CHAPTER 83: SLEEP

🌙𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐡

And THAT scared me more than anything.

"This is Lycanthropy," I said slowly, testing the words. "This is what it means to be—"

"Part of this world?" Dmitri finished. His dark eyes studied me. "Yes."

He leaned forward, and suddenly his grip was on my forearm. Not painful. But grounding. Intense.

"Everything here has real, tangible power, Lilith. To heal. Or to utterly destroy."

His voice dropped lower.

"If you WIELD it—if you make it YOURS—it will be an asset. A strength beyond measure."

His grip tightened.

"But if you let it consume you, if you surrender to it without understanding it first—"

Something flickered in his eyes. Something haunted. Ancient.

"—you will lose yourself to it completely."

The way he said it—

It wasn’t just about the bond.

There was something MORE in his voice. A warning born from experience. From something he’d witnessed. Or survived.

Or LOST.

"Dmitri—"

His eyes changed.

Literally CHANGED.

The dark blue bled away, replaced by pale white—like the color had been drained entirely.

My breath caught.

His grip tightened further, fingers pressing into my skin.

"She is wild," he whispered, voice distant and haunted, "in the way sacred but broken things are. She is chaos and anarchy given form. The end clad within a soul."

My heart slammed against my ribs.

"Who—"

And just like that—

It was GONE.

His eyes snapped back to brown. Dark and familiar.

His grip loosened.

He blinked, like he’d just woken from a dream.

"Dmitri?" My voice shook. "What was that? What did you just—"

"The Moonstone Masquerade is in three days," he said, voice perfectly neutral. Like nothing had happened. Like his eyes hadn’t just turned WHITE. Like he hadn’t just spoken in riddles.

I stared at him. "What?"

"The High Alpha will come to teach you the steps this evening. After you’ve rested."

"Vladimir is—wait, what?" My brain struggled to catch up. "He’s going to teach me to DANCE?"

"Yes." Dmitri stood, already moving toward the door. "I suggest you nap. You’ll need your energy."

"Dmitri, wait—"

He paused at the threshold. Looked back at me with those dark eyes—normal now, as if they’d never changed.

A ghost of a smile played at his lips.

"Break a leg, Lilith."

Then he was gone.

I sat there.

Hand throbbing.

Lunar Crest still glowing faintly.

Mind reeling from everything that had just happened.

The incomplete bond. Vladimir’s red eyes. The punch. The broken finger.

And Dmitri’s warning.

She is chaos and anarchy given form.

Who was he talking about?

---

Despite being exhausted from the training, I couldn’t sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Vladimir’s face. Felt his hands on my hips. Heard his voice—rough and desperate—telling me to RUN.

Felt the way I’d wanted to do anything BUT. The bond wanted completion and part of me—

A growing, undeniable part—

Wanted it too.

*That’s the bond talking,* I told myself. *Not you.*

But was there even a difference anymore?

A knock at my door made me jump.

"Miss Brooks." A servant’s voice. "The High Alpha requests your presence in the ballroom."

My stomach flipped. There was a ballroom here? Of course, there was...

"Now?"

"Yes, miss."

I looked down at myself. Dressed in causal jeans and a shirt. Perfect. "Tell him I’ll be there in ten minutes," I said.

The servant hesitated. "The High Alpha was quite clear that—"

"Ten. Minutes." I flashed him a shaky smile.

Silence.

Then: "Yes, miss."

My hand ached as I tried to tie my hair back.

I gave up. Left it down.

Stared at myself in the mirror.

My Lunar Crest was still faintly visible. Pulsing softly against my wrist, like I has gotten used to.

You will want the High Alpha.

Dmitri’s words echoed.

*The bond will make you want him.*

I took a breath.

Then headed for the ballroom. Time to face the Ice King. And pretend my heart wasn’t racing at the thought of his hands on me again.

Even if it was just to teach me how to dance.

---

🌙𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐡

The servant led me through corridors I’d never seen before.

Deeper into the mansion. Away from the familiar training wing. Away from my quarters.

The walls changed—darker wood, older tapestries, portraits of wolves and winter landscapes that seemed to WATCH as I passed.

"How much farther?" I asked.

The servant didn’t answer. Just kept walking, like I didn’t exist.

Something prickled at the back of my neck.

Then I smelled it.

Vladimir.

But STRONGER. Richer. Like standing in the center of a storm instead of watching it from a distance.

Pine and frost and something darker. Wilder.

My body responded instantly.

Heat pooling low in my stomach. My Lunar Crest pulsing. The bond PULLING—

Come.

Come to me.

You’re mine.

I stopped walking.

Blinked.

The servant was gone.

The corridor was empty.

"Hello?" My voice echoed off stone walls.

Nothing.

Panic fluttered in my chest.

I was LOST. In a mansion I barely knew. In corridors that all looked the same.

Get it together, Lilith.

I turned back the way I’d come—

But the hallway looked different now. Darker. Unfamiliar.

Had I turned left or right at that last portrait?

Shit.

I started walking. Trying doors. Most were locked.

Then—

I passed a door at the end of a hallway and STOPPED.

Dead.

Something in my chest PULLED. It was not painful no, it was magnetic.

Like a hook lodged beneath my ribs, tugging me TOWARD that door.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

Then—

I felt him.

Vladimir.

Not physically present. But THERE. In my mind. In my chest. In the bond that thrummed between us.

Stay

His voice. Low. Rough. Intimate.

You’re beautiful.

My breath hitched.

You drive me mad.

Heat flooded through me. My skin prickled. My heart RACED.

I couldn’t see him. Couldn’t even HEAR him—not with my ears.

But I FELT every word like a caress.

Moya, he whispered. Mine. My mate.

The bond SANG.

Golden light blazed from my Lunar Crest, so bright it hurt.

Come to me.

My hand reached for the door handle—

"LILITH!"

Hands grabbed my shoulders. Shook me. Hard.

I gasped—

My eyes snapped open.

Vladimir stood in front of me. Real. Physical. PRESENT.

But wrong.

He had stubble now—dark shadow along his jaw that hadn’t been there this morning. His hair was rumpled, falling into his eyes. His shirt was half-unbuttoned, wrinkled.

And he smelled—

Wrong.

Not pine and frost.

Something floral. Feminine. SOMEONE ELSE.

My stomach twisted into a painful knot and Kaia howled like she had been stepped on.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was sharp. Urgent. His hands still gripping my shoulders.

I blinked at him. Disoriented. Confused.

"I—the servant. You sent a servant to bring me to the ballroom."

His expression darkened. "I sent no one."

"But—" I looked around. Tried to orient myself.

We were standing in a hallway I didn’t recognize. Outside a door I’d never seen before.

"What time is it?" I asked, voice shaking.

Vladimir’s jaw clenched. "Two in the morning."

No.

"That’s not—I was just—it was evening. The servant came to my room and—"

"Lilith." His voice was careful now. Controlled. "What’s the last thing you remember?"

I tried to think.

Going to my room. Lying down. Closing my eyes.

"I was resting," I said slowly. "Before the dance lesson. You were supposed to come teach me—"

"That was eight hours ago."

The world tilted.

"What?"

He stopped. Exhaled slowly.

"You were SLEEPWALKING, Lilith."