My two mates.
Aria’s POV
The garden remains cloaked in moonlight, its silence stretching around me like a veil, soft and heavy. The confrontation with Genevieve has ended, her fury trailing behind her like the hem of her gown, but the storm she tried to summon still lingers in the air, not because her words wounded me, but because they feel so familiar. It feels like I am back at the Silverclaw Pack. Will I ever be accepted? Will I ever belong somewhere?
I remain at the edge of the fountain, unmoving, my fingers brushing the cool stone as I stare into the water, watching the ripples shift and fade beneath the moon’s pale gaze. My robe clings to my skin, but I feel no comfort in its warmth, no peace in the healing herbs that linger in my hair. My body may be mended, but my heart is a battlefield, and the war I am fighting is one no healer can soothe.
I do not hear Darius approach. His eyes find mine, and I feel the bond between us pulse with quiet insistence, not demanding, not pleading, but reminding me that it exists and that it is real. Damn, the Moon Goddess gave me two mates. The one is too much of a coward to stand up against his parents and his pack, and the other one is the total opposite of Ethan. Darius is strong and will never allow anyone to tell him what he should do or think. I know Darius heard every word I said to Genevieve.
“I heard you,” he says, his voice is sharp as his eyes. Each word is shaped with precision, and though he does not smile, there is something in his gaze that flickers with satisfaction, something that tells me he is pleased with what I said, pleased that I stood my ground, pleased that I claimed the title he offered me. “I am glad you have chosen to accept your place beside me.”
I simply watch him, and I let the silence stretch between us, because I am not sure what I feel, not sure what I want, not sure if the words I spoke to Genevieve were born of truth or fury or something far more complicated. Maybe it was born out of revenge, and the words make me feel a little guilty.
“But there is something that must be done,” he continues, stepping closer, his cloak trailing behind him, his voice steady and final. “You must come with me to the Silverclaw Pack and break the bond with Ethan.”
The name strikes me like a sudden wind, sharp and cold, and though I do not flinch, I feel the ache bloom inside me, deep and familiar, a wound that never truly closed, a memory that still breathes beneath my skin. I may tell myself it does not hurt and I am stronger now, but I know I am still hurting, even if it is just a little. Darius does not wait for my reply. He turns and walks away, and I watch him disappear into the castle, leaving me alone with the weight of his words and the storm rising inside my chest. I feel a little guilty towards Ethan. What if he is not a coward? What if he stood up against his parents and pack to be with me, and now I have already said I will become the Queen of the Lycans? What if he is still waiting for me to return, or even worse, what if he is looking for me? I hope he does not show up here demanding to see me. I do not think Darius will like that. I know he did not take Lilith as his mate. I did not feel the pain a werewolf or even a Lycan feels when the mate rejects or betrays them. I only felt my heart scatter. My wolf was hurt, but we did not feel the pain of a broken bond. Well, not yet anyway.
I sink slowly onto the edge of the fountain, my fingers trailing through the water, and I stare at the ripples, watching them stretch and fade, watching them vanish into stillness, and I wonder if that is what will happen to me, if I will be pulled in opposite directions until there is nothing left but silence and surrender. I do not know if I am ready to face Ethan again, to walk into the pack that cast me out, to stand before the boy who once held my heart and ask him to release me from the bond that still pulses quietly between us. I do not know if I can look into his eyes and see regret, or worse, acceptance and love. I do not know if I can break something that once felt sacred, something that once promised me a happy ever after forever. But I do know this. I am not the same girl who left. I have changed. I have bled and healed and risen from the pain Ethan and his pack caused me.
Yet, even as I try to hold onto that truth, even as I remind myself of the strength I have earned, I cannot stop the thoughts that rise unbidden, cannot silence the questions that whisper through my mind like ghosts. Ethan never married. He never chose another, well, at least not yet. He never moved on. I would have felt it.
The bond between us remains unbroken, quiet but present, a thread that ties me to a boy who once promised to fight for me, who once stood beside me and swore that nothing would tear us apart. Did he stand up to his parents? Did he regret what he did? Does he still carry the bond because he still cares about me? It is funny that I think of Ethan as a boy. It is because he feels like a boy next to Darius. I have to stop repeating these questions in my head, but I am confused.
Because if he does still love me, if he still dreams of me in the quiet hours of the night, if he still believes in the bond we shared, then what does that mean for Darius? What does that mean for the crown? What does that mean for the future I have begun to accept? I do not want them to fight for me. I do not want to be the reason two men tear each other apart. I do not want to be the prize in a war of pride and power. I want to be more than a bond. I want to be a choice.
I want to be more than a Queen claimed by blood and fate, and I want to be more than a rejected mate because of the same blood that is making me a Queen. I close my eyes and let the questions wash over me, let the pain rise and fall like a tide, let the memories flicker behind my eyelids like fireflies. Ethan’s smile, Ethan’s voice, Ethan’s arms around me in the dark. However, as much as I try, I cannot imagine Ethan anymore. I see Darius, cold and commanding, watching me with eyes that do not soften, waiting for me to become his Queen. I do not know what I will say when I see Ethan again. I do not know if I will ask him why he let me go, or if I will ask him why he didn’t fight harder. I do not know if I will beg him to release me, or if I will hesitate, caught between loyalty and longing. Will I still have feelings for him? But I do know that I must face him. I must walk into the Silverclaw Pack with my head high and my heart steady. I must choose, not because I am claimed, but because I am ready to choose between my two mates, between the bonds the Moon Goddess gave me. I must do it without letting them destroy each other. Because I am not a weapon or a prize. I will not be a reason for war. I will not let a bond or even love become a battlefield.
