Chapter 28 Legacy of The Moon Blood
Lira's POV
"I thought... I thought if you never formed bonds, never loved anyone, the power would stay dormant. I thought isolation was safer than risking another catastrophe," Garrick said.
"You were wrong," Aria said. "Isolation doesn't stop the curse. It causes it."
Garrick nodded. "I realized it too late. By then, you were bonded, and your power was already waking."
"And now?" Kael asked softly, but dangerously. "What's your plan, old man?"
"Now I help her fulfill the prophecy properly," Garrick said. He closed the book. "The real prophecy, not the twisted one I've been following."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means you have a choice," Garrick said, pointing to the altar. He looked at the blood-stained stone where my mother died. "You can complete the ritual they tried to stop, or make a new path entirely."
"What ritual?" I whispered.
Garrick's companions stepped forward. I saw silver chains, knives, and bowls. My stomach turned.
"The Moonblood Sundering," Garrick said. "A ritual that would strip your power, break your bond with the moon goddess, and make you fully human."
"In exchange for what?" Kael demanded, moving protectively closer to me.
"Her life," Garrick replied matter-of-factly. "The ritual is... difficult. The survival rate is perhaps fifty percent."
"Absolutely not," Kael said immediately, his voice sharp with rejection.
"It's not your choice," I said quietly, turning to face him with a steady gaze.
The words hit him through the bond as his wolf snarled at the idea of his mate making such a decision without him.
"You're right," I continued. "It's mine. Just like everything else about my life should have been mine to choose."
I stood, looking around at the assembled group—my mate, my friend, the man who'd stolen my childhood, the ghost of my past. All of them waiting for my decision.
"You want to know what I choose?" I moved to the altar, placing my palms flat on the bloodstained stone. "I choose to stop running from what I am."
Power flowed through the ancient stone, connecting me to twenty generations of moonblood alphas.
"I choose to trust that love makes me stronger, not weaker." I looked at Kael, letting him feel my certainty through the bond. "I choose to believe that having something to protect gives power purpose."
"Lira," Garrick warned. "If you're wrong"
"Then I'll be wrong spectacularly." I smiled, feeling more certain than I had since this whole nightmare began. "But I won't be a coward."
Moonlight came through the broken roof. I felt the goddess's presence, like a hand on my shoulder. Magic in the temple stirred, recognizing me.
"I am Lira Ashborne," I said. "Daughter of Vera and Dmitri. Last of the Moonblood line. The rightful alpha of Silvermoon territory."
The revenants around us started to glow. My power called to them, and their shapes became solid again.
"I claim this territory by right of blood and birth. I claim this pack by right of inheritance and choice." I looked at each face in turn. "And I choose to use my power not for vengeance, but for healing."
Fire came from the altar, but this time I controlled it. It moved across the broken temple, touching the stones and making the damaged walls whole again. Wherever the fire went, plants grew in cracks and vines covered the old scars. The revenants stood quietly, their pain easing under the light.
"The dead are at peace," Ryn said.
I turned to Garrick. Flames moved around my hands, steady and calm.
"You stole twenty years of my life," I said. "You killed my parents and called it justice."
Garrick dropped to his knees. "I know. I am ready to pay."
The fire stayed around me, controlled by Selwyn and me. It was a reminder of the power I had kept hidden for so long.
"Are you?" The moonfire crept closer to him, and I saw fear flicker in his eyes. "Are you ready to feel what I felt? Twenty years of darkness and chains and believing I was worthless?"
Through the bond, I felt Kael's tension. He wouldn't stop me—this was my choice, my justice to claim. But I could feel his worry that revenge might awaken the darker aspects of my power.
For a long moment, I let the old man sweat. Let him imagine what moonblood vengeance might feel like.
Then I smiled and pulled the fire back.
"But that would make me like you," I said. "And I choose to be better."
Instead of punishment, I offered him something he'd never expected—forgiveness.
The moonfire touched his forehead gently, and I felt his decades of guilt and fear washing away, replaced by peace he hadn't known since the night he'd made his terrible choice.
"Live with the consequences of what you've done," I told him. "But live free of the fear that drove you to do it."
As the ritual concluded, as the temple finished its transformation from a monument to death into a sanctuary of new life, I felt the territory bond settle fully into place.
I was alpha now. Not just of a pack, but of a land that had been waiting twenty years for me to come home.
Through our mate bond, I felt Kael's mixture of pride and concern. Two alphas, two territories, two packs that would need to learn to coexist.
"We'll figure it out," I said, echoing his words from earlier.