Chapter 49: Claimed by Choice

The second anniversary of Lunaris restoration began with paperwork.

Very romantic.

I signed territorial budgets at seven in the morning.

Approved a school expansion at eight.

Argued with Cassian about security funding at nine.

Rejected Rhea's request to classify the archive coffee machine as "essential historical infrastructure" at ten.

She appealed.

Of course.

By noon, I wanted to resign.

Then the Pack celebration began.

Children ran through the courtyard.

Music played beneath the cedar.

Food covered long tables.

The memorial wall was surrounded by moonflowers.

I stood before Aurelius's and Seraphina's names.

Mom joined me.

"You did it."

"We did."

"No."

She smiled.

"You did something different."

"What?"

"You brought Lunaris back without trying to recreate the Pack we lost."

I looked around.

Rhea arguing with a historian.

Garrick chasing children away from training equipment.

Dad carrying food.

Cassian pretending not to enjoy himself.

"You think Grandfather would approve?"

"He'd complain first."

"Definitely family."

Mom laughed.

Then Rowan arrived.

He wore Lunaris gold at his collar.

Not Nightvale silver.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Political statement?"

"Fashion."

"Liar."

"Maybe both."

Our courtship had lasted nearly two years.

Slowly.

Publicly enough to stop rumors.

Privately enough to remain ours.

We had kissed.

Argued.

Traveled.

Studied.

Led.

Graduation was still ahead.

So was Rowan's eventual Supreme Alpha succession.

We still hadn't completed the mate bond.

Not because I was afraid anymore.

Because I had wanted the decision to happen when it felt like ours.

Tonight, it did.

I knew before Rowan did.

Maybe my wolf had been waiting for me to catch up.

I took his hand.

"Walk with me."

He followed without asking.

We went beyond the celebration toward the old cedar's quieter side.

Moonlight covered the grass.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"Your heart is racing."

"Mate bond cheating."

"Useful."

I faced him.

"Do you remember the airport?"

"Every second."

"You thought I was hitting on you."

"You were."

"I was testing you."

"Still counts."

"You rejected me."

"Proudly."

"Then almost fainted when I said Princess Nut."

"I did not faint."

"Emotionally."

He smiled.

I touched his cheek.

"I spent so long thinking being claimed was supposed to prove something."

His smile faded.

"Claimed?"

"Chosen. Wanted. Desired."

I looked toward the celebration.

"When Knox rejected me, I thought it proved the old me wasn't enough."

"Nessa."

"I know better now."

I met his eyes.

"And when I learned you were my fated mate, part of me wanted that to prove the opposite."

"What opposite?"

"That I was special enough after all."

He was quiet.

"But I don't need either proof anymore."

His hand covered mine.

"Good."

"I want you because I want you."

The mate bond warmed.

"Not because you're Supreme Alpha heir."

"Thank the Goddess."

"Not because our bloodlines have ninety-eight-point-seven compatibility."

"Extremely unromantic statistic."

"Not because Helena predicted us."

"Definitely not."

"And not because fate says I have to."

Rowan's eyes turned silver.

"Nessa."

"I choose you."

His breath caught.

The wolf inside me rose.

Calm.

Certain.

"I want to complete the bond."

He didn't move.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"No politics?"

"No."

"No ceremony expectation?"

"No."

"No one pressuring you?"

"Rhea pressures me about everything, but not this."

He laughed shakily.

Then became serious again.

"If you change your mind at any point—"

"I know."

"Say it."

"I will."

Only then did he kiss me.

Slowly.

The bond opened wider than ever before.

Warmth moved between us.

No laboratory.

No audience.

No Moon Court.

No ancient officials.

Just us beneath the cedar.

When our wolves rose together, I felt the choice clearly.

The bond had always existed.

Completion did not.

That part belonged to us.

Golden light spread around me.

Silver-black power answered from Rowan.

The two colors twisted together.

Not consuming.

Not controlling.

Balanced.

I felt Nightvale through him.

He felt Lunaris through me.

But neither Pack disappeared into the other.

Helena had misunderstood that.

Power didn't become greater because one side swallowed the other.

It became stable because both remained themselves.

When the light faded, Rowan rested his forehead against mine.

"Hi."

I laughed.

"Hi."

"Still okay?"

"Yes."

"Any regrets?"

"Your opening line."

"I panicked."

I kissed him again.

A howl erupted from the courtyard.

I pulled back.

"No."

Another howl.

Then dozens.

Rhea's voice carried through the trees.

"WE CAN FEEL YOU!"

I covered my face.

Rowan laughed so hard he had to lean against the cedar.

"I'm leaving the Pack."

"You can't."

"I'm Alpha. I can do anything."

"Apparently not quietly."

I hit his arm.

When we returned, everyone pretended not to stare.

Badly.

Mom hugged me.

Adrian shook Rowan's hand like this was a diplomatic treaty.

Cassian threatened him.

"Tradition," Cassian explained.

Rhea handed me a drink.

"Congratulations on finally doing what your wolves figured out two years ago."

"You're horrible."

"Keeper privilege."

Still not real.

Later, music began again.

Rowan pulled me onto the dance floor.

He had improved.

Slightly.

"You didn't step on me."

"Growth."

"Miraculous."

Around us, Lunaris celebrated.

I thought about the title strangers had given my story.

Traded for being fat.

Claimed by the Supreme Alpha.

The first half was true.

Knox had treated me like something transferable because he disliked my body.

But the second half?

Not quite.

Rowan never claimed me.

Not really.

He chose me.

And I chose him.

More importantly, somewhere between losing ninety pounds, finding a Pack, confronting the people who wanted my blood, and learning to look at my old photographs without shame, I had chosen myself.

That was the choice that changed everything.

The girl Knox traded away was gone.

Not because she had become thinner.

Because she had stopped waiting for someone else to decide her value.

I rested my head against Rowan's chest.

His heartbeat was steady beneath my ear.

"Happy?" he asked.

I looked around.

Mom.

Dad.

Rhea.

Cassian.

Tessa.

A rebuilt Pack.

A life I never could have imagined when I first opened that anonymous forum post.

"Yeah."

I smiled.

"Very."

Above us, the full moon shone through the cedar branches.

And this time, whatever the Moon Goddess had planned, I wasn't waiting passively for the next chapter.

I was writing it myself.