Mated To The Twin Alphas

22: Heart Of The Eclipse

The night tasted of lightning.

Every heartbeat felt louder, heavier — echoing through my bones as if my own blood were drumming to some ancient rhythm. The power inside me was no longer quiet. It had learned to whisper my name.

We were deep in the forest, where the eclipse light never reached. Damon paced the clearing, restless, his wolf pacing just beneath his skin. Darius leaned against a fallen tree, eyes fixed on me — sharp, unreadable. Between them, the air was brittle, ready to shatter.

“You’ve been getting stronger,” Damon said finally. His voice was steady, but I could hear the fear buried under it. “Too strong.”

I looked down at my hands — the faint shimmer of light and shadow weaving across my palms. “I’m holding it back.”

Darius pushed away from the tree. “No. You’re feeding it.”

His words struck deep. “That’s not true—”

He took a step closer, his tone low, dangerous. “Every time you reach for one of us — every time you feel something too deeply — it answers. You think that mark burns for no reason? It’s alive because you are.”

“Enough,” Damon snapped, his golden aura flaring. “She’s not the enemy.”

Darius’s gaze flicked to him. “Not yet.”

The growl that left Damon’s throat was pure wolf, vibrating through the ground. For a moment, I thought they’d attack each other — but the energy between them turned, slamming into me instead. Pain seared my chest as light and shadow twisted inside me, colliding like fire and ice.

I screamed — and the world shattered.

Wind howled through the trees. The moon above dimmed to a sickly gray. I fell to my knees, clutching the earth, the mark on my wrist blazing like molten silver. I could feel it now — the curse, the prophecy, the pull of both their souls fighting inside mine.

“Selene!” Damon shouted, reaching for me, but the light around me flared so violently that he was thrown back.

Darius lunged forward, but the shadows rose like smoke, wrapping around his arms, his throat. He struggled — not against me, but against the force inside me that wanted to claim him.

Then I heard it — the Goddess’s voice, no longer soft, but commanding.

Balance must be restored. One light. One shadow. One heart must fall.

“No!” I gasped, shaking my head, but the power didn’t listen. It surged outward in waves, each one stronger than the last. I felt everything — Damon’s fury, Darius’s desperation, my own terror — all of it feeding the darkness like fuel.

“Selene, look at me!” Damon’s voice cut through the chaos. I looked up — saw his golden eyes, steady and full of fire. “You’re stronger than this. You control the power — it doesn’t control you!”

His words struck something deep within me. I forced myself to breathe, to focus. Light burst from my chest, slamming into the shadows, holding them back. For a heartbeat, I thought I’d won.

Then Darius staggered forward, his hand glowing with that same black flame I’d once seen in my dreams.

“Let me help you,” he said — but his voice wasn’t his anymore. It was the shadow’s.

Before Damon could reach him, Darius pressed his hand to my heart.

Pain exploded through me — cold and hot all at once. My body arched, my scream swallowed by the night. The power inside me broke free, flooding the clearing in a wave of white and black fire.

And then… silence.

When I opened my eyes, the forest was gone. The stars had vanished.

I stood alone in a sea of silver mist, the moon fractured above me like glass.

A single voice whispered in the void — not the Goddess, not Damon, not Darius.

Just me.

To save them, one must be lost.

And as I looked down, I saw both their marks fading — one gold, one black — dissolving into the mist like smoke.

“No,” I whispered. “Not them. Take me instead.”

The mist began to move, swirling faster, and I understood what the eclipse wanted. Balance demanded a sacrifice — and it was coming for all three of us.