Lyra woke to quiet.
Not the peaceful kind—but the kind that meant everyone was being careful.
She lay still for a moment, staring at the wooden beams above her bed, replaying the border in fragments: the glow, the pressure in her chest, Kael's arms steady around her as the world tilted. Her fingers curled into the blanket.
I didn't mean to show them.
A soft knock sounded.
"Come in," she said.
Kael entered, closing the door behind him. He looked tired—lines at the corners of his eyes she hadn't noticed before. Not wounded. Just carrying too much.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Like I ran very far without moving," she replied honestly.
He nodded. "That tracks."
She pushed herself up, hesitating. "Did I do something… dangerous?"
Kael didn't answer immediately. He moved to the window, checking the grounds below, then turned back. "You did something irreversible."
Her heart dipped. "I'm sorry."
He crossed the room in three strides and stopped himself short, hands clenched at his sides. "Don't apologize for existing, Lyra."
She blinked. No one had ever said that to her before.
"The pack saw you," he continued. "The Elders felt you. And Ashen Vale confirmed what they suspected."
"That I'm… different."
"That you're powerful," he corrected. "And controlled. That matters."
Lyra looked down at her hands. "They won't let me be small anymore, will they?"
"No," Kael said quietly. "They won't."
A pause stretched between them—full, fragile.
"Is that why you keep stepping back?" she asked softly. "Because if I'm seen like this, standing near you means something?"
"Yes," he said. No hesitation. "Everything."
She swallowed. "I don't want to be a symbol. Or a threat. I just want to help."
"That's exactly why you are both," he replied, gentler now. "And why I won't let them use you."
Outside, voices rose—Elders gathering again. The sound carried through the stone like a warning bell.
"They're calling for you," Lyra said.
"I know."
He hesitated at the door, then looked back at her. "From now on, training becomes protection. You'll learn boundaries—yours and theirs."
"And you?" she asked. "What will you do?"
Kael met her gaze, something resolute settling into place. "I'll do what an Alpha should have done the moment you crossed our border."
"What's that?"
"I'll choose."
The door closed behind him.
Lyra exhaled slowly, pressing a hand to her chest. The warmth answered—not flaring, not hiding. Steady. Patient.
She was done being invisible.
And somewhere beyond the walls, the world was adjusting to the fact that it had finally noticed her.