The Alpha Weredragon's Favorite
CHAPTER 51

Lyra

"Lyra," Killian said, turning to face me. "There's something you need to know."

Using my good arm, I sat up higher, ignoring the pain in my side. "What is it?"

"The Harbringers have always been connected to the White Wolf," he explained. "And that connection has passed to you."

"Me?" I gasped. "But I don't even have a wolf form."

Killian smiled. "The White Wolf sees beyond physical form, Lyra. She has chosen you for your heart, your courage, and your destiny."

My eyes widened. "Why?"

"The Moon Goddess bestows the White Wolf trait upon those in the Harbringer line she deems worthy," Killian explained. "And only to the women of our family."

I furrowed my brow. "Why not someone else?"

I was just... me. No one special.

Killian chuckled softly as if reading my mind. "Who can say why the wind blows as it does? When the time is right for the White Wolf to emerge, you'll understand why you were chosen."

I bit my lip, questions burning at the back of my throat. Although I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answers to them, I needed to. The vision of the couple by the lake, brutally attacked and their baby stolen, haunted me. Could it be true? Were they really my parents?

It took several tries, but finally I got the words out. "And those people I saw in my vision. They were by a lake with a baby. Were they my parents?"

Killian's eyes softened with sympathy. He reached out and gently squeezed my hand. "Lyra, I know this is difficult to hear..."

I pulled my hand away, my heart racing. "Just tell me. Please."

He sighed heavily. "Yes, they were your parents and they were indeed killed. It was a tragic day for our family."

Tears stung my eyes. "But who did it? Who took their baby - took me?"

Killian hesitated, his gaze flickering away from mine. "We don't know for certain. The Harbringers have searched the culprit, but they have never been found."

I shook my head, anger rising in my chest. "That can't be true. Someone must know something!"

"Lyra," the witch, who I learned was called Wista, interjected softly. "Sometimes the truth is hidden for a reason. Perhaps it's best to focus on the present and the future, rather than dwell on the painful past."

As I turned to her, my vision blurred with tears. "But how can I move forward without knowing where I came from? Without understanding why I was taken from my real parents?"

Killian sat on the bed, the weight dipping the mattress. "You came from a lineage of strength, Lyra. Your parents loved you deeply, and their sacrifice ensured your survival. Honor their memory by embracing your destiny as the White Wolf."

I wiped my eyes, taking a shaky breath. "I'll try," I whispered. "But I won't stop searching for the truth. I owe it to them - and to myself - to uncover what really happened that day."

"Lyra," Killian said, his voice filled with understanding, "I promise you, we will look for the truth together. You don't have to face this alone. The Harbringers stand behind you."

Gratitude washed over me. After years of feeling alone and abandoned, it was a strange and wonderful feeling to have someone in my corner.

Wit each of us lost in our own thoughts, I found myself grappling with a question that tore at my insides.

"But why did I end up with Gregory?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

The words felt like shards of glass in my throat, cutting deep with each syllable. Why was I given to someone who had never shown me an ounce of love or affection?

Growing up in the Evergreen household, I had felt like an outsider, an unwanted burden. Each day was a struggle, a constant reminder that I didn't belong. Always met with cold indifference and barely concealed disdain.

I could still remember the cold, dismissive looks my father... my uncle Gregory would give me, the way he would turn away whenever I entered a room. It was as if my very presence offended him, a constant reminder of a past he wanted to forget.

And then there was Vivian, my stepmother, who had made it her mission to ensure I knew my place. She would constantly remind me that I was nothing more than a disgusting object.

Their cruelty had left deep scars on my soul, wounds that had never fully healed. I had spent countless nights crying myself to sleep, wondering what I had done to deserve such a loveless existence.

But now, with the truth of my heritage revealed, I asked Killian why I had I been torn away from a family who'd loved me, only to be given to one that despised my very existence?

I watched as Killian's face darkened, his eyes narrowing to slits. He clenched his jaw so tightly I thought his teeth might shatter. His hands balled into fists at his sides, the knuckles turning white from the force of his grip. "Gregory was your closest kin," Killian said, "but had I known how he allowed you to be mistreated, I would have torn your uncle limb from limb."

A shiver ran down my spine at the raw fury in his tone. I had never seen Killian like this before. His anger colored the air around us with a terrifying power, like a coiled snake ready to strike at any moment.

"I should have been there," he continued, his words dripping with venom. "I should have protected you from that monster."

He stood and began to pace the room, his movements sharp and agitated. Each step was like a thunderclap, echoing through the small space. I couldn't help but shrink back slightly, even though I knew his anger wasn't directed at me. "He will pay for what he's done," Killian snarled, his eyes flashing with a dangerous light. "I will make sure of it."

All of a sudden, emotion overwhelmed me. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, the air rushing out of my lungs in a sharp gasp. My mind reeled, trying to process the weight of Killian's words.

My family. They had been there all along. And my parents... my real parents... they were gone. Forever. I would never know their faces, never feel their arms around me, never hear their voices whispering words of love and comfort.

A sob tore from my throat, raw and agonized. It was as if a dam had burst inside me, unleashing a flood of grief and pain that I had kept locked away for so long. Tears streamed down my cheeks, hot and bitter, as my body shook with the force of my sorrow.

I barely registered Killian moving towards me, his arms wrapping around my trembling frame. He pulled me close, cradling me against his chest as if I were a small child in need of protection.

"I'm here, Lyra," he murmured, his voice thick with his own pain. "I'm here."

I clung to him, my fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt as I wept. I cried for the parents I had lost, for the childhood that had been stolen from me, for the years of loneliness and rejection that had scarred my soul.

But most of all, I cried for the wolf that had always been a part of me, the one I had been told didn't exist. The knowledge that she was there, waiting to be awakened, filled me with a bittersweet joy. I had spent so long believing I was broken, incomplete, a freak among my own kind. But now I knew the truth. I was whole. I was worthy. I was a Harbringer.

Killian held me as I wept. He didn't try to shush me or tell me everything would be alright. He simply let me cry. And in that moment, wrapped in the arms of the family I had always longed for, I felt a flicker of hope begin to grow in my heart. Hope for a future where I could finally be myself, where I could embrace the wolf within me and come to know the family I had always had.