A Future Neither of Them Chose
1297 Words
No one spoke.
The words hung in the air like a sentence already passed.
THE CHILD OF CHOICE AND COMMAND WILL DECIDE THE WAR.
Luna stared at the Book.
Then at Darius.
His hand tightened around hers.
Not enough to hold her.
Just enough to remind himself she was still there.
Mason was the first to break the silence.
"I'm going to say what everyone is thinking."
Evelyn sighed.
"You usually do."
"That prophecy is terrible."
"It is."
"I hate it."
"So do I."
Darius never looked away from Luna.
"There will be no child."
The certainty in his voice echoed through the clearing.
Cassian studied him carefully.
"You believe refusing destiny changes it."
"I believe choice does."
Cassian almost smiled.
"Then perhaps you understand more than Lucian ever did."
Luna finally found her voice.
"I am not having this conversation."
Everyone looked at her.
She folded her arms.
"I have known Darius for less than two weeks."
Mason nodded.
"Fair."
"I'm still trying to survive immortal psychopaths."
"Also fair."
"And somehow everyone has skipped directly to children."
Even Ethan laughed quietly.
For the first time since they'd found each other.
Luna looked at him.
"You too?"
He lifted both hands.
"I'm laughing because you're exactly the same."
"The same as what?"
"The little girl who shouted at grown men because they were discussing her future without asking."
Something softened inside her.
Another tiny memory.
A much younger Ethan chasing after an angry little girl through a garden.
"Luna, wait!"
"No!"
"Mother said—"
"I don't care what Mother said!"
The memory disappeared before she could reach it.
Darius noticed the distant look in her eyes.
"You remembered."
"A little."
His expression eased.
"I'm glad."
Cassian watched the exchange with unreadable eyes.
"Memory is returning faster now."
Alden nodded.
"It will continue."
"How much?" Luna asked.
"As much as you're ready to carry."
She wasn't sure that answer comforted her.
Darius stepped slightly closer.
"You're carrying enough already."
Luna looked at him.
"You don't get to decide that."
"I know."
The answer surprised her.
"I wanted to."
"But?"
He smiled faintly.
"But wanting isn't choosing."
The bond warmed.
Cassian noticed.
"So quickly."
Darius looked at him.
"What?"
"You correct yourself because of her."
"No."
"You do."
Cassian's gaze remained fixed on the Alpha.
"Kael would have argued."
Darius shrugged.
"I'm not Kael."
"No."
Cassian looked almost thoughtful.
"You're becoming someone he never had the chance to be."
The words lingered.
Even Darius seemed unsure what to do with them.
Finally he asked,
"Is that supposed to be an apology?"
Cassian looked away.
"I don't remember how."
Silence settled over the clearing.
Luna watched him carefully.
For the first time, she saw something beneath the immortal commander's composure.
Regret.
Not enough to erase what he'd done.
Not enough to earn forgiveness.
But enough to make him look... tired.
Very tired.
Thousands of years tired.
Ethan noticed it too.
"You loved someone once."
Cassian froze.
No one had expected the question.
Least of all Cassian.
He laughed once.
A quiet, empty sound.
"Long ago."
"What happened?"
"I obeyed."
Luna felt the words rather than heard them.
Cassian looked toward the distant mountains.
"The crown told me protecting her required controlling her."
His blue eye closed briefly.
"I believed it."
No one interrupted.
"I made every decision for her."
His voice remained calm.
"I removed every danger."
His hand curled slowly.
"I convinced myself freedom was a luxury she couldn't afford."
Luna glanced toward Darius.
He was listening very carefully.
Cassian continued.
"One day she looked at me..."
His voice almost broke.
"...and asked whether I loved her..."
He swallowed.
"...or merely loved keeping her."
Even the forest seemed quieter.
"What did you answer?" Luna asked.
"I couldn't."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't know."
The confession settled heavily between them.
Darius looked at Luna.
"I know."
Cassian met his eyes.
"I hope so."
Blackwood Estate
An hour later.
The estate gates opened.
Normally, Luna loved the sight of the old manor.
Tonight it felt different.
Home.
The realization startled her.
Not because of the building.
Because Darius was there.
She glanced sideways.
He noticed immediately.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You smiled."
"I did."
"Why?"
She hesitated.
Then decided honesty was easier.
"This place feels like home."
Darius stopped walking.
The words struck him harder than any wound.
"You shouldn't say things like that."
"Why?"
His voice became quieter.
"Because I remember them."
Luna frowned.
"What?"
"Kael once told Solara..."
His eyes drifted somewhere far away.
"...that home wasn't a castle."
He looked back at her.
"It was wherever she was."
Luna reached for his hand.
She didn't think about it.
She simply did it.
Their fingers intertwined naturally.
"Then maybe," she whispered,
"he wasn't entirely wrong."
Darius looked down at their hands.
The black mark on his wrist pulsed once.
The golden mark on hers answered.
Neither hurt.
For now.
Later that night...
Darius stood alone on the balcony outside his study.
The estate slept.
Or pretended to.
His wolf refused to rest.
The command mark burned beneath his skin.
Not painfully.
Hungrily.
It whispered possibilities.
Lock the gates.
Keep her inside.
No one can take what never leaves.
Darius closed his eyes.
"No."
The whisper faded.
Only to return.
Tell her to stay with you.
"No."
She would obey.
His fists clenched.
"No."
The voice laughed.
Not Lucian.
The crown itself.
Patient.
Certain.
It wasn't trying to control him.
It was teaching him.
Showing him how easy it would be.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
He turned.
Luna stood in the doorway wearing one of his black shirts.
It reached halfway down her thighs.
His mind immediately stopped working.
Luna noticed.
"What?"
"You stole my shirt."
"You left it in my room."
"I wondered where it went."
"You knew."
"I suspected."
She smiled.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Neither could I."
She crossed the balcony slowly.
"What were you doing?"
"Losing an argument."
"With whom?"
"Myself."
Luna stopped in front of him.
She looked at his marked wrist.
"Is it talking again?"
He nodded once.
"What does it want?"
"You."
She met his eyes.
"And what do you want?"
Darius answered without hesitation.
"You."
The honesty made her heart ache.
"But differently."
He nodded.
"Very differently."
Luna reached for his face.
He caught her wrist.
Not to stop her.
To warn her.
"My instincts aren't entirely mine tonight."
"I know."
"If I kiss you..."
She smiled softly.
"I hope that's your idea."
"It is."
"But?"
"I don't know where my desire ends and the crown begins."
Luna stepped closer until there was barely any space between them.
Then she gently took his marked hand and placed it over her heart.
"What does it tell you to do?"
His breathing deepened.
"Keep you."
"And what do you choose?"
He looked into her eyes for a long moment.
Finally...
"I choose to ask."
A tear burned unexpectedly in Luna's eyes.
"Darius..."
His voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"May I kiss you?"
She smiled.
"Yes."
Only then did he move.
Slowly.
Giving her every chance to step away.
She never did.
His lips found hers gently.
There was no desperation.
No hunger born from command.
Only tenderness.
Only choice.
Only love.
When they finally pulled apart, Luna rested her forehead against his.
"See?"
"What?"
"You still know the difference."
Darius smiled for the first time that day.
A real smile.
Then a sharp scream shattered the night.
Not from outside the estate.
From inside it.
Evelyn burst onto the balcony.
"Darius!"
The smile vanished instantly.
"What happened?"
"It's Ethan."
Luna's heart dropped.
Evelyn's face had gone completely white.
"The crown isn't gone."
She looked at Luna.
"It's spreading."
From somewhere deep inside Blackwood Estate...
Ethan screamed again.
This time...
Someone else screamed with him.
- Writer
