Chapter 110 110
Venessa’s POV
So I cheated the underworld and placed you in a position where you could earn your redemption.
That was her truth bare and unflinching. She told me she had planned to send me back with my memories intact and a portion of her power, but her abilities were restrained. Saving Danisha had never been an option. Not because she didn’t want to but because she couldn’t.
She chose me as her champion and infused me with her essence, just enough to anchor my soul to the living world for a limited time. Because her power was fractured, my wolf had been fragmented as well but she had turned that weakness into strategy. Nyla was restored gradually, piece by piece, released only when necessary. It kept me hidden. It kept me alive.
Once she chose me, the game restarted.
This time, she refused to follow the rulebook.
She granted Nyla Vision and guided me quietly from the shadows. She had been forced to choose between giving me my memories or giving me raw power. Eshera had chosen power for her champion. Atabey had chosen knowledge, fully intending to slip the power in later when the time was right.
She strengthened the mate bond deliberately shaping Denzel into the general she would need for the coming war.
Eshera had assumed everything would proceed as before. I was never meant to remember. Never meant to know.
But my knowledge changed everything.
It allowed me to outmaneuver Eshera when she used Tyrell and Fabian in an attempt to kill Rayon hoping Denzel would be exposed in the process. My knowledge shattered Fabian’s control over Denzel and freed the pack from his grip. It also saved my father from the death Eshera had already set in motion.
That was when Eshera realized I was no longer something she could manipulate from the shadows.
That was why they attacked us on the road to the Lycan Kingdom.
Atabey admitted she had known they would win but the war was not meant to begin yet. So she intervened. The light she placed inside me was awakened that day. It repelled darkness. It erased it.
The attack on Denzel’s pack, she explained, was Eshera’s way of turning them against me first and then against Denzel for bringing me into their lives.
She saw the pattern forming. And because of that, she gifted me endless knowledge and the ability to recognize Eshera’s people and counter them wherever they hid.
“Of all my champions, Venessa,” she said softly, “you did not disappoint.”
Because of me, she now had both a king and a general to lead her children into battle.
She apologized for the time she had stolen from me from my loved ones but it had been necessary. If she hadn’t taken me from the underworld, I would have lived an ordinary life. Eshera had known that too. She never would have allowed me to return let alone be chosen.
As the end drew closer, Atabey warned me, her essence keeping me alive would begin to fade. The lord of the underworld would sense me and attempt to reclaim what had escaped him.
When that moment came, she promised to protect me to shield me from damnation because I had corrected my mistake.
That was all the explanation I needed.
“I’ve told you all this because I need your permission,” she said, meeting my gaze.
“I want my children to survive. I want Eshera removed from your world. Please allow me to be your wolf.”
Shock rippled through me instantly.
Nyla.
My first thought was of her. As tempting as the offer was, I knew Nyla wouldn’t accept being erased. We had endured too much together. She had served me faithfully.
“What about Nyla?” I asked.
Atabey smiled.
“I will merge with her. We will become one. She will remain herself but she will also carry my spirit and my essence. Once the war is over, I will depart from her.”
I understood then. What she was proposing wasn’t possession it was union.
“As long as Nyla remains herself,” I said slowly, “then I accept. I’ll need every advantage I can get if we’re going to win.”
Her smile softened.
“I will also give you knowledge of events that occurred after your death in your previous life,” she added. “Some you’ve already altered. Others remain.”
Joy surged through me. I had missed knowing what lay ahead. The mission was far more exhilarating when I could see the path.
The office dissolved.
Before me stood a massive white Lycan wolf, radiant with light the same presence that had annihilated the darkness before. Beside her stood a towering grey-white wolf.
Nyla.
She wore a wicked grin, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
I watched as the two wolves merged light and shadow folding into one another.
Atabey had been honest. It was still Nyla.
Her fur was white with flecks of grey, but when I looked into her eyes, I felt her. She was mine. She was still herself.
“You look beautiful, Nyla,” I said.
She dipped her head proudly.
“Don’t I always?” she replied smugly.
We laughed together.
She nudged me gently and I woke.
Sunlight flooded the room. I glanced at the clock.
Eleven in the morning.
The bed beside me was empty, but I heard water running in the bathroom. Denzel was in the shower.
I wanted needed to tell him everything.
But before I could move, visions began to flood my mind. Events I had never witnessed unfolded before me, embedding themselves as memory, granting clarity.
I saw Fabian shaking hands with the man from the chessboard.
That was all I needed to see.
Fabian was aligning himself with Eshera whether knowingly or not and he wasn’t alone. Other Alphas stood with him.
This war would not mirror the last.
Fabian would no longer be the sole tool used to destroy us. Werewolf and werebear Alphas would rally to his side, and Eshera would be the silent force weaving them together with lies and manipulation.
This was serious.
And Denzel and I needed to act now.
I slipped quietly from the bed, shed my clothes, and joined my husband in the shower, ready to tell him everything.