Finn's voice didn't just fade; it echoed directly inside my skull, pulling my consciousness out of the lavish bedroom and into a void of pure, sterile white. The world around me froze. Ryker remained mid-sneer, a statue of rage and disbelief. The motes of dust in the sunbeams hung suspended in the air.

Here, in this silent, timeless space, I could finally breathe.

"Why?" The word ripped out of me, raw and accusatory. "Why would the Goddess throw me into this? An execution?"

"The original Elara's soul was corrupted," Finn's disembodied voice explained, calm and factual. "Her cruelty and malice tainted the Luna power the Goddess bestowed upon her. She was on the verge of being erased by the laws of this world."

A shimmering image appeared in the white void, showing six silhouettes, their bonds to a central, flickering light fraying and turning black.

"The Goddess could not bear to see six of her sons lose their soul-mates forever due to one fallen Luna," Finn continued. "So she brought you here. Your soul is... compatible. You are here to purify the bond."

A bitter laugh escaped me. "So I'm here to pay her debts."

"That is an accurate, if simplistic, way of putting it," the voice conceded. "This is your 'gift'-a chance to set things right."

Another image materialized in front of me: a translucent panel, like something from a video game, that only I could see.

**LUNA STATUS**

**Name:** Elara Valerius

**Level:** F (Fallen)

**Skills:** [Locked]

**MATE BONDS**

**Ryker Blackwood:** Affinity: -500 (Abject Hatred)

My stomach plummeted. Negative five hundred.

"You must raise your affinity with your mates by earning their goodwill or trust," Finn explained. "Doing so will raise your Luna level and unlock skills. The first is 'Mind-Link (Lesser)', which will allow you to sense their surface emotions."

"What did she *do*?" I whispered, staring at that horrifying number. "What could she have possibly done to make him hate her that much?"

For the first time, I thought I detected a flicker in Finn's neutral tone, something akin to pity. The white void swirled, and I was plunged into a series of short, brutal memories.

*A younger version of Ryker, held down by two guards. The original Elara, her amethyst eyes glittering with malice, kicking a bowl of stew onto the floor in front of a boy with hazel eyes-Ryker's brother, Zane. "Eat, dog," she'd sneered.*

*Another brother, Kade, younger and defiant, being dragged away by guards into the dark forest. "He bumped into me," Elara had said with a bored flick of her wrist. "Exile him."*

*Two more mates, the identical Thorne twins, Corbin and Silas. Elara was fawning over another man, a golden-haired Alpha named Caspian Aurelius. To impress him, she'd ordered Corbin and Silas on a suicide mission into enemy territory to steal some artifact.*

The visions ended, leaving me cold and shaking. The weight of her sins settled on my shoulders, heavy and suffocating.

"Are Corbin and Silas... are they dead?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"Their life-forces are faint, flickering on the edge of existence," Finn replied.

A tiny, fragile sliver of hope. They were alive.

The connection to the white void snapped, and I was back in my body, the dust motes once again dancing in the light. My gaze fell on Ryker, and my expression had changed. The fear was still there, but now it was layered with a profound, aching guilt for crimes I hadn't committed.

Ryker's eyes narrowed. He saw the shift, the flicker of something new in my face, and his entire body tensed. He thought this was the prelude to the real game.

I took a deep, shaky breath. I had to start somewhere.

I walked towards the wall where he was chained.

He went rigid, a low, warning growl vibrating in his chest. His wolf was on the surface, ready to rip my throat out if I came a centimeter too close.

I didn't. I stopped a safe distance away and reached for the heavy iron key hanging on a hook on the wall, just out of his reach. My body was still so weak. My arm trembled with the effort, my fingers straining, brushing against the cold metal but failing to grasp it.

Ryker watched me, his expression unreadable, his silence a heavy weight in the room. He was waiting. Watching to see what trick this was.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself up on my toes, stretching until my muscles screamed. My fingertips finally closed around the key. It was heavy, real.

I pulled it from the hook and turned to face him. I held it up, my hand shaking slightly. My voice was quiet, but it didn't waver.

"I'm letting you go."

Chapter 2

You might like