Lyra couldn’t look away.
She had been watching Kade since the moment Merrow descended into the arena, but now it felt as though something in her had locked into place, narrowing her vision until the rest of the world fell away. The crowd roared and shifted, their bodies rising and falling in waves of excitement, but Lyra’s focus never left the man in the sand fighting for her freedom.
She felt as though her heart had been pulled from her chest and placed directly in the area, exposed and beating, vulnerable to every strike of the Alpha’s blade.
Kaela leaned close, her voice tight. “Why is he smiling like that?”
She saw it too, the subtle curve of Merrow’s mouth. His posture loosened, confidence settling over him in an unearned glow. Everything within her screamed that it was the smi
