- Weight Of Choices
Ara’s POV
The beeping of the machine was the first thing I noticed–steady, insistent, like a countdown.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the harsh white light before forcing them open. Blurry shapes swam into
focus.
“She’s waking up,” someone murmured.
“Ara!”
A familiar voice. Amara’s.
My throat burned as I tried to speak. Where was I? What happened?
Fragments of memory slammed into me–Kade’s face, Damon’s snarling rage, the suffocating darkness of the underground tunnels. And then… Celestine? Had she been there?
Before I could piece it together, warm arms wrapped around me, squeezing tight.
“Thank the gods, you’re okay. You were out for half a day! You scared us!” Amara choked out, her voice thick
with tears.
“Amara…” I rasped, my fingers weakly clutching her sleeve.
“Easy. Give her some space,” Lina’s calm voice cut in.
As Amara pulled back, the rest of the room came into view–Kade, his jaw clenched tight, his golden eyes
shadowed with exhaustion. And Celestine, standing regal but weary near the foot of my bed.
“How are you feeling?” Kade asked, his voice rough.
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “I… how did I get here?”
Celestine offered a small smile. “I teleported you both back.”
“Teleported back?” My eyes wide with surprise as I asked. She could do that? I never heard any werewolf or lycan being able to teleport!
“One of many perks comes from my bloodline,” Luna Celestine smiled gently, after watching my amusement.
“Yeah, after they ran a full–blown rescue mission, not to mention,” Lina added, adjusting the IV drip beside me. “Amara led a decoy team to lure the lycan prince’s warriors away from the abandoned packhouse while Kade and Celestine went in for you. You were in bad shape when you got here- feverish, malnourished. But your
vitals are stable now.”
“That was suicidal! Is everyone ok?” I exclaimed.
That explained why Damon or Aurelia or Sailas weren’t in the packhouse.
“We all are fine. That woman you rescued helped a lot actually by supplying rogue scents.” Amara replied
with a bright smile.
“Thank you, Amara,” I murmured. This was my family, the one who would die on my behalf. This was my home, my people! The ones who actually cared about a wolfless broken girl.
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1/4
27 Weight Of Choices
“Anything for you,” Amara whispered, squeezing my hand. Kade nodded silently, his knuckles whitening where they gripped the edge of my bed.
Then he opened his mouth finally.
“He tortured you, didn’t he?” Kade’s voice was low, dangerous. “That’s why you were so sick and pale.”
The words punched through me like a blade.
Damon.
Reality crashed down. I wasn’t in that cell anymore- I was home. I was free! But if Damon found out…
Oh goddess! No, no no! I couldn’t be here! He could track me down with the bond.
“I can’t be here,” I gasped, bolting upright. The room spun, but I ignored it. “I need to leave. Now. If he sniffs
me out… he will sniff me out!”
“Relax, Ara. You’re safe here,” Celestine said, her voice steady.
“You don’t know him,” I hissed, my hands trembling. “He’s not just a lycan- he’s a beast.”
Kade stepped closer, his eyes blazing. “No one will touch you. Not while I’m breathing.”
“And they can’t just storm in,” Celestine added. “The tunnels are trapped, and your scent is masked. He won’t find you.”
I let out a broken laugh. “He doesn’t need my scent. He can feel the bond.”
Silence wrapped the room. No one dared to speak for a good one minute.
“Bond?” Kade’s voice was lethally quiet. “You mean with that lycan?”
I closed my eyes. No going back now. And what would I have to hide?
“He’s my mate.” I whispered finally.
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
Amara’s grip on my hand tightened. Kade looked like he’d been sucker–punched. Celestine’s expression
remained unreadable.
“The second lycan prince is your mate? Like soul mate?” Amara finally asked.
I nodded, my chest aching.
“And he locked you up?” Kade snarled.
I couldn’t answer. The truth was too ugly- the way Damon’s obsession had twisted into something monstrous, the way I’d both feared and ached for him in equal measure. My lips shivered.
“Oh, Ara…” Amara pulled me into another hug, her tears dampening my shoulder.
Celestine’s voice was grim. “If he’s truly your mate, he won’t stop until he finds you.”
“Then we get her out of here, away from him. Now,” Kade said, already moving toward the door.
“Actually… that might make things worse.” All eyes snapped to Lina as she spoke. She folded her arms, her gaze steady, “if you keep her from her mate, it could accelerate her condition.”
“What are you talking about?” Kade demanded.
2/4
27 Weight of Chobe
Lina exhaled. “I think it’s time they know, Ara.”
I clenched the sheets in my fists. There was no hiding it now.
“Ara has brain cancer,” Lina said bluntly. “Late stage. Her organs are already falling. The medicines and training could only buy her a little more time, but… it’s not curable,”
“What?” Kade’s voice cracked.
“You’re… dying?” Amara whispered, her face crumbling.
Lina continued, her tone clinical but not unkind. “But if her mate marks her- especially a lycan prince- his healing abilities could reverse it. Completely.”
The room spun again.
“Going back to him is not an option. I mean look at her,” Kade growled. “Did you see what he did to her? I literally carried her out of the f*****g dungeon.”
“That’s her choice to make, Kade,” Celestine said softly.
Amara turned to me, her eyes searching mine. “Do you want to go back? If his mark could save you..”
Did I?
The answer should’ve been easy. No. Never.
But then I pictured Damon’s face when he would realized I’d fled- the raw, animalistic betrayal in his eyes.
The way his voice had cracked when he’d threatened me not to leave.
And worse was the image of him storming into this packhouse, slaughtering everyone I loved to get to me.
I closed my eyes.
“I’d rather die than be with him,” I whispered. “But its not that simple.”
But the unspoken truth lingered heavier:
And if I don’t go back… they’ll all die with me.
“Think again, Ara. This might be your only chance,” Lina urged, her voice firm.
The room felt too small suddenly, the walls pressing in as Lina’s words echoed in my skull. Your only chance.
“I… he might not mark me either way,” I whispered, the admission scraping my throat raw. “I don’t think he wants me- not like that. Not enough to save me.”
The truth tasted like ashes. Damon had claimed me, hunted me, ruined me- but wanting and cherishing were different things. And I’d seen the fury in his eyes when I’d fled. That wasn’t love. That was possession.
Celestine’s voice cut through the silence, firm and final. “Then it’s settled.”
But the dread in my chest wouldn’t ease. “What if he finds the hideout?” My fingers twisted in the sheets, knuckles bleaching white. “He won’t stop-”
“He won’t.” Celestine’s grey eyes glinted like steel. “And even if he does, I can defend my people. I am not
weak, Ara.”
A shudder ripped through me. “You don’t know him. You haven’t seen what he’s capable of.” The memory of Damon’s snarling face, his claws at Kade’s throat–because of me.
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3/4
27 Weight Of Choices
Celestine stepped forward, her hand resting on my shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. You’re part of my pack. And I
protect what’s mine.”
The conviction in her voice should have comforted me. Instead, It made my stomach churn. She doesn’t understand. He’ll tear through her. Through all of them.
Kade’s voice was gruff with urgency. “If you’ve decided, we need to move. Fast.”
Celestine nodded. “Take the Carsten route, to east. It’ll put distance between you and the border. I have allies
there–they’ll shelter you.”
“But if he comes here-” My voice cracked. “If he realizes I’m gone, he’ll burn this place to the ground looking
for me.”
A shadow passed over Celestine’s face. “Leave Damon to me.”
Kade exhaled sharply. “Let’s meet at the pack hall in half an hour.”
I nodded, but the unease in my chest only grew.
Was this really going to be okay?
Thirty minutes later, I stood at the entrance of the pack hall, a small bag slung over my shoulder. Amara had stuffed it with supplies- food, medicine, a few dagger.
“You sure about this?” Amara whispered, her eyes glistening.
Kade forced a smile. “It’s the only way.”
“I still think it’s a bad idea,” I whispered.
Celestine approached, her dark hair swaying as she moved. “The path is clear. Kade will escort you to the border, then you’ll go alone from there.”
I bit my lip. “And if he comes here-”
“Then he’ll learn why this pack has survived so long,” she said simply.
There was something in her gaze–something ancient and terrifying–that made me believe her.
Kade touched my shoulder. “Ready?”
So that was it! I was leaving the pack. Then a sudden sensation touched my skin. I froze. The erriness became Stronger in my spine as I felt him closing. I could sense his fury. My eyes fell on Amara, Kade and the luna again. He was coming! To burn the pack.
“What’s the matter?” The luna asked.
“He is here!” my voice trembled.
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