CHAPTER 59: THE SACRIFICE DEMANDED

Lily POV

The Moon Goddess’s voice hit me like lightning, and I fell to my knees as silver fire burned through every inch of my body. Around me, the corrupted Sacred Grove shook violently as something ancient and powerful started to wake up.

Lily Carter, the voice echoed inside my head, Triple Moon Bearer, you have been chosen for the final test.

"Lily!" Caleb rushed to my side, but when he tried to touch me, silver sparks flew between us, pushing him back. The Triple Moon mark on my wrist burned so brightly it hurt to look at.

Through the pack bond, I felt everyone’s fear. Aiden and Brock were facing shadow-controlled wolves. Elder Iris was guarding the children. And somewhere in the distance, Morrigan was doing something terrible to the very heart of wolf nature.

She seeks to poison the moon ties that connect all wolves, the Goddess’s voice continued. If she succeeds, no wolf will ever feel true pack bond again. Mates will become strangers. Parents will forget their children. The wolf race will die from the inside out.

"Then stop her!" I gasped, fighting to stand as power coursed through me. "You’re the Moon Goddess! You’re stronger than she is!"

But even as I said it, I felt the truth. The Moon Goddess was powerful, but she couldn’t directly interfere in mortal matters. That’s why she’d made the Triple Moon Bearer in the first place – to be her hands in the physical world.

I cannot act directly, she admitted sadly. But you can. The Triple Moon power within you is linked to the source of all wolf bonds. You can use it to clear Morrigan’s corruption and restore balance.

Hope flared in my chest. "Then tell me how! I’ll do whatever it takes!"

That is what I feared you would say, the Goddess responded, and her sadness made my heart ache. Child, the power needed to cleanse such deep corruption... it will consume the Triple Moon mark entirely. And when the mark is gone, so too will be your link to your mate.

The words hit me like a physical blow. I stared at Caleb, who was watching me with increasing alarm. Lose my link to him? Lose the link that made us complete?

"There has to be another way," Caleb said desperately, having heard the Goddess through our bond. "I won’t let her sacrifice herself!"

The mate bond runs through the Triple Moon power, the Goddess explained gently. When one is destroyed, the other cannot live. You would both live, but you would be strangers to each other. The love you share would fade like a dream upon waking.

I pressed my hands to my chest, feeling like I couldn’t breathe. Just months ago, I’d been a nobody omega who’d never expected to find love. Now I had everything I’d ever dreamed of – a mate who saw me for who I really was, a place in the pack where I mattered, a future full of hope.

And I was being asked to give it all up.

"I can’t," I whispered. "I can’t lose him. Not after finally finding him."

Through our tie, I felt Caleb’s fierce protectiveness and desperate love. He would rather let the world burn than lose what we had together. Part of me loved him even more for that selfishness.

But then I felt something else through the pack links – Luna’s confusion as she fought off the last traces of shadow magic. Sarah’s scared whimpers as she hid with Elder Iris. My parents, somewhere in the pack area, slowly remembering who they really were.

All of them were counting on me. Not just my pack, but every wolf in existence. If Morrigan succeeded in corrupting the moon bonds, billions of wolves would lose the ability to love, to connect, to be truly living.

"How long do I have to decide?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

Morrigan gets closer to her goal with each moment, the Goddess said urgently. Already I can feel the corruption spreading through the spiritual world. Soon it will be too late for any power to stop it.

Caleb grabbed my hands, his eyes wild with fear. "Lily, please. We’ll find another way. There’s always another way."

"Is there?" I asked the Goddess desperately. "Any other option at all?"

The pause that followed told me everything I needed to know.

I have looked across all possibilities, she finally admitted. This is the only road that saves your people. I am sorry, child. The choice should not fall to one so young.

I looked around at the chaos surrounding us. Shadow magic still twisted through parts of the wood. In the distance, I could hear Morrigan’s mad laughter as she worked her terrible magic. Soon, she would succeed, and everything that made wolves special would be gone forever.

But if I stopped her, I would lose the most important thing in my life.

"It’s not fair," I said, tears running down my face. "Why does it have to be me? Why can’t someone else make this choice?"

Because the Triple Moon picked you, the Goddess said gently. Not for your power, but for your heart. You are the one person who would choose the greater good over personal happiness. That is why you are the only one who can handle this power.

I thought about all the times I’d felt unnoticeable, worthless, forgotten. How I’d admired others their happiness while accepting that I would never have my own. Now that I finally did have everything I wanted, was I really strong enough to let it go?

Caleb pressed his face against mine. "Whatever you choose, I’ll support you," he whispered, though I could feel his heart breaking. "But please remember – you deserve happiness too."

That’s when the terrible irony hit me. The very love that made me want to keep our bond was the same love that made me ready to sacrifice it. Because real love wasn’t about holding on – it was about protecting what meant most.

Even if it destroyed you in the process.

I was about to tell the Moon Goddess I would do it, when suddenly the grove burst with new shadow magic. Morrigan had succeeded in the first part of her magic.

Every wolf in existence suddenly screamed as their pack bonds started to dissolve.