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The war hadn't started yet.

But the battlefield was already inside me.

I knew where I stood. I knew who I belonged to. I'd chosen Kael. I'd worn the mark. I'd sworn myself to Crescent Fang with blood and bone and bond.

But that didn't erase the years I spent loving Jace.

Didn't erase the way his voice still echoed in corners of me I hadn't sealed off yet.

Didn't erase the ache.

But it did give me the strength to face him again.

?

Kael tried to come with me, but I asked him not to.

"This one's mine," I said. "It always has been."

He didn't argue. Just brushed his fingers over my cheek once, gently.

"I'll be here," he said. "Always."

?

I met Jace at the border alone.

He was waiting-leaning against a tree like the boy I used to trust. But the moment our eyes met, I saw the change. His wolf was closer to the surface now. Wild. Unstable. Desperate.

"I knew you'd come," he said.

"Then you should've known I'd come to say goodbye."

He flinched. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do."

"You think he loves you more than I did?"

I looked him in the eye. "He didn't need to love me more. He just didn't make me feel like less."

Jace's voice cracked. "I made a mistake."

"No," I said. "You made a choice. And then you let me carry the weight of it alone."

"You were always mine," he said, stepping closer.

I didn't move.

"No," I said softly. "I was yours when you didn't want me. When it was easy to turn away. But I'm not that girl anymore."

"Luna-"

"I loved you, Jace," I said. "So much it made me blind. But love without respect isn't love at all. And whatever this is-whatever you're doing now-it isn't about love. It's about control."

Silence.

Then, finally, truth.

His eyes hardened. "If I can't have you... no one will."

I took a deep breath and stepped back over the border-back into Crescent Fang territory, my side, my choice, my home.

"Then you'd better prepare to lose, Alpha."

?

I didn't cry.

Not this time.

Because I wasn't torn anymore.

I didn't belong to two wolves.

I belonged to myself.

And the one who truly loved me?

He never asked me to choose.