“I’m sorry,” Lyra said remorsefully.
Lyra quickly got to her feet. Her heart was still pounding after she accidentally kissed Alpha Draven on the lips.
Draven stood up after her and warned her, too. “You’re just a stranger here, so don’t try anything, especially not flirting with me. Understood?”
Lyra furrowed her brow deeply. “What do you mean, I was flirting with you?”
“Didn’t you just steal a kiss from me?” Draven reminded her.
“No! That’s not what happened. It was just an accident and a misunderstanding,” Lyra explained.
“You’re just making excuses. Watch yourself while you’re here! If you don’t want to be thrown out again like you were in Nightfall, you’d better treat me properly!” Draven said sternly.
“I have no intention of staying here. I’ll stay for now, until I find somewhere else to go,” Lyra grumbled. Draven merely glanced at her before hurrying away.
“Follow me! Don’t even think about running away from here!”
Lyra’s expression immediately changed, her lips jutting out in a slight pout. When she remained still instead of following him, Draven called out to her again.
“Rogue!” he called.
“Yes,” Lyra answered.
As Draven walked away from Lyra, he wiped his lips with his right thumb. He smiled cynically as he mulled something over.
Lyra let out a long sigh. She had no choice but to obey Draven, the Alpha leader of Ravencall.
For Lyra, this would be a difficult dilemma. Had she made the right decision by staying in the enemy territory of Ravencall? What if Nightfall accused her of being a traitor again?
“Are you ready?” Draven asked Lyra the next day.
“Are you sure they’ll accept me here?” Lyra asked hesitantly.
“We’ll know after you go in and meet them.” Draven turned toward Lyra, who still looked awkward. “Are you afraid?” he asked, simply making sure.
“No! I’m not afraid,” Lyra replied firmly.
“Good! That’s the answer I like to hear from you,” Draven praised her. Lyra’s gaze remained cold.
Lyra was taken to Ravencall’s central territory. It was an organized village, neatly arranged. There were patrols, a school, a clinic, and a pack training ground. The people there weren’t as gloomy as those in Nightfall, where everyone wore fake smiles.
When Lyra entered the territory, many pairs of eyes turned toward her suspiciously. They didn’t know her yet, and they saw her as a threat to the Ravencall pack.
In Lyra’s opinion, that was better than Nightfall. Everyone was exactly as they seemed. If they disliked Lyra, their expressions showed it immediately.
“From now on, you’ll be staying with Maela,” Draven said, introducing her to Lyra.
“Lyra Evren.” Lyra extended her hand toward Maela, a friendly middle-aged healer whose manner nevertheless seemed firm.
“Maela,” the healer said as she shook Lyra’s hand.
“Take good care of her,” Draven whispered to Maela. The woman immediately obeyed his command.
Distrust shone in Maela’s eyes as she looked at Lyra. That was understandable, since they had only just met. Lyra was a stranger in this territory. Still, Maela remained professional and didn’t want to disappoint Draven.
“We know about you. Here, we heal wounds; we don’t take sides based on the past. So don’t create any new wounds here. Do you understand, rogue?” Maela said to Lyra after Draven left.
“I understand,” Lyra replied.
“Come with me! You’ll be staying at my house.” Maela started walking, and Lyra followed behind her.
Lyra felt as though someone was following her. She often felt uneasy and glanced over her shoulder without Maela noticing.
Finally, a Beta appeared before Lyra and Maela. “So, you’re the rogue from Nightfall?” he asked skeptically.
“No one will trust you, especially since you’re a rogue. If you’re here to steal information about our territory and pack, I’ll make sure you face me before you ever get near Alpha Draven,” the Beta warned Lyra.
“Don’t worry. I’ll leave as soon as I find somewhere else to go,” Lyra replied.
The Beta left after warning Lyra. He had been ordered to watch her from a distance. He wouldn’t bother Lyra as long as Draven was the one who had asked him to do it.
“Who was that?” Lyra asked Maela curiously.
“His name is Cyrus. He’s Alpha Draven’s right-hand man. He’ll be watching you, so be careful around him,” Maela informed her.
When they arrived at Maela’s house, Lyra was shown to her room. She would sleep and stay there temporarily for as long as she remained in Ravencall.
“Thank you,” Lyra said. Maela merely offered her a small smile. Then she closed the bedroom door.
Maela took Lyra to the Ravencall warriors’ training ground. Lyra was allowed to watch the pack members practice combat. The scene there was unusual, something she certainly had never seen in Nightfall before.
Lyra was impressed. She realized something as she watched them. Their training wasn’t as brutal as Nightfall’s. Instead, it was more strategic, with everyone supporting one another. It made her realize that violence wasn’t the only way to survive. It was completely different from the way the warriors trained in Nightfall, Lyra thought as she compared the two.
“Strength isn’t about who bleeds the most. It’s about who knows when to protect and when to be protected,” Lyra murmured.
“What do you think?” Maela asked for Lyra’s opinion.
“Could I try it someday? I want to train with them.” Lyra volunteered.
“Of course, but only with Alpha Draven’s permission.”
“I see.” Lyra turned toward the other side, where Draven happened to be looking in her direction. Their eyes met, and one of them lowered their gaze, remembering their first kiss the day before.
“Damn it!” Lyra remembered it clearly—the moment she had kissed Draven on the lips.
“What’s wrong?” Maela asked.
Lyra shook her head. She tried to hide yesterday’s embarrassing incident from Maela.
After leaving the training ground, Lyra took a short walk to enjoy the sunset along the border of Ravencall’s territory. She unexpectedly ran into Draven again.
Draven approached Lyra and chatted with her for a moment.
“How are you?” he asked, starting the conversation.
“Fine,” Lyra answered curtly.
Draven, who was always cold toward Lyra, didn’t force her to confess or explain her past. He simply offered her two choices.
“You can leave once your wounds have healed, or you can stay and prove that you’re not what they say you are.”
“What if I choose to leave?” Lyra turned her gaze toward Draven. “Will you stop me, or will you let me go?”
“I won’t stop you, but first I have to make sure you can survive without me.”
Lyra wasn’t used to being given a choice. It shook her emotionally. *He’s giving me a difficult choice,* she thought.
Lyra clutched the old pendant her Beta father had given her. It was the only inheritance she had from him. Just as she was about to show it to Draven, the pendant suddenly fell to the ground, and Lyra couldn’t find it.
“My pendant,” Lyra said in a panic.
“What’s wrong?”