Chapter 19: Blood and Choice
1336words
Victor's eyes gleamed with triumph as I approached the altar, his attention fixed entirely on me—exactly as I'd planned. Behind him, Damian moved like a ghost, invisible to Victor's senses thanks to my mother's pendant.
"Curious after all," Victor purred, releasing my father to pick up the ritual knife. "So different from Sophia, who refused even to consider the preliminary bond."
"I want to understand all my options," I replied, keeping my voice steady despite the fear and rage churning inside me. "Before tomorrow's choice."
My father struggled against his bonds. "Elena, don't do this. Whatever he's offering, it's a trap."
"Silence," Victor snapped, before turning back to me with a softer expression. "The preliminary bond is simple. We exchange blood—not enough for a full claiming, but enough to strengthen our connection before the ritual."
"And what would that do to my existing bonds?" I asked, touching the claiming bite on my neck—Damian's mark.
Victor's eyes narrowed at the gesture. "It would... balance the scales. Give you clarity, free from Damian's influence."
"You mean replace his influence with yours," I challenged.
A smile spread across his face—predatory, unapologetic. "We are what we are, Elena. Alphas seek to dominate. It's our nature."
I glanced at my father, whose eyes pleaded with me to run. Damian was almost in position behind him, the masking spell still holding. I needed just a few more moments.
"Show me," I said, extending my hand toward the knife. "How would we begin?"
Victor's expression softened with something like reverence. He took my hand, turning it palm up. "First, your blood freely given."
The knife hovered above my palm. I forced myself not to flinch, not to give any sign that would alert him to Damian's presence.
"And then?" I asked, voice deliberately breathy with false anticipation.
"Then mine," he murmured, eyes locked on mine. "Our blood mingling, creating a bond that transcends the physical."
"Like this?" I asked, and before he could respond, I grabbed the knife and slashed—not my own palm, but his.
Victor jerked back with a snarl of surprise as his blood welled from the shallow cut. In that instant of distraction, Damian struck. He materialized behind my father, slicing through his bonds with claws already extended in partial transformation.
"Run!" I shouted to my father, who scrambled away from the altar.
Victor recovered quickly, his shock transforming to rage. "You deceived me," he growled, eyes glowing amber as his features began to shift. "Just like your mother."
"My mother was right to refuse you," I said, backing away as he advanced. "You don't want a partner—you want a possession."
"What I want," he snarled, "is what's rightfully mine."
He lunged, faster than human eyes could track, but my newly enhanced reflexes allowed me to dodge. Not completely—his claws caught my arm, tearing through jacket and skin. Pain flared, but with it came a surge of power as my own partial transformation responded to the threat.
Damian intercepted Victor's second attack, fully transformed into his massive black wolf form. The two alphas collided with bone-jarring force, snarls and growls filling the clearing as they fought—primal, vicious, neither willing to submit.
My father appeared at my side, face pale but determined. "We need to go. Now."
"I can't leave Damian," I said, watching the brutal fight with growing horror.
"This isn't your battle," he insisted, tugging my uninjured arm.
"You're wrong," I pulled away. "This is exactly my battle."
The pendant at my throat pulsed with warmth as I touched it, drawing on its balancing energy. My mother's voice seemed to whisper in my mind: "Trust your instincts—both human and wolf."
I stepped toward the fighting wolves, my body continuing its partial transformation. Claws extended from my fingertips, canines lengthened in my mouth, and power surged through my veins—not just wolf power, but something else. Something uniquely mine.
"ENOUGH!" I commanded, my voice carrying an authority I'd never wielded before.
To my astonishment, both wolves froze mid-fight, heads turning toward me. Through our blood bonds, I felt their surprise—and their inability to disobey the command.
"Human form," I ordered. "Both of you. Now."
The transformation was immediate and involuntary. Within seconds, both men stood before me in human form, naked and breathing hard, blood from various wounds already beginning to heal.
"How did you—" Victor began, genuine shock in his voice.
"Balancer blood," Damian answered for me, a hint of pride in his tone despite the situation. "She's stronger than either of us realized."
I stepped between them, one hand raised toward each. "This ends now. No more fighting. No more manipulation."
"The blood moon rises tomorrow," Victor argued. "The ritual must be completed."
"And it will be," I assured him. "But on my terms, not yours."
My father approached cautiously. "Elena, what are you doing?"
"Finding a third option," I said, never taking my eyes off the two alphas. "One my mother couldn't see."
Victor's expression darkened. "There is no third option. You choose one alpha, or you break the pact entirely."
"Unless," Damian said slowly, studying me with new understanding, "she rewrites the pact itself."
"Impossible," Victor scoffed. "The pact has existed for centuries. Its terms are absolute."
"Nothing is absolute," I countered. "Especially not when a Balancer stands at the center of the ritual."
My father's hand touched my shoulder. "Whatever you're planning, it's dangerous. Come with me now, while they're weakened."
I turned to him, seeing the fear and love in his eyes. "I can't run from this, Dad. I tried that approach for twenty-five years, thanks to you. It's time I faced my heritage—both sides of it."
"You'll end up like your mother," he warned, voice breaking.
"No," I said with certainty. "I'll finish what she started."
I turned back to the alphas. "Tomorrow night, under the blood moon, we meet here for the ritual. All of us—you, Damian, Jackson, and me."
"And then?" Victor demanded.
"And then I make my choice." I met his gaze steadily. "But know this—if either of you harms my father or attempts to force my hand before then, I will break the pact entirely. No hesitation, no negotiation."
The threat hung in the air, made credible by the power I'd just demonstrated. Both alphas recognized it wasn't empty words—I now had the ability to enforce my will.
"Agreed," Damian said first, his eyes never leaving mine.
Victor hesitated longer, calculation evident in his amber gaze. Finally, he nodded. "Until tomorrow night, then."
As they departed in opposite directions—Victor into the deeper forest, Damian toward the estate—my father gripped my arm.
"You can't seriously be considering going through with this ritual," he said. "After everything that's happened."
I touched the pendant at my throat, drawing strength from its balanced energy. "I'm not just considering it. I'm counting on it."
"For what? To bind yourself to one of those monsters?"
"To rewrite the rules that have kept them monsters," I corrected. "The pact doesn't have to create imbalance. It can be transformed into something better."
Doubt clouded his features. "And if you're wrong? If you fail?"
The question hung between us as the last light of day faded from the clearing, leaving us in growing darkness. Tomorrow night, the blood moon would rise, red and full above these ancient stones. And I would either change the course of werewolf history—or join my mother in the consequences of defying it.
"Then at least I tried," I said finally. "Which is more than running away."
What I didn't tell him was the vision I'd glimpsed through my mother's pendant—a possibility so radical, so unprecedented, that even I wasn't certain it could work. But I had to try. For Damian, for myself, and for the mother whose legacy I now carried.
The blood moon was coming. And with it, a choice that would change everything.
