Chapter 150 chapter 150

Chapter 150 chapter 150
Carlota’s POV

I found Paxton's question ridiculous because there wasn't anything I could do about it. I was already tied to those elders no matter how much I tried to escape it. The best way was to deal with all of these and end it as soon as possible so that I can go back home to my mom.

"I want to go home, but do you think I have a choice?" I replied to him.

He looked at me, getting desperate again. "I promise you, you have a choice as long as I'm here. Why won't you just give me a chance to save you?"

I shook my head. "And then what? Do we start running away after saving me?"

He couldn't say anything, which answered the question. He wants me to be on the run for the rest of my life instead of facing something that would eventually follow me wherever I go.

"Running away is not going to solve anything. They won't be able to kill me. You could see how much my power could be if I fought anyone. I'm already a delta wolf, and I'm powerful enough to take that many of them," I told him sincerely.

Gabriel was very fast at dropping her off, and he came back as soon as possible, probably because he doesn't want me to be alone with Paxton at any moment. We are going to do the trial from tomorrow. I wish they could just focus on the fact that someone is about to die between them.

"If you both are about to fight, the better don't do it from here else I'm going to leave you alone and stay somewhere else where I don't have to listen to you both anymore. We have important things to do tomorrow. It is saving our lives."

I didn't wait for them to say anything else and I left them alone. I just couldn't stop thinking about what the trial was going to be tomorrow. I couldn't sleep the entire night. I mean, how else am I supposed to sleep when the moon is always bothering me?

I could tell Gabriel and Paxton were not sleeping either. They were just as nervous as I am. When it was dawn, I was finally escorted to the council where they were waiting for me to begin the trial. The tension between everyone became even worse than before.

The first light of dawn crept over the council’s sacred grounds, painting everything in pale gold and silver. I stepped into the circle, the stone floor cold beneath my bare feet, the air thick with the scent of incense and old power. The elders formed a perfect ring around me, faces hidden behind carved masks, their eyes like stars burning through the morning haze.

“The Trial of Truth,” one of them intoned, voice echoing like wind through a canyon. “Your heart will be stripped bare before the Moon.”

I swallowed. My throat was tight. My heart raced, not from fear, but from the weight of knowing I couldn’t hide anything here. I couldn't hide from them. I couldn't hide from the Moon, and I couldn't hide from myself either.

It felt like I was naked in front of every eye that was watching me, and that made me more uncomfortable than I thought I would be. Everyone expected me to do something even though I never wanted to be part of this in the first place.

The moment my foot crossed the circle’s boundary, the air shifted. Shadows moved on their own. Whispers curled around me, tugging at my mind. And then the visions started.

I saw myself with Gabriel. The golden heat of him pressed against my skin in memory and in desire. His eyes burned into mine, and I could feel the pull between us, raw and unrelenting. I saw laughter, longing, and moments I hadn’t allowed myself to think about aloud.

Then the visions shifted. I saw Paxton, steady, unwavering, his hands and voice familiar and grounding. I felt his warmth, the way he’d always been my shield without ever demanding my surrender. And yet, the fire in his eyes… it mirrored mine, and it scared me.

And then I saw myself alone, standing on a cliff under a blood-red moon, the wind whipping my hair around my face. No hands to hold me. No voices to anchor me. Just the echo of the Moon’s power coursing through me and nothing else.

I tried to step back, tried to shake it off, but the magic had its grip. My chest tightened. My heartbeat was deafening, pounding like a drum of war inside me. It forced me to confront the truth buried deep beneath my fear and desire.

“I don’t know who I love,” I cried, my voice breaking, raw, echoing across the sacred circle. “But I know I can’t lose either!”

The air shivered with my words. The visions snapped, fracturing like glass under pressure. Light and shadow collided, leaving me trembling in the center of the circle. The elders murmured among themselves.

One, voice low and reverent, said, “She’s honest. That’s what makes her dangerous.”

My legs buckled, and I fell forward. The wind seemed to catch me, holding me just for a moment. Gabriel was there first, hands steady at my back, eyes soft but searching. I let him hold me, if only for a heartbeat. The warmth of him, the solidity of his arms around me, made my chest ache with a longing I couldn’t name aloud.

And then Paxton was there. His hands gripped my arms, yanking me back before Gabriel could pull me completely into him. My body shuddered between the two of them, caught in the tension of loyalty, love, and power.

The circle seemed to hum with energy, the Moon above bearing witness. I could feel their eyes, both of them, both wolves, both halves of my world, burning into me. And in that moment, I realized that the Trial wasn’t just about truth. It was about what my choice was going to be, balance, who I was beneath all the fear, the desire, and the bond that tied me to them both.

I stood there, trembling, caught between hands and hearts and power I barely understood. And I knew, as the first trial ended, that nothing would ever be the same again.