Chapter Seven: The Impossible Choice

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. Toward my mate trapped inside the curse. Toward my father dying in those claws.

“I choose both,” I said.

Thomas’s smile faltered. “That is not an option.”

“You are wrong.” I stood between the monster and Thomas. Between my mate and the man who would own him. “Because I finally understand something. The curse does not make Kade a monster. Fear does. Control does. And I am done being afraid.”

I reached up. Touched the creature’s massive clawed hand. The one holding my father’s throat.

The monster flinched.

“Kade,” I said softly. “I know you are in there. I know you can hear me. And I know you are terrified. Terrified of hurting me. Terrified of losing control. Terrified of becoming the thing that killed your pack.”

The silver eyes flickered. Something human moved behind them.

“But you did not kill your pack. Thomas did. He used dark magic to trigger your curse. He made you into a weapon. And now he is trying to do it again.”

“Stop talking,” Thomas said. He yanked on the binding chain. The monster roared in pain. The runes burned brighter. “Kill Marcus Steele. Now!”

The claws tightened around my father’s throat.

“Kade, listen to me.” I pressed my hand against the monster’s chest. Right over where his heart beat. “You are not a weapon. You are not a curse. You are my mate. And I trust you.”

“Aria, get away from him!” my father gasped. Blood poured from where the claws pierced his skin. “He cannot control it. He will kill you.”

“No, he will not.” I looked into those silver eyes. “Because love is stronger than any curse. Stronger than any magic. Stronger than fear.”

The mate bond flared between us. Brilliant. Burning. Pure.

And the monster screamed.

Not in rage. In agony. In resistance.

Kade was fighting back.

“Impossible,” Thomas said. “The binding chain cannot be broken from within. I paid a fortune for that magic!”

“You paid for control,” I said. “But you cannot control a bond forged by fate itself.”

The monster’s form began to shift. To crack. To break apart like glass shattering.

Thomas raised his hand. Dark magic swirled around his fingers. “If I cannot have him, then I will destroy him. And you with him.”

He threw the magic.

My father moved.

Even dying, even with his throat half crushed, Marcus Steele moved faster than I had ever seen. He ripped free from the monster’s claws. Threw himself between me and the dark magic.

It hit him full in the chest.

“No!” I screamed.

My father collapsed. The magic ate through him. Through flesh and bone and life. He convulsed. Blood poured from his mouth.

“Father, no, please, no!”

His gold eyes found mine. For the first time in years, they were soft. Human. Loving.

“I am sorry,” he whispered. “For everything. For the pain. For the cruelty. For not seeing how strong you truly were.”

“Do not talk. Save your strength. We can heal you. We can…”

“No, little wolf. This is my end.” He reached up. Touched my face. His hand was gentle. Like it used to be when I was small. “But you… You are just beginning. You are everything I wanted Daemon to be. Everything I needed you to be. I was just too broken to see it.”

Tears poured down my face. “I cannot do this without you.”

“Yes, you can. You already have.” He looked at Kade. The monster is still fighting to break free. “Protect her. With everything you are. Give her the love I could not.”

The monster’s head bowed. Understanding. Accepting.

My father smiled. “Good. Then my daughter is in better hands than mine ever were.”

His eyes closed.

His heart stopped.

And the strongest alpha in North America died in my arms.

Something inside me broke. Something that had been holding back. Holding down. Holding together.

Power exploded from me.

Not wolf power. Something older. Something that came from pain and loss and rage and love all twisted together into something new.

The monster shattered completely. And Kade emerged, human again, covered in blood and gasping.

The binding chain crumbled to dust.

And Thomas Crane finally looked afraid.

“What are you?” he breathed.

I did not know. But I could feel it burning through my veins. Feel it reshaping my wolf. Feel it transforming everything I thought I was into something I was always meant to be.

An alpha. Not by birth. But by choice.

“I am the daughter of Marcus Steele,” I said. My voice was different. Deeper. Resonating with power that made the other wolves whimper and submit. “And you murdered my father.”

Thomas ran.

I shifted. But not into my normal wolf. Into something bigger. Stronger. Silver fur instead of brown. Eyes that glowed with the same power Kade’s curse carried.

The mate bond did not just connect us anymore.

It merged us.

I was wolf and curse and something entirely new.

And I was fast.

I caught Thomas before he made it ten feet. Slammed him into the ground. My jaws closed around his throat.

“Please,” he begged. “Please, I can give you power. Territory. Anything you want. Just let me live.”

“You want mercy?” I tasted his blood. Tasted his fear. “You, who showed none to Kade’s pack? None to my father? None to me?”

“I was following orders! The Old Blood Council, wanted the curse! They made me do it!”

I froze.

“What did you say?”

“The Council! They are the ones who want the Blackwood curse! I was just a tool! A means to an end!” He was babbling now. Desperate. “They have others like Kade. Other bloodlines. Other curses. They are building an army. And you just became their primary target.”

Kade appeared beside me. Human. Naked. Covered in blood but alive. “How many others?”

“Six. Maybe seven. All cursed. All controlled by binding magic.” Thomas laughed. Broken. Insane. “You think killing me stops anything? I am nothing. The Council will send more. Stronger. Better prepared. And they will not stop until they have you both.”

I looked at Kade. At my mate. At the man who had suffered so much because of this Council.

“Then we will be ready,” I said.

I bit down.

Thomas Crane died without dignity. Without mercy. Without the power he spent his life chasing.

When it was over, I shifted back. Stood there covered in blood. My father’s. Thomas’s. My own.

The other wolves watched. Waiting. Judging.

Sera stepped forward. “You just killed an alpha on Steele territory. According to the pack law, that makes you a challenger.”

“I am not challenging,” I said. “I am claiming. This is my pack now. My territory. And anyone who disagrees can face me in the circle.”

Silence.

Then, one by one, the wolves bowed. Elite guards. Council members. Even Beta Richards, bleeding and broken, lowered his head in submission.

“Alpha,” they said. All of them. “We serve the alpha.”

Lila pushed through the crowd. Her eyes were wide. Terrified. “Aria, I am so sorry. I did not know. I did not mean for any of this to happen.”

I looked at my cousin. At the girl who betrayed me. Who helped Thomas capture Kade?

“You made a choice,” I said. “And now you live with it. But you are still packed. Still family. And I do not punish out of cruelty.”

Relief flooded her face. “Thank you. Thank you, I swear I will make this right. I will—”

“But you will never hold power here. You will never be heir. You will spend your life earning back the trust you destroyed.” I turned away. “Now get out of my sight.”

She ran.

The others waited. Watching their new alpha. Wondering what came next.

I looked at Kade. At my mate. At the man who was supposed to be my enemy.

“We have a problem,” I said.

“The Council.”

“Yes. They know about us now. Know what we can do together. And they will come for us.”

“Let them come.” He took my hand. The mate bond sang between us. Complete. Perfect. Unbreakable. “We survived Thomas. We will survive them too.”

I wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe we could win against an entire conspiracy of ancient wolves with cursed bloodlines and dark magic.

But then Sera’s phone buzzed.

She looked at it. Her face went white.

“What is it?” I asked.

She turned the phone toward me.

A video. Grainy. Dark. But clear enough.

Six wolves. All shifted. All with eyes that glowed with cursed power just like Kade’s. Just like mine now.

And in the centre, a woman’s voice. Cold. Ancient. Terrifying.

“Hello, Aria Steele. Welcome to the war.”

The video cut off.

And I realised Thomas was right about one thing.

Killing him changed nothing.

The real enemy was just beginning.