Chapter 7: Fate or Love?

“What do you mean you don’t want her, Knox?” January, November’s brother, my best friend yelled at me, almost unbelieving when I told him, I don’t want November because I already chose Emerald over her. The scene at the hospital made everything a mess. 

My parents learned November was dying because of me and blamed Emerald for it. I stood against them. I told them everyone could be free to leave my pack if they were against my choice. 

My parents looked at me, unbelievable. They were my parents, they gave me everything but I couldn’t let them ruin my life. 

“You know, son,” my father said, defeated and shaking his head. “A pack will only become stronger when your true mate is beside you. An imbalanced leadership will always make a pack down. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. And you are coming to me for help. As for now, I’m no longer a father for you.” He said, direct to my face as if I was never a good son to him. 

It was a shock. I was shocked by the words. 

“Dad, what are you-”

“Knox, stop it. I will never listen to your reasons again. That’s final. Unless you come to your senses and take what is actually yours before Zeus takes it away from you.”

“No,” I replied, almost to a whisper. “I love Emerald-”

“Then so be it.” 

With that, Dad left me. And January, my best friend since diaper was also fuming. 

“Jan, look Emerald is better suited for me. And you know we have been together for five years,” I replied, tired of this same old conversation. “We’re engaged, Jan. Why don’t you accept it?”

January’s punch hit my face before I could even react. He was fuming. His face was red. 

“You’re an asshole,” that’s all he said and turned his back on me. 

I touched my cheek and smirked. 

“Didn’t you praise Emerald hundred times, calling her the best Luna before November?” I asked him. 

January stopped his track, he fisted his hands. 

“I didn’t know,” he said, not turning his back on me. “But now I know, I’ll choose Zeus to have her rather than an asshole like you,” he added and left my office.

I heaved a sigh. Damn it. I walked to my window and saw a scene I never wanted to see. 

I knew it the moment I saw Zeus talking to November.

He stood close, but not too close. Watching her, his golden eyes filled with that strange mix of danger and warmth that only Zeus could carry. His voice was low, smooth, a little teasing. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but she laughed. Really laughed.

That sound hit me harder than I wanted to admit.

Zeus was no ordinary male. He was half-wolf, half-dragon. A hybrid born of fire and instinct. He ruled his own territory a few mountains over, where only hybrids lived. His pack was small, tight, deadly. They didn’t follow the old traditions like we did. They followed strength. Loyalty. And freedom.

I had known Zeus. He was the abomination, his father threw him out after finding his mate, a dragon-shifter. But despite his father disowning him, he grew a herd of hybrids and attacked his own father, killing him as he announced it as a revenge for his mother.  

I’m unsure if he hated his wolf blood. But I knew after he attacked his father, burning it crips and to ass, he never attacked another pack. Zeus was known to be playful but something about him always felt… unchained. Wild. Like the fire in his blood could burn everything around him if he ever truly lost control. But we became friends. Alies. 

But November didn’t fear him. In fact I could see he kind of hates him or is irritated. 

She looked at him like a biggest idiot she have ever met but I could occasionally see her smile and laugh. He’s making her laugh, something I never had done before. 

And I hated it.

Not because I didn’t want her to be happy. I did. Truly.

But part of me,a deep, aching, stubborn part,still felt that mate bond. Still wanted to protect her. Claim her. Keep her. Even after I had already made my choice.

Emerald.

She was my heart. My peace. The one who chose me before the Moon Goddess twisted our paths. My human side belonged to her. And she had given me everything. Love. Loyalty. A future.

But my wolf?

He never stopped howling for November.

When Zeus came to me later that evening, I already knew what he wanted to ask. He wanted her.

He waited until we were alone, out near the edge of the woods behind the pack house. The moon was low, heavy in the sky. Clouds drifted over it slowly, casting long shadows.

Zeus leaned against a tree, his arms crossed, golden eyes glowing faintly.

“You know why I’m here,” he said.

I didn’t answer.

He smirked. 

“You always were the quiet type, the perfectionist. I just didn’t know why you chose someone else over your mate.”

I stayed silent, jaw clenched, heart racing.

Zeus tilted his head. 

“I want her. Not just for a few weeks. I want to court her. See if she’d consider joining my pack. My future. I’l save her. She’s  dying. You know that. She has been taking wolfnip. And you know exactly why.”

Every word burned like fire in my chest.

“You think she’ll say yes?” I asked, voice low.

“She hasn’t said no,” he replied with a shrug. “And that’s a start.”

I hated how calm he was. How honest. There was no arrogance in his tone. No mocking. Just truth.

That made it worse.

He wasn’t trying to take her for sport. He wanted her like I once had—with every part of him.

“She’s not mine,” I said, more to myself than to him.

Zeus looked at me then, eyes sharp. “She was, though.”

I looked away.

“She’s strong,” he said quietly. “But she’s been alone too long. You knew that, didn’t you?”

My fists clenched. 

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“Didn’t you?” His tone wasn’t cruel, just curious. “Or did you just choose something easier?”

That hit me like a punch to the gut. Because maybe, just maybe, it was true.

Choosing Emerald had been a choice of the heart. But also a choice of comfort. Familiarity. Love without guilt.

November had always been the storm. The unknown. The part of my soul I couldn’t fully understand.

But Zeus… he understood her.

They were both hybrids. Both born between worlds. Both made of things they didn’t ask for, carrying power that others feared.

And part of me knew—deep down—he could give her what I never could.

Freedom.

He wouldn’t ask her to shrink herself. He wouldn’t look at her and see what he gave up. He would see her, only her. And want her more for it.

My wolf hated that.

My human side… accepted it.

But I was still torn. I felt like I was standing on two cliffs, one foot on each, and the ground between them was starting to crack.

“You’d treat her right?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

“With my life,” Zeus said. “She’d have her place. Her power. My protection. My herd would follow her. Worship her, if she let them.”

He meant it. I could see it in his eyes.

He was deadly, yes. I’d seen him burn rogues to ash with a flick of his claws. But he was also loyal. When he gave his heart, it was forever. That much I knew.

“You don’t deserve her,” I said without thinking.

Zeus just smiled. “Neither do you.”

And I couldn’t argue.

That night, I sat on the edge of my bed, Emerald asleep behind me. I stared at the floor, unable to stop the images flooding my mind—November’s smile, her quiet strength, her soft laugh when she thought no one was listening.

I remembered how she used to follow me with those silver eyes, like I was her entire world. And how I walked away from it.

I thought I had done the right thing.

But now I wasn’t so sure.

Maybe the real truth was, I had chosen the path that didn’t scare me.

Loving November had scared me. It meant losing control. It meant giving in to something I didn’t fully understand. It meant trusting the Moon Goddess when I had spent my life trying to forge my own fate.

But now, someone else stood where I once did.

Zeus.

And even though it tore me apart, I knew I couldn’t stop him.

He was powerful, yes. But more than that, he was right for her. He could meet her fire with fire. Her strength with his own. Her loneliness with understanding.

And maybe… just maybe… that’s what she needed all along.

The next time I saw her, she was walking near the border of the woods, alone. I didn’t call her name. I just watched her from a distance, letting the moment sit in my chest like a weight.

She turned once, as if she sensed me. Our eyes met.

No words.

Just a moment.

Then she looked away and kept walking toward the hills where the sun was rising, golden and warm.

Toward Zeus’s territory.

And I let her go.

Because love… real love… means knowing when to hold on.

And when to set someone free.

“Fool. You’re letting go of someone who belongs to us!” my wolf growled at me, but I shut him off.