I didn't want to face.
I wanted to scream at him. To tell him he was wrong. To push him out and slam the door and build a wall so high he'd never reach me again. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Because deep down, I knew he was right.
And that terrified me more than anything.
He moved toward the door, his broad shoulders tense, his hand hovering on the handle. He didn't look back, not this time. "Take all the space you need," he said. "But know this—I'll never stop protecting you. Or him." His voice dropped lower, almost breaking. "Especially him."
Then he left.
The door clicked shut, and the room felt impossibly empty, though his presence lingered in every shadow.
I sank onto the bed again, burying my face in my hands. The sobs came fast, hot, violent. Because I hated him. And I wanted him. And I hated myself for wanting him.
The words replayed in my head, over and over, like a curse I couldn't escape.
Be my Luna.