Chapter 100 Just once

Chapter 100 Just once
Celeste swallowed hard, her single functioning eye staring at me with a mixture of disbelief and genuine terror.

"Iris..." she said, her voice dropping into a raspy whisper. "Do you have any idea what you're actually asking for? You have a massive, ancient power sleeping in your veins that you cannot possibly control."

"What if I learn?" I pressed, leaning forward, my heart pounding against my ribs. "What if I can learn to control it?"

"Your father controlled it," Celeste countered, shaking her head. "But he couldn't control the fact that the second his lineage awakened, half the continent wanted him dead. Powerful, ruthless people with ancient armies and dark alliances—people like Ernest Crawford himself. And they succeeded, Iris. Because no matter how formidable your father was, monsters put their rivalries aside and worked together to tear him apart."

A burning knot formed in my throat. I pressed a shaking hand over my mouth, desperately trying to swallow down the tears before they broke.

"I just..." My voice cracked, muffled against my fingers. "I just need it to work once."

Celeste went completely still. "What? What do you mean?"

"Just once," I repeated, looking down at my lap. "That's all I need."

Celeste studied the raw desperation in my face, the lines around her scarred brow deepening. "Is this... Is this about Ernest Crawford?"

I lifted my head, my chest aching. "Did they tell you? The boys... Did they tell you about him?"

Celeste hesitated. For a split second, a flicker of guilt crossed her features, and she gave a slow, solemn nod.

"I don't want to be with him, Celeste," I choked out, the humiliation burning hot in my cheeks. "God... I grew up calling that man daddy. I always knew he wasn't my real father, but he was the closest thing I had. He was all I had. I hate the way he played me, he led me on... He trapped me in this sick, twisted game. He hurts me whenever I defy him. And he... He hurt Cole."

My breath hitched on a jagged sob.

"When Cole found out, Ernest locked him up and had him tortured for a week," I whispered, trembling from head to toe. "It was a warning. A message to all of us. If I don't play along—if I don't let him use me to fill the hole my mother left in his heart—he is going to hurt them. He will tear them apart."

Celeste didn't offer empty platitudes. She didn't tell me everything was going to be fine.

She just reached across the small space, wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and pulled me fiercely against her chest.

The dam shattered.

I buried my face into the worn leather of her vest, soaking it with hot, desperate tears as my body shook with breathless sobs. Her jacket smelled of sage, dried cloves, and road dust, rough and entirely unpolished, but the warmth of her arms felt like the closest thing to a mother's embrace I had ever known. We were second cousins who had met twenty minutes ago, but my mother had trusted this woman with her life. My mother had trusted Celeste to keep me safe. And right now, all I wanted in the world was to hide in the arms of this terrifying, scarred woman who was secretly the kindest soul I had ever encountered.

Celeste held me tight, resting her chin on my head, letting me cry until my chest stopped hitching.

Gently, she pulled back, using the pads of her calloused thumbs to wipe the tears from my cheeks.

"Those boys waiting out on the walkway..." Celeste said softly, her voice stern yet gentle. "They are supposed to protect you, Iris. Not the other way around. You do not have to sacrifice your soul and your body for them."

"You don't understand," I sobbed, shaking my head frantically. "Do you really think I could live with myself if something happened to them? They are my mates!"

"They rejected you, Iris," Celeste said, her single eye full of sorrow. "Twelve years of cruelty—"

"I know!" I cried, the words tearing out of my throat like shards of glass. "I know they rejected me! But I never rejected them!"

The silence that followed was suffocating.

It was the most agonizing truth I had ever admitted out loud. Deep down, I knew my refusal to sever the bond was the only reason it still breathed. It was why they were sick, why they were losing their minds, and why the invisible thread kept yanking us back into each other's orbits. No matter how much they humiliated me, no matter how deeply they broke my spirit, some stubborn, wounded part of my wolf had refused to let go. I had buried it, locked it away, and pretended to hate them, but I could never bring myself to speak the words of rejection. If I had, the bond would have withered into dust a long time ago.

"I just need to be strong enough to protect them," I pleaded, grabbing Celeste's leather sleeve. "Just once. If the Pureblood bloodline is real, then I have the power to bring down an Alpha. I just need to—"

"And by the time you manage to tap into that power," Celeste interrupted, her tone sharp and unyielding, "every coven, every Alpha and their secret shadow-workers within five hundred miles will feel the seismic shockwave of the Pureblood awakening. There will be a hunt for your head. I won't be able to protect you, and I sure as hell know those three idiots outside won't be able to protect you as well."

My grip on her sleeve loosened.

"Are you sure there isn't another way?" I whispered, my voice hollow. "Do you really have to strip it all away from me? That power... it's my inheritance. It's the only thing my father ever left me."

"Your father wanted you to live, Iris," Celeste said softly, resting her hand over mine. "Just like your mother did. Just like I do."

A heavy, suffocating wave of defeat crushed my lungs.

The reality was laid bare: to survive, I had to remain the same powerless, broken girl I had always been. The same helpless loser. I had to stay weak, submit to my stepfather's hands, and let him use me, because the moment I stood up to fight, the entire world would hunt me down and slaughter me.

There was no victory. Only varying degrees of slow death.

I looked down at the stained motel carpet, completely hollowed out.

Celeste stared at me for a long, agonizing minute, the silence stretching until she let out a harsh, venomous breath.

"Fuck..."

I snapped my head up.

Celeste was running both hands through her dark curls, her jaw clenched tight. "There is... something. Something I could theoretically try. I have no idea if it'll actually work. In fact, it probably won't."

My pulse leapt into my throat. "What is it?"

"Instead of casting a suppression ward to completely seal your power away..." Celeste murmured, her eye flashing with dangerous intent, "there might be a way to cast a veil. A shroud that conceals your powers instead of taking them away."

My heart hammered violently against my ribs, the blood roaring in my ears.

"I don't know if I can actually do this. And even if I succeed, you will have to hide your strenght in order to stay alive anyway. It's not like you will be able to... Show off. I might be able to hide the magical signature of your bloodline, but I cannot hide you from Alphas who may want you dead for disrupting a pack's hierarchy. You will have to lay low. For the rest of your life... And you have to promise me that." Celeste leaned in, her gaze piercing right through me. "Is this what you really want, Iris?"

I didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second.

"Yes," I said, my voice firmer than it had ever been in my life. "More than anything."

Celeste stared at me for a moment longer, a reckless, crooked grin slowly spreading across her face.

"Alright," she said, pulling a beaten-up flip phone from her back pocket. "I'm gonna need to call a guy."