Chapter 79 The Breaking
Just as Adrian's teeth were about to sink into Lila's neck and complete the mate bond, chains wrapped around both of them and yanked them violently apart. The metal links burned silver-hot where they touched flesh, designed specifically to restrain wolves.
Marcus had remembered. When Adrian's wolf had taken control before, when madness had seized him in those terrible nights, he'd ordered Marcus to chain him if it ever happened again. Seeing Adrian now with claws fully extended and canines dropped, Marcus had acted on that desperate command.
He'd run through the commotion into the chain room and grabbed the heaviest restraints they possessed. With the help of six soldiers he'd dragged the chains back to the crest center and thrown them over Adrian's transforming body, pulling him down and away from Lila and the moonlight.
Just as Marcus had predicted, Adrian wasn't in control anymore. Aile had taken over completely and wanted to go against everything they'd planned. The wolf had one goal, claim mate, mark mate, keep mate forever.
The moment Adrian was pulled from the direct moonlight, he collapsed. The heavy chains knocked him off balance and the sudden loss of the moon's amplifying power made him momentarily weak. He couldn't take control back from Aile no matter how hard he tried. His wolf stayed on the surface, snarling and fighting. Adrian could only hear words in scattered fragments, sounds that made no sense because Aile filtered everything through rage and need.
Lila came back to full consciousness the instant she was separated from Adrian. Her eyes snapped open and widened in horror as realization crashed over her. She'd almost let him mark her. Almost completed a bond that would doom them both.
She noticed people backing away from her and Adrian as if they carried disease. When she looked down, she saw Adrian transformed halfway between man and beast. He knelt on the ground with chains wrapped around his torso and limbs, held by five soldiers who were barely containing his strength even with silver restraints.
Freya walked toward Lila with measured steps. Seeing a clearer opportunity now that the immediate danger had passed, she spoke with confidence.
"Lila, you must complete the ritual." Freya drew closer carefully, watching for any sudden movements. The confusion on Lila's face said everything. She had no idea she possessed unique power. No understanding of what she'd almost done under the moon's influence.
The people in the room were all ignorant of the true forces at play. With that knowledge, Freya spoke more boldly. After all, you can't use powers you don't know you possess.
"Quick, hold her down and bring the ritual knife."
The soldiers hesitated, glancing between Freya and Adrian's snarling form. But seeing that the chains were holding despite Adrian's struggles, they ran forward and grabbed Lila's arms, forcing her to kneel under the moonlight.
Freya approached with a ceremonial knife, its blade etched with ancient symbols. She gripped Lila's wrist and forced her palm open, ignoring the girl's sharp intake of breath.
"You understand it's important you reject this mate bond. Only then can the deaths of innocent people be cleansed from the land." Freya's voice was calm and reasonable, as if she was explaining something simple.
Lila didn't fight. She'd already been rejected by her family, sold like property to pay debts she'd never incurred. What was one more rejection? What did it matter if she destroyed the last thing that had ever made her feel wanted?
Freya cut across the center of Lila's palm. Blood welled up immediately, dripping onto the stones beneath her knees. The pain was sharp but Lila barely felt it compared to the agony in her chest.
But when Freya moved toward Adrian to cut his palm as well, Aile lunged at her with such ferocity that she stumbled backward in genuine fear. The soldiers holding his chains shook from the force, their boots sliding forward across smooth stone as they fought to keep him restrained.
Freya stood frozen several feet away, her confidence cracking. She stared at the half-transformed creature that used to be a king and saw nothing of Adrian left in those red eyes.
She turned and held the knife out to Lila instead. "You must cut his palm and set him free from this madness."
That was what they'd decided to call it. Adrian was mad, driven insane by curse or possession, and Lila was the cause.
"I can't." Lila's hands shook as she stared at the blade. "I can't hurt him."
"You must!" Freya's voice rose. "The auspicious time is passing. The moon moves across the sky. More people will die while you hesitate. Think about this, Lila. Think about all the lives already lost."
It was true. So many had died because of her existence. Even Celeste hadn't been spared. Now her parents would go to their graves in pain, their golden daughter dead and their cursed daughter responsible.
Lila stood on shaking legs and took the knife with trembling fingers.
Adrian looked terrifying. His eyes burned completely red with no trace of blue remaining. His canines hung long past his lips, sharp enough to tear through bone. His claws flexed, ready for defense or attack. But as Lila moved closer, the beastly breathing slowed. His chest stopped heaving so frantically. His red eyes narrowed and focused on her face, and he stopped struggling against the chains entirely.
Marcus and the council members watched this change with growing certainty. Freya saw how Lila's presence arrested the madness in Adrian. Their belief in her power grew. Lila truly was cursed, but she also held some control over the curse itself.
Lila knelt beside Adrian as she reached him. His hands were bound in front of his body by chain and iron cuffs. She took his right palm without words and simply stared at it, memorizing every line and scar. Tears poured from her eyes because she knew this would be the last time she touched him. The last time the bond would hum between them. After this, there would be nothing but emptiness.
As she hesitated, raising the knife but unable to make the cut, a scream broke through the silence. Her head snapped up. Before everyone's horrified eyes, one of the soldiers began transforming. But not into a normal wolf. His bones cracked and reformed at wrong angles. His skin rippled and bulged. Foam gathered at his mouth.
Corruption. The plague had somehow entered the crest center.
"The curse is spreading!" Freya shouted, genuine panic in her voice now. "Do it now, Lila! Before we're all infected!"
Lila watched in horror as the soldier screamed. His bones snapped and reformed in patterns that made no anatomical sense. His cries were desperate pleas for help that no one could give. The council members began fleeing for their lives, pushing and shoving to escape before they were bitten.
In a heartbeat of decision, Lila pressed the blade to Adrian's palm and cut deep. He held her gaze the entire time
without turning right or left, without flinching from the pain.