Page 28 of The Onyx Covenant

“Such eloquence,” Kieran replies, clutching his chest. “Your way with words truly brings tears to my eyes, Selene.”

Erebus, towering over even me, narrows his dark eyes. “Save your breath for tomorrow, jester. You’ll need it when I leave you in the dust.”

“Oh, please,” Kieran scoffs, leaning casually against the stone wall. “The last time you tried to outrun me, you tripped over your own feet and face-planted into a thornbush. Still have the scratches, or did Selene kiss them better?”

Selene’s eyes flash dangerously. “Save your pathetic trash talk.”

“At least I’m loyal to my pack,” Erebus fires back, glancing pointedly at me, knowing Selene desperately wanted me to pick her, but she ended up with him. And that I brought Lyra into the challenge.

“They’re just intimidated by my superior skills.” Kieran waves dismissively. “Something you wouldn’t understand.”

Despite everything, I feel my lips twitch into the ghost of a smile. The animosity between them is as amusing as it is predictable—pack mates who’d die for each other in a heartbeat but would also happily trip each other during a race.

“Coming inside, traitor?” Erebus directs at me, ignoring Kieran entirely. “Or are you camping outside to be closer to your… pathetic choice of partner?”

“Don’t worry about his choices,” Kieran interjects before I can respond. “Worry about yours. Like that haircut—who convinced you that was a good idea? A blind squirrel?”

Erebus growls low in his throat, but Selene tugs him through the doorway before he can escalate further.

Kieran claps a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get some rest. We’ll need it.”

I nod, following him through the heavy wooden door marked with Umbra’s symbol. The narrow hallway is dimly lit with torches that cast long, dancing shadows across the rough stone walls. The air smells of pine resin and perspiration, a combination that makes my wolf stir restlessly beneath my skin.

We emerge into the main chamber, where the rest of our pack is already claiming beds. Ten simple pallet beds line the walls—five for Alphas, five for their Omegas. Except in our case, there’s one bed that will remain empty tonight.

My gaze falls on it, and the reality of my situation lingers in my thoughts. While every other champion will sleep with their Omega nearby, mine is in the next room with her pack.

I move to the bed farthest from the door but closest to the wall.

Kieran gives me a knowing look as he claims the bed beside mine. “Try not to brood all night,” he murmurs. “Your face might get stuck that way.”

I ignore him, stretching out on the thin mattress and staring at the ceiling. The stone is etched with ancient patterns that seem to swirl and dance in the torchlight—moon cycles, wolf packs running through endless forests, the eternal dance of Elios and Umbra across the night sky.

My father’s words echo in my mind…Slit her throat. Snap her neck. Hell, push her off a fucking cliff if that’s what it takes. I don’t care how you do it. Just make sure she doesn’t see the morning.

I close my eyes, feeling the weight of what lies ahead.

When the Harvest Ritual begins tomorrow, nothing will be the same again. Not for me, not for Lyra, and not for the two packs who have spent generations keeping us apart.

Let them all come for me. Let them try.

ChapterSix

LYRA

Sleep escapes me in the stone bunker, despite my exhaustion. I shift uncomfortably on Aria’s borrowed blanket, the hard floor beneath digging into my hip. Around me, the soft breathing and occasional snores of the Elios candidates fill the darkness. Ten of them, all with proper beds. And then there’s me—the unwanted addition, the priestess who doesn’t belong.

“Fuck this,” I mutter, staring at the ceiling, tracing the cracks in the ancient stone.

How did I end up here? Yesterday morning, I was preparing for a routine moon-blessing ceremony. Now I’m bound to Theron Shadowmane, forced to participate in a ritual that claims lives every year. My father’s disappointed face flashes in my mind, along with the whispers that followed me tonight. The Alpha’s daughter, bound to an Umbra wolf. A betrayal, they called it, as if I’d chosen this.

Then I finally drift off…

Branches tear at my skin as I run, heart pounding, lungs burning. The forest stretches endlessly in every direction, thick with shadows that move when I blink. Behind me, thunderous footsteps and low growls vibrate through the trees. I don’t look back. I know what I’ll see. I’ve seen it before. The gleam of his eyes—Theron’s eyes—glowing in the dark, twisted with something feral. Wrong.

I trip. Cold earth slams into me. Before I can scramble up, he’s there, on me, crushing the breath from my lungs. Claws bite into my shoulders, and I scream as his jaws part above my throat, hot breath washing over my skin.

I wake with a gasp, choking on it. My heart’s racing, hair stuck to my forehead. The scream never left my lips, but it still rings in my head.

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