Rejected By The Pack, Claimed By The Kings

The Trials of the First Blood

Chapter 7: The Trials of the First Blood

The air in the Temple ruins was no longer just heavy; it was sentient. It tasted like copper and ozone, pulsing in time with the Seal on Gaia’s arm.

“You want to change the future?” Sora asked, her Valkyrie eyes glowing like cold stars as she stood by the altar. “Then you must survive it first.”

Trial 1: The Blood-Ritual (The Betrayal Scenario)

The first trial required the obsidian dagger. Gaia stood between Alaric and Kenjiro, her bronze ringlets damp with sweat. She sliced her palm, letting her hybrid blood hit the stone. As she did, the Temple pulled them into a shared hallucination.

In the vision, they were on the battlefield. Gaia was weakened, her magic flickering. Alaric stood over her, his whirlpool eyes gone cold. In this timeline, the Lycan High Council had offered him a choice: his throne or his mate. The vision showed Alaric’s hand trembling as he raised his frost-covered sword against her.

Gaia felt the actual sting of his cold aura in the real world. “Alaric, look at me!” she gasped, her voice thick with the soul-bond.

The Prince let out a guttural roar, fighting the Temple’s illusion. He dropped to his knees, burying his face in Gaia’s neck, his breath coming in ragged, desperate hitches. “I will never choose a crown over you,” he choked out. The vision shattered. They had survived the first scenario, but the seed of doubt—that the Council would eventually come for him—was planted.

Trial 2: The Void-Walk (The Sacrifice Scenario)

Next, Kenjiro took her hand, his electric amber eyes bleeding into shadows. “Don’t let go,” he whispered, his voice a dark, velvety promise.

He pulled her into the Void, a realm of pure darkness where only their heartbeats existed. Here, the steam was undeniable. Without the distraction of the world, their bond was a roaring fire. Kenjiro pressed her against a wall of shadow, his hands wandering over her bronze-toned skin with a hunger that made her wolf howl.

But the Void showed them the second end: Kenjiro dying for her. The vision showed him shielding Gaia from her father’s lethal immortal strike, his shadow-form dissolving into nothingness to buy her a second of life.

“No!” Gaia screamed into the darkness, her nails digging into Kenji’s shoulders.

Kenjiro’s breathing was heavy against her ear. “If that is the price for your life, I’ll pay it a thousand times,” he murmured, his lips brushing her jaw. “But we’re going to change the script, Gaia. I’m a billionaire—I don't lose my investments.

”Trial 3: The Lycan Duel (The Choice Scenario)

The final trial was a spiritual arena where Gaia had to face the "Shadow" of her father, the Alpha. But she couldn't do it alone. The Temple forced her to choose which power to lean on: the Wolf’s primal strength or the Witch’s shadow-magic.

In the vision, Gaia realized she couldn't pick just one. If she chose Alaric’s path, Kenjiro’s side of her soul withered. If she chose Kenjiro, she lost her connection to the moon.

“The prophecy says I have to choose,” Gaia whispered, looking at her two mates as the Shadow Alpha loomed over them. “But the prophecy was written by men who didn't understand what a hybrid is.”

The Future They Change

Gaia grabbed Alaric’s hand and Kenjiro’s hand at once, her Seal glowing with a blinding, iridescent light that combined frost and shadow. She didn't choose one; she claimed both.

“We aren't playthings for the stars,” she roared, her voice echoing through the ruins.

The Temple shook. The murals on the walls began to c***k and rewrite themselves. The field of bones vanished, replaced by a vision of Gaia sitting on a throne of roots and iron, with a silver-haired King on one side and a shadow-crowned King on the other.

The choice wasn't which mate to keep—it was to reject the old laws entirely.

As they emerged from the trials, gasping for air on the Temple floor, Talia and Dante were waiting.

“You did it,” Talia whispered, her eyes filled with tears. “You broke the prophecy. But you’ve also signaled every supernatural power in existence. They know the Queen of the First Blood is finally here.”

Gaia stood up, her ringlets wild, her amber-flecked eyes lethal. “Good. Let them come. We have a war to win.”