Chapter 10 The Luna’s Choice
Time slowed to a crawl.
Kael’s massive wolf form soared through the air, fangs bared, murder blazing in his golden eyes. My father stumbled backwards, terror replacing his smug superiority. Victor Kane stepped aside, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes.
This was exactly what he wanted.
Warriors on both sides moved to engage. In seconds, this clearing would become a bloodbath.
Unless someone broke the cycle.
“STOP!” I screamed, throwing myself off my horse.
The command held no alpha dominance, just raw desperation that vibrated through the mating bond like a thunderclap.
Kael’s wolf jerked mid-leap, twisting impossibly in the air. He landed between my father and me instead of on top of Marcus, his massive form creating a barrier. His growl shook the earth, but he had stopped.
He had stopped for me.
I ran forward and placed myself directly in front of Kael’s wolf, my back to my father, my hands raised toward his snarling muzzle. Absolutely insane. But I was his mate now.
“Kael, look at me.” My voice shook but I held firm. “Look at me, not him. I am here. I am safe.”
His golden eyes focused on me, and I saw the battle raging behind them.
Through the bond, I pushed calm. Peace. Safety. “Victor wants you to attack. He wants you to be the aggressor so he can justify war. If you kill my father now, you give him exactly what he needs.”
Kael’s wolf snarled, conflicted.
“I know you want to protect me. But the best way is to let me handle this. Let me prove I am strong enough to face my past without you fighting all my battles.”
Behind me, my father scrambled up. “You see? The beast cannot even control himself! This is the monster you have bonded yourself to!”
“Shift back, Kael,” I whispered, touching his muzzle. “Trust me. Please.”
Kael’s form rippled, the massive wolf becoming a man kneeling in the dirt. His chest heaved, hands clenched into fists.
“If he touches you,” Kael’s voice was barely human, “I will end him.”
“Understood.” I pulled off my jacket and draped it over his shoulders, then turned to face my father.
Marcus recovered his composure, his expression twisted with contempt. “Look at you, protecting that animal. You have become exactly what I always knew you would be, a whore for any alpha strong enough to dominate you.”
The words should have cut deep. Instead, I felt nothing but pity.
“Is that the best you can do, Father? Try to make me feel worthless so I will submit again?” I shook my head. “It will not work anymore. I know what I am now. I am strong enough to survive anything even you.”
“You are nothing without a man to give you value,” Marcus spat.
“Then let me prove otherwise.” I raised my voice so everyone could hear. “Alpha King Victor Kane claims I was manipulated into accepting this bond. Fine. Let me demonstrate my free will right now, in front of everyone. I formally request a trial of choice under ancient pack law.”
The silence was deafening.
Victor’s smile widened. “How delightfully archaic. I accept these terms.”
“Wait” Marcus started, but Victor silenced him. “Unless you fear what your daughter might choose?”
Marcus nodded stiffly. “Fine. Let the stupid girl choose.”
I turned to Kael, who had stood. Through the bond, I felt his terror not of battle, but of potentially losing me to my own decision.
“You do not have to do this,” he said roughly. “We can fight. You do not have to risk”
“Yes, I do. Not because I doubt us. But because I need them to see that I choose this of my own free will.”
“And if they rule you have to reject it?” His voice broke.
“Then we fight that ruling together. But you have to let me do this.”
Lyra appeared beside us. “The trial requires a neutral judge and three witnesses one chosen by each side, and one chosen by the omega herself.”
“Elder Thaddeus from the Council of Alphas can judge,” Victor said smoothly. “He can arrive within two hours.”
“Fine,” Kael said through gritted teeth. “But Sera chooses her witness now.”
“I choose Mora, the pack healer,” I said immediately.
“Alpha Marcus may choose his witness,” Victor said.
“Elena Cross,” Marcus said, and my stomach dropped.
Elena. The omega who resented Kael for choosing Isabelle over their arranged match.
Kael’s dominance flared. “Elena is biased.”
“She is an omega who understands bond manipulation,” Victor countered.
“Fine,” I said before Kael could argue. “Elena can be Marcus’s witness. But I chose Victor’s. I choose Garrett Stone.”
Victor’s mask cracked with surprise. He had expected to choose someone biased against the bond.
“Clever,” Victor murmured. “Very clever, Luna Sera.”
Two hours of agony passed.
Both sides withdrew to opposite ends of the clearing. Kael refused to let me out of his sight. Through the bond, I felt his constant terror.
“You know I will choose you,” I whispered.
“But what if my wolf manipulated you during the claiming? What if your omega instincts overrode your genuine choice?”
I grabbed his face. “I chose you before the heat. I chose you when I pressed that blue button. I chose you with every moment that followed. And I will choose you again in this trial.”
“And if your father finds some way to poison the trial?”
“Then we fight. Together.” I kissed him. “I am not going anywhere, Kael Thorne.”
As the sun descended, a carriage arrived bearing an ancient wolf with white hair and ice-chip eyes. Elder Thaddeus.
He surveyed the gathered wolves with displeasure. “I was told this required the trial of choice. Let us proceed.”
The witnesses assembled Mora, Elena with barely concealed satisfaction, and Garrett looking troubled.
Elder Thaddeus gestured for me to step forward into the centre. Alone.
“Luna Sera Thorne, formerly Blackwood. You stand accused of accepting a mate bond under duress or manipulation. How do you answer?”
I lifted my chin. “I answer that I chose freely. That I choose freely still. And that I will always choose Kael Thorne as my mate.”
“Then let the trial begin.” Elder Thaddeus raised his staff. “But know this, young Luna if I determine this bond was formed through coercion, I have the authority to sever it completely.”
Through the bond, I felt Kael’s devastation.
A mating bond could be severed. Broken. Destroyed.
Elder Thaddeus turned to Elena. “First witness, step forward. Tell us what you know of Alpha King Kael Thorne’s character regarding omegas.”
Elena smiled, cold and vindictive. “I know he is obsessed with replacing his dead mate. I know he has killed twelve omegas trying. And I know” She paused dramatically, her eyes locked on mine. “I know that three days before he claimed Sera, he met with her father and discussed using alpha compulsion to make her compliant during her heat.”
The clearing erupted in chaos.
And through the bond, I felt Kael’s absolute horror.
Not because the accusation was true.
But because he could not prove it was false.