ARIA'S POV
"NO!"
Three voices shout at once—Thane, Ryker, and Caspian all speaking the same word with the same desperate fury.
I'm still floating in the air, power crackling around me like lightning, but I hear them perfectly.
"No one is dying for me!" I scream. The power surges higher, making the cave walls crack.
The High Alpha laughs. "How touching. But you don't have a choice, little Luna. One of them dies, or all of you die. Including my wolves, which I can't allow."
He gestures and his pack starts backing toward the entrance.
Coward. He's going to let me explode and kill the Ancients, then come back to claim whatever's left.
"Wait!" Dante shouts, still reading the scrolls frantically. "There might be another way!"
Everyone freezes.
"What way?" Thane demands.
Dante's hands are shaking as he reads. "The sacrifice doesn't have to be death. It says here: 'One mate must offer his beast—his wolf—to anchor the Luna's power. The wolf will be consumed, leaving the mate human forever.'"
Horror floods through me. "That's not better! You're asking them to give up their wolves!"
For a werewolf, losing your wolf is worse than death. It's losing half your soul. Becoming something less than whole.
"I'll do it," Thane says immediately.
"No, I will," Ryker argues.
"Neither of you," Caspian interrupts. "It should be me. My visions make me unstable anyway. I'd be more useful to her human—"
"STOP!" I scream, and the power explodes outward in a wave that knocks everyone flat.
When the dust clears, I've dropped to the ground. The power is still there, still growing, but fury is giving me a moment of control.
"Listen to me," I say, my voice shaking. "I have been controlled my entire life. Told what to do, who to be, how to act. I'm not letting you three decide my fate without me!"
Thane pushes himself up, blood running from a cut on his forehead. "Aria, we don't have time—"
"MAKE TIME!" The cave shakes again.
The High Alpha is watching this with fascination. "The True Luna commands even the Ancients. Interesting."
I ignore him and turn to Dante. "Is there really no other way?"
Dante looks miserable. "The ritual is clear. To anchor power this strong, it needs... a tether. Something permanent. A sacrifice shows the magic that the bond is unbreakable."
"What if all three of them gave up small pieces instead of one giving up everything?" I ask desperately.
"The magic doesn't work that way," Dante says gently. "It's all or nothing."
The power inside me pulses, growing stronger. I can feel it—minutes, maybe less, before I lose control completely.
I look at Thane, Ryker, and Caspian. Three males who woke up from a thousand-year sleep to find me. Who carried me to safety. Who look at me like I matter.
"I won't choose," I say quietly. "I won't sentence any of you to a half-life because of me."
"Then we all die," Caspian says simply, stepping closer. "Because none of us will live in a world without you in it."
The certainty in his voice breaks something in me.
"You don't even know me!" I shout.
"We know enough," Ryker says, moving to stand beside Caspian. "We know you survived twenty-two years of torture and came out stronger. We know you'd rather die than let others choose for you. We know our wolves recognized you the moment we caught your scent."
Thane joins them, forming a wall of massive males who are all staring at me like I'm the most important thing in their world.
"We know you're ours," Thane finishes. "And we'll do whatever it takes to keep you alive."
Tears stream down my face. "This isn't fair."
"Life rarely is," Thane says softly.
The power surges again. I gasp as it tries to rip free. The cave entrance cracks wider.
"Choose," the High Alpha says coldly. "Or I'll choose for you. That one." He points at Caspian. "Seers are unpredictable anyway. Better off human."
Rage floods me. "You don't get a vote!"
"I do if you're about to kill my wolves," he counters.
He's right. Damn him, he's right. This power is going to explode any second and everyone here will die.
I look at my three mates—because that's what they are, even though we barely know each other. The golden threads connecting us are so bright now they're almost visible.
"I can't choose," I whisper.
"Then I will," a new voice says.
We all spin around.
Celeste steps out of the shadows, and she's not alone. Lyanna is with her, along with a dozen wolves I don't recognize. They're wearing strange symbols painted on their fur.
"Did you really think we wouldn't follow?" Celeste asks with a cold smile. "I spent twenty-two years preparing Aria for harvest. I'm not losing her now."
Thane snarls. "You're not taking her anywhere."
"I don't need to take her," Celeste says. "I just need her power. And lucky for me, she's about to explode with it. All I have to do is be here to collect what's left."
She raises her hand and the wolves with symbols start chanting.
"What are you doing?" I demand.
"Blood magic," Dante breathes in horror. "She's going to redirect the explosion. Channel all your power into her daughter."
Lyanna smiles, and it's the cruelest expression I've ever seen on her face. "You were always meant to be a stepping stone, Aria. Thanks for finally being useful."
The chanting gets louder. I can feel it—dark magic wrapping around the power inside me, trying to control it.
"No!" I struggle against it, but I'm weakening. The power is too much and now there's this foreign magic pulling at it—
Thane, Ryker, and Caspian move as one. They form a circle around me, hands clasped, creating a barrier.
"You want her power?" Thane growls. "You'll have to go through us."
Celeste laughs. "Gladly."
The chanting reaches a crescendo. The blood magic slams into the Ancients' barrier.
For a moment, it holds.
Then it cracks.
"We can't hold it!" Ryker shouts. "She's too strong!"
The High Alpha's wolves are fleeing now, running from the cave as fast as they can. Even he looks uncertain.
I'm going to kill everyone. My mates. Dante. Even the people I hate—Celeste and Lyanna will die too.
Unless...
An idea hits me. Crazy. Impossible. But maybe—
"The mate bond!" I shout. "You said completing the bond would help me channel the power!"
"There's no time," Caspian says, his eyes wild. "The ritual takes hours—"
"Not the full ritual," I interrupt. "Just the first mark. The claiming bite. All three of you—NOW!"
Understanding flashes across their faces.
"It might not work," Thane warns.
"It's better than nothing!" I snap.
The barrier cracks wider. Celeste's magic is seconds from breaking through.
"Do you accept us?" Thane asks urgently. "All three of us? As your mates?"
The golden threads connecting us pulse, waiting for my answer.
I look at each of them. Thane with his silver eyes and ancient scars. Ryker with his shadows and hidden gentleness. Caspian with his visions and desperate hope.
Three strangers who became everything in a single night.
"Yes," I breathe. "I accept you."
The words have barely left my mouth when all three of them move.
Thane grabs my left shoulder, pulling me close. Ryker takes my right. Caspian tilts my head to expose my neck.
"This will hurt," Thane warns.
Then all three of them bite down at the same time.
Pain explodes through me—but different from before. This pain is fire and ice and lightning and something that feels like coming home.
The mate bonds snap into place with such force that the cave itself screams.
Power floods through the bonds, finally finding a path, a purpose, a place to go—
The barrier shatters.
Celeste's blood magic slams into us.
And then everything goes white.
When my vision clears, I'm standing in the center of the cave. Thane, Ryker, and Caspian are on their knees, breathing hard, their claiming marks glowing on my skin.
The power is still there, but it's... controlled. Flowing through the mate bonds instead of destroying everything.
Celeste stares at us in shock. "Impossible. The ritual should have taken hours—"
"You forgot one thing," I say, and my voice echoes with power. "I'm the True Luna. I make my own rules."
I raise my hand and silver light explodes from my palm.
Celeste and her wolves are thrown backward, slamming into the cave wall.
But something's wrong.
Lyanna isn't with them. She's standing perfectly still, and her eyes are glowing the same silver as mine.
"No," Dante whispers in horror. "Some of the power transferred anyway. Not all of it, but enough—"
Lyanna smiles, and when she speaks, her voice has that same echo of power mine does.
"Looks like there's two True Lunas now, sister."
She shifts.
Her wolf is pure white and massive—almost as big as the Ancients.
"See you at the Alpha Summit," she purrs. "May the best Luna win."
Then she's gone, vanishing into the shadows with Celeste and their wolves.
The High Alpha, still watching from the entrance, starts laughing.
"Oh, this is perfect. Two True Lunas. This changes everything."
He looks at me with eyes full of calculation.
"The Summit just became a death match. And only one of you is walking out alive."