To Whom We Are Bound

The hours stretched long in the library, every page turned, every book closed, the weight of Serena’s decisions heavy on her chest. The words she had read echoed through her mind. “Either he’s going to stand as a hero, or he’s going to fall as a tyrant.” Could that be her fate? Was she always going to pick one way over another? Her Onyx wolf in her was a savage, punishing force, raw and almost anticipating that she’d claim this choice, whoever she was.

She walked the aisles of the library, her shoes soundless on the stone floor, trying to sort her thoughts. There hadn’t been an inherited curse in the Onyx wolf—the burden was hers now, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could bear it.  Could she really control it? Or was her destiny to succumb to the shadow that always seemed to offer her strength the more she embraced it?

Serena draped herself over an old scroll. It looked dislocated, old and fragile. It was worn leather, she touched it with the edges of her fingers and picked it up by its corners. But as she reached for it on the shelf, she heard Lucian’s voice.

“I found something.” He sounded heavy, his voice tight with the gravity of what he had discovered.

Serena gazed up at him with her heart racing. Lucian stood at the far end of the library  holding a dusty book. Elias stood next to him, looking at the paper with an inscrutable expression.

“What did you find? Did you find anything?" Serena asked, even as dread churned through her belly. Something was off.

Lucian motioned for her to get close. Elias eyes roamed on the pages of the book. 

“It’s an Isolde and Mira story,” Elias said. “And the stranger.”

Serena’s breath hitched. Her thoughts raced. Isolde? Mira? Her mother’s name rang out in her head, loud and painful. What was she doing in all this?

Lucian opened the book and spread it on the table. It had an old map, scrawled with symbols that were not recognizable to Serena. 

“Isolde is more involved than we realized,” Lucian said, squinting. “But this map shows the connection point between the Onyx wolf and some ancient sites. But more disturbing than that about it is this." He gestured toward a symbol in the center of the map. Like a crescent moon and the head of a wolf entwined.

“This symbol,” he went on, “it’s one that’s — it’s connected to a cult that has been operating in the shadows for centuries. “They think the Onyx wolf is needed to make a new order: a world of total control where the powers that be can say anything they want, the very literal definition of the word.”

Elias grunted in disbelief. “Isolde and Mira, are they part of this? They’re associated with a group like that?

“I guess so,” Lucian said. “And the stranger — that one you talked to — is with this cult. He has tracked the Onyx wolf bloodline for 30 years. He wants to unlock … something … something that’s even nastier.”

Serena’s stomach twisted. The stranger — the man who said she held the key to saving the Onyx wolf. His words, his icy gaze ran through her head. He wasn’t just interested in her bloodline. He was after her.

“The bloodline must go on,” she whispered,  her very words echoed inside her head.

Lucian’s gaze swept over her, concern tinting his face. “Serena don’t let them do this to you. This isn’t about saving the Onyx wolf — this is about making you a weapon. Don’t let them make you into a weapon.”

Elias took a step closer, his eyes dark. “We need to make a choice. We just cannot keep hiding from this. Isolde, Mira and that stranger — they’re coming for you. And they’re not going to stop until they get what they want.”

Her heart raced in her chest. The burden of her fate smacked down on her for the first time in days and the gulf between them reverberated in the silence. The Onyx wolf left no heir to follow her. Her powers, her abilities — it was all connected somehow, to this ancient force. But she couldn’t control it. It was beginning to take over her life.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’ve fought it, I’ve tried to limit it. “But every time I think I’m in control of it, it just slips away.”

Lucian’s eyes softened, but his tone was brisk. “We’ll help you. We are going to do whatever it takes to keep it at bay so that you don’t disappear.”

Elias continued, his tone, once filled with fury softening, yet no less impassioned. “There’s a way to disconnect. Get the right ritual up, the right kind of magic, and we can keep the Onyx wolf’s festering jaws from dragging you down. But we’ll need to move fast. The more we wait, the more risky it is.”

Serena shut her eyes under the force of their words. The Onyx wolf shouldn't eat her. She did not want to be turned into a monster. But what if that was his fate? What if it was a power within her she could not fight?

“Lucian,” she said softly, “what if I can’t control it? What if I’m the thing I’m afraid of?”

Lucian’s face hardened, but a glimmer of softness flashed in his gaze. “You’re not alone in this. You should not have to experience it alone. We’ll find a way. Together.”

Serena glanced from Elias back toward Lucian. The truth was, she couldn’t even trust herself. But she trusted them. And that had to be enough.

And then, a noise, all of the sudden. Footfalls — slow, deliberate — came from the hallway outside the library. Her heart leapt — it was Serena.

“They’re here,” Lucian said, in a whisper. “We need to move, now.”

They all three quickly collected their belongings, map, the ancient texts and their arms. As her body drifted closer to the door, Serena sensed the Onyx wolf inside her rise. It sounded like a warning, like crackling in her blood.

She couldn’t control it. Not yet. But she would.

They stepped onto the hall, Miles getting prepared for whatever would come next.

And when the library doors had creaked closed behind them, Serena had understood. She might not have comprehended who she was or what the Onyx wolf really said about Who She or would be.

But one thing was certain. She had to always make a choice.