Time stopped.
My father’s throat was in the monster’s claws. One squeeze and he would die. The creature that wore Kade’s curse waited for Thomas’s command. And I stood there, broken and bleeding, with a choice that would destroy me either way.
Save my mate. Or save my father.
But something inside me snapped.
“No,” I said. The word came out quietly. Steady. “I will not choose.”
Thomas laughed. “You do not have a choice, little girl. Your father dies, or your mate remains mine forever. Pick.”
“I said no.” I stood. Every rib screamed. Every wound burned. But I forced myself up anyway. “You want me to break. Want me to sacrifice one for the other? Want me to destroy myself choosing?”
“What are you doing?” Sera hissed. “Aria, you have to do something!”
I walked toward the monster. Towar
