CHAPTER 81: CHAPTER 81: THE CURSE BREAKS

"I won’t choose," Elara said firmly, her silver eyes blazing with purpose. "There has to be another way." The Moon Goddess shook her head sadly. "Daughter, you don’t understand. The balance—" "Forget the balance!" Elara stopped. "I make my own rules."

She turned to face the coming Void, that wall of nothingness that was swallowing everything in its path. Stars were missing. Mountains were being erased. Reality itself was unraveling. "If I’m going to be a Goddess," she said, "then I’m going to be the kind who saves everyone. Including you." "That’s impossible," the Moon Goddess whispered. "Watch me." Elara grabbed her three friends’ hands. "Remember what you said about fighting together? About being three different people who choose the same goal?" "Yeah," Kael said, confused but trusting. "We’re about to test that theory," she said with a grin that was half-terrified, half-excited. The Void was only minutes away now. Everything it touched simply stopped existing. But as Elara looked at it, something clicked in her mind. "Darian," she said quickly. "Use your truth-sight. Look at the curse on your family. What do you see?" Darian’s golden eyes flared, and he gasped. "It’s not just a curse. It’s a lock.

Something has been sealed inside our genes for generations." "What kind of something?" "Power," he breathed. "Massive amounts of power. Enough to—" His eyes widened. "Enough to create a new Goddess without the old one dying." The Moon Goddess stared at him in shock. "That’s not possible. The curse was meant to weaken the Blackwood line, not improve it." "Unless," Evelyn said slowly, understanding coming on her face, "someone planned it that way. Someone who knew that one day, we’d need that power to save everything." "Who would do that?" Marcus demanded. "Me." Everyone turned to see a new figure materializing beside the Moon Goddess. An old man with kind eyes and a long silver beard, wearing clothes that sparkled with stardust. "The Moon God," the Goddess whispered. "But you’re supposed to be dead." "I let everyone think I was dead," he said with a gentle smile. "But I’ve been here all along, preparing for this moment." He looked at Elara with pride. "Hello, granddaughter." "Granddaughter?" Elara’s head was spinning. "The curse wasn’t meant to hurt the Blackwood family," the Moon God explained quickly, because the Void was getting closer. "It was meant to store power. Every generation, a little more magical energy was put away, waiting for the day when my heir would need it all."

"You planned this," the Moon Goddess realized. "You knew the Void would come." "I suspected," he admitted. "And I wanted to make sure our daughter would have every possible advantage." The Void was less than a mile away now. Everything in its path was being deleted from existence. "How do we break the curse?" Elara asked. "You already know," the Moon God said. "The same way you’ve solved every other problem. Together." Elara nodded and turned to the twins. "Are you ready to make history?" "Always," Ronan grinned, even with terror in his eyes. "Let’s do this," Kael agreed. "Together," Darian said firmly. They joined hands, and instantly Elara felt the difference. This wasn’t just the mate tie anymore. This was something deeper, stronger, more full. "I can feel it," she gasped. "The curse. It’s like a wall inside your hearts." "Break it," all three brothers said at the same time. Elara reached out with her power, not to force the curse apart, but to unlock it softly. Like opening a door that had been sealed for ages. The moment her silver light touched the curse, everything changed. Power burst from the triplets like geysers of liquid starlight. Not just their own powers, but the stored magic of dozens of generations. Every Blackwood Alpha who had ever lived, every Luna who had ever loved, every fighter who had ever fought for their pack—all of their strength was suddenly flowing through Kael, Ronan, and Darian. "Whoa," Ronan gasped, his body burning with golden fire. "This is incredible." "I can protect the entire world," Kael said in surprise, barriers of pure light extending in every direction. "And I can see every possible future," Darian added, his truth-sight showing him millions of different possibilities. "Most of them end in disaster. But there’s one way where we all survive." "Show me," Elara ordered.

Darian’s power flowed into her thoughts, sharing the vision. She saw what they had to do, and her heart nearly stopped. "No," she whispered. "There has to be another way." "What is it?" the Moon Goddess asked anxiously. "To stop the Void," Elara said, tears in her eyes, "one of us has to go into it. Willingly. The Void lives on destruction, but it can’t handle someone who enters it out of love." "I’ll do it," all three triplets said instantly. "No," Elara shook her head. "It has to be me. I’m the one with Goddess power. I’m the only one who might survive." "Absolutely not," Kael said strongly. "We’re not losing you," Ronan added. "There has to be another solution," Darian insisted, his golden eyes searching frantically through possible futures. But there wasn’t time to find one. The Void was only hundreds of yards away now, and it was speeding. "I love you," Elara said to her friends. "All of you. Forever." She started to run toward the wall of nothingness, but strong arms caught her. "Not alone," Kael said, holding her tight. "Never alone," Ronan agreed, taking her other side. "We’re in this together," Darian said, finishing their circle. "All the way to the end." "You can’t," Elara argued. "If we all go in, who will protect the pack?" "They will," the Moon God said, pointing to the pack behind them. Elara turned to see something amazing.

Every member of the Blackwood Pack was shining with silver light. Not just the wolves, but even the people who had joined them. Celeste, Marcus, Evelyn—everyone was linked by threads of pure energy. "The curse breaking didn’t just free the triplets’ power," Evelyn realized. "It freed all of us. We’re not just a pack anymore—we’re a family joined by magic itself." "Which means," Marcus said with wonder in his voice, "we can all protect each other." The pack stepped forward as one, their combined power forming a shield that could protect the entire realm. "Go," Celeste said, her voice strong despite her injuries. "Save the world. We’ll guard everything you love." The Void was fifty yards away. Forty. Thirty. "Together?" Elara asked her mates. "Together," they agreed. Hand in hand, the four of them ran straight into the wall of nothingness. The moment they crossed the barrier, everything went dark. Not just dark—empty. This was the space between worlds, where nothing had ever existed and nothing ever could. Except they did exist. Their love for each other burned like a star in the void, and the Void recoiled from it. "It’s working," Darian gasped. "The Void can’t process what we are." "What are we?" Ronan asked. "Something new," Elara said, understanding rushing through her. "Not just mates. Not just a pack. We’re proof that love is stronger than nothingness." The Void writhed around them, trying to understand, trying to swallow, but failing.

Their link was something it had never encountered before. But then, deep in the darkness, something else stirred. Something that had been waiting in the Void for eons. Red eyes opened in the darkness. Not the Devourer’s eyes, or any monster they’d faced before. These eyes were old beyond measure, and they belonged to something that made every other threat look like a harmless puppy. "Well, well," a voice like grinding stone said. "What have we here? Four little lights in my domain?" The thing stepped forward, and reality itself bent around it. This wasn’t just a thing from the Void.

This was the Void’s master. "Did you really think," it asked with humor, "that the Void was the real threat? I am the First Dark, the original nothingness that existed before creation started. And you’ve just delivered yourselves straight to me." Elara felt her mates’ hands tighten around hers as they realized the truth.

They hadn’t stopped the real threat.

They’d just walked into its trap.