Chapter 115 The Moon, the mate, the maybe

Chapter 115 The Moon, the mate, the maybe
Opal's POV

The night air was crisp, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth as Opal walked through the pack grounds. Her footsteps were light but determined, her mind an overwhelming storm of emotions that refused to settle. She needed space. She needed air. She needed answers.

The training fields stretched behind her, warriors moving through their drills, their voices echoing into the night. This place had been her entire life. Her home.

And if she chose Kael, she would have to leave it behind.

Her throat tightened at the thought.

She felt Kael before she heard him. His presence was a steady thing—something that had always kept her grounded, even when she didn't realize she needed it. He didn't speak right away, just walked beside her in easy silence, his silver-blue eyes flickering in the dim light.

Finally, he asked, "You okay?"

Opal let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Not even close."

Kael didn't push, didn't pry. He just kept pace with her, waiting.

She hated how easy this felt with him—how he always seemed to understand her without demanding explanations.

By the time they reached the tree line, the quiet had stretched long between them, but the weight of her words was still there, pressing against her ribs.

"If I mate with you," she murmured, staring out at the dense woods, "I have to leave my pack."

Kael didn't react right away, but she felt the slight tension in him, the way his jaw flexed before he gave a small nod. "Yeah."

Opal turned to face him fully, searching his face for… something. Answers. Reassurance. A sign that she wasn't crazy for feeling so torn.

"I've spent my whole life training to be Alpha, Kael." Her voice was quiet but edged with the sharp truth of it. "I fought for it. I bled for it. I dreamed of leading this pack since I was old enough to understand what it meant." Her throat tightened, but she forced herself to keep going. "It was all I ever wanted."

Kael's eyes never left hers.

"I know," he said, his voice soft but firm.

And that—that—was what made her chest ache. Because he truly did.

She swallowed, rubbing a hand over her face. "If my fated mate is out there… maybe I still have a chance. Maybe I'll still get to be Alpha, to lead the way I always planned."

Kael inhaled deeply, exhaling through his nose as he stared at the treetops. "And if you don't find him?"

Opal hesitated.

Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. "Then I have to make a choice."

Silence.

Thick and suffocating, filled with everything neither of them was saying.

Kael turned toward her, stepping just a little closer, his voice gentle, but unyielding.

"I would never ask you to give up your dreams."

"I know."

"I would never ask you to be anything but yourself."

Her chest ached. "I know."

"But I'll still ask you to choose me."

Her breath caught.

Kael's eyes were steady, unwavering, unshakable. "Because I love you, Opal. And I don't care if it takes a lifetime to prove to you that you don't need a mate bond to have something real."

Opal felt something crack inside her.

She already knew Kael loved her. He had made it clear again and again. But hearing it now—like this, in this moment, when everything was falling apart—

It made her feel like she was teetering on the edge of something terrifying and undeniably real.

Her lips parted, but she didn't know what to say.

Because she loved him.

She had always loved him.

But was love enough?

She turned away, staring at the moonlight filtering through the trees. "I trust you, Kael." Her voice was raw, barely above a whisper. "With my life. With my heart. But I don't know if I can trust myself to make the right choice."

She felt him shift beside her, his warmth radiating in the cool night.

Then—his fingers brushed against hers.

Soft. Barely there. Just enough to let her know he was still waiting.

"You don't have to make a choice right now," he murmured. "I'll wait."

Opal swallowed hard, her pulse hammering against her ribs.

She squeezed his fingers just once before pulling away.

Because waiting wasn't something she had the luxury of anymore.

Opal's POV

The walls of her father's office had always made her feel small.

As a child, she used to sit across from his massive oak desk, feet swinging above the floor, listening as he talked about pack politics, strategies, and decisions that shaped their lives. She had hung onto his every word, eager to understand, to learn.

Because one day, it was supposed to be her sitting in this chair.

Now?

Now she wasn't even sure if that future was hers anymore.

Opal stood in front of Alpha Griffin, arms crossed tightly over her chest. The weight of the decision she had been avoiding pressed down on her shoulders like a crushing force.

Her father watched her in silence, patient but expectant. He had always been a man of measured words, letting others speak before he did. But right now?

She didn't know what to say.

Finally, she exhaled sharply. "I don't know what to do."

Griffin didn't blink, didn't rush her. He simply nodded. "Tell me what's keeping you stuck."

Opal swallowed hard. "If I do nothing, the witch wins. She steals my soul, and I become—" her throat closed, the words too terrifying to finish. "If I mate with Kael, I lose my title, my pack, everything I've worked for. If I wait for my fated mate, there's no guarantee he'll show up in time."

Her voice cracked, frustration bleeding through. "So tell me, Dad—what's the right choice?"

Griffin studied her, his silver eyes sharp—assessing. Weighing her words.

Then he said, "You're looking at this like there's only one answer."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

He exhaled slowly, leaning against his desk. "It means that sometimes, the choices we think are wrong lead us to something better." His gaze softened, something shifting in the weight of his expression. "You remind me of your mother."

Opal forced a small smile. "Stubborn?"

His lips twitched. "Determined."

She sighed, raking a hand through her silver hair. "I don't want to make the wrong choice, Dad."

Griffin's stare deepened, the quiet intensity of an Alpha who had seen too much. Then—

He said something that made her stomach drop.

"I know what it's like to lose a mate."

Opal blinked. What?

For a moment, she thought she had misheard him. "What are you talking about?"

Her father straightened. "My first mate," he said evenly. "The woman I was fated to."

Silence.

A suffocating, heavy silence.

Opal's heart lurched in her chest. "What?"

She had never heard this before. Never even considered the idea that her parents weren't fated mates.

Griffin's expression didn't change, but there was something in his gaze—something distant, haunted. "Her name was Elara."

Elara.

Not Lila. Not her mother.

Opal's breath caught, a million thoughts spinning through her mind.

"She was my mate," Griffin continued, his voice quieter now. "The one the Moon Goddess had chosen for me." His silver eyes darkened slightly, the weight of memory settling into his features. "We were young—barely in our twenties when we found each other. And for a while, it was… everything."

Opal swallowed hard. "What happened to her?"

His jaw tensed. "A rogue attack. One we weren't prepared for."

She inhaled sharply.

"We were out on patrol," he murmured, his voice steady but strained. "It wasn't supposed to be a fight, just routine rounds. But they ambushed us. Too many, too fast." His fingers curled slightly, the only sign of his lingering grief. "I fought, but by the time I reached her, it was too late."

Opal's stomach twisted painfully.

She had never seen her father as anything other than indestructible. He was Alpha Griffin—the strongest, most composed man she knew. But now?

Now she saw something different in his face.

Not just strength.

But loss.

Real, devastating loss.

"You never told me this," she whispered.

His lips pressed together. "Because it wasn't a story that needed to be told."

She struggled to process it. "Then—how did you end up with Mom?"

For the first time, Griffin smiled—just barely. "Your mother was the most relentless person I'd ever met." His gaze softened slightly. "I met her a few years after Elara died. And at first, I thought nothing of it. She was strong, smart, a pain in my ass, but I was still grieving. I didn't think I could ever love someone again."

He exhaled, shaking his head slightly. "But Lila didn't care. She refused to let me wallow. Refused to let me push her away. She was always there—arguing with me, challenging me, standing beside me."

His silver eyes met Opal's. "And then one day, I realized that she had become my everything. That I loved her. Not because fate said I had to—but because I chose to."

Opal's throat tightened.

For her whole life, she had believed in fated mates.

Believed that what Ash had with Seraphina—what Brooks had with Nyx—was the only way to truly love someone.

But her parents?

They had proven something else entirely.

"So what are you saying?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Griffin's stare was piercing. "I'm saying that you have to decide what matters most."

Opal swallowed. "If I wait for my mate, I might lose everything."

Griffin nodded. "And if you choose Kael, you give up the life you always wanted."

She looked away, her chest aching. "There's no good choice."

Her father sighed. "Maybe not." Then, softer— "But you have to make one anyway."

The words hit her harder than she expected.

Griffin's stare was piercing. "I'm saying that you have to decide what matters most."

Opal swallowed hard. "If I wait for my mate, I might lose everything."

Griffin nodded. "And if you choose Kael, you give up the life you always wanted."

She looked away, chest aching. "There's no good choice."

Her father sighed. "Maybe not." Then, softer—"But you have to make one anyway."

The silence stretched between them, thick and raw.

Opal wrapped her arms around herself, sinking into the chair across from his desk. The one she'd sat in as a child, swinging her feet and dreaming of the day she'd sit on the other side.

Now that chair felt impossibly far away.

Her father leaned back slightly, watching her.

Then he said, almost absently, "Your mother would've tackled this head-on. With a ridiculous amount of confidence and probably something on fire."

Opal blinked. "What?"

Griffin gave a rare, crooked smile. "You think Forrest is chaotic now? You should've seen Lila at nineteen."

That caught her attention.

He glanced past her for a moment, like the memory had slipped through the walls and sat down with them. "She was a storm. Pure energy and impulse. Nothing quiet or strategic about her. If she wanted something, she chased it. If she loved someone, she told them. Loudly. Repeatedly. With very little regard for timing or logic."

A small, stunned laugh escaped Opal's lips. "That doesn't sound like the Lila we all know."

Griffin chuckled under his breath. "She grew into grace. But trust me, it was a long, messy journey. The first time I met her, she stole a knife off my belt during a council meeting and then flipped it like a circus performer while making a speech about patrol routes. She had no title, no rank, and no filter. But gods, she had fire."

Opal blinked. "She stole your weapon?"

"And threw it back at me when I called her out," Griffin said dryly. "Hit my chair. Missed my head. She claimed it was a warning shot."

"She sounds like Forrest."

"She was Forrest," Griffin said, almost fondly. "But sneakier. And less likely to break furniture."

Opal couldn't help smiling.

"She was relentless," Griffin continued, his voice softer now, more reflective. "After Elara… I didn't want anything. I was just existing. Running the pack. Keeping everyone safe. I had built walls so high even I couldn't see over them."

He shook his head, that far-off look still in his eyes.

"But Lila?" His lips twitched. "She treated my walls like they were suggestions. Every time I pushed her away, she pushed back twice as hard. I told her I wasn't ready—so she brought me breakfast and left it outside my office every morning for three months. I told her I didn't want to talk—so she followed me on runs and insulted my strategy until I got mad enough to argue."

Opal was openly smiling now.

"She flirted with me in front of the entire war council once," Griffin added, tone completely serious. "Said my 'scowl had a certain tragic sex appeal.' I almost fell off my chair."

Opal snorted. "She did not."

"She did," Griffin said grimly. "Forrest gets his ability to embarrass people into submission from her."

He paused, eyes softening again. "She didn't wait for me to heal. She didn't ask permission to love me. She just… showed up. Over and over, until I realized I didn't want her to stop."

Opal's throat tightened.

"And it wasn't fate," Griffin said. "It was choice. Every day. I chose her, and she chose me. That love was built—not handed to us."

He looked at Opal again, this time like he was really seeing her. The battle in her chest. The fear. The longing.

And the question.

"What Kael is offering you?" he said. "It's real. It's steady. It's the kind of love your mother gave me."

Opal was quiet for a long time.

Then, finally, she said, "You never missed her?"

"Elara?" Griffin asked. Then—without hesitation—he shook his head. "I loved her. But that part of my life ended. What I built with Lila—it was something else entirely. Something more."

"More than fate?" she whispered.

"Fate gave me a moment," he said. "But Lila gave me a life."

Opal didn't speak.

Because she couldn't.

Not through the lump in her throat.

But for the first time, the path didn't feel like a trap.

It felt like a door.

She just had to choose which one to walk through.