Chapter 5 Five

cassien pov

Cassien stood in the center of the underground chamber, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the stone floor. The vampires around him were silent, but their eyes burned with judgment. Every single one of them thought he had lost his mind.

On the altar lay the girl they had found on the border — me. Lyra. My body was broken, my skin pale as snow, blood dried into my hair and clothes. My chest rose and fell so faintly it was hard to know if I was still alive at all.

To the others, I was just a wolf. An enemy. A creature of the moon who should never have set foot inside their halls. To Cassien, I was something else, though even he could not explain why.

He had made his decision.

The Black Grimoire sat open on the altar. Its pages were filled with old symbols that twisted and curled like snakes. No one in the coven had dared to touch that book for more than a hundred years. To use it was to break the oldest law of their kind.

Cassien placed his hand on the page, and the words burned like fire under his touch. He began to speak, his voice low but sharp, each word cutting into the air. The language was old, older than the stone around them, and as the sound spread, the chamber itself seemed to shake.

At first, nothing happened. My body lay still, lifeless. The vampires watching shifted uneasily, whispering to one another. Some looked afraid, others angry.

Then it began.

A dark mist rose from the book, wrapping around me like smoke. It pressed into my skin, crawling along my veins. My back arched, and a scream ripped from my throat, though I was not awake to make it. It was a sound that did not belong to a wolf or a human. It was deeper, harsher, wrong.

The vampires gasped.

Cassien’s eyes narrowed, but he did not stop. His voice grew louder, his hand pressed harder against the symbols. The smoke sank deeper into me until my body shook like it was being torn apart.

And then, suddenly, silence.

The mist faded. My body collapsed back onto the altar. My chest did not move.

One of the advisors stepped forward, his voice trembling. “It failed. She is gone. The rite has taken nothing but our honor.”

But Cassien did not answer. His eyes stayed locked on me.

And then, as if the world itself was holding its breath, my chest rose again. This time stronger. My eyes flew open, glowing bright red in the torchlight.

The chamber exploded into noise. Vampires shouted, some in terror, some in disbelief. But Cassien only watched as I sat up, my hands digging into the altar stone hard enough to crack it.

The forbidden rite had worked.

And the world would never be the same again.

The first thing I felt was hunger. It wasn’t the normal kind, the sort you feel after skipping a meal. This was deeper, sharper. It filled my body with fire, my veins burning like liquid flame.

I sat up so fast the chains clinked against the altar. My eyes darted around the chamber, and everything looked… wrong. Too sharp. Too loud. I could hear the pounding of hearts all around me, dozens of them, beating like drums in my ears. I could smell their blood, rich and heavy, and every part of me wanted to sink my teeth into it.

I turned my head and my gaze landed on Cassien. He stood closest to me, taller than all the others, his black cloak sweeping the floor. He smelled different from the rest — not weak, not prey, but powerful. Still, even his blood called to me.

“What am I?” I asked. My voice was rough, low, but it carried a strength that shocked even me.

Cassien’s face stayed cold, unreadable. “Alive,” he said.

The others whispered, their voices filled with horror. “It should not be possible… she’s not just a wolf anymore…”

I felt my lips pull back, baring sharp new fangs I hadn’t known I had. My body moved on instinct, ready to leap at the nearest heartbeat.

Cassien stepped between me and them before I even realized it. His hand pressed firmly against my shoulder. His touch burned like fire, but it steadied me, holding me in place.

“You are not theirs to feed on,” he growled, his voice low and commanding. His eyes locked on mine, and something in me obeyed. My hunger trembled, but it stopped.

I trembled, ashamed of what I had almost done. “I’m… I’m a monster.”

Cassien leaned closer, his words sharp as steel. “No. You are power. And power is never gentle.”

Lucien stood in the shadows of the chamber, his arms folded tightly across his chest. The torchlight flickered against the sharp lines of his face, but his eyes burned with something darker than fire. He had been quiet when Cassien performed the forbidden rite, but silence did not mean agreement.

He could feel it. The weight of betrayal.

His brother had broken the oldest law of their kind. A vampire was never to mix blood with a wolf, never to share power, never to bring one into their sacred halls. To do so was to invite ruin. And yet Cassien had not only allowed a wolf inside, he had raised her from death itself.

Lucien’s fists clenched at his sides. He remembered their parents’ screams, the flames, the slaughter that night when the werewolves had stormed Noctara. He remembered Cassien’s vow to never forgive, to never forget. And now? Now his brother stood guarding one of them like she was some treasure to protect.

The council whispered around him. Their voices were low, but Lucien heard every word.

“She should be killed before she grows stronger.”

“He has cursed us all. The bloodline will rot.”

“Perhaps Lucien will see sense, if his brother will not.”

Their words only fed the storm inside him.

Lucien stepped forward, his boots striking the floor with sharp cracks. “You would endanger us all for one wolf?” he said loudly, his voice cutting through the chamber. His words aimed directly at Cassien, though his brother’s eyes never left the girl on the altar.

“She is not just a wolf,” Cassien answered, his voice cold. “She is more.”

“More?” Lucien spat. “She is a mistake. And mistakes should be corrected before they burn everything to ash.”

Cassien finally turned his gaze on him. The room seemed to grow colder. “Careful, brother.”

Lucien stared back, his jaw tight, his eyes filled with hate. For the first time in years, the bond between them cracked. And Lucien knew, deep in his chest, that he would not forgive this.

Not ever.