Rejected And Reborn As The Alpha King's Luna

Chapter 42: When the Darkness Chose Me

POV: THELMA

"It means centuries of accumulated dark magic will flood into you. Every curse she's ever cast, every life she's stolen, every bit of demon essence she's touched. You'll feel all of it, bear the weight of all of it. And there's a very real chance it will corrupt you, turn you into the monster everyone already fears you are."

I stood on shaking legs. "And if I don't?"

"You stay as you are. Safe, numb, useless. Morgana completes her ritual, opens the demon portal, and destroys everything you claim to care about." The Oracle smiled that terrible smile. "But at least you won't feel bad about it."

The choice wasn't really a choice at all.

"What do I have to do?"

"Finally. A bit of spine." The Oracle gestured to the center of the cavern, where a circle of ancient runes had appeared, glowing with sickly green light. "Stand in the circle. Open yourself completely. And whatever you do, don't fight what's coming. The magic will either flow through you or tear you apart. Your survival depends on surrender."

I walked to the circle, my legs unsteady. As I stepped inside, the runes flared brighter.

"One more thing," the Oracle said. "Your mate bond will try to help you. It will attempt to share the burden, pull some of the dark magic into Xavier to ease your suffering. Don't let it. If even a fraction of this corruption touches him, it will kill him."

My wolf Thalia stirred at that, a flicker of something that might have been fear. Or maybe just recognition.

"I understand," I said.

"Do you?" The Oracle's voice was softer now. "Do you understand that you're about to experience more pain than any wolf should bear? That you might lose yourself completely in the darkness?"

"I understand I have to try."

She nodded slowly. "Very well. Cassandra the Oracle witnesses your choice. Let it be recorded that Thelma, daughter of James and Catherine, chose feeling over safety. Chose love over numbness. Chose to sacrifice herself for others, just like her parents before her."

"Wait, what do you—"

The runes exploded with light, and the dark magic hit me like a tidal wave.

It started as cold, so cold it burned. Then came the whispers, thousands of voices crying out in agony, the souls Morgana had consumed over centuries. I felt their deaths, their torment, their corruption.

Then came the demon essence, oily and wrong, sliding through my veins like poison. It wanted to consume me, hollow me out, use me as a vessel for its malevolence.

I screamed.

The sound tore from my throat, raw and terrible. Terror flooded through me, real terror, the first emotion I'd felt since the curse took hold. And with the terror came everything else.

Pain, excruciating and all consuming. Grief for my parents, for my lost life, for everything I'd endured. Rage at the injustice of it all. Love for Xavier, for Theo, bright and burning and almost as painful as the darkness.

It was too much. Too much feeling, too much magic, too much everything. My body convulsed, trying to reject what was being forced into it.

"Don't fight!" Cassandra's voice cut through the chaos. "Accept it! Let it flow through you!"

I tried to stop fighting, tried to open myself completely. The dark magic surged deeper, settling into my bones, my blood, my soul. I felt Morgana's presence in it, her consciousness woven through the corruption like a poison thread.

Through the mate bond, I felt Xavier. He was trying to reach me, trying to take some of the burden. I could feel him pulling at the dark magic, attempting to draw it into himself.

"No!" I screamed, both out loud and through our bond. "Xavier, no!"

But he wasn't stopping. I felt his pain as the corruption touched him, felt his body start to break under the strain.

I had to close the bond. Had to cut him off before the darkness killed him.

With everything I had left, I slammed barriers down on the mate bond. It fought me, Xavier fought me, but I held firm. The bond stretched, thinned, but didn't break.

The dark magic filled me completely. I was burning, drowning, being torn apart and remade. Morgana's evil was inside me now, part of me, and I could feel her satisfaction like oil on my skin.

"Good," Cassandra said from somewhere far away. "You're surviving. Now comes the hard part."

Hard part? This was just the beginning?

Another wave of dark magic crashed into me, and this time, I felt Morgana herself. Her consciousness, pressing against mine, trying to take control.

"Mine," she whispered in my mind. "You're mine now, little Alpha. Such a perfect vessel."

I screamed again, fighting to keep my sense of self as the ancient witch tried to possess me. My heart, finally feeling again, beat frantically in my chest.

"Fight her," Cassandra commanded. "The magic is yours now. Claim it. Control it. Don't let her control you!"

But Morgana was so strong, so old, so practiced at this. She slithered through my defenses, wrapped around my consciousness like a snake.

Images flashed through my mind. Morgana's plans, her centuries of schemes, the demon lord she'd bargained with. The portal she wanted to open. The apocalypse she wanted to unleash.

And something else. Something about my parents, about why she'd really wanted them dead.

The pain redoubled. I was screaming continuously now, my voice going raw. Blood poured from my nose, my ears. My body was breaking under the strain.

Through the blocked bond, I felt Xavier collapse. Felt his agony as the severed connection tore at him. He was dying, just from the echo of what I was experiencing.

"Stay with me!" Cassandra's hands gripped my face, her blind eyes somehow seeing into my soul. "You're almost through! Just hold on!"

But I couldn't hold on. The darkness was too vast, too overwhelming. I was going to die, or worse, become Morgana's puppet. Either way, I was lost.

Then I felt it. A spark of light in the endless dark. My wolf, Thalia, howling defiance. And with her, the echo of my twin bond with Theo. The mate bond with Xavier, damaged but not destroyed.

I wasn't alone in this darkness.

I grabbed onto those connections, those lifelines, and pulled myself back from the edge.

The dark magic settled, no longer fighting me. It was mine now, contained within me, a terrible weapon I could wield but might also destroy me.

I stopped screaming. Opened my eyes.

Cassandra was smiling. "Welcome back, child. How do you feel?"

Everything. I felt everything.

And it was glorious and terrible and more than I could bear.

Outside the cave, Xavier's screams joined mine as the mate bond snapped back into full force, flooding him with echoes of what I'd just endured. I felt him through our connection, felt his body fail, felt blood pouring from his nose and ears.

He was dying because of me.

"No," I whispered. "No, please, not him."

But the damage was done. Through our bond, I felt Xavier collapse, felt his heart stutter.

Felt him start to die.