Chapter 5
Riya's POV:
"Hey, why aren't you responding to me?" Lyra's voice snapped through the room, pulling me from the whirlwind of memories that still burned in my mind.
I blinked, my heart racing as I stared at her, standing up slowly. "I don't have the time for this." I said flatly, my voice steadier than I felt. Then I walked past her, brushing her shoulder without a glance, and stormed out of the room, the heavy wooden door creaking behind me.
Outside, Selene was waiting by the door as she curtsied slightly. "Milady, is everything alright?”
To be sure it wasn't a dream, I stopped abruptly and turned to her. "Selene, what day is it today?"
She tilted her head, puzzled, her brown eyes widening. "It's the fifteenth of the Harvest Moon, Milady. Why do you ask?"
Oh really, I thought, a chill running down my spine. I really was reborn, thrust back to this exact moment, the day everything had begun to unravel. There and then, I vowed to myself that I was going to do whatever I could to avoid the killing and discover who the hell had destroyed the Alkali drum and caused tragedies to befall us all.
‘This time, I would protect the pack, and myself.’ I decided so, that very night of being reborn, instead of going to Killian's welcoming ball, I decided to go to the temple, beat the drum, and ask the Goddess for answers.
I beat the drum rhythmically, each strike vibrating through my bones, calling forth the Goddess's wisdom. "Moon Goddess, reveal the truths hidden from me." I whispered fervently, my voice echoing in the empty chamber. “Show me who seeks to destroy us, and guide my path in this second chance."
What I wasn't expecting was the vision that flooded my mind, the vision of Killian whispering to Lyra in shadowed corners to destroy the drum, promising to be with her if she agreed to do it. Lyra, hesitant at first, nodded, her golden hair catching the light as she slipped into the temple under cover of night, shattering the drum with a blade.
Suddenly, the vision shifted to Vivienne discovering Lyra's deed, her face palling in horror. Scared, she summoned her personal maid, a timid girl named Mira to inform a bunch of people to spread the word that the drum is destroyed. She informed Mira to make sure it points back to me by telling the people that burning me alive will appease the Goddess and save us all.
“This… this can't be real.” I muttered under my breath, surprised to discover the depth of their betrayal ran deep, layers upon layers of deceit, all to serve their own ends.
I need to find a way to expose Killian's evil plan. His initial reason for coming here was to get the drum destroyed before he even met me, and instead of fighting for me like a man would, he used his desire for conquest as an excuse. So I will keep the drum with me then avoid Killian as much as I could until he took Lyra as his bride away from the pack, because I only cared about keeping my mother's drum safe, Lyra’s fate didn't concern me anymore.
With that decided, I did everything to avoid him, by confining myself to the temple, claiming rituals and meditations that kept me from the Packhouse. When Killian demanded that he would like to consult me, I had Selene lie that I was under the weather.
But inevitably, we ended up meeting while I gathered herbs in the garden one cold evening. The mate bond flickered and his eyes widened in shock as he moved closer to me, but I rejected him and stormed inside. Still, he was persistent and even went as far as calling off the wedding with Lyra, claiming that I had to be his wife as I was his fated mate.
That very night after receiving news of his persistence from Selene, I felt restless. Unable to fall asleep, I stepped out of the room and began pacing the Packhouse only to overhear Lyra and her mother's plan to kill me, because they believed that my absence would make Killian choose Lyra.
Running back to my room, I grabbed a satchel and carefully wrapped the Drum of Alkali, my mother's legacy, brought from her nomadic days. She had been a wanderer, her entire troop slaughtered in a brutal ambush years ago. That's when she met Donovan, who was never meant to be Alpha at the time because his brother held the title until he died suspiciously.
Once Donovan learned of the drum's power, he did whatever he could to court her, using her and the relic to secure his position as Alpha. But his true love was Vivienne, whom he kept as his concubine even after marriage. My mother trained Ophelia in the arts before dying in childbirth with me, and Donovan married Vivienne immediately after, solidifying his alliances.
So, I fled into the night with the drum secured against my chest, the forest swallowing me whole. I spent days in the forest, thorns scratching my skin, hunger gnawing at my belly, trying to reach a far-away pack where I could start anew. Only to end up in the territory of NightFang Pack, the borders marked by warning totems carved with fangs.
I stumbled across the line, too weary to notice, and was immediately stopped by burly wolves in leather armor. "Halt! Intruder!" One growled, grabbing my arm roughly.
They bound my hands and dragged me to their stronghold, a massive fortress of dark stone perched on a cliff. The halls echoed with their boots as they brought me before the Ruthless Alpha Cassian. He was tall, muscular, with raven-black hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to see through souls.
As I was shoved to my knees, the mate bond snapped into place again, Aria stirring with recognition. ‘A second chance mate?’ I questioned, annoyed at my fate for fleeing one problem only to end up with another.
Before I could say anything, he rose up, his boots thudding against the stone floor as he made his way to me. He crouched before me, his blue eyes level with mine, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "Marry me.” He said, his voice a deep, velvety rumble that sent shivers down my spine.