Lyra's POV
"Am I still me… Or did you burn me away?"
The question fell from my lips before I could stop it, raw and splintered, trembling like a loose thread that once pulled would unravel everything. My voice didn't sound like mine anymore. It rasped, sharp and jagged, something that belonged to a creature clawing its way out of me.
No one answered but only the forest.
Mist clung to the trees, curling like smoke, whispering shapes in the shadows. The air was damp and sharp, heavy with the scent of rot and iron. Every sound, the flap of an owl's wing, and the crackle of leaves under some unseen thing thudded against my skull until I thought my bones might split. My veins were crawling with fire and ice both, the remnants of Eira's spell tangled with the Hollow Wolf's hunger. My skin buzzed as though something else was moving beneath it.
I pushed myself up, legs trembling, the ground slick under my bare feet. My lungs rattled when I breathed. I felt wrong, too open and too sharp. I could hear everything and smell everything. The sweat on the warriors is still pouring as they fight miles away. The wet musk of foxes burrowed deep under the earth. The beat of wings and the scratch of claws was too much... Far too much.
I stumbled through the clearing until I found a shallow pool, lit in silver by the dying moon. The water trembled with the faintest breath of air. My reflection stared back and I wished it hadn't.
My face flickered. One moment, human, the next a hollow snarl. My eyes glowed white, vacant, and endless, like pits where light went to die. My shadow stretched too far behind me, warped and then it smiled. The Hollow Wolf's muzzle pulled back in a grin that did not belong to me.
"No…" I whispered. "No, you're not real. You're not..."
But I felt it, not just inside me anymore, not just waiting. It was pressing against the thin shell of my body, testing it and looking for cracks and that was hunger.
The urge didn't come in words. It crawled through my blood. My claws tore from my fingers before I could stop them.
I choked on a breath, slamming my hands into the dirt. "I won't let you! Do you hear me? I won't let you!"
"Lyra."
The sound of my name cut through the dark like a blade. I spun, lips peeled back in a growl I barely recognized and that was Kael's voice.
He stood a few paces away, shoulders squared, his dark coat torn and bloodstained. His hair clung damp to his forehead, his chest rising with labored breath. His eyes, black, sharp, and unyielding, pinned me to the earth and yet, beneath the cold steel, I swore I saw something flicker in desperation.
"You need to breathe," he said, his voice steady but hoarse. "Stay with me. Remember who you are."
The mate bond surged like fire through my ribs, dragging me toward him. It wasn't comfort; it was agony. My chest felt as though it would split open. His pain flickered across his features too, jaw clenched, breath stuttering. He wasn't untouched by this. The bond was burning him alive, the same way it burned me.
The Hollow Wolf stirred. "Kill him."
The whisper slid down my spine, hot and sweet. My body convulsed with it. The beast didn't just want blood. It wanted him, my mate, my tether and my weakness.
I staggered back, claws flexing. "Stay away! I can't..."
"You can," he cut me off, stepping closer, his blade unsheathed but lowered. "You are not it. You're still you."
"You don't get it!" My chest heaved, my voice guttural, thick with something not my own. "It wants you. It wants to use me to destroy you!"
"Then fight it." His gaze burned into me. "Don't let it use you."
The bond snapped between us, searing hotter and dragging me toward him even as I tried to fight it. My legs trembled, my heart twisted, and then...
The Hollow Wolf stepped free. At first, it was only in the reflection. Then it peeled itself from the earth, shadow rising tall and solid beside me. Its body rippled, smoke and muscle, its white eyes glowing brighter than the moon. Its grin widened as it circled me. Only I could see its full form, but Kael stiffened, his knuckles whitening on the blade, his breath sharp as if the weight of its presence pressed on him too.
My throat tightened, while my knees nearly buckled. "If you cannot kill him," the Hollow Wolf purred, "then I will."
It lunged, not with claws, but with hunger, sinking into the tether between Kael and me. Pain ripped through me so sharply I screamed. The bond burned and twisted, and Kael dropped to one knee with a grunt, his blade clattering against stone.
"Lyra!" His voice was hoarse and raw with pain.
I staggered forward, claws raised, every instinct screaming to tear him open, to end the agony, to feed.
"Stop!" His gaze locked on mine, fierce even as sweat slicked his skin. "If you kill me, you kill yourself too!"
My claws hovered inches from his throat, trembling. The Hollow Wolf pressed harder, laughter rippling through me like broken glass.
Do it, end him... end you... end everything.
I shook, teeth bared, fighting the urge until my whole body felt as though it would split. Then...
"Lyra!"
Another voice that sounds desperate and familiar comes up immediately.
Eira.
She stumbled into the clearing, her braid undone and her face streaked with dirt and tears. Her hands glowed faintly with the remnants of magic burned into her skin.
"No…" My breath hitched. Betrayal burned all over again. "Not you."
She lifted her hands, trembling. "Please. That spell—I didn't mean for it to hurt you. It was meant to weaken it. The Crimson Seer twisted it. She—"
"Liar!" The word tore from my chest like a snarl. My claws dug into the dirt. "You knew. You always knew."
"I was trying to protect you!" she cried, her voice breaking. "If I told you everything, they would've killed you before your first shift!"
Her words struck, but the Hollow Wolf twisted them, feeding on my rage. She betrayed you. She will again. Tear her open.
I staggered toward her, claws flashing.
Eira flinched but didn't run. "You are not it!" she screamed. "You are more than this!"
The Hollow Wolf laughed. Its shadow jaws snapped, and Eira stumbled back, her eyes wide with horror.
"She is wrong," it whispered. "You are the cage. If you die, I am free. If you resist, I fester. Either way, I win."
My breath faltered. My chest hollowed... A cage, that was all I was. My life wasn't just cursed. It was prison bars made of flesh and blood.
Kael's voice tore through the haze, ragged but sure. "Don't you see? Killing you won't kill it. It will free it. That's the trap. That's the prophecy."
The ground shook. The Hollow Wolf lunged, not at Kael, not at Eira, but at me.
I screamed as its shadowy teeth tore into mine. My body convulsed, claws ripping dirt, as the beast began to merge with me, to devour me from the inside out.
Eira shrieked my name. Kael cursed, dropping to my side, his hand gripping my arm, but I barely heard him.
All I could hear was the Hollow Wolf's triumphant voice echoing inside my skull: If you lose this fight, the world doesn't get a monster… it gets two.