Chapter 65: Rhea's Choice

Rhea disappeared for six hours.

Normally, that wasn't alarming.

Rhea disappeared into archives constantly.

This time, Cassian was pacing.

That made it alarming.

"She turned off her phone."

"Maybe she wanted quiet."

"She told me she was going to the market."

"Maybe the market has terrible reception."

"Nessa."

"Okay."

The Pack bond told me Rhea wasn't injured.

But something was wrong.

Her emotions came through muted.

Conflicted.

Sad.

I found her at the old Lunaris boundary.

Sitting on a stone wall.

A man stood several feet away.

I recognized him from Council records.

Elias Thorn.

Alpha heir of Ashbourne.

One of the potential pairings Helena Voss had once listed for Rhea.

Oh.

I stopped before approaching.

Rhea noticed me.

"You're terrible at giving privacy."

"Cassian thinks you've been kidnapped."

"Of course he does."

Elias looked uncomfortable.

"I should go."

Rhea nodded.

He left.

I sat beside her.

"Want to tell me?"

"No."

"Okay."

Thirty seconds.

Then:

"My wolf reacted to him."

I stayed quiet.

"Not mate."

"Okay."

"But something."

"Moon Crown?"

"Maybe."

Rhea looked furious at herself.

"Evelyn says my old treatments may have left resonance sensitivity."

"Like Mira?"

"Less severe."

She kicked a stone.

"I hate this."

I understood.

"Does Cassian know?"

"No."

"Do you want him to?"

"I don't know."

That surprised me.

Rhea and Cassian had spent more and more time together.

Neither officially called it courtship.

Everyone else did.

"You like Cassian."

"Unfortunately."

"Does he like you?"

"Painfully."

"So what's the problem?"

"What if my wolf reacts to someone else?"

"Reaction isn't choice."

She glared.

"Don't use my own philosophy against me."

"Very satisfying."

She sighed.

"Elias asked whether I wanted to explore it."

"And?"

"I said no."

"Then you chose."

"That simple?"

"Not emotionally."

I thought about Helena's predictions.

"Biology can be complicated without being destiny."

Rhea looked toward where Elias had disappeared.

"He was respectful."

"Good."

"I almost wish he wasn't."

"Why?"

"Would make saying no easier."

I laughed.

Cassian found us twenty minutes later.

He looked ready to murder someone.

Then he saw Rhea unharmed.

Relief hit the Pack bond so strongly I almost felt embarrassed for him.

"Where were you?"

Rhea stood.

"Talking."

"With whom?"

She looked at me.

I raised both hands.

"Not my conversation."

Then I left.

Later, Rhea told me what happened.

She told Cassian everything.

The Moon Crown sensitivity.

Elias.

Her fear that she might never trust her wolf's reactions completely.

Cassian listened.

Then apparently said:

"Do you want me?"

Rhea said yes.

"Then I don't care what your nervous system does around someone else."

She punched him for oversimplifying.

Then kissed him.

Very Rhea.

A week later, they formally began courting.

No mate declaration.

No prophecy.

No bloodline compatibility test.

Just two difficult people voluntarily making each other's lives more complicated.

Mom cried.

Cassian pretended not to notice.

I teased Rhea.

She threatened to release my childhood records.

"Abuse of Keeper authority."

"Prove it."

The deeper issue remained.

Moon Crown survivors needed long-term care.

Not only emergency protection.

So Rhea proposed a new Lunaris institute.

Not a laboratory.

A survivor-led center for mate-bond recovery and ethical research.

Every research board would include survivors.

Consent could be withdrawn at any time.

Data ownership remained with participants.

No bloodline ranking.

No forced pairing.

Evelyn loved it.

Rowan secured Council funding.

I approved Lunaris land.

Rhea became its first director.

At the opening ceremony, she stood beneath a new sign:

SERAPHINA CENTER FOR BOND AUTONOMY.

She touched our aunt's name.

"I never knew her."

"You know what she fought for."

Rhea nodded.

"Choice."

Cassian stood beside her.

Not in front.

Not behind.

Beside.

I smiled.

Maybe that was the real opposite of Moon Crown.

Not refusing biology.

Not pretending mate bonds didn't matter.

Simply refusing to let biology become ownership.

Rhea had spent most of her life being told her blood determined what she was for.

Now she was building a place where nobody else would hear the same lie.

Cassian eventually admitted he had been terrified Rhea would decide biology mattered more than him. Rhea admitted she had been terrified of the opposite: that choosing him would mean pretending her body's reactions were not real. They solved neither fear with one conversation. They kept talking. That impressed me more than a dramatic mate declaration would have. Love did not become mature because two wolves recognized each other. It became mature when both people could bring uncertainty into the room without using it as a weapon. I wrote that thought down for myself too.

Later, I wrote the day's events in my private journal. I had learned not to trust memory to preserve uncertainty, because hindsight made every decision look cleaner than it had felt. I recorded what frightened me, what I almost misunderstood, and which people had changed my mind. Leadership was easier to romanticize after the danger passed. I wanted the record to remain honest.

Later, I wrote the day's events in my private journal. I had learned not to trust memory to preserve uncertainty, because hindsight made every decision look cleaner than it had felt. I recorded what frightened me, what I almost misunderstood, and which people had changed my mind. Leadership was easier to romanticize after the danger passed. I wanted the record to remain honest.