POV Cassidy
Next day Ruth arrived at dawn carrying a canvas bag that looked older than the mountains.
"We begin today," she announced, settling herself on my living room floor with surprising grace for someone her age. "The suppression is unraveling faster than I anticipated."
"How can you tell?"
She gestured toward my collarbone, where the split marks had darkened overnight. "The bonds are strengthening. They demand resolution."
For three hours, Ruth guided me through exercises designed to help control the emerging wolf nature trying to claw its way to the surface. Meditation techniques to manage the overwhelming sensory input. Breathing patterns to calm the aggressive instincts surging through my bloodstream.
"Focus on your heartbeat," she instructed. "Find the rhythm beneath the chaos."
But when I closed my eyes and reached inward, visions crashed through my mind like breaking waves.
My mother stood in this same cottage, tears streaming down her face as she packed a single suitcase. Her hands shook as she folded tiny baby clothes I'd never seen.
"I can't do this to them," she sobbed to my father. "The prophecy will tear the pack apart. Kane, we have to leave."
"The binding ritual will hurt," Ruth's younger face warned from the vision. "It might not hold permanently."
"I don't care," my mother replied with desperate conviction. "I won't be the Luna who destroys everything good about this place."
The suppression ceremony unfolded in brutal detail. My mother screaming as Ruth's magic ripped away her wolf nature, leaving her human but broken. My father holding her afterward, both of them weeping for everything they'd lost.
"Your choice will determine whether their sacrifice was meaningful," Ruth said, pulling me back to the present. "Choose poorly, and Kane and Lydia gave up everything for nothing."
The training sessions left me exhausted and emotionally raw. By the third day, I could barely function. That's when Theo appeared at my door with a thermos of soup and concern written across his features.
"You look terrible," he said, settling beside me on the couch.
"Thanks. Really know how to make a girl feel special."
His smile was gentle as he ladled soup into a bowl. "When was the last time you ate something that wasn't coffee?"
I couldn't remember. The past few days had blurred into a haze of visions and magical training that left no room for basic human needs.
"You don't have to carry this alone," Theo said, his arm sliding around my shoulders as I managed a few spoonfuls. "Whatever happens, we'll face it together."
When exhaustion overwhelmed me completely, he held me while I cried. No demands for explanations, no pressure to make decisions before I was ready. Just solid warmth and unconditional acceptance that felt like sanctuary.
"I'm scared," I whispered against his chest.
"I know. But being scared doesn't make you weak. It makes you human."
After he left, I managed three hours of actual sleep before nightmares dragged me back to consciousness.
The next evening, Xander appeared with a stack of leather-bound books and that intensity that made the air feel charged.
"Research," he announced, settling the volumes on my kitchen table. "Pack leadership structures, Alpha responsibilities and lifestream."
"I can barely think straight, and you want me to study?"
"I want you to understand your power." His eyes blazed with conviction. "These books contain stories of Alphas who changed everything. But I want you to pay attention to the hidden figures in their stories."
He pulled out a chair and waited until I sat down reluctantly.
"This one managed territorial disputes through diplomacy instead of warfare," he said, opening to marked pages. "This one created alliance structures that lasted centuries. But none of this would have happened if there had been the wrong mate next to them. Only thanks to the power and wisdom of the Lunas were they able to achieve all this."
"What's your point?"
"My point is that you're stronger than you know. Whatever choice you make, don't let fear decide. Choose the future that calls to your soul, not the one that feels safest."
His words stirred something fierce in my chest, ambitions I'd never allowed myself to acknowledge. But they also terrified me with their implications.
Meanwhile, the outside world grew more dangerous. Scout reports indicated increased rival pack activity along eastern borders. Warriors doubled patrol schedules as tension built throughout the territory.
"Marcus Blackwood's been seen meeting with other Alpha leaders," Ruth reported during one training session. "Your emergence has created an opportunity for those who've been waiting to challenge Greywood's stability."
"Because of me?"
"Because leadership succession creates vulnerability. They're hoping to strike before the next Alpha is confirmed."
Also Ruth explained that the transformation itself would be challenging—my suppressed wolf nature trying to emerge after decades of magical binding. The process could be dangerous without proper guidance from my chosen mate.
"The mate bond provides anchor during the first shift," she said. "Without a clear connection, your consciousness could fragment between human and wolf. Many don't survive such confusion."
That night, I lay staring at my bedroom ceiling, imagining both possible futures with painful clarity.
I imagined brothers and didn’t think about “who do I love more.” The answer always lies.
With Theo, it’s like walking through a city with a map: the streets are marked, the traffic lights work, I know where to buy bread and where to hide from the rain.
With Xander, it’s like a compass without a map: the needle trembles north, and in every step there is risk and strange peace at the same time. A map without a compass is a circle. A compass without a map is an escape. And I’m tired of both the circle and the escape.
If I had chosen Theo, I would have chosen stability and the way someone already sees me—a teacher with the keys to the house.
If I had chosen Xander, I would have chosen movement to where there are no names yet, and I would have to name things myself.
But I wasn’t someone’s answer, I was a question. Maybe the right choice wasn’t “who will warm my hands,” but “with whom my hands won’t become strangers to me.”
Theo taught me to come home. Xander taught me not to be afraid to move on. And I needed both skills if I was truly Luna.
Maybe my choice wasn’t “someone alone,” but “who I am with each of them” and whether they could stand a version of me that would never be the same again. If not, then I choose myself first. And we would rewrite the law, too.
And somewhere in the distance, I could hear howling that didn't sound like any wolf I'd ever encountered.
Time was running out, and I still had no idea which brother—which future, which version of myself—I was brave enough to choose.