Chapter 28

Lyra

“Kael,” Luca said, stepping forward, “you’re back.”

“I’m back.” Red eyes flicked over to me, and Kael’s mouth pressed into a thin line. I hadn’t seen him in a few days; all I knew was that he had returned home to handle some matters. Right now, I wished her hadn’t returned at all. “I appreciate you keeping an eye on her while I was gone. Now that I’m here, you’re relieved of your duty.”

My heart stuttered at the implication of that word: duty. Had Kael told Luca to keep an eye on me while he was away? And to think that I thought Luca just wanted to spend time with me—

“My duty?” Luca scoffed and stepped in front of me, shielding me from Kael’s view. “I wasn’t sparring with Lyra out of duty. I was sparring with her because we’re friends.” He turned toward me, his face imploring in the moonlight. “I mean it, Lyra. It had nothing to do with Kael.”

The knot that had formed in my chest loosened somewhat. Luca seemed genuine, and for once, it felt good to know for certain that Kael hadn’t meddled in my private life. But just as I opened my mouth to speak, Kael snorted.

“Right. ‘Friends’,” he said, moving across the ring and making air quotes with his fingers. “As if you know the meaning of the word.”

Luca turned toward him. “What are you implying, Kael?”

“I’m just wondering what your intentions with my adoptive sister are, Luca.”

A low growl rumbled in Luca’s chest. The two males began to close the distance between themselves. Their Alpha authority crackled in the air like a stormcloud hanging over our heads, making me shudder.

I could practically taste Luca’s insubordination on my tongue; his pack was a part of the Northern Territories. He wasn’t just challenging his friend or a fellow Alpha.

He was challenging his future Alpha King.

For me.

“And what are your intentions with her, Kael?” Luca asked, slowly circling Kael. “Because the red in your eyes makes this seem like a lot more than brotherly concern to me. Maybe the rumors are true.”

Kael’s returning snarl was dangerous. “Watch your tongue.”

“And if I don’t?” Luca challenged.

Kael’s expression turned downright thunderous. Before I could react, he had surged forward, shrinking the remaining space between them until it was completely gone. The two males were so close now that their chests were brushing.

“Guys,” I said, moving toward them, “this is ridiculous. You’re supposed to be—”

“Let’s spar, then, Mr. Confident,” Kael cut me off, completely ignoring me. It was as if I wasn’t even there, or perhaps as if I were some doll without a mind or voice of my own. “We’re here already. The moon’s nearly full. I could go for a fight.”

Luca’s mouth lifted in that usual smirk of his, but it was cold now. “Fine. Winner gets the right to train Lyra.”

“Train me?” I scoffed. “You’re both being ridiculous!”

But neither male was listening. “Very well,” Kael said. “I accept your terms.”

He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it aside carelessly, then reached down and grabbed the hem of his shirt. In one swift movement, he had pulled his shirt off over his head, revealing muscles gleaming in the moonlight.

My mouth fell open. In a heartbeat, Luca had removed his shirt as well.

Goddess, they were both…

How did they both look like that?

But I shook my head to dispel the thoughts. No. This was not the time for ogling—they were circling each other now, stances lowered, prepared for fight.

For me.

I never asked for this. Never wanted anyone to fight for me, let alone either of them.

Kael moved first. He was like a shot of lightning bolting across the ring, fangs unleashed, claws extended. He was out for blood, and so was Luca. They both hurtled toward one another, arms outstretched to the sides like two feral wolves ready to clash to the death.

I didn’t think. I just moved, skidding to a halt between them.

“Stop!”

I squeezed my eyes shut as their forms hurtled toward me from either side. They wouldn’t stop. They would both slam into me in a flurry of fangs and claws and—

But the impact never came. I cracked one eye open, then the other, to find that they were pressed on either side of me, still glaring at one another over my head. My left palm was pushing into Luca’s chest, the other into Kael’s. I could feel both of their heartbeats thundering beneath my hands.

“You’re fighting over me like I’m a prize to be won,” I said, shoving them both so they staggered back. “Have you considered that maybe I don’t want to be trained by either of you, especially not when you’re acting like this?”

Only then did they look at me. Luca’s expression immediately turned contrite, gaze averted. Kael’s jaw ticked, but the red in his eyes faded. Only onyx stones remained fixed on me.

I clenched my hands into fists at my sides and whirled to face Kael. “And you,” I said, jabbing a finger at his chest, “have become far too controlling.”

Kael straightened. “I’m not controlling you. I’m protecting you.”

“Protecting me from what? Having friends? Happiness? Living my fucking life?”

He didn’t seem to have a response to that. His mouth opened, then closed again. A long moment passed before he finally said, “If I don’t keep an eye on you, you’ll just cause trouble.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. Fucking asshole. “Even if that were true, it’s not your job to keep me in line. It never was.”

The air turned tense and quiet. I could practically feel Kael’s frustration radiating off of him in waves—a sensation that would have immediately made me fold in my past life, back when I was solely concerned with doing whatever he wanted, but not anymore.

No. I held my ground. I wasn’t that person anymore.

She had stayed dead.

If Kael had anything else to say, I didn’t give him a chance. I was tired of listening to him, of arguing with him. I just wanted to go back to my dorm before curfew began.

Without another word to him, I turned to face Luca. “And you,” I said, lifting my chin. “I expected better of you. I didn’t think you were the type to fight over a woman like a male on steroids.”

Luca at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. “I’m sorry.”

I nodded, too tired now to argue with either of them—especially Kael—any further. With that, I turned on my heel, grabbed my bag by the edge of the sparring ring, and stormed away.

“Wait!” Luca called after me. “Lyra, you never gave me your answer.”

I froze, biting my lip. Right… Luca’s proposal. He wanted me to go out with him this weekend. On a date.

Without hesitating, I turned back toward Luca and held my head high, blatantly ignoring Kael’s furious glare.

“I’ll go out with you this weekend,” I said.

Luca’s face split into the widest grin I’d ever seen. But it was Kael’s black eyes that truly drew my attention—the way they hardened into two shards of obsidian, like thousands of tiny magma-formed knives driving straight into my skull.

And it was those eyes that remained burning into my mind long after I left the training grounds.