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ChapterThirtySparks rush over my skin, my senses returning as
their scents waft around me. Hands trail up my sides soothingly. My face
presses into Mateo’s neck as he holds me when fingers move my hair from my
face. My eyes flutter open to witness Ezra’s caramel eyes peering back at me
from where he sits next to Mateo on the bed.“Hey, babe,” he
whispers, and Mateo looks down, his lips pressing to my forehead. I can feel
both their relief that I am now awake.“Gave me quite the
scare,” Mateo gently scolds, hugging me even closer. A tear slips down my face
when Kora surfaces, her words breaking my heart, knowing she endured this for
many lives.“I
am home, I am free,” she whispers, and I can feel the restraints that
restrict her break free, shattering the cage that surrounds her heart. The one
she kept sealed as she tried to protect it each time she loved and lost. My
mark tingles as their DNA blends in my bloodstream, pain radiating through my
entire being, but I embrace it as I feel it morph, feeling it make me stronger,
make Kora stronger before all I see is white.White light takes my
vision, and I feel like I am floating in my pain as I scream in anguish. Only
for it to stop, and I find myself in a field, staring at the women of my
family's past, and standing between us is Kora.Kora, the white wolf,
is so beautiful, she looks like a deity herself, her fur glows under the light
of the moon, and ruffles in the breeze as she steps closer, glancing back at
the women behind her who she shared her lives with before turning back to me.“You made me whole,
Kat, our mates, made us whole, and for that, we are blessed,” she explains, and
I can feel her happiness, her love for them and for me. She steps closer, and I
can feel the surety of who she and I are. We are no longer separate entities in
one body but one, I had set her free, freedom to be who we were destined to be,
freedom to love.Seline materializes in
the field of flowers, looking regal as she steps towards me, a true Goddess in
every sense, and her power oozes off her, my family disappearing as she stands
before me.“It started with
Marabella, but it can end with you, Katya. Kora will be free, just don’t make
Josiah’s mistakes, don’t sacrifice the mate bond,” she warns, and I look up at her trying to
figure out why I would do such a thing.I love my mates and
there is no way I'd sacrifice either of them. And why was she talking about
Josiah the Gemini wolf?Seline chuckles, noticing my confusion. “Your family wasn’t the only one to be blessed and cursed with a Lunar
healer, Kat.”I look at Kora, and she
peers up at me, only then do I notice the mark on her neck as the breeze
ruffles her fur, exposing the soft skin beneath, and I instinctively touch my
own, it is warm to the touch.“Your life is no longer
just yours, you have leveled the playing field, you were blessed with life,
Kat, but to be blessed with life, you must be cursed with death. You can’t give
life without death. Choose wisely who you keep by your side, for your life is
now tied to theirs. Both men were tainted. Maddox is cursed with his anger and
jealousy, and the death he reigns down on those who cross him. Ares, despite
his losses, is blessed with life, no matter how much he loses, he always
chooses to keep going, live, and love. One blessed with life, the other cursed
with death, and then there's you,” Seline steps closer, and I watch her, mystified.“You are the balance in
between bringing you all together and setting Kora free. Setting you free and
awakening the Gemini,” she explains.I study the mark on
Kora’s neck, the Gemini marking, the one I now know stains my own.“Now you can yield both,
just remember Kat, with life comes death. So choose wisely, for not everyone
can be saved without a cost, and not everyone deserves to be saved, choose your
skeletons, Kat, some are easier to live with.”“I don’t understand,” I
admit, trying to figure out what she is telling me and more importantly, what
she is not.“To save a life, you
must first take one. I tried to warn Marabella, tried to tell her the choice
was never so easy, she wanted to know why I was willing to sacrifice her pack.
It was to save another that was more worthy. Now you must make the same choice,
which is never easy. I choose between my children who to help and who to let
go, when put in a spot where you need to choose, the choice is impossible, just
remember Kat to save the one you kill another.” She explains. Tears slip down my face at
her words, before pain rolls over me as Kora and I bleed back into one another.
My screams are deafening as I feel a shift within, death rolling over me, and
the empty coldness that comes with it.“Kat, please,” Mateo
calls.“Kat?” Their voices
pull me back, and I jolt, my eyes snapping open. My heart is hammering in my
chest, sweat coats my skin as I take a deep breath of air like I had been
holding it for a long time. Both Mateo and Ezra hover above me, Ezra’s hands
are on the center of my chest and both their faces are stained with tears.Relief hits me as I
peer back at them. “What...what happened?” I ask, looking at them to figure out
why they appear so panicked.“You were fine, you
were awake, then you just stopped breathing, your heart stopped,” Mateo
explains, clutching my cheeks. “You’re ok, you’re ok,” he whispers, pressing
his head to mine. Ezra cups the back of my head with his hand, also resting his
forehead to mine, and I realize why his hands were on my chest, and why my ribs
ache. He was giving me CPR.I place my hand on
both their faces. “I am okay, we are all ok,” I tell them before sitting up,
trying to catch my breath.Ezra sits back,
rubbing my cheek with his thumb before he cocks his head to the side, his eyes
going wide, and he flicks my hair over my shoulder, staring at my mark. But, of
course, I already know what he sees before he says anything.“Your mark…it’s
different,” he observes, brushing his thumb over it and making me shiver. Mateo
looks over at it before glancing at Ezra.“She is a Gemini?”
He whispers, confused, they both are as they stare back at me.