Page 39 of New Year with the Cartel

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Rodriguez moved to the altar, running his fingers along the skull's surface. "Took months to find him. Your last incarnation, Fendwyr. The one from that dream you had."

Fendwyr's grip on my hand tightened. "You're lying."

"Am I?" Rodriguez circled the altar. "The necklace responds to his presence. To both of your presences, actually. Look how it moves, how it recognizes its true owners." His voice took on an almost reverent quality. "Do you know how many lives you've lived? How many times you've found each other, only to be torn apart? It would give me an existential crisis if I were you."

"If you know so much," I challenged, "why do you need us here? Why not just take the necklace's power for yourself?"

Something flickered across Rodriguez's face—pain, perhaps, or anger. Above us, his followers watched from the catacomb's upper levels, their faces illuminated by the lanterns' glow. They seemed entranced by the scene unfolding below.

"Because power isn't enough," Rodriguez admitted. "The necklace requires... more. Something I thought I understood, once." He touched the skull again, almost tenderly. "Something I lost."

"Your mate," I said softly, the pieces finally clicking into place. "That's what this is really about, isn't it?"

Rodriguez's composure cracked, just slightly. "Careful, little omega. You don't want to make assumptions about things you don't understand."

"But I do understand," I pressed, taking a step forward despite Fendwyr's protective grip. "I can smell it on you—grief, obsession, desperation. What happened to them? What did you do?"

"I protected her!" Rodriguez's shout echoed off the stone walls, making his followers shift. "I gave her everything! Safety, luxury, devotion—"

"Control," Fendwyr interrupted. "Just like I tried to do. How did that work out for you? I thought you knew better than me."

Rodriguez's hand shot to the necklace. "You think you understand? You think your perfect fated mate bond gives you insight?" He lifted the necklace from the skull. "Let me show you what real power looks like."

He slipped it over his head, his expression triumphant. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the symbols began to glow red, angry and violent. Rodriguez's smile faltered as the glow intensified.

"No," he gasped, clawing at the necklace. "It's supposed to—I did everything right—"

"Did you?" I challenged. "Or did you just hide your obsession with control better than Fendwyr? Your followers think you're different, that you'll treat omegas better. What would they say if they knew this was all about your lost mate?"

The necklace's glow turned harsh, filling the chamber with crimson light. Above us, Rodriguez's people began murmuring, their faith visibly shaking. They never expected to find out what I just told them about their new boss.

"Shut up!" Rodriguez tried to remove the necklace, but it wouldn't budge. I never thought I'd see him like that, distraught and angry. "I built something better! I showed them a better way!"

"A better way?" Fendwyr's voice was quiet but carried throughout the chamber. "Look at yourself. Look at what you've become. You're no different than I was."

The skull on the altar suddenly exploded, fragments of bone scattering across the ancient stones. Rodriguez screamed—not in pain, but in fury. He began grabbing bones from the walls, hurling them in blind rage.

"She was mine!" He roared. "My fated mate! My perfect match! But she chose death over our bond! Over my love! Over everything I offered!"

His followers gasped. Weapons lowered as they watched their leader's mask crumble. Even his most devoted supporters couldn't ignore the madness in his eyes.

"She wanted to be free," I whispered, finally understanding everything that was happening here and what carried us to this moment. "Like I almost had to. Like Elias did. Like all the omegas you claimed to want to protect."

The necklace suddenly tore itself from Rodriguez's neck, hovering in the air between us. Its glow shifted from angry red to pure silver, and I felt drawn to it. Fendwyr moved with me, our hands clasping together as we reached for it.

The moment we touched it, everything changed. The symbols stabilized, showing clear patterns that could only mean I was right. The catacombs filled with gentle light, illuminatingthe truth for all to see. Our son kicked strongly, as if responding to the necklace's power.

Rodriguez fell to his knees, watching what he believed to be true crumble around him. He was beginning to realize that he had lost. He couldn't change the reality before his eyes, and that was terrifying. Even I could sense some of what he was feeling, and I was grateful it would never happen to me.

His followers began moving—some toward the exits, others toward our teams, looking for a new purpose. The revolution he'd built was dissolving as they realized its foundation had been built on his own unresolved trauma.

"It's over," Fendwyr said, not unkindly. "Let it go."

Rodriguez looked up, his eyes wild but defeated. "What am I supposed to do now? How do I—" He gestured at the destruction around him, but it was pointless.

I touched the necklace, feeling its warmth. "Learn from it. Like we did. Like we're still doing. True bonds can't be forced or controlled. They have to be chosen, again and again."

As we ascended from the catacombs, the necklace now properly claimed, I heard Rodriguez's broken sobs echo behind us. Part of me pitied him—he'd lost his mate, lost his way, and now lost everything he'd built trying to make sense of that loss.

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