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372 Words
"I know how you feel," she continues gently. "You feel as though your choices were stripped away. Dragged from one mate to another, with no say, and now, you’re trapped. But I promise you, there’s more freedom here than you can imagine—if you let me show you."
"Bria, that’s enough!" Deckard snaps. His expression doesn’t shift, cold-blooded.
"Why would you throw away the chance of becoming Luna to the Bloodbane pack?" she asks, completely ignoring Deckard’s command. "If you leave, you’ll be branded as the ex-mate of Alpha Dane, and the world will mock you for your mistakes. But here, you will be worshipped, despite your mistakes.”
Her words hit harder than I want them to. For the first time, I hesitate. I think of the lies Dane spread about me, and reality sinks in. I’ve been branded as a disgrace, an outcast. Dane has already ensured that I won’t be able to step foot near my family’s home. The pack was already turning against me before I left. Now, I have no place there anymore.
"Being Luna of the Bloodbane pack means ruling, not just over Blackwater City but the entire country. Your word could become law.”
She reaches for my trembling hands, lowering them gently. Her gaze holds mine, and in that moment, it has become clear to me. This is the only choice I have. I could wallow in my pain, sulk, and let despair consume me. But what good would that do?
Isn’t it better to feel shattered yet wield power—the kind of power that ensures I’ll never be treated as I was before? Never humiliated, never cast aside again.
Can I do this, though? Can I bond with a second-chance mate—a man I didn’t ask for, a man who holds no love for me? A man whose gaze sears a hole in my chest. Even now, as I think about it, I can feel his shadow upon me, prowling soundlessly in his large frame, carefully studying the decision that I will come to make.
I have chosen. I don’t care about love this time. I just wanted to be protected.
“I—I will stay.” I choose.
- Writer
