CHAPTER 98: THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE

Chapter 98: The Impossible Choice

When Liana looked at Councilor Vex, her heart was beating fast against her ribs.

As she waited for her answer, the beautiful figure stood like a statue cut from moonlight.

River’s shape became clearer by the second. To buy time, she asked, "How long do I have to decide?" Vex cocked their head, taking a joke.

"You have until the hybrid children are gone for good." I think it will take about fifteen minutes."

People in the crowd let out gasps. They had fifteen minutes to decide whether to save innocent lives or destroy everything they had built.

Kael whispered, "Liana," and he moved closer. "Whatever you’re thinking, don’t—" "I’m thinking," she interrupted, her voice carrying across the stunned crowd, "that I’ve heard enough lies for one lifetime."

She walked toward Vex, ignoring the way every supernatural being present tensed for fight.

"You say you’ve kept the peace between species for millennia. But what kind of peace needs children to die?" Vex’s smile never changed.

"The necessary kind." "Necessary for who?" Liana’s voice rose. "For you? For your important order? Or for the power you’ve hoarded while keeping everyone else separated and weak?"

"Careful, little wolf," Vex warned. "You’re speaking to beings who existed before your ancestors learned to howl."

"And I’m speaking as someone who refuses to let you murder children!" The words rang out like a war cry.

Around the ceremonial grounds, wolves began to shift, their eyes blazing with protective anger.

The representatives from other packs stood with them, united in anger. Vex sighed loudly. "How depressing. I had thought wisdom might come with your new power."

They raised one pale hand, and River’s scream of pain cut through the air like a knife. In the healer’s rooms, the hybrid child was flickering so fast they looked like a strobe light.

"Stop!" Talia rushed forward, her seer skills blazing. "I can feel them—the other mixed children. They’re dying across the world!" "Then perhaps," Vex said coldly, "your Guardian Luna should reconsider her choice."

Liana felt the mate bond rise as Kael, Jace, and Rowan moved to flank her. Their united strength flowed through her, but she could sense their fear. Not for themselves—for the innocent lives hanging in the balance.

"There has to be another way," Rowan said, his calm voice stressed. "Some compromise—" "No." Liana’s wolf spirit stirred, ancient memories flooding her thoughts.

"There’s no compromise with bullies." She turned to face the gathered supernatural representatives. "They’re not here to talk.

They’re here to force us back into cages we spent centuries busting out of!" Elena Moonwhisper stepped forward, her coastal wolves forming lines behind her. "Then we fight." "Against the High Council?" one of the vampire officials behind Vex laughed.

"You have no idea what you’re facing, puppy." "Actually," Liana said, pieces clicking together in her mind, "I think I do." She confronted Vex directly. "You’ve been manipulating supernatural development for millennia.

That’s what you said. But evolution doesn’t need manipulation—it happens naturally." Vex’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Unless," Liana continued, her voice getting stronger, "something has been interfering with it.

Something that benefits from keeping us all separate and fighting each other instead of getting stronger together." The ancient Luna spirit within her wolf whispered secrets that made her blood run cold. "You haven’t been preventing wars between species," she realized.

"You’ve been causing them. Every territorial disagreement, every ancient feud, every reason our kinds have had to fear and hate each other—you’ve been pulling the strings." "Clever girl," Vex admitted.

"Though not clever enough to see the bigger picture." They motioned, and the sky above them darkened despite the midday sun.

"We keep the balance because without it, your species would have destroyed each other centuries ago. Or worse—united and become too powerful for anyone to control."

"Too powerful for you to control," Kael corrected, his Alpha authority ringing in his words. Vex’s mask of calm finally cracked. "You think your little pack bonding exercise makes you strong?

You think your Guardian mate bond is revolutionary?" They laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Child, your bond is a pale echo of what magical beings could achieve if they truly united. And that unity would make your kind unbeatable."

"Then why not let it happen?" Jace demanded. "Because," Vex snarled, all pretense of civility gone, "united supernatural beings don’t need masters. They don’t need the High Council.

They become gods in their own right." The truth hit the gathering like a physical blow. The High Council wasn’t protecting supernatural peace—they were protecting their own power by keeping everyone else weak and split.

"River!" Talia’s cry broke through the shocking news. The hybrid child had become almost transparent, their form barely more than a shimmer in the air.

Liana felt something snap inside her chest. The Guardian bond—not just with the triplets, but with every magical being present—blazed to life. "You want to see what unity looks like?" she asked Vex.

"Fine." She reached out through the connections she’d made, calling on every wolf, every representative, every supernatural being who’d come to witness their new beginning.

"Liana, don’t—" Marcus warned. "The strain could kill you!" "Then I’ll die protecting children instead of living as a coward!" Power exploded from her like a silver explosion.

The Guardian energy that had been growing inside her since the night she’d healed Rowan’s curse burst outward, seeking every supernatural link within miles.

She felt Elena’s coastal wolves join the link. The Northern Ice Pack’s frost magic. The Desert Runners’ stamina. Even the mysterious Shadow Pack’s hidden powers.

But it wasn’t enough. River was fading too fast, and she could feel other hybrid children across the world following. "Impressive," Vex said, though they had to shield their eyes from the blazing light surrounding Liana.

"But eventually futile. You’re one Guardian against the combined power of millennia." That’s when Rowan stepped forward, his face determined. "She’s not alone."

He reached for the mate bond connecting him to Liana and did something impossible—he opened it completely, pouring his own powers into hers without reservation. Jace followed immediately.

"Brothers before rivals, remember?" Kael was the last to join, but when he did, his Alpha power combined with theirs in a way that made the air itself sing.

The quadruple bond blazed like a second sun, and Liana felt her awareness expand across vast distances. She could sense every mix child, feel their fading life forces.

And she could see the threads linking them—not just to each other, but to something else. Something that had been hidden in the spaces between worlds that River had mentioned. "What—" Vex stepped backward, real surprise flickering across their ancient features.

"The hybrid children aren’t just random evolution," Liana realized, her words echoing with otherworldly power.

"They’re anchors. Anchors for something that’s been trying to break through." In the spaces between worlds, something vast and curious had been watching.

Waiting for beings who could exist in different states simultaneously. "No," Vex whispered. "That’s impossible. We sealed those walls centuries ago." "You tried to," Liana amended.

"But love finds a way. And these children—born from love that crosses species lines—they’re living keys." River’s form suddenly hardened, their hybrid nature no longer a weakness but a bridge between worlds.

And through that bridge, something wonderful and terrible began to emerge. The real question wasn’t whether Liana would save the mutant children.

The real question was whether anyone—High Council included—was prepared for what those children were about to unleash upon the world.

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