THE WEIGHT OF CHOICE

The wind had changed from the brisk chill of evening to a heavy and oppressive heat. And although the forest was still, it did not go unheard, the sound that lingered with Isolde’s sacrifice. In the middle of the clearing, Serena stood, shaking hands, gripping the pendant she had once owned. A sad remnant of her. The last remnant of a man who had sacrificed everything to save her.

Lucian hung close to her but didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The silence that unfurled between them was deafening, full of the things unsaid, the words they weren’t brave enough to utter. It felt like the world had turned upside down, and Serena was reaching for a handhold. She had lost Isolde. She lost a part of herself.

But she still felt Isolde. It was still there, and it had been there all this time, like a little dream in the back of her mind, hazy and ephemeral, but there too. Where Isolde had been a consistent, deadpan force, quietly stoic and strong while the world crumbled around her. She had once been the calm in Serena’s storm, and now she was the storm. The worst thing was the way she felt without her—the hangover, emptiness, and regret. Serena knew that—yet somehow she had to keep going. For Isolde. For herself. And for the world hanging in the balance.

“Serena,” Kaelen’s voice, breaking and piercing through her thoughts, “Serena, it’s time.”

Her head rotated in his direction very gradually. He had been standing beside his pack, his face set in the lines of responsibility, but now there was something more there—some other kind of understanding. Kaelen understood what she was feeling, for so much had been lost by him as well.

“I’m ready,” said Serena, uncertainty creeping into her voice.

She wasn’t sure she was ready but had no choice. The ancients still lurked out there, waiting. And now, they knew who she was. They would come for her. That pressure, too, hung in the air, the same pressure that had hung in the air ever since Kaelen had declared the prophecy for the first time. It was also no longer about survival alone. It was something deeper than that. Something ancient. And Serena was the key.

Lucian rocked a step closer, eyes glued to her face. A different kind of energy seemed to emanate from him. There was a muted sadness to his usual strength, but there was something in the mix, too, something she couldn’t quite place. As if those hours had changed him as well. Their bond had changed and deepened, but it wasn’t the same. But when they talked now, there was a distance, an acknowledgment neither could afford to ignore.

“You don’t have to do this by yourself,” he said in a quiet room, as if he were whispering.

He noticed Serena, his heart sank. “I know,” she said. “But I can’t go back now. Not after everything.”

Lucian nodded, though looking skeptical. She saw that struggle in him, that struggle she had sensed roiling in her own heart. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to keep her safe. But Serena was no longer the girl she’d been. She had changed, just as he had changed. And the world wasn’t going to wait for either to get up to speed.

“And then we together work through it,” Lucian said, sounding more sure of himself.

Serena didn’t know if it would be enough, but she had no time to ponder. The choice had been made. There was no turning back.

Kaelen leaned in—steel-edged eyes. “We need to move. The ancient ones are close.”

Serena nodded, and the tears were streaming down her cheeks quicker than she could wipe them. It was strange. In that moment, she had never felt so alive, so self-aware. The Onyx wolf within thrashed, but she kept it at bay. There was a time for power. But that time was not now.

Together they moved through the trees, the pack closing in around her in a serrated ring. The trees posed like a devil's arms, the moonlight a shadow, a hollow. The road ahead was unknown, full of shadow and threat. But Serena felt something different in herself, something like calm strength that hadn’t been there before. Isolde’s voice still echoed in her ear, driving her forward.

She was hurrying, and it was as if each step weighed more than its predecessor, but fear clung not to her. It was the heaviness of all that had happened before and everything there was to follow. She felt the pack’s gazes fixed upon her, their trust and their hope resting upon her shoulders. And Kaelen… he paced next to her, darker eyes scanning the road ahead. He didn’t know if he believed in her fully, she said, but she saw the faith he had in her strengthen.

Elias had gone after them too, but not fast—his shoulders bunched up and the look on his face neutral, not given to expression. Serena couldn’t make out what was flickering in his mind, but she was too tired to care. They all had changed as a result of what happened. They were not the people they once were. None of them could be.

Each step took them deeper into the woods, which held close all around, the dark weighing down. Having caught her breath, Serena was ready, and the Onyx wolf in response was insatiable in her quest to taste. She sensed it, the threat creeping closer. The ancient ones were close.

Kaelen’s voice sliced through the tension. “Stay sharp. They won’t hesitate.”

Barely had the words left his mouth when the first of the beasts fell—huge, hulking forms with eyes glowing like embers. They were humanoids, but with arms and legs that disjointed and ruptured out from their sides; the faces were ugly and evil and cackling. They were the Ruins, the remnants of the first pack. And they were here for Serena.

“Behind me,” Kaelen growled, stepping in front of her in a protective stance.

But Serena wasn’t afraid. Then she felt the Onyx wolf in her, the power she had fled for so long, tearing to the limelight. It pierced through her like fire, fast and sharp. You could feel it—this was her battle now.

“Prepare yourself,” Serena said, her voice steady even as her heart raced.

And then the battle began.