The forest bled silver beneath the full moon. Three Blackfang wolves moved like shadows between the trees. Silent. Efficient. Deadly. It was supposed to be a routine border patrol, nothing unusual, nothing worth remembering. Until the scent hit them.
Faint at first, so faint Ryker almost ignored it then the wind shifted and he stopped abruptly, his ears flattened.
Something was wrong and it was not danger but something worse, Something… familiar, like smoke after a fire that should have burned out years ago.
Ryker turned his head sharply.
"Stop."
Beta Cole halted behind him. Jace stopped a few feet away. Cole sniffed the air.
"What is it?"
Ryker didn't answer. His eyes locked on the ancient oak standing at the edge of the clearing.
The Witness Tree, older than Blackfang, older than the pack, older than the war. Its massive roots twisted through the earth like buried bones and beneath one of them… Something moved, no… Something lay there.
Ryker's wolf growled.
"Contact."
He shifted forward.
"On your feet."
The three wolves rushed toward the tree. The closer they got, the stronger the scent became. Blood, Mud and death and something else, something Ryker couldn't place then he saw her.
A woman, half-buried beneath mud and dead leaves, her dress was torn almost beyond recognition. It clung to her body, soaked with dirt and blood, one arm was bent at an unnatural angle, bruises covered her throat, shoulders, and legs. Her face was pale, too pale that she looked dead
Jace dropped beside her.
"She's alive."
Ryker's heart kicked.
"What?"
Jace pressed his fingers against her throat.
"Barely."
Ryker dropped to his knees. Mud soaked through his uniform. He pressed two fingers against her neck.
For a second… he felt nothing, then, he felt it. A flutter. Weak and erratic, like a bird trapped beneath ice.
"Pulse is fading."
Ryker looked at Cole.
"We need the healer. Now."
Cole was already pulling out his comm.
"Alpha to base. We have an injured civilian. Female. Severe trauma. Requesting immediate evac at the Witness Tree."
Jace removed his jacket and wrapped it around the woman's shoulders.
"She needs heat."
He looked at her face.
"She's going into shock."
But Ryker wasn't listening. The wind shifted and her scent hit him. Everything inside him stopped. The familiar scent of honey, winter rain and lilacs crushed beneath snow.
Ryker's blood ran cold.
No.
His wolf recognized it before his mind could. A scent that hadn't touched Blackfang territory in five years, a scent that was supposed to be buried.
His breathing became shallow.
"Impossible."
Cole turned.
"What?"
Ryker couldn't answer, he stared at the woman and his hands shook terribly. He knew that scent, he had known it five years ago, he had smelled it in the pack house, at council meetings, in the training grounds, everywhere she went, he had watched the Alpha follow that scent without even realizing he was doing it.
Lyra.
His eyes moved over the woman's face, the shape of her jaw, the curve of her lips, the dark hair stuck to her cheek. His gaze stopped at a small scar above her left eyebrow.
Ryker's stomach dropped. He knew that scar, everyone did.
The Alpha had given it to her, five years ago, the night he had told her he loved her.
Ryker leaned closer. His voice barely existed.
"Lyra Vale."
Cole froze. His comm slipped from his hand.
"The hell did you just say?"
Ryker didn't look at him.
"Lyra Vale."
Jace stared at the woman.
"No."
Ryker's eyes remained fixed on her.
"The woman Alpha Kael Draven killed five years ago."
Cole's face went pale. Nobody moved. Even the forest seemed to hold its breath. Jace shook his head.
"That's not possible."
Ryker finally looked at him.
"We buried her."
Cole swallowed.
"The Alpha himself confirmed the kill."
Ryker's gaze dropped back to the woman.
"Then explain this."
His voice was sharper now.
"Explain how she's here."
No one answered because there was no answer. Lyra Vale was dead and everyone in Blackfang knew it.
Five years ago, the entire pack had watched the aftermath, five years ago, Alpha Kael Draven had confirmed that she was dead.
And now—
She was breathing, barely… but breathing.
Jace stared at her.
"Maybe it's not her."
Ryker's head snapped toward him.
"It is."
"You can't know that."
"I know her scent."
The words came out cold and certain.
"That's Lyra."
As if the name reached somewhere deep inside her, her eyelids fluttered.
Ryker froze.
"Wait."
Her eyes opened. Storm-cloud gray, glassy with pain, lost. They found Ryker, for one second, she simply stared at him, she didn't seem to recognize him, she looked terrified and confused. Like she had woken up somewhere she didn't understand. Then her gaze moved, past Ryker, past Cole, past Jace. Searching for someone. Ryker leaned closer.
"Lyra?"
Her lips parted but nothing came out. She tried again, a broken breath escaped her.
Then—
One word that was barely a whisper.
"Kael."
The name cut through the clearing. Ryker went still. Cole's eyes widened. Jace stopped breathing.
Kael. After five years, after death, after everything. That was the name she called then her eyes rolled back, her body went limp.
"Lyra!"
Ryker caught her before she hit the ground. Her head fell against his arm.
"Stay with me."
He pressed his fingers against her throat. Her heartbeat stuttered, stopped, then… two weak beat. Ryker exhaled sharply.
"Stay with me. Dammit."
Jace was already checking her breathing.
"She's still alive."
Cole stood.
"We're moving. Now."
Jace carefully lifted her into his arms.
"Ryker, call the Alpha."
Ryker didn't move. His eyes remained on Lyra. Mud streaked her cheek, her lips were blue, her body was broken. But she was alive. The woman they had buried was alive and she had just spoken Kael's name. Ryker slowly pulled out his comm, his fingers were shaking.
This wasn't a patrol report anymore, this was treason, this was a ghost, this was the one thing Alpha Kael Draven would kill to keep buried.
Ryker pressed the button.
Static.
A second later, Kael's voice came through. Cold and Irritated.
"What."
Ryker swallowed. He could hear the Alpha's impatience. Kael was in the middle of a council meeting and he did not like interruptions.
"Alpha."
Ryker's voice cracked.
"We're at the Witness Tree."
"We found..."
He looked at Jace. At the woman in his arms, at Lyra, at the impossible. His throat tightened.
"We found your mate."
What followed was silence. Prolonged silence, one that carried uncertainties and doubt. They didn’t even hear a breath, then…
A chair scraped violently across the floor, glass shattered. Ryker's eyes widened.
Kael's voice came through the comm again.
"Bring her to me."
A pause.
“Now”
