Chapter 9 A LOT BIGGER

The branch snapped again, closer this time, way too close. Every muscle in my body locked up tight. I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. My fingers tightened around the phone like it was the only thing keeping me grounded. Think. Run? Hide? Too late for both of those now.

“Lyra?”

My heart dropped straight into my stomach. Marcus. Of course it was Marcus.

I turned slowly, trying to keep my face blank even though my pulse was hammering in my ears. He stepped out from between the trees, shadows sliding across his face as he moved. His eyes went straight to me, then dropped to the phone still clutched in my hand, then back up to my face.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked. Not loud, but sharp. Careful. Like he already knew the answer wasn’t going to be simple.

I didn’t answer right away because I didn’t have a good one. Nothing sounded right in my head. “Couldn’t sleep,” I said finally. It came out weak as hell and we both knew it.

Marcus didn’t move an inch. His gaze flicked past me toward the clearing that was empty now but still felt crowded with everything I’d just seen. “What were you watching?” he asked.

There it was. The question. The line I couldn’t uncross. I could lie. I should lie. But something inside me was already too far gone to play pretend anymore. I stepped toward him, close enough that I didn’t have to raise my voice, close enough that the words felt heavy between us.

“I saw them,” I said.

Silence. Marcus didn’t react right away. His face stayed flat but I saw the tiny shift in his shoulders. “What do you mean?”

I held his gaze. Didn’t blink. “Lucifer,” I said. “And Serena.”

The words felt strange leaving my mouth, real and final like they’d been waiting to get out for days. “They’ve been meeting out here,” I continued. “For a while now.”

Marcus’s jaw tightened hard enough that I could see the muscle jump. “You’re sure?” he asked.

I didn’t answer with words. Instead I held up my phone between us and hit play. The screen lit up, bright in the dim forest light. Lucifer and Serena. His hands on her. Her voice soft and laughing. Everything. The kiss, the pull, the way he said her name like it belonged to him. The whole ugly truth right there in his face.

Marcus went completely still. Didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Just watched the video play out until it ended. The silence after it felt heavier than anything that had come before, like the trees themselves were listening and holding their breath.

“Say something,” I said. My voice came out quieter now, not breaking but tight like a wire pulled too far.

Marcus dragged a hand down his face, slow and rough. “Fuck,” he muttered. Not loud, but real. Like the word had been punched out of him. He looked back at me and there was something different in his eyes now. Not doubt. Something darker. Worry mixed with anger.

“How long?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Long enough that it feels like it’s been going on forever.”

He nodded slowly, processing it all, his eyes flicking back toward the clearing like he could still see them there. Then he said, “You can’t show this.”

The words hit like a slap across the face. “What?”

“You can’t take this to the pack,” he said, firmer now. “Not like this.”

I stared at him, my stomach twisting tighter. “Are you serious?”

“Lyra...”

“No,” I cut him off sharp. “You saw it. You watched the whole thing.”

“I did.”

“Then what the hell are you talking about?”

Marcus stepped closer and lowered his voice even more, like the forest might overhear us. “I’m talking about the fact that he’s Alpha.”

The words settled heavy between us, thick and ugly. “And you think that matters?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said immediately. That stung more than it should’ve, like a punch I wasn’t ready for.

“He’ll twist it,” Marcus continued. “He’ll say it’s fake. That you edited it. That you’re unstable or jealous or losing your shit. The pack listens to him, Lyra. They trust him. One video isn’t going to change that.”

I went still because that sounded exactly like something Lucifer would do. Turn it around, make me look crazy while he played the calm Alpha. “And Serena?” I asked.

Marcus exhaled hard. “She’ll back him. Of course she will. She always does.”

The ground felt less steady under my feet, like the whole forest was tilting. “So what,” I said. “I just… do nothing? Pretend I didn’t see any of it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are you saying, Marcus?”

He hesitated, and I hated that. Hated the pause like he was weighing how much truth I could handle. “I’m saying you need more,” he said finally. “More proof. More than just this. Something that can’t be explained away.”

More. I almost laughed but it came out bitter instead. “You think this isn’t enough?”

“I think it’s not enough to take down an Alpha,” he said.

That word again. Alpha. Like it was bigger than truth. Bigger than right. Bigger than me. Something cold slid into place inside my chest, sharp and solid. “Then I’ll get more,” I said.

Marcus studied me for a long moment, careful and searching like he was trying to read how deep this went. “You don’t want to go down this road,” he said quietly.

Too late. “I’m already on it.”

Silence stretched out again, heavy and thick. Then he asked, “Does he know you know?”

“No.”

“Good.”

That word again. Good. Like we were making some kind of plan now. “Keep it that way,” he said.

I shook my head slow. “I’m not hiding forever.”

“You’re not hiding,” he said. “You’re waiting.”

Waiting. That sounded way too familiar, too much like what I’d already been doing. I looked past him back toward the clearing where it all started, where everything had changed. “Fine,” I said finally.

Marcus didn’t relax. Not even a little. His shoulders stayed tight. “This gets dangerous,” he said.

“It already is.”

He held my gaze steady. Then nodded once. “Then you don’t do it alone.”

That surprised me enough that I blinked. “Why?” I asked.

He didn’t hesitate this time. “Because if this goes wrong…”

A beat.

“It won’t just be you they come after.”

That landed hard, right in the center of my chest. I swallowed. “Okay,” I said. Not agreement exactly. Just acknowledgment that I wasn’t stupid enough to turn down the only person offering to stand with me.

Marcus stepped back, glancing around the trees like he was making sure we were still alone. “Go back,” he said. “Before someone notices you’re gone.”

I turned and started walking, leaves crunching under my feet. Then I stopped. “Marcus.”

He looked at me.

“They said something else,” I told him.

His expression shifted, got sharper. “What?”

I met his eyes straight on. “After the summit…”

A pause.

“They said I’d be gone.”

Silence. Not the normal kind. The kind that changes things, makes the air feel thicker. Marcus didn’t speak. Didn’t move. But I saw it hit him, the way his whole body went rigid for a second. Whatever this was, it just got bigger. A lot bigger.