Chapter 5 Sired by the Blood King

Ryker was stunned. Only one woman could ever call him mate.

“Lyra?" He breathed, eyes wide.

The sound of their breathing filled the room, ragged, uneven, broken.

She stood trembling, her bare skin gleaming under the flickering bulb above, chains coiled on the floor like dead serpents. Her chest heaved as she stared at the man before her, the Alpha, the monster, the love of her life.

Ryker Kael.

For a long heartbeat, neither of them spoke. The silence was enough to make her mad.

“Ryker, it's you," she mumbled, her memories finally returning like a flood. She knew who she was. She wasn't Irene Cross. She was Lyra Kael.

All she needed was his skin, his body, his bond to ignite the fire within her and bring back her memories.

Then his lips parted, voice hoarse, cracking like dry thunder as he repeated, “Lyra.”

Her name fell from his tongue like a prayer and a curse all at once.

She staggered backward, clutching her arms over her chest, her eyes wide with disbelief. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “No. Don’t you dare say my name.”

He took a step closer, slow, careful, like approaching a wounded animal. “It’s really you.”

“Stay away.” Her voice broke. “You don’t get to look at me. You don’t get to say my name after what you did.”

Ryker’s eyes, dark, stormy, alive with torment and desire, searched her face as if he could memorize it all over again. “I lost you,” he said, his voice cracking. “I swore I lost you forever, Lyra. Goddess, I—” He stopped, dragging a trembling hand through his hair. “I never found your body. I searched for months. Years. Every damn night I rode those roads hoping I’d find something, anything. I thought maybe—”

“Maybe what?” she hissed. “That I’d come crawling back? That I’d forgive you for choosing her over me?”

He flinched like she’d struck him.

Lyra laughed. “You humiliated me, Ryker. In front of your men. In front of the pack. You rode off with your new little prize while I stood there bleeding, begging you to just tell me why.” Her voice cracked. “And you didn’t even look back.”

“I made a mistake.” The words tore out of him. “I was angry. I was lost. She meant nothing.”

“Then why did you protect her?” Lyra’s eyes blazed, wet with tears. “Why did you let her climb onto your bike while I stood there, I was your mate, your Luna, I was begging you to choose me?”

He took another step, but she retreated until her back hit the cold wall. “Lyra,” he whispered, softer now. “I never stopped mourning you. You think I didn’t pay for it? Every goddamn day, I wake up and you’re gone. You haunt every mile of road I ride. Every scar on my skin,” He grabbed his chest, his breath catching, “every one of them is for you.”

He couldn't believe his own eyes. Hell! He didn't believe in reincarnation or a second life. But he could swear he saw Lyra in this stranger's body.

Her tears finally fell. Silent, steady. “And what am I now, Ryker? A ghost for you to make peace with?”

He shook his head. “You’re real. You’re here.”

“No,” she said, voice trembling. “You killed me. Maybe not with your hands, but with your choices. You might as well have drowned me yourself.”

His face twisted in agony. “Don’t say that.”

“You left me,” she whispered. “And then you replaced me.”

Ryker’s jaw clenched. “I tried to move on, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t touch anyone without seeing you. Couldn’t sleep without hearing you scream my name.”

Lyra blinked hard, tears blurring her vision. “You should’ve screamed harder. Maybe I would’ve heard you.”

Finally, she took a shaky step toward the door.

“Lyra,” he said again, desperate now. “Please. Don’t go. We can fix this.”

She turned, eyes wild, voice sharp as a blade. “You can’t fix death, Ryker.”

Then she was gone.

The door burst open and the cold night swallowed her. Bare feet hitting the dirt, tears burning down her face, her heart slamming against her ribs.

Ryker stood frozen for a heartbeat, then ran after her, but she was already gone.

The deeper she ran into the forest, the louder the memories screamed. The night of her death played again and again in her mind like a cruel film reel, the betrayal, the cold water, the suffocating darkness,

Cassian’s face hovering over her, eyes empty and cruel. She could still feel the weight of his hand pushing her under.

The pain clawed through her chest until she could barely breathe.

“What am I?” she gasped, clutching her head as the moon’s pull grew stronger.

Her skin shimmered under its light, veins glowing faintly with a red hue. Her wolf stirred inside her, but something darker overlapped it, a chill, an echo, a hunger that didn’t belong to any wolf.

She stumbled against a tree, trying to steady herself, the sound of engines echoing faintly in the distance. They were coming after her.

“Stop,” she whispered to herself, voice trembling. “Stop thinking. Just run.”

But she didn’t get the chance.

A shadow stepped out from between the trees, tall and familiar. The air around her froze.

It was Cassian.

For a second, she couldn’t move. Fear clamped around her throat like a vice. His face hadn’t changed, those storm-grey eyes, that smirk she once trusted, now cold and deadly.

“Why are you looking at me like you’ve seen a ghost, best friend?” he said softly, stepping closer.

Was he there to kill her again? She couldn't breathe.

Her voice shook. “Why, Cassian? Why did you kill me?”

He sighed, brushing a strand of hair from her face, his touch almost tender. “This isn’t the time to dig up the past, Lyra. You should be grateful you got another chance. Not everyone does.”

She flinched back, trembling. “What are you talking about?”

He smiled, and it made her blood run cold. “You’ve been reborn, love. A second life. And I need you to make it worth something.”

“Worth what?” she spat. “You drowned me, Cassian. You left me to die!”

His eyes hardened. “And look how beautiful you turned out.”

She tried to push him away, but he caught her wrists easily, pinning her against the tree. The familiar scent wrapped around her and she hated herself for recognizing it.

“There’s a lot that’s happened these last five years,” he murmured, his face inches from hers. “And you’re part of it now. Whether you like it or not.”

She glared at him, her heart racing. “What do you want from me?”

He tilted his head, smirking. “Cooperation.”

“Go to hell.”

“Oh, I already have,” he whispered. “And I came back with friends.”

Her stomach dropped.

He leaned closer, his voice turning dark. “You’ve been sired, Lyra. By the Blood King himself.”

Her breath caught. “That’s impossible. He’s just a myth.”

Cassian laughed softly. “Myths don’t bleed. And they don’t bring dead girls back to life. You owe him your existence now.”

She stared at him, trembling. “Sired?”

Cassian’s expression softened almost mockingly. “It means you’re his. Half wolf, half vampire, completely bound. You were chosen. That’s an honor, Lyra. Don’t waste it.”

She wanted to scream, to deny it, but her voice wouldn’t come. Everything inside her screamed that it couldn’t be true.

Yet deep in her chest, beneath the heartbeat and the hunger, something felt odd.

“Why me?” she whispered.

He stepped back, eyes gleaming. “Because you were special long before I killed you.”

Her knees went weak. “You—”

But he cut her off, his voice sharp now. “Listen carefully. You’ll go back to Ryker. You’ll play the part. You’ll make him trust you again. Because now, you work for him.”

“I’ll never—”

He grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “You’ll do as I say if you want to keep breathing. The Blood King doesn’t give life freely, Lyra. He conjured you into Irene Cross' body and he’ll want something in return.”

Her pulse thundered in her ears. “What does he want?”

Cassian smiled, slow and cruel. “Your precious husband’s blood.”

Then he was gone, vanished into the mist before she could blink.

Lyra staggered, clutching her chest. The forest spun around her. Then, suddenly, pain ripped through her skull so violently she screamed, dropping to her knees.

It felt like knives cutting through her head. Her vision blurred, her breathing shattered.

And then she heard it, a voice that didn’t belong to her. A deep, chilling tone.

“You now belong to me, Lyra,” the voice whispered inside her head. “ Bring me Ryker Kael’s blood and I’ll set you free.”