Chapter 80 Coming Back
LIRA POV
"The real price is your loyalty." He met my eyes directly. "Join my coalition. Be our Luna as much as Silvermoon's, bridge the gap between rogues and packs."
"You want me to abandon Darkfang completely." I said it as fact, not question.
"I want you to choose yourself." He turned to face me fully. "For once in your life, choose what you need instead of what everyone else demands."
Through the bond, I felt Kael stirring. Felt him waking, preparing to come after me. The thought filled me with equal parts longing and dread.
"How long do I have to decide?" I asked Darion.
"My people are camped two miles north." He headed for the door. "We leave at sunset tomorrow, with or without you."
"That's not much time."
"Time is a luxury you don't have." He paused in the doorway. "Elias's hunters found this cabin. They'll be here within twenty-four hours."
"How do you know that?" Ryn demanded.
"Because I captured one of them an hour ago." Darion's smile was vicious. "He was very talkative before he died."
The casual mention of murder should have horrified me. Instead, I felt oddly comforted.
This was someone who understood the real world. Not the idealized pack politics, but actual survival.
"I'll think about it." I told him.
"Don't think too long." He shifted mid-step, becoming a massive charcoal-gray wolf. "Your mate will be here by evening, and then your decision becomes much more complicated."
He disappeared into the forest.
Ryn and I stood in silence for a long moment.
"You're actually considering this." He finally said.
"I'm considering not dying." I moved to pack my things. "Which seems increasingly likely if I stay here."
"Kael would protect you." His voice was careful.
"Kael almost lost his position because of me." I shoved clothes into my bag. "Sixty-four percent of his pack wants him gone, how long before that becomes sixty-seven? How long before he loses everything trying to keep me?"
"Maybe that's his choice to make."
"And maybe I'm tired of being the reason he suffers." I grabbed my mother's journal. "I've spent my whole life being a burden. Time to become something else."
"A rogue Luna?" Ryn moved to pack his own things. "Leading an army of exiles?"
"Why not?" I met his eyes. "I'm already exiled from everywhere that matters."
"You're not exiled from here." He gestured around the cabin. "Or from me or from the people who actually care about you."
"People like Kael?" I say. "Who care so much they keep choosing everything else first?"
"He's trying." Ryn defended weakly.
"Trying isn't enough anymore." I finished packing. "I need action. Need results. Need to stop waiting for him to decide I'm worth prioritizing."
Through the bond, I felt Kael getting closer. Felt his determination, his desperation.
"He's coming." I said unnecessarily. "Can feel him through the bond."
"Will you wait for him?" Ryn asked. "Hear him out?"
"I don't know." I stared at the forest where Darion had disappeared. "Part of me wants to believe he's changed."
"And the other part?"
"Wants to burn everything down and start over." Moonfire danced across my fingertips. "Become someone new, someone who doesn't need him."
"You can be both." Ryn's voice was gentle. "Strong and bonded. Independent and loved."
"Can I?" I laughed without humor. "Because every time I try, the bond pulls me back. Makes me weak, makes me need him."
"Love isn't weakness." He argued.
"Love that destroys you is." I countered. "And Kael's love has been nothing but destruction."
We spent the rest of the day preparing. Weapons sharpened, supplies packed, escape routes mapped.
I felt Kael getting closer with each passing hour. Sunset came too quickly.
"They're here." Ryn reported from the window. "Kael and Aria. No other backup."
"Smart." I stood, checking my weapons. "He knows bringing warriors would feel like a threat."
"What are you going to do?" He looked worried. "When he gets here?"
"I don't know." The honest answer scared me. "Talk to him, I guess. Hear what he has to say."
"And then?"
"And then I decide if pretty words are enough." I moved to the door. "Or if I need more than promises this time."
Kael emerged from the tree line. He looked terrible—exhausted, injured, barely held together.
But his eyes lit up when he saw me.
"Lira."
"Kael." I kept my voice neutral. "You came back."
"I'll always come back." He moved closer carefully. "Always."
"Even when your pack needs you?" I crossed my arms. "Even when it costs you your position?"
"Especially then." He stopped a few feet away, giving me space. "Because you matter more than any of it."
"Do I?" I gestured at his injuries. "Or am I just the mate bond you can't escape?"
"You're everything." His voice cracked. "The mate bond, yes. But also my salvation. My future. My reason for everything."
"Pretty words." I echoed Darion's assessment. "But I've heard pretty words before."
"Then let me prove it." He dropped to his knees. "Whatever you need. However long it takes."
The sight of him kneeling broke something inside me. This proud alpha, reduced to begging. Because of me.
"Get up." I couldn't watch this. "You don't need to"
"I do." He stayed down. "Because I failed you in every way that matters. And I need you to know I understand that, that I'm committed to being better."
Through the bond, I felt his sincerity. His desperate hope. His crushing fear that I'd leave him anyway.
"I met someone today." I forced the words out. "Darion Nightshade."
Kael's head snapped up, eyes flashing gold. "That rogue alpha? What did he want?"
"To offer me sanctuary." I watched his reaction. "Training. An army, everything you couldn't give me."
"Lira, he's dangerous" Kael started to rise.
"So are you." I cut him off. "You've proven that repeatedly."
He flinched but didn't argue.
"He's offering me a choice." I continued. "A real choice. To become something other than your broken mate."
"You were never broken." His voice was fierce. "I was. I am. But you've always been whole."
"Have I?" I laughed bitterly. "Because I don't feel whole. I feel shattered into pieces I can't put back together."
"Then let me help." He reached for me. "Please, Lira. Just give me a chance."