Chapter 13 Chapter 13
Ava's POV
I stood in the circle, power coursing through my veins like liquid starlight. The essence had changed everything. I could feel every wolf present, their emotions, their fears, their hopes. But the one connection I wanted to feel was gone.
The mate bond with Marcus had dissolved.
"Choose," Elder Thorne repeated, his voice carrying an edge of satisfaction that made me suspicious.
I looked at Nathan, bloodied but still smirking, so sure I would choose him now that I was a full Lycan. Then I looked at Marcus, standing at the edge of the circle with agony written across his face.
"You're both Lycan," Elder Selene said, her tone gentler than Thorne's. "Both worthy of a royal mate. The choice is yours alone."
"Choose me," Nathan said, struggling to his feet. "We're the same now. Pure Lycan. Together, we could rule not just these packs but all wolves. Our children would be gods among our kind."
"Power," I said slowly. "That's all you offer? Power?"
"What else matters? Love?" He laughed bitterly. "Love killed Sarah. Love made my mother give me away. Love is weakness."
"No," I said, my voice carrying through the clearing. "Love is strength."
I walked toward Marcus, each step deliberate. He stood frozen, hope and fear warring in his gray eyes.
"I felt our bond break," he said quietly when I reached him.
"The old bond, yes. The one formed from revenge and circumstance." I reached up to touch his face. "But I don't need a mate bond to know who I choose."
"Ava..."
"I choose Marcus Stone," I announced, my voice carrying to every corner of the gathering. "Not because of a bond, but because of love. Real love. The kind that offers to give up everything for the other person. The kind that stays even when the magic is gone."
"You can't!" Nathan roared. "The Lycan bloodline needs to remain pure!"
"Says who?" I turned to face him. "The old laws? The same laws that would have hidden me away forever? I reject them."
"You can't reject Lycan law!" Elder Thorne stepped forward. "You are bound by your blood!"
"My blood, my choice." The power inside me rose, making the air shimmer. "And I choose to forge a new path. One where Lycans don't hide or scheme or treat others as lesser."
I felt something then, a warmth in my chest where the old bond had been. Not the same connection, but something new forming. I looked at Marcus in wonder.
"Feel that?" he asked softly.
"A new bond. But how?"
Elder Selene smiled. "True love creates its own bonds, stronger than any forced by tradition or circumstance. The Moon Goddess honors choice above all."
"This is blasphemy!" Elder Thorne protested.
"This is evolution," I corrected. "And if you don't like it, you're free to challenge me."
The power in my voice made him step back. I was royal Lycan now, and that authority was undeniable.
Nathan laughed, but it was broken, hollow. "You'll regret this. Both of you."
"The only thing I regret," I said, "is that you'll never understand what you lost by choosing power over connection."
"I haven't lost yet," he said, pulling something from his pocket. A black crystal that pulsed with dark energy. "If I can't have you, no one can."
He crushed the crystal, and black smoke exploded outward. Pain shot through me as the darkness tried to invade my body, to corrupt the essence I'd absorbed.
"Forbidden magic!" Elder Selene gasped. "Thorne, you gave him access to shadow crystals?"
Elder Thorne was already backing away. "I had no choice. He threatened to expose..."
Marcus caught me as I fell, my body convulsing as light and shadow warred inside me. Through the growing bond, I felt his panic.
"Fight it," he urged. "You're stronger than this."
"Can't..." The darkness was spreading, trying to corrupt not just me but every wolf present through my royal connection.
"Together then," Marcus said. He bit his own wrist, offering his blood. "Lycan blood freely given. Take my strength."
I drank, and his power flowed into me. Not just his, but through him, the power of every Moonvalley wolf who recognized him as Alpha. The pack bonds he commanded became mine to share.
The darkness met light, shadow met moon, and I screamed as the two forces collided inside me.
"More!" Elder Selene commanded. "She needs more power!"
Rachel stepped forward first, offering her wrist. "For Sarah," she said simply.
Then Beta James. Then my father. One by one, wolves I knew and strangers alike offered drops of blood, drops of power. Even some of Nathan's Silvercrest wolves stepped forward.
"We choose the princess," one said. "Not the tyrant."
The power grew, light pushing back shadow. I could feel Nathan's shock as his weapon turned against him. The shadow magic, meant to corrupt, was being purified by the willing sacrifice of hundreds.
"No!" Nathan screamed as the backlash hit him. Dark veins spread across his skin as his own weapon consumed him.
"Stop it!" I commanded, forcing myself to stand. "I won't win by watching him die!"
Drawing on all the power given to me, I pulled the shadow from Nathan and into myself, then burned it away with pure Lycan light. The effort left me gasping, but Nathan lived.
He lay on the ground, powerless, his Lycan nature burned away by his own dark magic.
"You saved me," he whispered, confused. "Why?"
"Because that's what makes us different," I said. "I choose mercy. You never would have."
Elder Thorne tried to run, but Marcus was faster, tackling him to the ground. "You'll answer for your crimes," Marcus growled.
"The trial is concluded," Elder Selene announced. "Ava Stone has proven herself worthy of her bloodline. More than worthy. She has shown us a new way forward."
The crowd erupted in howls of approval. I sagged against Marcus, exhausted but victorious.
"So," he murmured in my ear, "how does it feel to be the most powerful Luna in history?"
"Exhausting," I admitted. "Take me home?"
"Always."
As he carried me from the circle, I heard Nathan call out one last time. "This isn't over! You haven't won!"
But he was wrong. I had won everything that mattered. Love, loyalty, and the chance to build something new.
The revenge that had brought Marcus and me together had transformed into something so much more. And our story was just beginning.