Chapter 216: Choose one another
"You say that as if we orchestrated this courtroom nightmare on purpose," I replied, shaking my head. "If the capital hadn’t run out of funds and tried to shove its greasy hands into our pack’s bottomless pockets—and then everyone else’s—none of this would have happened in the first place. But I still don’t understand why Magnus was the target."
"It all goes back to the Leone family and their pack. They couldn’t repay their massive loans from the state bank in the capital because nobody here in the city would lend them a single cent anymore. The father of that vile bitch who poisoned you was used to living lavishly on borrowed time.
When debt collectors finally backed them into a corner, they pulled that cheap farce with the forged true-mate mark to extort money from the Blackthorne Pack. But when the girl suddenly awakened a real mate mark of her own, she panicked and fled. While they were searching for her, her parents staged a convenient accident to cover it up. Magnus, meanwhile, intentionally covered his body in tattoos before he reached adulthood to hide his gland."
"How do you know that?" I asked, a sudden sharp pang clawing at my chest. The realization that he had actively avoided finding a fated mate all those years ago left a sting.
Then again, had I wanted a bond back then? No. I had lived under the shadow of believing I was defective, never imagining I would one day awaken as a complete, dominant breeder. It was only now—loving him more than life itself—that his past attempt to escape destiny touched a sore spot. Five years ago, I had been the one offering him a quiet agreement to stay out of each other’s way.
"That came from my personal contacts, so I can’t swear it’s absolute truth," Askold said, his tone shifting into something far more grounded. "If you want the full story, ask your husband yourself—he won’t hide anything from you."
Shrugging his broad shoulders, he continued quietly, "As for his parents... I think you should hear that from him directly, too. But I’ll tell you one thing right now, and I genuinely hope Rainn doesn’t break my neck for saying it: he was born in the Lower City. And right where our pack cleared out the ruins back then... was the territory of the pack founded by his father."
I froze, as though turned to solid ice against the cold stone floor. Everyone knew that gruesome Chapter of our city’s history. Everyone who deeply reviled the former head of the Lower City—a twisted, depraved monster obsessed with young females.
I had seen him from a distance once. He was repulsive: squat, grotesquely obese, with small, piggy eyes and yellowed, rotting teeth. A single encounter was all it took to realize you could avoid him easily enough—the foul stench of unwashed skin and cheap alcohol always announced his arrival long before he came into view.
I would ask my husband about everything later; now was not the time to disturb those demons.
The soft, bone-chilling melody of the organ drifted from behind the heavy oak doors. Askold unclasped his arms and offered me his elbow with chivalrous grace. Drawing the heavy lace hood forward to obscure my face and eyes, I took a step with him into the grand hall.
A deep crimson velvet runner, thickly dusted with white rose petals, led straight to the altar. Along both sides, hundreds of pillar candles burned in neat, glowing rows, illuminating our path. There was no electricity in this vast, ancient cathedral—only the natural light filtering through narrow stained-glass windows—and on this winter afternoon, the interior remained shrouded in soft shadow. The atmosphere was reverent, electric, and hauntingly magical.
As I walked slowly toward Magnus—who loomed like a dark, towering monolith at the top of the altar steps—my heart burned brighter than the flames of a thousand candles. Dressed in a crisp white shirt with an open collar, having discarded his stifling jacket, he radiated a wild, restless impatience. His stormy grey eyes tracked my every step without flinching.
The weight of the heavy lace cloak forced me to maintain a measured, solemn pace, though my soul had long since sprinted ahead to stand by his side.
With only a couple of paces remaining before the altar, Askold gently released my arm and stepped back into the shadows. Magnus descended the steps in a single fluid motion, taking my hand with fierce tenderness and helping me up to stand beside him before the face of eternity.
An elderly priest clad in white robes gracefully opened an ornate crystal chest. He lifted an exquisite, wrought-iron crown and set it gently onto my head, before placing a matching second crown onto the Alpha’s light hair.
𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"We are gathered here today, in this sanctuary of shadow and light, to forever bind two kindred souls!" the priest declared, his voice echoing off the high stone arches. "Jane and Magnus, are you prepared to bear the heavy mantle of each other’s destinies without complaint? To love and sacredly honor one another in wealth and in poverty, in mortal illness and in absolute health?"
"I am," we answered in unison, our voices blending into a resonant echo that carried through the cathedral.
The priest nodded in approval. Retrieving a long crimson ribbon from the chest, he took my right hand and Magnus’s left. We interlaced our fingers tightly, and he began to wrap the scarlet silk around our wrists, turn by turn, binding us before the eyes of the divine.
"Binding yourselves in spirit, you swear in all possible worlds and future incarnations to choose one another without fail. You are henceforth and forever bound by the true nature of your origin, by spilled blood, by beating hearts, and by immortal souls."
We turned slowly to face each other. With his free hand, Magnus reverently lifted the heavy lace veil from my face, draping it over the wrought-iron crown. His grey eyes burned into the very depths of my being.
"Remember each other for all time," the priest intoned. "Carry this love to the very dust of the earth, and even then, let it never fade. For true love is a supreme gift—one that ruthlessly consumes every barrier and illuminates the dark for even the blind!"
"I swear to love and protect you," Magnus whispered, leaning down toward my lips.
"I swear to love you and be your strength," I breathed against his mouth, feeling the tantalizing, ghost-light touch of his lips on mine.
An instant fire bloomed in my chest, blazing brighter than a solar flare. As we exchanged smooth, white-gold bands, every cell in my body resonated with a single, absolute truth: I was the happiest woman in existence.