POV Cassidy
A knock at my cottage door interrupted the silence I'd been drowning in for the past hour.
I opened it to find a thin woman with silver hair and eyes that seemed to hold decades of secrets. She looked ancient yet ageless, like someone who'd witnessed history unfold from the shadows.
"I've been waiting for this moment," she said in a voice like autumn leaves rustling. "May I come in?"
Something about her presence made the air feel thick and electric. My hands trembled as I stepped aside.
"You're Ruth Berry."
"I am." She moved past me with quiet grace, settling into my father's old chair like she'd been here countless times before. "And you're exactly as I expected you'd be."
I prepared tea with shaking fingers, my mind racing with questions I didn't know how to ask. Ruth watched me with those knowing eyes, as if she could read every thought crossing my face.
"Sugar?" I managed.
"However you're making it is fine, dear." She accepted the steaming mug with weathered hands. "I helped your parents twenty-seven years ago when they discovered something that terrified them more than death itself."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "What kind of something?"
Ruth sipped her tea slowly, choosing her words with careful precision.
"Your mother was part of an ancient prophecy, Cassidy. The Luna with split marks, destined for dual mates who could either unite a pack under innovative leadership or destroy it through division and bloodshed."
The mug slipped from my fingers, hot tea splashing across the kitchen table.
"Dual mates?" I whispered.
"Two men, both equally valid choices. Both capable of completing the mate bond." Ruth's eyes never left my face. "The prophecy states that such a Luna will either bring unprecedented unity to her pack or tear it apart through an impossible choice."
I sank into the chair across from her, my legs unable to support my weight. "You're talking about Theo and Xander."
"I'm talking about a supernatural destiny that's been hunting your bloodline for generations."
"But my mother wasn't Luna. She left the pack."
"Because she was terrified." Ruth set down her tea and leaned forward. "Lydia was this prophesied Luna, but she feared the prophecy would tear her pack apart. The violence that dual mate bonds might create, the division it could cause among pack members forced to choose sides."
My throat closed. "So what did she do?"
"She came to me begging to suppress her wolf nature permanently. Rather than risk the destruction the prophecy warned of, she chose exile." Ruth's voice carried deep sadness. "She stayed in Greywood pack just long enough to meet your father, then they disappeared together. You were born a year later."
The kitchen spun around me like a carnival ride. Everything I thought I knew about my parents crumbled into dust.
"She gave up everything to protect them," I breathed.
"Everything. Her wolf nature, her pack bonds, her family, her home. All to ensure the prophecy couldn't manifest through her."
"But I'm here now."
Ruth nodded gravely. "And you inherited this destiny. The suppression was never meant to be permanent, only delayed. Your connections to both Muray brothers aren't coincidence, Cassidy. They're the prophecy manifesting through you."
Heat blazed along my collarbone where those strange marks had been appearing. I pressed my hand against the burning sensation, gasping as fire spread beneath my skin.
"Focus on your strongest emotional memory," Ruth instructed quietly. "Let yourself feel everything you felt in that moment."
Xander's kiss on the cliff flashed through my mind, desperate and full of recognition. The heat intensified, twin branches of light pulsing beneath my skin like lightning seeking earth.
"Now think of Theo," Ruth continued.
His gentle smile, the way he held me during the camping trip, the absolute trust in his eyes when he shifted into wolf form. The marks blazed brighter, confirming what I'd been denying.
"Two mate bonds," Ruth observed. "Equally strong, equally valid. Your werewolf heritage cannot be denied much longer."
I doubled over as the burning spread through my entire chest. "What happens now?"
"You must choose which brother will guide you through your first transformation. This choice determines whether the prophecy brings unity or destruction to Greywood Pack."
"What if I choose wrong?"
Ruth's expression grew deadly serious. "The mate bond confusion could kill you during the change. Your wolf nature won't know which connection to follow, and the internal conflict could tear you apart."
"And if I choose right?"
"Then your leadership as Luna could help revolutionize pack dynamics. Show that cooperation is stronger than competition, that unity can emerge from even the most complex situations."
The weight of potentially destroying the pack my parents died to protect crashed down on me like a physical blow. Everyone I'd grown to care about—June, Benji, the students who brought me drawings and stones, Stella and Elias, even the pack members I'd barely met.
"How long do I have?" I asked through tears I couldn't stop.
"Not long. Your transformation is accelerating. The dual bonds are growing stronger every day, making the choice more urgent and physically demanding."
I stared at my hands, searching for answers that wouldn't come. "My romantic choice isn't just about love, is it?"
"It's about life and death. About the future of everyone you've grown to care about." Ruth stood, her ancient eyes full of compassion. "Your parents chose exile to avoid this burden. But you're already here, already connected to both brothers, already part of this pack's heart."
"What would you do?"
"I would choose wisely. Not just with your heart, but with your mind. Consider what each brother offers not just to you, but to everyone who depends on you both."
She moved toward the door, then paused with her hand on the knob.
"The prophecy doesn't have to end in destruction, Cassidy. But only you can determine which path it takes."
After she left, I sat in my kitchen staring at the tea stains on the table, my father's letters scattered beside them like accusations.
Two brothers. One choice. The survival of everyone I loved hanging in the balance.
And somewhere in the back of my mind, a terrifying thought took root: what if choosing the wrong brother didn't just kill me—what if it killed them too?