Chapter 30
1343 Words
Gwen
I was floating in light.
Not warmth. Not cold. Just endless silver light that pulsed like a heartbeat, surrounding me in peace.
And then, from that brilliance, Selene appeared.
The Moon Goddess walked barefoot across the endless space, her silver gown flowing like water, her hair a river of stars. Her eyes held galaxies, and when she looked at me, I felt every wound, every scar—physical and not—ache and begin to pulse.
“You have walked through fire, Gwendolyn,” she said gently.
I dropped to my knees, tears sliding down my cheeks. “Why can’t I feel Akira anymore?”
“She is not gone,” Selene said. “But you are fractured. You were forced to give your body to one who was never meant to touch it. And now your soul mourns the dissonance.”
I shook my head, choking. “I didn’t want it. I didn’t—he—”
“I know,” she said, kneeling before me and touching my forehead. Her touch burned like moonlight. “And the world will answer for what has been done to you.”
I looked up, dazed. “What do you mean?”
“A war is coming,” she said simply. “Old powers. New alliances. The corruption festering in the dark will be dragged into the light.”
My chest clenched. “Am I part of it?”
“You are the storm’s eye,” she whispered. “And when you wake, you will begin to understand. You will meet your mates.”
I froze. “Mates?” My voice was barely a whisper. “Plural?”
Her smile was unreadable, but knowing. “Not all souls come to this world with only one tether. Some are fated to more.”
I opened my mouth to ask more—but she was already fading.
“Be patient, daughter of the moon,” her voice echoed in the light. “The truth will find you soon.”
Justin
“We have to move now,” my father growled, slamming the last of his files into the briefcase.
The hotel room stank of desperation—cheap whiskey, stale sweat, and the kind of fear Karl never used to feel. Now, his hands trembled with every motion. Mine, too, if I was being honest.
“I had her,” I muttered, gripping the edge of the table. “She said yes. She was mine.”
“You had nothing but a puppet,” Karl spat. “And the strings just got cut.”
I turned, fury boiling under my skin. “I touched her, claimed her—”
“You defiled the future Queen of the entire kingdom,” he snapped. “And Cain has every reason to tear us apart limb by limb.”
I swallowed hard.
The broadcast from the raid had gone viral overnight. The Capital Pack had gone public. Witness testimonies. Bank trails. Video proof of Middle Moon’s connection to the smuggling rings. Gwen’s collapse only made the kingdom more furious.
We were fugitives now.
“Where are we going?” I asked, slipping the documents into a hidden bag.
“There’s a safehouse in the Outer Wilds. Near the border,” Karl muttered. “We lay low. We wait. We rebuild.”
“And Gwen?” I asked, voice low.
“She belongs to Cain now,” he said. “Forget her.”
I clenched my fists. “Never.”
Cain
I hadn’t moved from her bedside in twelve hours.
Cole was asleep in the chair near the window. Cash paced occasionally, checking the ward’s perimeter. But I sat at Gwen’s side, her hand wrapped in mine.
So still. So pale.
The white sheets of the Capital City Pack’s infirmary were crisp and clean—too sterile for the wild, radiant woman who had captured my wolf’s soul. Machines beeped softly around us, tracking the rhythms of her heart.
But Achilles could feel Akira’s breath again. Faint. Barely there. But present.
“She’s stronger than she knows,” I murmured.
“You can sleep huh?” Cash said from the doorway, his voice gentler than usual.
I didn’t answer.
He stepped closer and looked down at her. “You think she’ll wake up soon?”
“She has to.”
Because Selene herself had appeared in my dream last night. No words, just her face, and the sense that something monumental was shifting. Gwen was the center of that shift. The truth of it all hadn’t landed yet, but I felt it—she was more than a mate.
She was a reckoning.
“I’ll protect you,” I whispered to the unconscious woman beside me. “From them. From what they tried to make you. From whatever’s coming next.”
Her hand twitched faintly in mine.
My breath caught.
“Gwen?” I leaned closer.
But she stilled again. No awakening yet.
Cole stirred from his chair, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”
“Nearly dawn.”
He stood and stretched. “You’ll wake her,” he said softly. “She’s fighting her way back to us. Just give her time.”
“I’ll give her everything,” I said, brushing a loose curl from her cheek.
Because she was mine.
And I wasn’t losing her again.
Hours late, the sky beyond the infirmary windows had begun to lighten—early morning casting soft orange streaks across the skyline. The whole world felt like it was holding its breath.
Just like me.
Gwen hadn’t stirred again since that little twitch. But it had been real. Achilles swore on it. She was in there, somewhere, clawing her way back from wherever they’d buried her.
Cole yawned and stretched, then started to pull on his jacket. “I’m gonna grab coffee. Cain, you want—”
“Don’t.”
He paused mid-motion, glancing at me with a raised brow. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t come back. Not today. Neither of you.”
Cash’s boots thudded softly as he came to stand beside Cole. “You okay?” he asked, voice low and watchful.
“No,” I said honestly. “But this isn’t about me.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Charged.
“You think she’s going to reject us?” Cole finally asked.
“No,” I said. “I think she’s going to wake up and feel like she’s drowning.”
Cole frowned. “She’s our mate too.”
“I know,” I said tightly. “But right now, she doesn’t know that. She just found out about me. Then everything collapsed. The trauma she’s carrying—it’s not something three bonded males can fix by hovering around her like protective shadows.”
Cash crossed his arms. “You think us being here makes it worse.”
“I think she needs space to breathe. To feel something that’s hers again. Not pressure. Not destiny. Just… time.”
Cash’s jaw tensed, and I could see the protest rising in his eyes. But it was Cole who finally broke the tension, nodding once. “Alright. We’ll go. But you call us the second she wakes up.”
“I will.”
He stepped forward and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “We’ll give her space. But we’re not giving up. And neither should you.”
“I won’t,” I said, quietly but with conviction. “I’ll stay as long as it takes.”
Cash stared at Gwen for another long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he exhaled and followed Cole out the door.
And I was alone with her again.
I turned back to her sleeping form, reaching to gently brush my fingers across her knuckles.
“You won’t be alone when you wake up, Gwen,” I whispered. “But you’ll have choices. I’ll make sure of that.”
Because love wasn’t a cage.
Not anymore.
And I refused to be anything like the men who had tried to own her.
- Writer
