Mira's POV
I can't move.
My body lies on the cold cave floor, completely drained. Every muscle feels like liquid. My golden marks are dim, barely glowing. I used everything to heal Zephyr, and now I'm helpless.
Exactly what Rhea wanted.
The cave fills with massive beast-men—alphas from tribes I don't know. A bear-man as tall as a tree. An eagle warrior with silver wings. A serpent male with scales that shimmer purple. More and more, until the cave is crowded with predators.
All of them staring at me.
"Gentlemen," Rhea says smoothly. "As you can see, the Lifebringer is real. Her power is extraordinary. And she's currently... available."
"Available?" I force the word out through exhausted lips. "I'm not for sale."
"Everything's for sale, girl." Rhea crouches beside me. "You just haven't heard the right price yet."
A massive bear-man steps forward. "My tribe offers fifty breeding females. The Lifebringer can heal our lands and birth strong cubs."
"Breeding?" Fury burns through my exhaustion. "I'm not a BREEDING animal!"
"Sixty females," a wolf alpha calls out. "Plus hunting rights to the eastern forests."
"Seventy females and a hundred warriors," the silver-winged eagle counters.
They're BIDDING on me. Like I'm livestock at an auction.
Through the mate bond, I feel Kael getting closer. His rage burns like fire. He's fighting his way through the battlefield outside, trying to reach me. But there are so many warriors between us.
He won't make it in time.
"STOP!" I shout, but my voice is too weak. Nobody listens.
The bidding continues, getting more intense. More females. More warriors. More territory. They're trading PEOPLE for the right to own me.
Rhea watches with cold satisfaction. This is her revenge—showing me exactly what I am in this world. Not a person. A prize.
Just like Marcus said. "You're nothing without me. Nobody wants you. You're worthless."
No. NO. I survived Marcus. I survived DYING. I'm not going to let this horrible woman break me.
I focus inward, searching for any remaining power. My marks barely pulse. I'm so empty. But there—deep inside my core—I feel something. A tiny spark. Not golden light. Something darker. Angrier.
The corruption I absorbed from the tree.
I thought I'd burned it all away. But a piece remains, buried deep. It whispers to me: Use us. We can give you strength. Just let us in...
"One hundred females!" a bear alpha roars.
"One hundred and fifty!" another shouts.
I'm running out of time. Running out of options.
Do I use the corruption? Let darkness into my power to save myself?
Or do I stay helpless and hope Kael reaches me before someone claims me?
"TWO HUNDRED FEMALES!" The bear alpha who first bid steps into the center. "Plus my tribe's loyalty for three generations. The Lifebringer becomes MY mate. This is my final offer."
Rhea smiles. "Very generous. Does anyone wish to counter?"
Silence. Two hundred females is apparently too high a price.
"Then—"
"I COUNTER!" A new voice booms through the cave.
Everyone turns.
Kael stands in the entrance, covered in blood and breathing hard. Draeven is beside him, equally battered. They fought through dozens of warriors to get here.
Relief floods through me so strong it's almost painful. Kael's here. I'm not alone.
"Son," Rhea says coldly. "This doesn't concern you. The tribal council is deciding the Lifebringer's fate."
"She's MY mate!" Kael snarls. "The bond is formed. You can't auction what's already claimed!"
"Can't I?" Rhea gestures to me on the floor. "Look at her. Powerless. Helpless. She gave everything to save an enemy. What kind of mate is that weak?"
The words stab into me. Weak. Always weak. Never strong enough.
"She's not weak," Kael says with deadly calm. "She's compassionate. There's a difference."
"Compassion is weakness here," Rhea snaps. "This world eats the soft-hearted. She'll get you killed, just like Sera did."
Kael flinches like she slapped him.
"Yes," Rhea continues viciously. "Your first mate was too kind. Too gentle. She went to help a stranger and walked into a Dark One trap. Her compassion got her and your cubs killed. This female is the SAME. She'll destroy you all over again."
"Mother, stop—"
"I'm SAVING you!" Rhea's voice cracks with emotion. "Can't you see? She's dangerous! Not because she's evil, but because she makes you CARE. And caring gets you killed in the Wildlands!"
Silence falls over the cave.
I finally understand. Rhea isn't cruel for cruelty's sake. She's terrified. Terrified of losing her son the same way she lost her daughter-in-law and grandcubs. Her coldness is armor.
Just like mine was with Marcus.
"Rhea," I whisper. Everyone turns to me. "I understand. You're scared. But pushing away everyone who cares about you doesn't keep you safe. It just makes you alone."
"What would YOU know about it?" Rhea's eyes flash.
"Everything." I force myself to sit up, even though it feels like lifting a mountain. "My ex-boyfriend isolated me from everyone who cared. Made me think I was safer with just him. But I wasn't safe. I was trapped. And when I finally tried to leave, he killed me."
Shocked silence.
"I died alone," I continue, looking at Kael. "Underwater, terrified, thinking nobody would even notice I was gone. I don't want that for you, Rhea. Or for Kael. This auction, this coldness—it's just another kind of drowning."
Rhea stares at me. For just a second, her armor cracks. I see the grieving mother underneath. The grandmother who lost babies. The woman who's been terrified every day for five years.
"It doesn't matter," the bear alpha interrupts. "Mate bond or not, she's depleted. Whoever takes her NOW controls her. Guards—seize the Lifebringer!"
Four massive bear warriors move toward me.
Kael and Draeven attack, but they're outnumbered. More warriors pour in from other tribes. It's chaos—fighting, shouting, blood.
And I'm in the center, unable to defend myself.
The darkness inside me whispers: NOW. Use us NOW. Or die helpless on the floor like the weak thing they say you are.
My hand moves toward the bear warrior reaching for me. I don't decide consciously. My survival instinct decides for me.
I touch his arm.
Black and gold light EXPLODES from my palm.
Not pure golden healing. Not pure black corruption. Something IN-BETWEEN. Something new.
The bear warrior SCREAMS. His arm where I touched him turns gray—not dead, not alive. Frozen. Petrified like the tree I destroyed.
Everyone freezes, staring.
"What did you do?" Rhea breathes.
I stare at my hand. The golden marks are swirled with black veins now. Not corrupted. COMBINED. The darkness and light mixing into something I've never seen before.
"I don't know," I whisper. Then louder: "I don't KNOW!"
The bear warrior's petrification spreads. Up his arm. Across his chest. He's turning to stone.
"Reverse it!" the bear alpha roars. "REVERSE IT NOW!"
"I don't know how!" Panic rises in my chest.
Kael drops beside me. "Mira, breathe. Focus. You can control this."
"I can't! It's spreading!" The bear warrior is half-stone now. His eyes are frozen in terror.
"You can," Kael insists, gripping my shoulders. "You destroyed corruption before. You saved Zephyr. You can save him too."
But I don't know if I can. This power is DIFFERENT. It feels wrong. Twisted. Like I broke something fundamental by mixing light and dark.
The petrification reaches the warrior's heart. He stops breathing. Stops moving. Becomes a statue.
Dead? Frozen? I don't even know.
The cave goes deadly silent.
Then the bear alpha speaks, his voice shaking with rage and fear: "You've created a new curse. Not healing. Not corruption. Something worse."
"I didn't mean to—"
"DOESN'T MATTER!" He points at me. "Kill her. Before she destroys us all!"
Twenty warriors surge forward.
And my new power pulses hungrily, ready to petrify every single one of them.