Chapter 35 — Rhiannon
My feet carry me through the courtyard without conscious thought, past the training grounds where moonlight glints off the trove of practice weapons, past the eastern tower where guards patrol in steady patterns. I need to think, to process whatever the hell just happened with Ethan.
Lycans can’t mind-link with other species. Especially not humans.
The impossibility of it makes my head spin.
The entrance to the Seers Hall appears before me, and I realize where my feet have been taking me all along. My conversation with Mahal from earlier echoes in my mind. His cryptic words about my fated mate — a wolf that walks among us — are difficult to forget, but even more difficult to decipher.
I have a feeling he offers more riddles than answers.
The stone door banded with iron gives way as I shove it open, the crescent sigil carved into it barely visible in the pale evening light.
Incense smoke drifts upward in lazy spirals.
The chamber opens up into the vast circular room, lit by the moonlight filtering through the fractured glass dome overhead.
The mosaic of triangles catches and scatters the light in drifting beams across polished stone walls so smooth they reflect my blurred image.
At the center lies the perfectly still pool with deep blue cushions forming a ring around it, where the seers meditate.
I follow the familiar path across the silent chamber, all sounds dying the moment the door closes behind me. The sacred hush swallows even my careful footsteps. Only Mahal occupies one of the deep blue cushions beside the pool, positioned precisely where I discovered him during my last visit.
“Commander.” He rises from the cushion. “You return sooner than expected.”
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” I say.
“Not at all. The Hall whispered that you were coming, but I was not sure when.” Mahal gestures to a cushion across from his. “Come, sit with me.”
I sink onto a cushion across from him.
“Remain.” He glides over to a small alcove I hadn’t noticed before, returning with two steaming cups that smell of lavender and something earthier. The ceramic warms my palms as he settles back onto his cushion.
“Speak. What troubles the thread of your spirit?”
“I need answers,” I say curtly, exhaustion pulling at my bones. “Something happened. Something that shouldn’t be possible.”
“Impossible does not exist.”
I wrap my hands around the warm cup, grounding myself. “Ethan and I, we shared a feeling. When Jayme attacked us, I felt Ethan’s heartbeat like it was my own. . .as if our rhythms were in sync. I don’t know if that makes any sense.”
I search Mahal’s face for confirmation, but he drinks his tea in silence.
“And tonight, we mind-linked.” The words tumble out faster. “His thoughts were clearer to me than in any pack bond I’ve ever known. He spoke directly into my mind, and I answered. But he’s human. That’s not possible.”
“And yet it happened.”
“But why? What does it mean?” My knuckles turn white against the ceramic.
Mahal tilts his head, the ghost of a smile playing at his lips. “What meaning did your blood give it, Commander?”
“Don’t.” I set the cup down harder than necessary.
“Please don’t give me mystic puzzles. I need concrete answers.
” The pool’s surface catches my attention.
Moonlight sparkles across it in scattered pieces.
It reminds me even more now of the pond where I took Ethan, where he said he wanted to stay forever.
“I’ve only ever heard of things like this happening to—” The words stick in my throat.
“To whom, Commander?” he pushes.
“Fated mates.” My eyes lock onto Mahal’s calm face while panic courses through every muscle in my body. “But that’s truly impossible. He’s human.”
His weathered face softens, becoming almost sympathetic. “Is it impossible, or merely forbidden by those who taught you to name it as impossible?”
“Yes.” The word comes out sharp, desperate.
I’m not sure which of the options he offered I’m agreeing to.
Maybe both. “You said my fated mate was a wolf. You said he walks among my pack, that his wolf recognizes mine.” My tone sharpens with a feeling almost akin to betrayal.
“Why would you say that? Ethan isn’t Lycan. ”
“Ah.” Mahal sets down his cup with deliberate care. “You heard the word wolf and reached for fur,” Mahal says, his voice precise. “I rather spoke of the predator that lives behind his ribs.”
Heat prickles beneath my skin, my thoughts tangling further even as part of me leans into his words more closely.
“I see the fierce protector within him,” Mahal continues, his voice taking on that distant quality that means he’s seeing beyond the present. “The loyal guardian who would die for his pack, who would die defending you. His spirit burns with the same fire as any Lycan warrior.”
The room spins. I clutch the edge of the low table. “How can a human be my fated mate? This has to be a mistake.”
“The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes.”
“He’s not even supposed to be in Clarion!” My volume spikes before I force it back down. “Ancient laws forbid humans from being in Clarion. Human-Lycan unions are— well, they’re forbidden. Punishable by exile, or worse.”
“Forbidden, yes.” Mahal’s expression doesn’t change. “But not unheard of.”
“What?”
“It has happened before: rarely, quietly, and almost never without consequence. There is truth in the stories you were told of past, failed attempts at such a bond. However, when the world tips, the Goddess answers with new bonds that defy the ledger and the law.”
“You’re talking about times of great change.” I laugh, but it sounds hollow. “Like when peace talks between ancient enemies fall apart because of sabotage?”
“Perhaps. Or, perhaps, something older stirs, something that demands bridges where we have only had walls. Even the Luna is proof that the Moon Goddess does not honor our rigid categories.”
Tears burn in my eyes. “I can’t do this.”
“Cannot? Or will not?”
“Both.” More tears fall. I don’t bother wiping them away. “Do you understand what you’re telling me? That my fated mate — the one person meant only for me in all existence — is someone I can never truly have? Someone who puts himself in constant danger just by existing in our world?”
My chest heaves with the effort of holding back sobs. “He could’ve died today.” He threw himself at Jayme with nothing but a metal bracket for Goddess’ sake.
“He’s only in Clarion to help with the summit, which is going terribly, by the way.” I want to cut myself off before I can spiral further. “He’s going to leave after it’s over because he doesn’t think he belongs here. He thinks that he’s not good enough, and I—” The rest dissolves. I can’t finish.
“And now?”
“Now. . .I know he is mine.” The admission settles in my bones with sturdy finality.
Senses flood my mind. Ethan’s grin when he knows he’s gotten under my skin, the way sweat rolls down his bare torso during training, dirt streaking across those ridges of muscle.
The scent of copper from his wounds sending my wolf into a frenzy, convinced he’s injured.
The warmth of his arms, solid and safe. The way his jade eyes find the parts of me I’ve buried beneath a veneer of rank and duty.
He sees through the armor I wear like it doesn’t exist.
Not even Xander managed that. Ethan doesn’t define me by my role in this pack. He only sees me.
For a heartbeat, pure joy floods through me. He’s mine. Truly mine. The bond I’ve been fighting, the pull I couldn’t explain. It all makes perfect sense now.
I love him. He is meant for me.
But the joy quickly turns dark and cold. My stomach drops.
“What will the Council say when they learn their Commander has bonded with a human? What if the Alpha King orders Ethan’s execution? Will I have to leave our pack and flee with him to the Outer Lands? What if—”
“What if you stop gripping the oar,” Mahal says with firm gentleness, “and let the current carry what the Goddess has already set in motion?”
“Embracing this doesn’t alter reality. The laws exist for a reason. The pack would never accept—”
“The pack accepts their Luna, who is half-Shaman.”
“Thea’s different,” I say. “She has Lycan blood. Powers beyond any of us. She belongs here in a way Ethan never will.”
“Has he not demonstrated that he belongs? This human who risks his life for beings he barely knows? Who sees through deception that fools wisened Lycans? Who connects with you on levels our own kind cannot?” Mahal leans forward.
“Belonging is not forged by blood. It is a vow. It is sacrifice. It is what you choose when fear begs you to choose less.”
“Love,” I nearly spit. “What good is love if it destroys everything? My position, his safety, the pack’s stability. . .”
“That is fear wearing truth’s mask.”
“There are possibilities — probabilities, even — that this doesn’t end well.”
“Yes.” He doesn’t deny it, which makes it worse. “The path ahead holds suffering. There will be those who will never accept him. I will not lie about that. Yet, your souls are intertwined and avoiding that bond will not spare you pain. It will only guarantee it.”
I push myself to my feet, needing distance from everything he’s just said. “This doesn’t change anything. Knowing he’s my fated mate doesn’t erase the laws or protect him from those who’d rather see him dead than allow him to stay in Clarion.”
“No,” Mahal agrees. “But it might give you the strength to fight for him and for yourself. For the future the Moon Goddess envisions.”
“What future do you see for us?” Desperation tinges my every word, and I don’t care anymore. “Just tell me how this ends.”
His smile holds secrets I’ll never understand. He gestures upward. “I see only fragments. Moonlight through broken glass. Not the whole sky.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“Comfort is not the purpose of truth.”
My focus drifts back to the reflection pool. “Does he know? Does he sense it too?”
“The bond pulls at him, though humans lack our awareness of such things. However, his heart knows, even if his mind doesn’t understand.”
My wolf snarls in protest at the thought of Ethan, lost and aching, unable to grasp why he would be drawn to someone who pushes him away. She hates me for pushing him away.
“Thank you,” I say, though I’m not sure I mean it. I turn to leave.
“Commander.” His voice stops me. “Whatever you decide, decide quickly. Time grows short, and choices delayed become choices stolen.”
I glance over my shoulder, meeting Mahal’s gaze with a brief nod before exiting.
The door closes behind me with a soft thud, sealing away the seers’ chamber and its impossible truths. Autopilot guides me back through the courtyard.
My fated mate is human. The absurdity of it almost makes me laugh. Almost.
The fortress walls feel closer than usual as I walk, each shadow holding potential threats to a future I can’t even imagine yet. Guards salute as I pass. They have no idea their Commander just learned her destiny breaks every ancient rule we’ve held sacred.
Part of me wants to find Ethan right now, tell him everything. The other part, the Commander, the protector, knows better.
First, we stop Holden. Save Jayme. Get through the summit. Ensure the safety of the pack.
Then, I’ll figure out what to do about the human who somehow became my intended.
Tomorrow, I’ll question Haron with Ethan and I’ll pretend this knowledge doesn’t burn through every thought.
Tonight, I just need to survive knowing that my life will never be the same.