<b></b>: Lyra’s Diary


    (Olivia’s POV)


    Iy on Matthew’s sickbed, watching him handle official business from his tablet. His other hand stroked my hair gently, the familiar gesture soothing my frayed nerves.


    “Don’t worry,” he murmured, his voice low and reassuring. “I’ve already arranged everything. No matter what he tries to do, we’ll definitely catch him this time.”


    Just then, Tristan knocked and entered the room. His expression was carefully neutral, but I could see the tension in his shoulders.


    “My King, Theodore Redgrave has arrived,” he announced. “He says he’s here to deliver Lyra’s diary to Luna Olivia.”


    My heart skipped a beat. Mother’s diary? I hadn’t even known she kept one.


    Matthew’s hand stilled in my hair. Through our bond, I felt his protective instincts re. “Do you want to see him?”


    I nodded slowly. “If he has something of my mother’s, I need to know what it is.”


    I made my way to the reception area, my steps echoing in the quiet corridor. Theodore stood by the window, his usuallymanding presence diminished. He looked utterly dejected, his shoulders slumped in defeat.


    When he turned to face me, I was shocked by his appearance. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his normally pristine appearance was disheveled.


    “Olivia.” His voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.


    He held out a small, ornate box. The metal was tarnished with age, and intricate symbols were carved into its surface.


    “This contains your mother’s diary,” he said, his hands trembling slightly. “She locked it in a safe before her death. She told me to give it to you if you ever left me and came to the


    Eastern Territory.”


    I stared at the box, afraid to touch it. “Why didn’t you give this to me before?”


    Theodore’s face crumpled. “I didn’t want you to know too much. If you knew everything, I knew you would be even less likely to return to me.”


    His admission hung heavy in the air between us. Even now, even after everything, he was still trying to control what I knew.


    “But now,” he continued, his voice breaking, “I feel it’s necessary to tell you. If anything happens to Matthew, I hope you’ll leave with me and return to the Northern Territory.”


    I took the box from his hands, feeling its weight. “Theodore, I know what you’re thinking. You believe that if Matthew dies, I’ll need to find another strong tree to cling to for survival.”


    His eyes widened slightly, caught off guard by my directness.


    “But I don’t need that anymore,” I continued, my voice growing stronger. “I can grow into a strong tree myself.”


    Theodore’s face turned pale. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again.


    I didn’t want to say anything more to him. Clutching the box to my chest, I turned and walked back toward the ward.


    Back in the room, I sat on the edge of Matthew’s bed, staring at the coded lock on the box<i>. </i>My fingers hovered over the small numbered dials.


    “What do you think the password could be?” Matthew asked softly, setting aside his tablet to focus on me.


    I tried my birthday first: 0312. The lock didn’t budge. Then I tried my mother’s birthday, but that didn’t work either.


    Frustration built in my chest. What would my mother have chosen?


    Suddenly, inspiration shed through my mind–I recalled that photograph, the one with my mother and Ethan. The date written on the back: May 11, 1995.


    With trembling fingers, I entered: 0511.


    The lock clicked open.


    Inside was a yellowed diary bound in soft leather, and beneath it, a childhood photo of the same boy from the other picture. My hands shook as I opened the diary to the first page.


    “Livvy, my sweet heart,” I read aloud, my voice barely a whisper. “By the time you read this diary, I believe you will have met your brother Ethan.”


    The words hit me like a physical blow. “Brother?” I gasped, looking at Matthew in shock.


    He was my brother? Ethan Moonstone was my brother?


    With growing dread, I continued reading. The diary revealed a past I never could have imagined.


    From the age of fifteen, my mother’s father had used her beauty to socialize with the alphas of various packs. She had lovedputers and dreamed of studying in the human world, but her father refused to let her leave.


    After receiving a university eptance letter, she had nned and sessfully escaped from the Mooncrest Pack. But she hadn’t expected to encounter a rogue wolf attack during


    her escape.


    Fan Moonstone saved her. But she didn’t expect that it was a conspiracy. Fan had already colluded with her pack, deliberately letting her go and then pretending <i>to </i>rescue her. After bringing her to his territory, he imprisoned her. He r***d and sexually abused her, forcing her to give birth to Ethan.


    My hands trembled as I continued reading, Luna Annelise resented her mother for taking away her husband, always punishing her with whippings when Fan was away from home. Until Ethan was five years old, when Fan left the territory for diplomatic activities, she finally escaped. But she couldn’t take Ethan with her. Because Annelise promised to let her go on the condition that she leave Ethan behind, and she promised to treat him as her own. She had kept this part of her history buried in her heart and never told anyone.


    As I finished reading, I realized tears were streaming down my face. So much had happened to my mother before I was born. So much pain and suffering that she had carried alone.


    Matthew hadn’t said a word throughout my reading. He simply reached out and silently wiped away my tears.


    “Can I see it?” he asked cautiously.


    I remembered the parts of the diary that mentioned him. My mother had written about watching him from afar, about recognizing the way he looked at me.


    I nodded, my voice thick with emotion. “Go ahead and read it. You’re mentioned in there too.”


    Matthew looked at me in surprise and carefully picked up the diary.


    (Matthew’s POV)


    As I read through Lyra’s elegant handwriting, I discovered truths that shook me to my core.


    She had known about my feelings for Olivia long before I’d ever acted on them. But she believed that returning to the Eastern Territory would be dangerous for her daughter, so she


    had allowed Theodore’s pursuit to continue.


    <b>“</b>If one day Olivia and Theodore separate and Olivia returns to the Eastern Territory,” I read aloud, “I hope Matthew will protect her well.”


    Olivia’s breath caught beside me. Even from beyond the grave, her mother had been trying to protect her. <fn98a8> Read full story at Find[?]ovel</fn98a8>


    But it was the next section that made my blood run cold.


    Lyra had discovered the secret of the mountainboratory. The Mooncrest bloodline was cursed–their hearts were doomed to fail before the age of forty. To survive, they had cooperated with Fan and sent Lyra to him as payment.


    Fan had helped them establish the researchb, which studied not only heart transnts but ran a horrific trade in werewolf organs and conducted gic experiments on our kind.


    Fan wanted to be stronger. He was using the research to enhance himself, to ovee the natural limitations of his wolf form.


    I looked up at Olivia, seeing the same realization dawning in her eyes.


    We had finally found Fan’s weakness.