The arena didn't breathe.
Every wolf stood frozen, watching me like I was a storm they couldn't predict. The shadow inside me had gone still, but the memory of it pulsing across the stone lingered in the air like smoke.
Rowan was the first to move.
He stepped forward slowly, palms raised, voice low. "Lyra… we need to understand what we're dealing with."
Rylan snapped, "She's not a threat."
Rowan didn't look away from me. "She wasn't. Now she might be."
The words hit harder than they should have.
Rylan growled. "Say that again."
"Rylan," Rowan said calmly, "you saw what we all saw."
"I saw her stop it," Rylan shot back. "I saw her control it."
Rowan's jaw tightened. "No. I saw it obey you. That's not the same thing."
The distinction sliced through the air.
Obey.
Not control.
My stomach twisted.
Kade stepped forward, blade still in hand. "We need to test her limits."
Rylan moved so fast the air cracked.
He was in front of Kade in a heartbeat, eyes burning, voice low and lethal. "Put that down."
Kade didn't. "If she loses control—"
"She won't."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
Kade's gaze flicked to me. "Lyra, no offence, but you don't look like you know that."
He wasn't wrong.
The Hollow shifted inside me again — a faint, cold ripple that made my breath hitch. Rylan heard it. Felt it. His head snapped toward me instantly.
"Lyra?"
"I'm fine," I whispered.
The Hollow disagreed.
A thin ring of shadow rippled outward, barely visible, but enough to make every wolf tense.
Rowan exhaled sharply. "This is exactly what I'm talking about."
Rylan turned on him. "Back off."
"No," Rowan said firmly. "Not this time."
The air thickened.
Rylan stepped forward, shoulders squared, every line of his body screaming Alpha. "She's mine to protect."
"And we're yours to protect," Rowan countered. "If she loses control, we're all dead."
The words echoed.
Dead.
Rylan's jaw clenched. "She won't."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
Rowan's voice softened. "Rylan… you're not thinking clearly."
Rylan's voice broke. "She's all I'm thinking about."
The silence that followed was sharp enough to cut.
Kade lowered his blade slightly. "Rylan… we're not trying to hurt her. We're trying to keep everyone alive."
Rylan didn't look away from me. "She is alive."
"And she will stay that way," Rowan said, "if we handle this right."
Rylan's voice dropped to a whisper. "You're not touching her."
Rowan sighed. "Then we have a problem."
The Hollow stirred again — sensing tension, sensing threat, sensing fear.
My fear.
A pulse of shadow rippled outward.
Rylan stepped into it without hesitation.
Rowan stepped back.
Kade swore.
The packs retreated.
Rylan didn't move.
He stood in front of me, shoulders squared, eyes locked on mine, voice steady even as the shadow curled around his boots.
"Lyra," he whispered, "tell it."
My throat tightened. "Tell it what?"
"That I'm not the enemy."
The Hollow pulsed — uncertain.
Rylan stepped closer.
"Tell it," he breathed, "that I'm yours."
The shadow stilled.
The Hollow quieted.
The bond flickered — gold pushing through the darkness, reaching me, wrapping around me like a trembling hand.
I whispered, "You're mine."
The shadow collapsed.
The Hollow went silent.
Rylan exhaled shakily, forehead dropping to mine.
Rowan whispered, "Holy hell…"
Kade muttered, "It's bonded to her."
But Rylan didn't hear them.
He cupped my face, voice breaking.
"Lyra… if it listens to you, then you're the only one who can keep us alive."
I swallowed hard. "And if I can't?"
Rylan's eyes darkened.
"Then I'll hold you together until you can."