Aria's POV
Are you okay? Zane asks for the hundredth time, checking me for injuries.
I'm human now. Completely human. No wolf. No powers. No silver runes.
Just me.
I'm fine, I promise, but my voice shakes. The reality is hitting me hard. I gave up everything I'd just found.
Around us, wolves are celebrating victory. The Covenant is destroyed. Corrupted wolves are freed. We won.
So why do I feel so empty?
You're not fine, Darius says gently. He can't see futures anymore my sacrifice broke that connection but he knows me. Talk to us.
I'm human, I whisper. Weak again. Breakable. You three are these powerful Alphas and I'm just... nothing.
All three of my mates go still.
Say that again, Zane growls, his eyes flashing.
I'm nobody
You're everything, Cael interrupts fiercely. You just saved the entire supernatural world. You freed souls that were trapped for millennia. You destroyed an organization that's existed for three thousand years. If that's nobody, I don't know what somebody looks like.
But I can't shift anymore. Can't command wolves. Can't defend myself
So we'll defend you, Zane says simply. That's what mates do.
For fifty years, I say, the words bitter. Then I'll die and you'll still be young. You'll have to watch me age, get weak, fade away
Then we'll have fifty beautiful years, Darius says, taking my hand. And when you're gone, we'll have the memories. That's more than most wolves get with their mates.
Tears stream down my face. You deserve better than a human
We deserve you, Cael corrects. Human, True Luna, or anything in between. You're ours. That doesn't change.
Aurora approaches hesitantly. She's herself again the corruption burned away by my power. But she looks haunted.
Aria, she says quietly. I need to tell you something. About what happened in the Covenant facility.
Everyone goes quiet.
They didn't just corrupt Kade, Aurora continues. They corrupted dozens of wolves. Turned them into weapons. And they're still out there, scattered across the territories.
My stomach drops. We didn't win. Not completely.
No, she confirms. The main Covenant is destroyed, but cells exist everywhere. Sleeper agents. Corrupted wolves waiting for orders. And without your True Luna power to cleanse them...
She doesn't have to finish. Without my power, those wolves will stay corrupted. Dangerous. Deadly.
There has to be a way to help them, I insist.
Lyra steps forward. There might be. The ritual you performed it didn't just free the First Luna. It created something new. A cleansing wave that's spreading through the supernatural world. Every corrupted being it touches gets purified.
That's good, right? Finn asks hopefully.
It's temporary, Lyra says grimly. The wave will fade in about a week. After that, any corruption that wasn't cleansed will become permanent. Those wolves will be lost forever.
A week, I repeat. We have a week to find and save every corrupted wolf in existence.
That's impossible, Cael says. There are dozens of territories. Hundreds of packs
Then we better start now, I interrupt.
My three mates exchange looks.
You're human now, Zane reminds me gently. You can't travel like we can. Can't keep up with wolves
Then carry me, I snap. I'm not sitting here while wolves suffer because I gave up my power. I caused this. I'll fix it.
You didn't cause anything, Darius argues. The Covenant did
And I have a week to undo their damage. Are you helping me or not?
Silence. Then Zane's rare smile appears.
Stubborn human, he mutters. Fine. We help.
The next six days are chaos.
We travel across territories, hunting corrupted wolves. My mates do the fighting while I coordinate with Lyra's magic and other packs. Even as a human, I can help.
We save twenty wolves. Then thirty. Then fifty.
But there are so many more.
On the sixth night, exhausted and desperate, we collapse at a safe house. Tomorrow is the last day. After that, the cleansing wave fades and anyone still corrupted stays that way forever.
We can't save them all, Cael says, his voice hollow. We've tried. It's not enough.
There has to be something we're missing, I insist. Some way to spread the cleansing faster
There is, a voice says from the shadows.
We all jump. A woman steps into the light ancient, beautiful, powerful.
Not the First Luna. Someone else.
Who are you? Zane demands, positioning himself between us.
I am the Second Luna, she says. And I have a proposition.
My blood runs cold. I thought all the ancient Lunas were dead.
We were. Your ritual freed our souls from the Covenant's prison. The First Luna chose to pass on. But some of us... She smiles. Some of us aren't done fighting.
What do you want? Darius asks suspiciously.
To offer Aria a choice. The Second Luna looks at me. The cleansing wave is fading because you gave up your power. But I can give it back.
Everything stops.
How? I breathe.
I'm a soul without a body. You're a body without power. We merge. You become the vessel for my consciousness, and I give you back your True Luna abilities. Together, we could save every corrupted wolf before time runs out.
What's the catch? Cael demands.
Sharing a body isn't easy, the Second Luna admits. Aria would have her power back, but I'd be there too. Two consciousness's in one form. She'd never be alone in her own mind. Ever.
Horror fills me. Never be alone in my own head? Have someone watching my every thought?
No, Zane says immediately. Absolutely not
It's my choice, I interrupt. Not yours.
Aria, you can't seriously be considering this, Darius pleads.
Every minute we argue, corrupted wolves suffer, I say. If this can save them
At what cost? Cael demands. Your sanity? Your privacy? Yourself?
My self isn't worth more than hundreds of innocent lives.
It is to us, all three mates say together.
I look at each of them. My three Alphas. The loves of my life.
Then at the Second Luna, offering impossible power.
I need to think, I say.
You have until dawn, the Second Luna says. After that, the offer expires.
She vanishes.
Silence falls.
You're not doing this, Zane says firmly.
It's not your decision, I reply.
We're your mates. We get a say
No, you don't. I stand up. I gave up my power to save you. Now I have a chance to save others. I'm taking it.
Even if it means never being yourself again? Darius asks quietly.
I'll still be me. Just... not alone.
That's not better! Cael shouts.
We argue until the sun rises.
But I've made my choice.
When the Second Luna appears at dawn, I step forward before my mates can stop me.
I accept, I say clearly.
NO! All three Alphas lunge for me.
Too late.
The Second Luna's soul slams into my body. Power floods through me ancient, overwhelming, foreign.
I scream as two consciousness fight for control. My mind splinters. I'm me. I'm her. I'm both. I'm neither.
When I open my eyes, they're glowing silver again.
Aria? Zane asks desperately. Are you still in there?
I smile, but it feels wrong. Too knowing. Too old.
We are, I say in a voice that's layered. Mine and not mine. We're Aria. We're the Second Luna. We're both.
What did you do? Darius whispers, horror on his face.
What I had to, I we answer. Now let's save some wolves.
I run faster than any human should. Shift into a white wolf that's too powerful, too ancient.
My three mates follow, their faces filled with grief.
They got their Luna back.
But they lost Aria.
And in my head, the Second Luna whispers: Don't worry. Eventually, you'll forget you were ever separate. We'll be one. Won't that be nice?
I want to scream.
But I can't.
Because I chose this.