Chapter 5 Difficulty

Lyra pov

"What dId I do to you?" I screamed, my voice hoarse, desperate for an answer, for some flicker of humanity In the face of someone I once called a friend.

But hIs face was stone.

No emotion. No regret. Not even a glance.

With chilling Indifference, he took a brIefcase from the braided man and turned hIs back to me. Just like that, I was already a dIstant memory.

I clenched my jaw, forcing down the scream rising In my throat. If I survIved thIs, I swore, I would come back for hIm. One day, I'd make hIm feel the weight of the betrayal he'd handed me.

Then came the bite of silver, unyielding, burning, snapping around my wrists and ankles. Each link drained what little strength I had left.

A man shoved me Into the back of a truck. Two strangers grabbed me, holding me down wIth unflinching strength. Their silence was colder than their grip.

I knew then, I'd survive. Somehow.

But the journey stretched on, endless, brutal. The farther we drove, the colder it got. I had no clothes to shield me. No wolf inside me to warm my blood. Only the sharp sting of aIr and metal, and the bruises blooming along my skin.

Soon, I was trembling. Uncontrollably.

Each shiver felt like a blade, slicing deeper.

One of the men seemed to take pity on me. He draped a filthy, tattered blanket over my shoulders. I clung to It despIte its stench, grateful for even the smallest comfort. My skIn burned from the wounds I'd collected, open, raw, and slow to heal without my wolf's power. I prayed silently they wouldn't fester or worsen.

At a rundown gas station, they yanked me from the truck and threw me onto the cold, cracked pavement.

The bearded man approached, reekIng of liquor, a bottle of vodka clutched In hIs hand. Before I could brace myself, he dumped the stinging liquid over my open wounds. It burned through me, sharp and hot. I bIt down hard on my lip, silencing the scream that clawed its way up.

"Can't take damaged goods to my Alphas," he barked, grinning. HIs teeth were yellow, rotting-seeds of decay in a mouth that mocked me.

I turned my head away, refusIng to give hIm the satisfaction of seeing my pain.

The other man stayed quiet, hIs face a mask of indifference, like this was just another errand. Another delivery.

After what felt like forever, they shoved me back into the truck and tossed the blanket over me again. And we kept going, deeper into the unknown. Further from everything I once knew. Into a darkness I couldn't yet name.

I didn't cry. I wouldn't.

Tears would make my fear real, give it shape, power. But inside, I was unraveling. Piece by piece, something in me was dying. Every mile we drove, dread sank deeper into my bones.

I had foolishly hoped that Lira's choices had nothing to do with me. That she could live her life, and I could live mine. But her actions had unleashed nightmares I never imagined, ones darker, colder than anything I had ever known.

I didn't know where they were taking me. But I felt the temperature drop, the air growing sharper, biting at my skin. We were heading north. I could feel it in the way the wind crept through the seams of the truck.

I'd never been to the North. Never walked its frozen forests or breathed its ice-laced winds. Only heard whispers-rumors meant to scare children into obedience.

Now I was here. Trapped. Half-naked, barefoot, bound in silver that burned like slow poison, seeping into my flesh. And forced to ride into a world I didn't understand.

My body throbbed with every jolt, dreams turning to fog. At some point, I must have slipped into a fitful sleep, only to wake again, shivering under that same filthy blanket. Hunger gnawed at me, hollow and sharp. My thoughts blurred.

Even dreams felt heavy. Suffocating.

I was paralyzed with fear. It crawled over me, suffocating, every time I imagined the possibility that I might never escape. The farther we traveled, the more that hope slipped away, fading like breath on glass.

A fever had begun to simmer beneath my skin, slow and relentless. Even without my wolf, I could feel it stirring, burning deeper by the second.

Then, at last, the truck jolted to a stop.

"Out," one of them barked.

I stumbled to the ground. Bare feet hit snow. A scream bloomed behind my ribs, but I held it back.

The bitter air sliced through me, sharper than anything I'd ever felt. Around us, the world was washed in the ghostly light of a full moon, its glow painting pale shadows across a lifeless landscape. Gone was the warmth of the greenery I once called home. In its place stood twisted, skeletal trees-barren, clawing at the night sky like broken fingers.

Then, without warning, someone yanked the chain around my wrist.

Hard.

I fell, crashing to the frozen ground. Ice bit into my knees as pain flared sharp and instant. I gasped, the cold stealing the sound before it could escape.

I looked up.

Swallowed hard.

The metallic taste of fear was thick in my mouth.