Torn Between Destinies

Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven

The Seer’s hut was colder than it had been the day before. Or maybe it was just me—numb and shaking, not from the wind, but from the weight of her words still echoing in my head.

"You must leave behind what you love most."

I didn’t sleep that night. I sat at the edge of the woods, watching the flickering lights of Darius’s packhouse in the distance, wondering what kind of Luna abandons her mate. What kind of daughter leaves her father without a word. What kind of wolf trades warmth for danger.

Apparently, the kind who’s desperate not to become human.

By sunrise, I was back at the hut.

The Seer was already waiting outside, hunched like a broken branch.

"You’ve returned," she rasped, her lips curling into a smile that wasn’t quite kind. "Many come for answers. Few come back when they hear the cost."

"I meant it," I said. My voice was steady this time. "Tell me what I have to do."

She opened the door and I followed her inside.

The air was heavy with the scent of sage and something metallic—blood, maybe. I tried not to wrinkle my nose as I sat across from her.

She began to hum low in her throat, reaching into a carved wooden box on the shelf. From it, she drew three objects: a silver dagger, a vial of red liquid, and a cracked mirror with runes scratched along the edges.

"To reach the human world without alerting your kind—or theirs—you’ll need a cloaking spell stronger than mere magic," she said.

She placed the mirror in front of me.

"This is the Veilglass. It lets you cross without being seen for what you are."

My breath caught. "So it hides my wolf?"

The Seer snorted. "No. It hides your scent. Your aura. Your nature. But the longer you wear its illusion, the more you forget who you are underneath. If you stay too long, the glass consumes more than just your power. It takes your memories. Your voice. Your sense of self."

I stared at the runes along the edge. They shimmered faintly.

"How long before it starts?" I asked.

"Depends on how strong your will is. A week, maybe two." She leaned forward. "Long enough to find your mother. Not long enough to lose yourself—if you’re quick."

"And the dagger?" I asked.

The Seer’s face darkened.

"For the bond."

My pulse skipped. "What bond?"

"You’ve been claimed by an Alpha," she said. "You carry his mark. His scent. His essence clings to your soul. That bond must be broken before the mirror can mask you fully."

I touched the spot just above my collarbone, where Darius’s mark had faded into my skin like fire carved into flesh.

"You want me to—"

"Cut it," she said. "Let the blood fall into this vial. Only then can the mirror truly mask you."

My stomach turned. The idea of severing the bond felt like tearing a thread woven deep into my bones.

"Will it hurt him?" I whispered.

The Seer looked at me long and hard.

"It will confuse him. He’ll feel something shift. He may even come after you. But he will not die. Not unless you wait too long and let the bond sour from neglect."

"So I could come back... later?"

"If the fates are kind," she said. "If your bond is strong enough to survive distance and silence."

I swallowed hard.

This was it. The choice that would split my life in two.

Stay... and slowly lose everything that made me wolf.

Or go... and risk never seeing Darius again.

I touched the dagger. Its handle was warm.

"When do I leave?" I asked.

The Seer grinned like the night sky breaking open.

"Tonight."

The hardest part wasn’t packing. It wasn’t sneaking past the pack guards or stealing into the woods before Darius woke.

The hardest part was writing the note.

I stared at the blank parchment for too long, then scribbled down only a few lines.

Darius,

I love you. That’s the hardest truth in all this. But I have to go. I can’t explain now, and I know you’ll be hurt. But please—trust that this is something I must do.

Forgive me.

—Luciana

I folded the paper and left it on our bed. Then I turned away before the tears could fall.

I met the Seer again at the edge of the ancient stone circle just past Thornridge’s northern border.

She had drawn sigils in the dirt, lit with a flickering blue flame.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"No," I admitted. "But I’m going anyway."

She nodded, holding out the dagger.

I took it with shaking hands.

Kneeling beside the fire, I pressed the blade to my mark. My fingers trembled as the edge bit into my skin, slicing across the faded symbol Darius left when we bonded.

The pain was sharp. Hot. Real.

Blood welled instantly, and I let it drip into the vial the Seer held open.

When it was full, she sealed it with a whisper and dropped it into her robes.

Then she handed me the Veilglass.

The runes glowed as I lifted it.

"Hold it to your heart," she instructed.

I did.

The moment the glass touched my chest, a strange warmth spread through me, like a fog rolling over my soul. The world shimmered, like someone had turned the colors down a notch.

I no longer smelled like pine and wolf and magic. I smelled like... nothing.

"Go," the Seer said. "Follow the river. There will be a stone gate covered in vines. Speak your name three times, and it will open. Beyond that is the human world."

I hesitated.

"What do I do when I find her?" I asked. "What if she won’t come with me?"

The Seer gave me a rare, quiet look.

"Then you make her see what’s at stake. Remind her that you’re not just a daughter born of love—but one born of legacy. You are more than one woman’s past. You are the future of a bloodline. Make her believe that again."

I took a deep breath and turned toward the trees.

But before I could step away, the Seer called softly, "Luciana?"

I looked back.

She met my eyes, and for the first time, her voice was gentle.

"Hold on to who you are. Even in their world. Even when it feels like you’re disappearing."

I nodded, clenching the mirror tight.

And then I ran. Into the woods, past the sleeping sentries, down paths I’d only ever glimpsed in dreams.

Toward the place where my fate would either save me.

Or finally break me.