And then something unexpected happens.
As the magic reaches Selena, it... hesitates. The blue light flickers, bends around her like water around a stone. The perfect cylinder warps, stretching toward her before snapping back into place.
Elder Miriam’s eyes widen. The other elders shift uncomfortably, exchanging glances heavy with unspoken concern.
“Continue,” Elder Darius commands, though his voice holds a new edge.
The ritual progresses, the light growing brighter until it bathes all three participants in its unforgiving glow. This magic cannot be deceived, it draws truth from blood and bone.
“Tell us about the herbs found in Selena’s system,” Elder Miriam demands.
Candice’s face, moments ago a perfect mask of innocence, begins to twitch. “I don’t... I never...” The magic flares brighter around her, and she flinches. “It was just to help her adjust! She wasn’t right for him anyway!”
“Candice,” Ronan hisses, but it’s too late.
“Did you administer substances to interfere with Selena’s mate bond?” Elder Miriam presses.
“Yes!” Candice finally breaks, her composure shattering. “Yes, but he knew! He’s always known what I was doing!”
The chamber erupts in murmurs. Ronan lunges toward Candice, but the magic holds him back, silver light binding his movements.
“Ronan,” Elder Darius’s voice cuts through the chaos. “Did you knowingly allow interference with your mate bond?”
Ronan’s face contorts with rage. “You don’t understand. The prophecy...“
“Answer the question,” all five elders command in unison.
The magic constricts around him, and he falls to his knees. “Yes! She was never what I wanted! The pack needed strength, not some human weakling!”
I feel my wolf surge forward, claws and teeth pressing against the barrier of my skin. I force him back, but just barely.
Soon. Not yet, but soon.
Selena stands unflinching in the face of his hatred, and pride swells in my chest.
“The council has heard enough,” Elder Miriam declares. “Ronan, you have violated our most sacred laws. The mate bond you claimed was false, maintained through deception and malice.”
Elder Darius rises. “By the power of this council, we rule that Selena is released from any claim you have made upon her. The rejection is granted.”
“No!” Ronan roars, fighting against the magic. “You can’t do this! She’s mine!”
“She was never yours,” I say, my voice deadly calm.
Elder Miriam raises her hands. “Let the fated bond be broken.”
The air grows heavy, charged with ancient power. I watch Selena’s face as the ritual reaches its climax. She gasps, her back arching as if an invisible cord connected to her center is being pulled taut.
Then, with a sound like thunder contained in a single room, something snaps.
Selena cries out, dropping to her knees as Ronan is thrown backward, colliding with the far wall. The magic between them visibly shatters, fragments of blue light dispersing like broken glass.
In that exact moment, that precise heartbeat when one bond dies, I feel it.
A surge of heat and power unlike anything I’ve ever known floods through me, racing from my core to every extremity. My wolf howls in triumph, no longer fighting to get out but merging with me in perfect unity.
MINE.
My eyes lock with Selena’s. Her lips part in shock as she feels it too, this new connection forging between us, molten and unbreakable. Not a mere bond but something older, primal, written in the stars long before either of us drew breath.
