ARIA'S POV
Pain.
That's all I know. All I am.
Silver light pours from my body like I'm being torn apart from the inside. The third blood mark burns on my arm where Damien cut me, and through the agony, I feel my power—the power I barely knew I had—being ripped away.
"Finally," Damien breathes. "I can feel it flowing into me. All that Moon's Chosen power, becoming mine."
No. No, no, no.
I try to scream, but the poison in my system keeps me paralyzed. I can only watch as silver light streams from my chest toward Damien's, connecting us like a terrible bridge.
Through the haze of pain, I hear Kaine roaring. Sera's magic battering the barrier. But they're too late. The ritual has started, and ancient magic doesn't stop once it begins.
Damien laughs as power floods into him. His eyes glow brighter. His muscles grow larger. I can feel my strength draining away with every second.
I'm going to die here. After everything—after escaping, after meeting Kaine, after finally believing I could be more than nothing—I'm going to die on this altar while Damien steals everything I am.
Then something impossible happens.
The silver light streaming toward Damien splits.
Half continues flowing to him like before. But the other half suddenly jerks sideways, toward the barrier where Kaine stands. It crashes through the magical wall like it's made of paper and slams into Kaine's chest.
Kaine staggers as silver light pours into him.
"What?" Damien shouts. "No! The ritual should only transfer to one person!"
"It transfers through the strongest bond," an ancient voice says.
Everyone freezes.
A woman stands in the doorway—impossibly old, impossibly young, with eyes that shine like the full moon itself. She wears simple white robes and carries a staff carved with lunar symbols.
"The Moon Priestess," Sera gasps.
The Priestess walks forward, and even Damien shrinks back from her presence. She studies the silver light flowing from me to both Damien and Kaine.
"Interesting," she murmurs. "The mate bond pulling one direction, the Chosen Bond pulling another. The power doesn't know where to go, so it's splitting."
"Stop it!" Damien demands. "This is my ritual! My power!"
"You stole nothing." The Priestess's voice carries weight that makes even the stones tremble. "You forced a ritual on an unwilling Moon's Chosen. Such arrogance always has consequences."
She touches her staff to the ground.
The world shifts.
Suddenly I can breathe again. Move again. The paralysis from the poison vanishes like it never existed. But the power transfer continues—I can feel myself being drained from both directions.
"The ritual cannot be stopped once begun," the Priestess says. "But it can be redirected." She looks at me with those terrible, beautiful moon-eyes. "Child of the Chosen bloodline. You have a choice to make, and you must make it now."
"What choice?" My voice comes out as a croak.
"The power splitting between them will kill you. You don't have enough life force for both transfers. You must choose—" She gestures to Damien. "—the mate bond that was forced on you, or—" She gestures to Kaine. "—the Chosen Bond that's forming through free will. One will receive your power. The other will receive nothing. Choose wisely. Choose quickly. You have thirty seconds before the drain kills you."
Thirty seconds to decide who gets the power that makes me special.
Damien or Kaine.
My abuser or my savior.
"Aria, choose me," Damien says urgently. "I'm your fated mate. The Moon Goddess chose us for each other. That bond is sacred—"
"You rejected me!" I gasp. "You hurt me for four years!"
"I made mistakes. But with your power, we could rule together. Really together this time. I'll make you Luna. I'll give you everything."
"You'll give me nothing. You'll take everything like you always have."
I look at Kaine. He's on his knees, the silver light flooding into him, his face twisted in pain. But when his ice-blue eyes meet mine, they're clear and certain.
"Choose what you want," he says through gritted teeth. "Not what you think you should do. Not what's expected. Choose what YOU want, Aria."
What do I want?
I want to be free. I want to be strong. I want to never be hurt again.
And I want... I want Kaine. This monster king who offered me a choice when no one else ever did. Who protected me when he had no reason to. Who sees me as a person instead of a tool.
"I choose—" I start.
"Wait!" The Priestess holds up a hand. "Before you speak, understand the consequences. If you choose the mate bond with Damien, he'll have Moon's Chosen power but you'll be bound to him forever. The bond will strengthen, not break. If you choose the Chosen Bond with Kaine—" She looks at me seriously. "—you'll be bound to him forever too. Chosen Bonds are even stronger than mate bonds. You'll feel his emotions. Share his life span. If he dies, you die. You'll never be fully independent again."
My heart pounds. Either way, I'm choosing a prison. Either Damien's cage or Kaine's.
But one cage has a door I can't open. And the other... the other is more like a home with someone who respects me.
"Ten seconds," the Priestess warns.
The silver light flares brighter. My vision starts to darken. I'm dying.
"Aria, please!" Damien begs. "Choose me! I'm your mate!"
"You were never my mate," I whisper. "You were my nightmare."
I focus on the silver light flowing toward Kaine. With everything I have left, I pull it—all of it. Every drop of power, every ounce of strength.
"I choose Kaine," I say clearly. "I choose the Chosen Bond. I choose him."
The world explodes in silver light.
The thread connecting me to Damien snaps. He screams as the power that was flowing to him reverses, gets sucked away, leaves him empty. The mate bond between us shatters completely—not just weakened, but destroyed.
All my power floods into Kaine.
He roars as it hits him, his body glowing like a star. The ritual chamber shakes. Stones crack. The barrier Damien created explodes into nothing.
Then the power transfer completes.
And something new forms between Kaine and me—a bond that glows silver-white, so bright it hurts to look at. I feel it settle into my chest like a second heartbeat. Kaine's heartbeat.
I can feel his emotions. His relief. His rage at Damien. His fierce protectiveness toward me.
And something else. Something deeper.
He cares about me. Really cares. Not because of what I can do for him, but because of who I am.
The silver light fades. I collapse on the altar, completely drained. Kaine catches me before I hit the stone.
"I've got you," he murmurs. "You're safe now."
But we're not safe.
Damien stands across the chamber, and even without the power transfer, even with his mate bond shattered, he's still an Alpha. Still dangerous.
"You took everything from me," he snarls. "My mate. My power. My future."
"You took everything from yourself," I say weakly. "The moment you chose cruelty over kindness."
"Then I have nothing left to lose." Damien's eyes glow yellow as his wolf takes over. "If I can't have you, no one can."
He shifts and lunges.
Not at Kaine.
At me.
Kaine moves to block him, but he's still adjusting to the new power flooding through him. He's a split-second too slow.
Damien's claws are aimed straight at my throat.
Then Lila—forgotten in her chains this whole time—screams a word I don't understand.
Light explodes from her body.
Not silver. Gold.
Damien freezes mid-leap, suspended in the air by invisible force. Lila stands, her chains broken, her eyes glowing pure gold.
"You will not touch her," Lila says, and her voice echoes with ancient power. "Not ever again."
The Priestess's laugh fills the chamber. "Well, well. Two Moon's Chosen in one generation. The Goddess works in mysterious ways."
"Lila?" I gasp. "You're—?"
"Like you," she whispers, and the gold light fades. She slumps, exhausted. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know until just now when I thought he'd kill you. Something inside me just... woke up."
The Priestess nods. "Fear for a loved one can trigger a Chosen awakening. It seems the bloodline isn't as extinct as we thought."
Damien is still frozen. Sera quickly wraps him in silver chains before Lila's power fades completely.
"The Alpha Council will hear about this," Damien spits. "You've stolen two Moon's Chosen now. They'll come for you with armies—"
"Let them come." Kaine's voice is different now—layered with power that wasn't there before. My power combined with his. "I have Moon's Chosen abilities now. I can command any wolf, just like Aria could have. And I'm still the Lycan King." He smiles, and it's terrifying. "They're welcome to try."
Guards rush in to take Damien away. Thane helps Lila stand. Sera starts healing the wounds on my arms.
But I only have eyes for Kaine.
"The bond," I whisper. "I can feel you. Your emotions. Everything."
"I know. I feel you too." His hand cups my face gently. "Does it scare you?"
"Yes. But not as much as losing you would."
The Priestess clears her throat. "The Chosen Bond is complete. Congratulations. You're now permanently linked for life. Try not to make each other miserable."
"Wait," I say. "You called Lila Moon's Chosen too. Does that mean—?"
"It means the prophecy is evolving." The Priestess's moon-eyes gleam. "One Queen of Both Crowns, the prophecy said. But perhaps it meant one queen with support from her own kind. Two Moon's Chosen, working together." She looks between Lila and me. "The Alpha Council's worst nightmare just came true. Not one, but two wolves who can command them."
"Three," Kaine corrects. "I have Aria's abilities now through our bond."
The Priestess smiles. "Then war is coming, young king. The council won't accept this. They'll unite every pack against you."
"Let them." Kaine pulls me closer, and through our bond I feel his determination. "I have my queen. I have my power. And I have something they'll never have."
"What's that?" the Priestess asks.
Kaine looks down at me. "I have someone worth fighting for."
Through our bond, I feel the truth of his words. Feel how much he means them.
And I realize with a shock that I feel the same way about him.
But before I can say anything, Sera gasps from the doorway.
"My king! The scouts just returned. The Alpha Council isn't waiting for the Summit. They've declared you a threat to all werewolves. They're gathering an army right now."
"How large?" Thane demands.
Sera's face is pale. "Every pack in the kingdom. Two thousand wolves. Led by Elder Marcus himself."
My blood runs cold. "When?"
"They attack at dawn. Tomorrow." Sera looks at us with fear in her eyes. "We have twelve hours to prepare for the biggest war in supernatural history."