She Chose Herself This Time Novels & Stories

To stay not because walking away was impossible—but because this time, she didn’t want to. Whatever broke next, it would not be because she’d stayed silent and let someone else decide her life in a room she wasn’t standing in. For the first time in a very long time, her life wasn’t something happening to her. It was something she was choosing. And—for now— that was enough.

I never would have imagined that the monster who had feigned madness for three long years would choose to step forward at this exact moment. He met my gaze from across the crowd, but for a moment, his usually arrogant eyes flashed with a hint of regret before he looked away, almost shamefully. Something felt wrong. After thinking it over, I suddenly understood. He had been reborn, too. So even though he had watched my wolf spirit be shattered in our past life, in this one, he still couldn't allow Selene to belong to anyone else. To have her, he had thrown down his biggest bargaining chip.

It was either Vincenzo or herself and she was the one who had won at last. Because for once in her life it was all about her. Everything she did was for herself. "I love you I Wil never stop loving you but that doesn't mean am in love with you. You can't choose me so am going to do it for you. Am choosing myself and I will give myself everything that you couldn't give me ", she said in a sad voice. That was not how she had wanted things to end but that was where they were. That was what hurt him the most. He opened his mouth to talk but couldn't. There were no words.

And she saw it through me. She took a single step back, into the shadow of the hall again. “You wanted to know what I’d choose?” she asked quietly. The bond pulled tight between us. Hot, vibrating. On the edge of something breaking. “I choose me,” she whispered. “Even if that means choosing no one.” She closed the door in my face.

My boyfriend, Emmett Carr, and I lived less than five miles apart in the same city. However, we never met more than twice a month. Whenever I asked when he was free, he always said he was busy with a recent work project. That continued until I accidentally discovered his travel records. He had purchased flight tickets for 48 out of the 52 weekends of the past year. He was flying to the country where his childhood friend, Cherry Lewis. was studying abroad. He would leave on Saturday morning and return late Sunday night, rain or shine. He flew there like clockwork, even more disciplined than when he was going to the office. The most recent date we went on was yesterday, at a cafe below h

she said full of conviction. "For once in your life, choose yourself" she stated "I don't care about you care about the other person, sometimes you need to pick yourself because you can't expect others to always do the same" she said a twinge of sadness in her tone. "I know that, I've dealt with that my entire life Naomi, but I also know that the people I choose mean something so who I pick I choose over myself because they deserve to always have at least one person that's going to do that for them" I explained reaching forward and pushing some of the hair behind her ear.

Her reply came quickly. Thank you for listening. That felt like a victory bigger than any title. Because I hadn’t just learned how to choose opportunity. I’d learned how to choose myself without losing her in the process.

After, when his breathing had evened out into sleep, she lay awake with her heart still going too fast and her body already restless again and the mirror burning against her skin, and she thought about Lilith's voice. I chose myself. She had turned the phrase over so many times in three days that it had worn smooth, had stopped feeling like a revelation and started feeling like a fact she had always known. She had chosen Adam once, or she had been given to Adam, she was less certain of the distinction than she used to be. She had not chosen herself. She had not known that was an available option. The stars overhead stayed exactly where Nyx had placed them, fixed and perfect and going nowhere

“The Council. Security. Everyone.” She nodded. “I know.” Her fingers laced through mine again, stronger now. “Kael,” she said, and there was no fear left in her voice. “When they do… they’re going to try to make me choose.” I met her gaze, heart pounding, pride and terror warring in my chest. “And?” Her smile was razor-bright. “This time,” she said, “I choose myself.” The building shuddered deep, structural, like something ancient waking

She couldn’t finish the sentence. “Notice I didn’t say me.” “Everyone else but you. That’s comforting,” she said, getting up from the stool. “Years ago I was in the same position you’re in, and I was given a choice. It was my choice to become what, and who I am now. It was a better choice than the alternative. Taking you, it was just so you could get the same opportunity that I did to choose.” “Ok,” she said, nodding. “Ok, so I choose whether or not I want to be changed into something else.”