POV: Everly
She woke to pain. Not the sharp kind. Not bruises or breaks or bones.
This was deeper.
It started in her chest, like a fire spreading slowly and cold at the same time, then bloomed beneath her ribs, winding through her back, her arms, her spine. Her hands trembled as she pushed herself up from the straw mattress, drenched in sweat though the air was freezing.
Her first thought was that she was sick, but no. This wasn't illness.
It was… violation.
Selene didn't speak, but Everly could feel her curled tight inside, alert now…uneasy.
Whatever this was, it wasn't physical.
It was the bond.
Something had happened.
Something had broken.
The sun hadn't yet cleared the trees when she was pulled from bed by a summons to the Luna's quarters. Apparently, a servant girl had gone missing, and Everly was to fill in.
No explanation.
No concern for her limp or trembling hands.
Just: "Be quick about it."
She dressed in silence and climbed the south wing stairs, trying not to vomit from the pressure in her chest. She was halfway through changing the Luna's bedsheets when the door opened and she walked in.
Tall. Gold-haired. Sharp-smiled. Wrapped in a pale blue cloak with the crest of the Moonstone Pack stitched over her breast.
Lyra
Everly froze.
It had been months since she last saw her. Maybe longer. The Moonstone Pack Alpha's daughter had only just come of age, barely eighteen. She rarely visited Ironfang anymore but Everly hadn't forgotten her voice, her cruelty, or how she used to whisper "wolfless" like it was a disease.
Lyra didn't look at her at first. Just breezed past, speaking sweetly to the Luna as if they were family. Then…eyes sharp, she turned to Everly and smiled. "Oh. You're still here," she said with a mocking smile.
Everly dropped her gaze.
The Luna said nothing, then walked out of the room.
Lyra walked closer to Everly and whispered, "did you feel it last night? The way Kyran couldn't keep his hands off me?" Her breath brushed Everly's ear like poison wrapped in perfume. "He didn't even hesitate."
That night, the pain came back worse. Like heat clawing through her core, trying to rip something out. She bit into her own wrist to stay silent.
She now knew what was happening and she mourned for Selene. Everly curled beneath the thin blanket, every breath shallow, her jaw locked tight to keep from making a sound. Lyra's voice still echoed behind her ears like rot seeping into old wounds. Did you feel it last night? The way Kyran couldn't keep his hands off me? Her body shivered and then from deep within. And then, "He didn't even hesitate."
A low growl built inside her chest, not from her throat, from deeper. "Liar," Selene snarled.
Everly flinched, pressing her fist to her mouth. "She sounded like she meant it."
"She wants to break you. That's all she's ever wanted."
Everly's eyes stung. "But he let her. He chose her."
A pause. Selene's voice lowered, not soft but sharp with grief. "He chose silence over truth. Cowardice over us."
Everly curled tighter. The bond ached like an open wound. Kyran's absence screamed louder than his rejection. Louder than Lyra. She bit her wrist, stifling the sob rising in her throat. "I should've expected this. I should've known."
Selene's growl softened, a rumble beneath her ribs. "You hoped but that's not weakness. That's love... bruised."
Everly whispered, "Then why does it feel like death?"
Selene's voice broke around the edges. "Because it was supposed to be life."
Selene was snarling now, low and constant, a storm trapped under skin.
Everly hardly slept and by the second morning, she was reassigned to the Alpha's war floor.
Cleaning. No talking. No lingering. She kept her head down as she scrubbed the entry stones, eyes stinging from the soap. She didn't mean to look up when footsteps echoed near the council hall…but she did.
And saw them.
Kyran and Lyra. Emerging from the inner room with his hair damp and messy. His tunic slightly askew.
Lyra was laughing while her hand brushed along his chest…familiar. Casual. Intimate.
Everly's body locked. Something inside her lurched sideways.
Selene roared.
Not aloud. Not fully.
But Everly's knees buckled.
She turned away too fast, water spilling from the bucket.
Neither of them acknowledged her, but she felt his eyes.
Even then.
Even now.
Rumors moved fast and by dusk, the whispers had spread.
Lyra. Second chance mate.
It wasn't confirmed but it didn't need to be.
The Moon blessed them, someone said. A rare gift. A political bond.
Everly's chest burned, but not with heartbreak.
With fury.
But not hers.
Selene was rising.
Still quiet.
But no longer resting.
At midday, she was sent to deliver scrolls to the armory…an excuse, really. Everyone knew the Alpha's son had been spending most of his time there since the drills. She arrived just as Lyra stepped out, hair perfect, smile smug.
Everly didn't flinch.
Didn't speak but the bond writhed beneath her skin, poisoned.
Kyran didn't meet her eyes.
Not really.
But his hands clenched when he passed her and his wolf pushed behind his gaze like it didn't understand what he'd done.
Everly walked away before her knees gave out.
Later, she passed the east garden on her way back to the servant's quarters.
And stopped.
Someone was standing near the trellis vines…tall, hooded, facing away.
They turned.
A girl. Maybe older than Everly by a year or two. Brown skin. Vivid green eyes ringed in gold. A small crescent tattoo just below her ear.
She looked straight at Everly.
And smiled.
Not friendly.
Not mocking.
Knowing.
Everly blinked.
The girl was gone.
Just like that.
The garden was empty.
She looked around. No one reacted. No guards questioned the presence of a stranger.
No one seemed to have seen her at all, but Everly had and Selene had noticed too.
Her growl pulsed low, thoughtful now.
Not angry.
Curious.
That night, Everly lay on her cot in the dark.
She didn't cry.
There were no tears left.
Just the hollow ache of a bond violated and denied.
Her body ached.
Her skin itched.
Her breath came short.
Selene was closer now.
Closer than she had ever been.
And when Everly finally drifted into shallow sleep, she didn't dream of gardens or doors.
She dreamed of fire.
Of wolves running through moonlight.
Of wind carrying her name.
And just before waking, a voice…no longer quite a whisper…rose in her chest.
"We're not broken."
"We're changing."