Zack woke up suddenly, gasping for air like he was drowning. Sweat covered his chest, sticking to his skin like it was burning underneath. The bad dream was still with him, shadows, whispers, a quick look at silver eyes, but none of it was as bad as the sound he heard as he looked at the top of his tent.
Someone speaking. Quietly. A woman.
Lyra.
At first he thought it was just his imagination, a sound left over from the dreams that bothered him every night. But the quiet voice came again, soft, like someone talking behind a sheet of water.
"Stop… please stop…"
Zack sat up quickly, his heart beating fast. It wasn't just her voice he heard, he felt her too. A sudden feeling of being tired that wasn't his. A feeling of anger building up in his stomach. A sharp feeling of being upset growing behind his ribs. Feelings that weren't his own filled his body in strong waves, making him hold onto the side of the bed to keep steady.
This was new. Risky. Worrying.
The connection between them was more than just a mark now, more than just quick looks or gut feelings. It had changed, again.
It was about feelings now.
He didn't need a doctor to tell him that wasn't normal. Connections, even ones that are meant to be, didn't work like this. This was deeper, older, something tied to magic that neither of them understood. And Zack, the leader of a group of rebels feared all over the borderlands, was suddenly very scared of a woman he had never met, except in the dreams that took away his sleep.
He rubbed his hand over his face, breathing heavily. If his group found out about this, if they realized he was feeling someone else's feelings, feeling her upset, they would doubt his strength. Doubt his leadership. Doubt if the curse that marked her neck had also affected him.
Rebels followed strength. Doubt was a problem for the leader.
So Zack did what he always did, he hid the truth. Deep down and quietly.
Outside, footsteps came closer. His second-in-command, Arion, stuck his head inside without waiting for permission.
"You're awake," Arion said plainly. "That's new."
Zack gave him an angry look. "What do you want?"
Arion raised an eyebrow, not bothered. "You were yelling in your sleep again. Thought you might be dying."
"I'm fine."
"You look really bad."
Zack's jaw tightened. "Leave."
Arion waited, but the tone in Zack's voice didn't allow for arguments. The flap closed behind him, and Zack slumped, pressing his hands against his knees.
Stop… please stop…
The echo of Lyra's voice sent another feeling through his chest. Fear. Not his fear, hers.
Something was happening to her.
He didn't know how he knew it, only that he felt it. Felt her heart beating fast. Felt the pressure behind her eyes. Felt the pain in her lungs. The more he fought against the connection, the more it fought back, strong and determined.
Whatever she was going through… she was alone.
And he hated that he cared.
---
Lyra hadn't slept for three days.
Every feeling she tried to hide fought its way to the top, strong and very intense. The connection felt like a tight, unseen hand grabbing her chest, taking her air away. Some nights she missed him a lot. Some nights she felt mad. Sometimes a scary fear that wasn't really hers.
And sometimes, though she didn't want to admit it, a strength that kept her steady when she felt like falling apart.
Her mom knocked on her bedroom door that morning, her voice sounding worried. "Lyra? Sweetie? Time for breakfast?"
"I'm not hungry," Lyra answered, trying to make her voice sound calm. She didn't want her family to know how much she was shaking.
"You need to eat," her mom said in a soft way. "Your dad is worried."
"Tell him I'm okay."
But she wasn't okay. And the group knew it. Everywhere she went, people whispered about her. Wolves looked at her with both pity and doubt, like she was a bomb about to go off in their home. They wanted her fixed. Normal again. Married to someone they liked. Anything but marked by a bad wolf whose name no one said.
The stress was too much to handle.
When the sun went down, Lyra went out of the house without anyone seeing her and walked toward the forest's forgotten parts. Past where they trained. Past the river. Past the edges young wolves were told to never go past.
She walked along an old, falling apart path to a place only the oldest wolves remembered.
The Moon Temple, empty, falling apart, covered in plants and dust.
She gasped as she walked into the ruins. The air was cold and still in a strange way. Half-broken pillars stood around her like broken bones. Old moon symbols glowed softly on the stone walls, reacting to her being there.
She walked to the altar, her hands shaking.
"I need… answers," she said quietly into the silence. "Please."
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the air changed, slow and very old.
A see-through wolf appeared in front of her, clear and shiny, made of moonlight and shadow. Lyra stepped back quickly, her heart beating fast.
The spirit's voice echoed in her head, deep and strong.
"Child of the moon… you want something that can't be changed."
Lyra swallowed hard. "I need to cut the connection. The witch said it's cursed. She said I could die. I don't care. I'll do whatever I have to."
The spirit lowered its big head, eyes shining like two stars.
"Cutting a soul-thread is not just untying it. It is ripping it. It is breaking it apart."
"I understand."
"No, child."
The spirit's voice shook the air.
"You do not."
Lyra stopped moving.
"If the connection is broken the wrong way, your soul will break into pieces. His will fall apart too. You might not die… but what's left could be much worse."
Her blood felt very cold.
"Worse than dying?" she asked quietly.
"An empty shell. A broken mind. A life with no memories or sense of self. A body walking with nothing inside."
Lyra breathed quickly. "Then what should I do?"
The spirit flickered, its form moving like water that was touched.
"Pick your path carefully, child. Because the Blood Moon is coming, and luck isn't on the side of those who are scared."
Before she could say anything more, the ghost disappeared in a flash of light.
The Moon Temple became quiet once more.
Lyra fell to the ground, shaking as she felt many feelings all at once, worry, annoyance, not understanding… and another feeling she didn't know.
A long distance away, Zack suddenly breathed in sharply and grabbed his chest, feeling her sadness like a sharp knife cutting into him.
The connection grew stronger, bringing them closer together.
More near.
Certain to happen.
And neither one of them could get away from what was about to occur.