Chapter Twenty: The Choice
The stone pulsed in Rina's palm — warm, alive, almost like a second heart.
She stood alone on the sacred ridge, the moonlight washing over her skin, the pack below unaware of the storm gathering above them. Behind her, Kael waited. Silent. Torn.
"I don't know what I'm choosing," Rina said aloud, staring at the obsidian stone.
The raven woman stepped from the shadows, her cloak dragging like smoke behind her.
"You're choosing what kind of Alpha you'll be," she said. "The kind who bends her power… or the kind who unleashes it."
Rina's jaw clenched. "And lose myself in it?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. But if you deny it, you'll never lead this pack. Not truly. You'll always be shadowed by fear — his, and yours."
Kael stepped forward, fire in his eyes. "You speak poison."
"No," the woman said. "She is poison. Or the cure. That's what Ravenspell always was."
Rina looked at Kael, her mate, her anchor. She saw the storm in him. The loyalty. The terror. The love.
"I never wanted this," she whispered. "I only wanted a place to belong."
"You have it," Kael said. "With me. With the pack."
"But do I?" she asked softly.
Silence.
Then — her choice.
She dropped the stone.
It shattered on the ground like glass, and with it, the tether holding her fire in check.
A wave of heat surged through her body, not burning — becoming. Her eyes blazed gold and crimson. The mark of Ravenspell unfurled like flame across her spine.
Kael staggered back.
Rina rose to her full height.
"I won't choose half of myself," she said. "Not for fear. Not even for love."
The wind bent to her. The forest hushed.
And the raven woman bowed.
Back at the keep, the pack stared at her with something new in their eyes: not just respect — awe. And fear.
Rina met Kael's gaze.
"We'll have to build something new," she said.
He stepped toward her, unsure. "And what if I can't follow where you're going?"
Her voice didn't break.
"Then I'll go anyway."