Chapter 65
Nathan’s POV
“ Her time has come, ” the priestess said.
My vision blurred red. “ Asta, you are a priestess, damn it! ” I growled. “ You serve the Moon Goddess. “ Beg her to save Emily! Don’t let her die!
She moved then. Not with fear, but with a terrifying, ancient stillness. She stopped inches from me, looking up with eyes that had seen centuries of death.
“ You are blinded by your fear, Alpha, ” she said.
“ What does that mean? ” I squeezed my hands into fists.
Her voice became a whisper. “ I never said she was dying. I said her time has come, ” she repeated, her gaze
piercing through me. “ Her time to take the step. ”
I felt a cold chill. My wolf went quiet. “ What step? ”
The priestess closed her eyes. “ She is standing right now on the border, ” the priestess said. “ And she is moving
away from us. ”
I stepped forward. “ Then bring her back! ”
“ I cannot, ” she said. “ But, ” the priestess added, opening her eyes, “ you can help her find the way back. ”
Hope flared in my chest. “ Tell me how. I will do anything. ”
The witch in the corner put her cup down. The sound was loud in the quiet room. “ Now things are getting nteresting, ” she said with a dark smile.
The priestess ignored the witch and looked only at me. “ There is a place where the veil between worlds is, thin. And a place where the Mother Goddess still listens. ”
I ground my teeth together. “ Where? ”
The priestess didn’t blink. “ Under The Memory Tree. ”
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I was already halfway to the door, my mind racing. I would carry Emily there on my back if I had to. I would burn
he world down to keep her.
“ Wait, ” the witch called out.
I didn’t have time for games.
But the witch wasn’t laughing anymore. She looked very serious. “ Do you even know what that place is? ” She eaned forward into the light. “ You go there to make a trade. It is a place where you pay with your blood and your
oul. ”
“ You must hurry, the priestess warned.
I ran through the hospital doors. I wasn’t going to be late. I wasn’t going to let anyone take what was mine.
The white hallways of the clinic felt like a cage. The smell of medicine made my wolf angry. I reached her room in seconds. I slammed the door so hard that the glass cracked.
“ What are you doing?! ” a nurse gasped. She dropped her tools on the floor.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t even look at her. I only had eyes for Emily. She looked so small in that big bed, surrounded by machines that made a humming sound.
I stepped forward and began ripping the wires away from her body.
“ Alpha! Stop! ”
The heart monitor made a long, loud scream as I pulled the sensors off. I picked Emily up. She was so light. Too light. Her head fell against my shoulder, and her skin felt cold.
“ I’ve got you, ” I growled into her hair. “ You won’t die, baby. ”
“ You can’t move her! ” a doctor shouted. He stood in the doorway, his face red. “ She is in critical condition! You
step out of this room, and she dies. Alpha, put her down. ”
He reached out and grabbed my arm to pull me back.
The air in the hallway changed. It became heavy and thick. I let my Alpha aura explode outward like a shockwave.
The lights above us flashed and buzzed.
“ Take your hand off me, ” I commanded. “ And don’t you dare stand in my way. ”
It was an Alpha command. He and the nurse fell to their knees, paned down by my power.
I walked past him in the hallway – guards, doctors, and visitors – couldn’t move. They couldn’t look me in the eye. was a monster in a suit, carrying my dying Luna through them.
I burst through the exit. The cold night air hit my face.
“ Stay with me, Emily, ” I whispered, holding her tighter as I ran toward the forest. “ Don’t you dare leave me. Not
ike this. ”
The trees seemed to whisper as I carried her into the dark. Finally, we reached the Memory Tree.
“ Hurry up. We’re out of time, ” the priestess said, stepping forward. The moonlight shone in her eyes. “ Lay her
here. ” She pointed to the center of a circle of candles.
I dropped to my knees and carefully placed Emily on the cold grass and roots.
“ Enough, ” the priestess said, pushing me aside. She painted a white crescent moon on Emily’s forehead.
5:22 pm
In seconds, the circle was burning with fire. Strange symbols were drawn in the dirt. The air felt heavy and dangerous, like a storm was coming.
“ Shift! ” the priestess ordered.
I stared at her. My heart was beating fast. “ What? ”
“ Turn into your wolf, ” she commanded. “ Your human soul is too weak for this. The bond lives in the wolf. ”
I didn’t wait. The sound of my bones snapping filled the woods. It was a loud, wet cracking sound. My muscles tore and changed.
Asher pushed his nose toward Emily. I was looking for the bond that joined our souls. I found it, but it was very, very thin. She felt like an echo, a ghost walking away into a fog I couldnt enter.
“ Moon Goddess … please hear me … I am standing here, begging you to listen … ” the priestess whispered behind
Suddenly, a violent wind whipped up, and the trees roared. The storm broke open, and I saw three bolts of
lightning strike the tree. The flash blinded me.
I covered my eyes with my hand. When I opened them, I saw them.
They didn’t look like women.
One held a tool for spinning thread. One held a string to measure it. And the third … she held a blade that looked
like it was made from the dark side of the moon.
Six eyes turned toward me at the same time.
The Fates. The Moirai.
I was in shock, but I quickly pulled myself together. I didn’t care if they were gods or monsters. I needed help, and
someone had finally heard me.
“ Save her, ” I growled. The words were more of a thought than a sound. I looked down at myself – I was human again. What kind of tricks are happening here? I wondered in the back of my mind.
A slow, dangerous smile spread across their faces. They didn’t look kind. They looked like hunters watching a bug ily into a fire.
“ What are you ready to give up? ” the first asked.
“ Anything, ” I answered without hesitation.
“ Anything? ” the second asked. Her eyes turned into black, empty holes. “ Is her life worth giving up your own? ”
“ Yes, ” I answered immediately.
“ Even if saving her destroys everything you know, everyone you loved? ”
1:22 pm P
In seconds, the circle was burning with fire. Strange symbols were drawn in the dirt. The air felt heavy and
langerous, like a storm was coming.
“ Shift! ” the priestess ordered.
I stared at her. My heart was beating fast. “ What? ”
“ Turn into your wolf, ” she commanded. “ Your human soul is too weak for this. The bond lives in the wolf. ”
I didn’t wait. The sound of my bones snapping filled the woods. It was a loud, wet cracking sound. My muscles ore and changed.
Asher pushed his nose toward Emily. I was looking for the bond that joined our souls. I found it, but it was very, very thin. She felt like an echo, a ghost walking away into a fog I couldnt enter.
“ Moon Goddess … please hear me … I am standing here, begging you to listen … ” the priestess whispered behind
Suddenly, a violent wind whipped up, and the trees roared. The storm broke open, and I saw three bolts of
ightning strike the tree. The flash blinded me.
I covered my eyes with my hand. When I opened them, I saw them.
They didn’t look like women.
One held a tool for spinning thread. One held a string to measure it. And the third … she held a blade that looked
ike it was made from the dark side of the moon.
Six eyes turned toward me at the same time.
The Fates. The Moirai.
I was in shock, but I quickly pulled myself together. I didn’t care they were gods or monsters. I needed help, and someone had finally heard me.
୮
“ Save her, ” I growled. The words were more of a thought than a sound. I looked down at myself – I was human gain. What kind of tricks are happening here? I wondered in the back of my mind.
A slow, dangerous smile spread across their faces. They didn’t look kind. They looked like hunters watching a bug ly into a fire.
“ What are you ready to give up? ” the first asked.
“ Anything, ” I answered without hesitation.
“Anything? ” the second asked. Her eyes turned into black, empty holes. “ Is her life worth giving up your own? ”
“ Yes, ” I answered immediately.
“ Even if saving her destroys everything you know, everyone you loved? ”
dug my claws into the dark ground. “ Yes. ”
“ Very well, ” they whispered together. “ The sacrifice is accepted. ”
I felt relief for a second, but then it vanished. Something was wrong.
“ How much time do I have left? ” I asked.
The three of them tilted their heads at the same time. They looked like they were having fun. Then, they showed their teeth in a cold, cruel smile.
“ We never said life would be yours. ”
“ What do you mean? ” I snapped. I stepped forward, the hair on my back rising. “ We had a deal! I gave you my life! ”
“ No, ” the first said softly. “ You made an offer, ” the second added.
She watched me like I was a toy she was about to break.
Suddenly, the darkness behind me lit up. Thousands of glowing threads appeared. Every single thread was a life.
“ Every bond you have, ” the first Sister said. She touched a thread with her ghostly fingers. I felt a sharp pain in
my soul.
“ Every person tied to your spirit, ” the second said.
“ Every heart that would stop beating if yours stopped, the third finished.
I couldn’t breathe. I looked at the giant web of light. And I was the center of my pack as an Alpha. Every thread was a life I promised to protect.
“ Choose, ” they said together. Their voices sounded like thunder the empty dark.
I looked at the thousands of glowing threads. My pack. My family. My friends, my mother’s laugh. Liam’s hand on my shoulder. The faces of my pack. And then – Emily. Her smile. The way she looked in the morning.
To save Emily, I had to let someone else fall into the dark. I had to steal time from someone who trusted me.
“ I can’t, ” I whispered, my wolf’s heart breaking. “ I can’t choose. ”
The Sister with the blade smiled. It was a cold, sharp look. “ Your heart has already chosen, Alpha. Deep down, where you keep your darkest secrets … You already know who you would give up for her. ”
I reached out my hand to stop them, to scream, to take it back-
But the blade flashed.
A silver spark flew through the air. I heard a sound like a single violin string snapping in the dark. A life was cut. A light went out.
5:22 pm
But I didn’t see which one.
My eyes flew open.
The heavy air of the forest rushed back. I smelled blood, smoke, and wet dirt. I changed back into my human skin instantly. The pain of my bones shifting was nothing compared to the terror in my chest.
I scrambled forward and grabbed her face.
“ Emily! ” I choked out.
Her chest moved. A small, weak breath escaped her lips. Her heart began to beat again, slow but steady. She was coming back.
The relief hit me so hard I almost fell. But then, the cold memory of the Fates returned.
A soul for a soul.
Emily was breathing, but somewhere else, someone would be stopped. I looked toward the dark woods, toward my pack lands. Everything was silent.
My mind was screaming. What did they cut? Whose life did they take?
Next Chapter
Cha
Olivia Harris is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy novels. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.