TheReckoning

A snarl ripped from my throat, my body coiled with the need to fight, to demand answers, to tear through every deception that had been wrapped around me since the moment my parents' blood had stained this forest.

But then, a scream, high and ragged It cut through the air like a blade, sending my pulse into overdrive.

Sha.

The scream was distinctive, and I recognized it as Sha's instantly.

I turned toward the sound, my instincts overriding everything else. She was somewhere beyond the smoke, beyond the chaos, trapped in the heart of the shadows Zephyr had unleashed.

I sprinted toward her.

"Lyra!" Ryker called, his voice Sharp and commanding.

I ignored it, my breath came in short, ragged bursts as I pushed forward, dodging between the pack and the writhing tendrils of magic curling through the trees. The shadows moved with intention, striking not just at random but with precision, cutting through our defenses like they knew us. Like they were hunting something, or someone.

The warlock wasn't here to wipe out the pack, he was here for me.

I reached the clearing where Sha had screamed, and I froze. The trees had withered, their trunks blackened and twisted, stripped of life in a way that sent a sickening shudder through my bones.

And in the center of it, Sha knelt on the ground, her arms wrapped around herself, her body wracked with tremors. The shadows clung to her like vines, sinking into her skin, draining her.

I lunged forward, reaching for her.

"Don't touch her."

Zephyr's voice was calm, soft and Laced with venom.

He stood at the edge of the clearing, his cloak billowing like smoke, his presence warping the air itself. The moment my eyes met his, the shadows binding Sha rippled.

And I felt it, a pull. Not physical, but something deeper. Something inside me responding to him, to the magic curling around the clearing. My breath hitched.

His lips curved, slow and knowing. "You feel it, don't you?"

I clenched my jaw. "Let her go."

Zephyr tilted his head. "You can end this, Lyra."

His voice was soft, coaxing. "Come with me, and I will tell you everything. The truth about your past. The power in your blood. The destiny your parents tried to steal from you."

Sha whimpered, the sound weak and fading then my pulse thundered.

Zephyr took a step forward. "Or," he murmured, "you can stay here. Keep fighting battles you don't understand. Keep being lied to."

His gaze flickered past me, toward Ryker. I didn't need to turn to know he was there, I could feel him. His presence at my back, his silence thick with everything he wasn't saying. I wanted to hate him, wanted to scream, demand the truth now, before it was too late.

But Sha was dying and I only had one choice.

I turned to Zephyr and I took a step forward. The air around me tightened, charged with something unseen, something ancient. The moment my foot shifted toward Zephyr, the shadows rippled, curling toward me like ink drawn to water.

"A step". I thought. "Just a single step".

And yet, it felt like crossing a threshold I could never return from.

Behind me, Ryker growled, a sound low and guttural, more wolf than man. "Lyra, don't."

The warning in his voice sent a shiver through my spine.

But I didn't turn back, not when Zephyr was watching me with that knowing smirk. Not when his power was reaching for me, pulling at something deep in my bones. The truth, the thing he claimed to know, the thing Ryker wouldn't tell me.

My hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms.

"I want Sha," I said, my voice steady despite the storm inside me. "Let her go first."

Zephyr exhaled through his nose, amused. "Oh, Lyra." He shook his head. "You think you're in a position to bargain?"

The shadows coiled tighter around Sha, sinking deeper into her skin. She let out a strangled gasp, her body jerking as if something was being ripped from her.

My pulse spiked, Instinct roared inside me, my wolf snarling beneath my skin, demanding that I do something, anything.

But Zephyr was right, I had no leverage. Only my choices.

A hollow laugh slipped past my lips, bitter and sharp. "So that's it?" I met his gaze. "I follow you into the dark, and she lives?"

Zephyr smiled. "It's quite poetic, don't you think?"

I hated him, hated his calm, his certainty, the way he spoke like he already knew how this would end. The worst part? I felt it, too. Something in me had already known this moment was coming, the inevitability of it.

"Lyra," Ryker's voice was closer now.

I could feel the heat of him at my back, the tension thrumming through him like a live wire.

If I turned, if I looked at him, I wasn't sure I'd be able to go through with it.

But if I didn't…

Sha would die.

I closed my eyes for the briefest second trying to process my decisions.

And then, I took another step.

The shadows surged forward, wrapping around my wrists like bindings, Cold, foreign, yet familiar. A gasp tore from my throat. Because the moment they touched me I felt it, I felt the power and It didn't hurt. It felt like coming home.

Zephyr's smile deepened.

"Good girl," he murmured.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, the shadows unraveled from Sha's body.

She collapsed, her body limp, her breathing shallow, but alive.

My chest heaved. Relief and dread warred inside me, twisting into something unrecognizable.

Behind me, Ryker let out a snarl of pure rage. But it was too late.

Zephyr's shadows curled tighter around me, solidifying. And before I could breathe, before I could regret, the darkness swallowed me whole.