Chapter 6 THE WEIGHT

I didn’t tell a single soul what I saw that night. Not Vera. Not Marcus. Not anybody. I kept the whole thing locked tight inside my head because some shit felt way too dangerous to say out loud.

Like the second the words left my mouth they’d turn real in a way I couldn’t take back and then I’d have to deal with it for real. So I just swallowed it all down and acted like nothing had changed.

The next few days dragged on heavy as hell. Not soft or quiet or anything like that just this thick waiting feeling like the whole packhouse was holding its breath and something bad was coming around the corner.

I threw myself into training harder than I had in months because sitting still felt impossible. I hit the pads until my knuckles split open and blood stained the tape. I sparred until my ribs ached every time I breathed.

I ran the forest loop twice every single afternoon until my legs felt like they were tearing apart and my lungs burned so bad I saw spots. Pain helped though. Pain was simple and clean and it shut my brain up for a little while at least.

Marcus didn’t say anything about it at first but I caught him watching me closer than usual. Then he started pairing me with the bigger fighters the stronger ones the ones who didn’t hold back. It was like he knew I needed something real to smash into and he was giving me exactly that.

“Again,” he said one afternoon and I went at it harder faster meaner than before. By the third round my opponent stopped pulling punches. By the fourth I stopped caring if I got hurt or if I hurt him back. My vision went a little blurry and there was blood in my mouth but I didn’t stop swinging.

“Lyra.” Marcus stepped in fast and grabbed my arm.

I froze right there chest heaving sweat dripping down my back.

“That’s enough,” he told me quiet but firm.

I nodded once and stepped back because if I didn’t I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself.

Serena kept texting me the whole time. Little normal things that felt like someone pressing their thumb into a fresh bruise. Missed you at breakfast. Saved you a muffin but you were already gone. Pack run this weekend you better come this time.

Each message made my stomach twist but I answered just enough to keep it looking normal. Yeah. Busy. We’ll see. Short polite empty. She never pushed back or asked what was really going on. Like she didn’t need to. Like she already knew I was too far gone to notice.

Lucifer barely even looked at me anymore. And when he did it wasn’t the same. No pull no instinct no nothing. Just this quick acknowledgment like I was part of the furniture in the room not part of him.

He still slept in our bed most nights but the space between us felt all wrong too wide and cold like something invisible had already been sliced clean through.

On the sixth night I woke up alone again. No sound no movement he’d gotten slicker at slipping out or maybe I’d just gotten better at noticing when he was gone. I sat up slow heart steady not panicked just ready.

I moved to the window and at first there was nothing just the dark trees and the still yard. Then I caught it movement way back near the equipment shed. Two figures. One tall. One smaller. Too close. Way too close.

I didn’t even think about it. I grabbed the nearest hoodie his of course and slipped out the side door. The gravel bit into my bare feet sharp and cold but I didn’t slow down. I kept low stayed in the shadows breathing steady and controlled using every trick Marcus had drilled into us during training.

Now I was turning it against my own pack and that felt fucked up but I kept moving anyway.

I got close enough to hear them without being seen.

“…can’t keep doing this here,” Lucifer said low and careful. “Too risky.”

Serena’s voice came back soft and sweet like honey. “Then come to the cabin again.”

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

“Tomorrow night,” she added. “She thinks you’re doing border checks.”

There was a pause and I could picture his face without even seeing it that calculating look he got when he was weighing shit.

“Fine,” he said just like that. “Fine.” Like I didn’t exist at all.

“But this has to slow down after the summit,” he went on. “People are starting to talk.”

Serena laughed quiet and easy. “Let them talk.”

A beat passed then she added “By the time they figure it out…”

My chest tightened so hard I almost couldn’t breathe.

“…she’ll be gone.”

Everything inside me went ice cold. Gone. Not break up. Not distance. Gone. Like I was some problem they could just erase.

I backed away slow and careful my heel catching on a root and almost sending me down but I caught myself on a tree. The bark scraped my palm raw. I didn’t react. I didn’t stop moving until I was back inside the packhouse back in our room with the door shut quiet behind me. I just stood there for a minute still breathing trying to make sense of what I’d heard.

This wasn’t just cheating anymore. This wasn’t simple betrayal. This was a plan and I was the problem they needed to get rid of.

I looked around the room our room the bed the walls the space I used to think meant something. It didn’t. Not anymore. I sat on the edge of the bed with my hands steady now thinking not reacting just thinking. Dates. Patterns.

All the nights he disappeared. All the times she showed up “randomly.” The way he stopped touching me months ago. It all lined up perfect. It had been happening way longer than I realized. I just hadn’t seen it. Or maybe I hadn’t wanted to.

I lay down slow turned onto my side and stared at his empty spot in the bed. And right there I made a decision. I wouldn’t confront them. Not yet.

I wouldn’t break. I wouldn’t beg. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me fall apart. I would watch. I would listen. And I would wait. Because now I knew the truth.

And sooner or later they were going to slip.