Chapter 6 The Red moon rises

I didn't sleep. How could I? Every time I closed my eyes, I saw glowing red eyes and heard that creature's voice: *"Moonbound. The prophecy awakens."*

By dawn, I'd made my decision.

I found Luca waiting on my front porch, looking like he hadn't slept either. His hair was disheveled, his clothes wrinkled, but his gray eyes were alert and worried.

"You came back," he said quietly.

"Did you think I wouldn't?"

"I hoped you would." He stood, moving closer until I could see the flecks of silver in his irises. "But I would have understood if you'd run. This isn't your fight."

"Isn't it?" I sat on the porch steps, and after a moment, he joined me. "If what your father says is true, then it's completely my fight. The question is: do I have a choice?"

"There's always a choice." His voice was rough. "But some choices have consequences we can't live with."

"What happens if I refuse? If I just... leave?"

"The packs will tear each other apart. Everything my family has worked for-the peace we've maintained for decades-it'll all be destroyed." He paused. "And the Northern Pack won't stop hunting you. They'll follow you wherever you go."

I'd figured as much. Running wasn't really an option-not when people's lives hung in the balance. "So what does this prophecy actually say I'm supposed to do?"

"Unite the five packs under a single leader. End the territorial disputes that have been building for years." He looked at me sideways. "Choose an Alpha to rule them all."

"Choose how?"

"By mating with him."

The words hit me like a slap. "Excuse me?"

Luca's cheeks flushed slightly. "The Moonbound's mate becomes the Alpha Prime-the leader of all packs. It's the only way the others will accept a unified command."

"And let me guess-you're volunteering for the position?"

His jaw tightened. "It's not that simple. Any unmated Alpha can make a claim, and you have to choose before the Red Moon sets. If you don't..." He trailed off.

"What?"

"The power inside you will tear you apart. And take half the werewolf population with it."

I stared at him, processing the magnitude of what he was telling me. "So my choices are: mate with some random werewolf, or die and potentially commit genocide?"

"Not some random werewolf." His voice was quiet, but there was something fierce in his eyes. "Me. If you'll have me."

The confession hung in the air between us, heavy with implications. This boy I'd known for less than a week was asking me to bind my life to his-not out of love, but out of necessity.

Except when I looked at him, necessity wasn't what I felt.

"Luca-"

A howl echoed from the forest, long and mournful. Then another. And another. Soon the air was filled with the sound of a dozen voices calling out in harmony.

"They're coming," Luca said, standing. "All of them. The Red Moon rises in six hours, and every pack in the region will be here to witness your choice."

"What if I choose wrong?"

He cupped my face in his hands, his touch gentle despite the calluses on his palms. "There is no wrong choice, Aria. Only yours to make."

That evening, the forest came alive with more than just moonlight. Werewolves emerged from the shadows-some in human form, others as massive wolves with intelligent eyes. They formed a circle around a natural amphitheater I'd never seen before, where five men stood waiting.

Five Alphas. Five potential mates.

Luca was among them, his gray eyes never leaving mine as Marcus explained the ancient ritual. The others were strangers-handsome, powerful, clearly capable leaders. But when I looked at them, I felt nothing.

When I looked at Luca, I felt everything.

"The Red Moon rises," Marcus announced as the crimson orb appeared above the trees. "Let the Moonbound choose."

Power surged through me like lightning, stronger than ever before. My skin began to glow with silver light, and I felt the eyes of every werewolf in the clearing fixed on me with a mixture of hope and terror.

I stepped forward, my choice clear.

But before I could speak Luca's name, a new voice cut through the night like a blade.

"The Moonbound will choose no one!"

I spun toward the sound and felt my blood turn to ice. The Northern Pack Alpha stood at the edge of the clearing, flanked by a dozen wolves with red eyes and bared fangs. But it wasn't him that made my heart stop.

It was the woman beside him-tall, elegant, with familiar green eyes and hair the same shade of auburn as mine.

"Hello, darling," my supposedly dead mother said with a cold smile. "Did you miss me?"

The silver light around me flickered and died as the world tilted on its axis. Behind me, I heard Luca curse under his breath, and Marcus's sharp intake of surprise.

But all I could do was stare at the woman who'd raised me, who'd died in a car accident three months ago, who was now standing with the enemies who wanted me dead.

"Surprise," she said softly. "We need to talk."