Page 1 of The Onyx Covenant

Prologue

LYRA

Love makes you stupid. Not the sweet, tender kind they sing about in temple hymns—I mean the raw, reckless kind that burns through your veins and turns your brain to fucking ash. The kind that has me stalking through Wolfhaven at midnight, risking everything for a man who’s my family’s enemy.

The ancient stones of our settlement seem to judge me like accusing eyes as I slip between them, already hearing my father’s angry words as if he’s caught me…

Foolish girl. Priestess in training. Alpha’s daughter. Only eighteen years old. Sneaking out for an Umbra wolf—our enemy!

I press my back against the cool temple wall, breath caught in my throat as a guard passes so close I could reach out and touch him. My heart hammers wildly—not from the fear of being caught, but from the excitement that still burns inside me to seehimagain.

The guard doesn’t see me as he patrols the area.

When he rounds the corner, I dart across the central clearing, my white-blonde hair tucked in my hood. I keep to the shadows cast by the massive firepit that burns day and night. The flames dance high tonight, almost as if they’re trying to reach Elios, the veiled moon that hangs half shrouded in wispy clouds. Her sister, Umbra, is nowhere to be seen, hiding behind the mountains as she often does this time of year.

Tonight marks three months since I first started seeing him. Of stealing away on moonless nights to rendezvous at our meeting spot.

Of course, if my father finds out, he might very well murder me… and yet, I go against him to see Theron another night. My stomach flutters, the anticipation driving me to move quicker.

I reach the edge of our territory, slipping through the gap in the lofty pines that mark our boundary. The river comes next—Silverthread, we call it—running between our territories. Eclipsia, my home, where the Elios wolves live, and the Tenebris territory, where the enemy Umbra wolves reside.

I pause at the bank, staring at the rippling water, my wolf vision cutting through the dark to reveal my reflection. The girl who looks back at me is almost a stranger—light hair falling loose from within my hood, framing a face marked with delicate silver lines across my brow, the ceremonial tattoos of a moon priestess in training. Pale lavender eyes remind me of my mother’s. My gut twists at the thought of what my parents would do if they discovered what I’m about to do. What I have been doing.

But I won’t panic now. He’ll be waiting like he always does.

Ahead is a natural stone alcove where the water has carved away the bank over centuries, covered in shadows. The place where we kissed the second time we met.

I hurry over there, hopping over the stones to cross the shallow river, but he isn’t there.

I pause, confused. In three months of secret catch-ups, Theron has never failed to be here first, waiting with that crooked smile that makes my heart skip. I sink down onto a smooth river stone, worry threading through my chest.

The day we met, his hunting arrow had whistled past my ear, embedding itself in the oak behind me as I’d been foraging for moonberries. He’d rushed to me, horrified at almost harming me, his gaze wide with concern. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen. Despite everything I’d been taught about the Umbra wolves, I’d found myself drowning in those eyes. And with that, our first kiss comes to mind…

My heart threatens to burst from my chest as I slip through the forest, each twig snap making me freeze at the thought of being caught. I’ve never done anything like this—sneaking out of my house past curfew. The punishment for disobedience would be severe, but something stronger than fear pulls me forward.

I reach the alcove by the shallow river. The small cave-like space is shrouded in shadows, private and hidden from prying eyes. Perfect for a meeting that should never happen.

Will he even come? The thought makes my stomach lurch. Perhaps I misunderstood him when we parted ways after our chance meeting when he almost speared me with his arrow. Perhaps this is all a cruel joke, and he never intended to meet me again.

Then I hear it—the soft, deliberate crunch of leaves. A tall figure emerges from the darkness, and my breath catches. Theron. Moonlight glints against his sharp features, the angles of his face softened by the gentle curve of his lips as they spread into a smile.

“You came,” he says, his deep voice sending a shiver down my arms.

“I shouldn’t have,” I answer, but I take a step toward him anyway.

Something electric passes between us. One moment, I’m standing three feet away, and the next, I’m in his arms, drawn to him like a tide to shore. His scent envelops me—pine, amber, and winter frost.

His hand reaches up to cup my brow, his thumb tracing the silver lines of my tattoo. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” he confesses, his gaze searching mine. “Not for a single moment.”

“This is madness,” I whisper, even as I lean into his touch. “An Elios and an Umbra…”

“Do you feel it, too?” he asks, his voice rough with emotion. “The energy between us?”

Before I can answer, his lips find mine. The world tilts on its axis. His kiss is gentle at first, questioning, but when I respond—rising on my toes to press closer—it transforms into something hungry, desperate. My fingers tangle in his dark hair, anchoring myself as my knees go weak. Heat blooms everywhere on my body, spreading like an inferno through my veins.

When he finally pulls back, his breath comes in quick gasps that match my own.

“I’ve been counting the hours until I can see you again,” he murmurs against my lips.

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