Lyana's POV
There was a time he looked at me like a responsibility or duty but not anymore
Now, he looks at me like I'm the sin he can't stop returning to something he can't live without.
It was a foggy morning that I couldn't see anything clearly as I stepped into the training yard. The cold chill bit at my bare arms, but I welcomed it. Pain always reminded me I was alive and it kept me going. It was the silence that scared me.
I crouched by the stone basin and dipped my hands into the cold water meant for warriors to wash in. Instantly, the water shimmered blue where it touched my skin soft and glowing, like moonlight had melted into my bloodstream.
I yanked my hands back. The glow faded, but not fast enough.
"Careful," came a voice behind me, deep and sharp enough to slice through bone. "You know what water does when it listens to you."
I didn't turn right away I didn't need to because I already knew that voice better than my own heartbeat.
Alpha Kalen.
The Lycan.
The one I was sworn to obey and follow till I come of age and go where I belong
The one I wasn't supposed to crave yet I craved every little bit of him.
"I was thirsty,needed a drink" I lazily muttered, drying my hands on the edge of my cloak.
"You were glowing," he said, stepping closer. "Again."
I finally turned to face him ooooh Gods.
Even after all these years, he still looked like danger carved into flesh deep blue eyes, his hot tribal tattoos licking up the side of his neck, a fresh scar across his collarbone. He was built like a war god: taller than most Alphas, broader than all of them. When he stood too close, I forgot how to breathe and live it was as if he sucked all the air in me .
"You're not hiding it as well as you think," he said.
"I wasn't trying to hide it," I lied.
Kalen didn't smile. He never really did anymore. Not since the war. Not since he started looking at me with something other than fatherly pride. Something worse,omething hungrier and dangerous
"You've changed," he gently said, voice softer now.
"So have you Kelan!."I dint mean to raise my voice but oh well
His eyes darkened, and for a second, the air between us grew too tight. Like the bond was stretching thin. Like something inside him wanted to snap.
"I didn't raise you for this," he said suddenly, stepping back.
"No," I replied, stepping forward, "you raised me because the Queen my mother told you to. You didn't have a choice, remember?"
His jaw tensed. "I could have sent you away."
"But you didn't." I looked up at him, chin held up high . "You kept me why ?."
He said nothing.
His silence always said more.
"I'm not a child anymore, Kalen."
His name I said his name.
The shift in his eyes was instant he hated when I used it because it reminded him I wasn't that little girl from the sea cradle anymore I was woman now. Sirene. Beautiful in a way that made men forget their vows even Alphas.
"I love my wife," he said hoarsely.it hurt to hear that but I wasn't about to show him that
"I never said you didn't."
"She trusts you Lyana still sees you as… hers."
"Her daughter? Well I'm not " I snapped. "Or her threat?"
"She doesn't see you as a threat." he hesitated a bit before he answered
"Then she's blind."
That stung him I could see it in the way his body went still.
I stepped closer. "You look at me like you want to taste the water that made me."
His breath hitched. I had gotten him where I wanted
I should've stopped. Should've shut up and walked away. But I was tired of hiding my feelings. Tired of pretending he didn't see what I saw ,feel what I felt.
"You saved me," I said. "You held me before I even knew what the world was. And now you can't even look at me without your wolf trying to surface."
"You don't know what you're saying."
"Yes, I do," I whispered out of desperation. "I know exactly what I'm saying Kelan."
He took a sharp breath, then turned away like the sight of me burned him. Maybe it did and he couldn't handle it
"I'm not just your Alpha, Lyana," he said. "I'm your guardian."
"Not anymore," I said. "You're the my Lycan and I'm your Sirene. This Kalen this bond between us it's something older than you and I. something magical"
He turned then, slowly. His gaze held mine.
"You think this is fate?"
"I know it is." I confidently said
He stepped forward so fast that suddenly we were touching chest to chest. No space. No air. Just heat.
His hand rose, brushing my jaw fingertips trailing along my cheek like a secret. My pulse roared and I could feel butterflies in my tummy.
His voice dropped. "I wake up in cold sweat sometimes, thinking about what it would mean if I claimed you but I can't. You're supposed to be my daughter"
"And what does it mean?"
He didn't answer.
But his hand lingered a little bit too long
And then
A crack of a branch.
He dropped his hand instantly, eyes narrowing, posture shifting into that of a warrior. His wolf rose in his aura, Blue eyes glowing faintly.
He turned toward the trees.
"What is it?" I asked heart beating.
He sniffed the air. "Someone's watching."
"who?"
"I don't know yet."
He took a step forward, scanning the edge of the woods. Then another. His voice dropped to a growl. "Get back inside."
"Is it a threat?"
"No not yet but it's not random."
I started to back away, but not before I followed his gaze. I didn't see anyone but I felt something. A chill a gaze that didn't belong to either of us.
"I'll alert the patrols," he muttered. "But keep to the pack house until dusk."
I nodded, heart racing. My fingers still tingled where he'd touched me.
He didn't say goodbye. He just vanished into the trees like he was made of them.
Somewhere behind the branches, a figure watched. Eyes narrowed. Body still. Jealousy old as blood.
They had heard enough.
And in the quiet of the trees…
plans began to bloom.