Page 74 of Wolf Queen Ruin
I turned toward the center doorway, the most logical choice based on physical evidence rather than emotional manipulation.
“Running away again, daughter?”
The voice froze me in place.My father’s voice, exactly as I remembered it from the day he cast me out.Deep, authoritative, tinged with disappointment that cut more deeply than rage ever could.
I turned to find a figure standing in the leftmost doorway—not truly my father, but a convincing illusion.He wore the ceremonial attire of the pack Alpha, his silver-streaked hair pulled back to reveal the features I inherited.
“You’re not real,” I said, though my racing heart betrayed my doubts in that statement.
The apparition’s mouth curved in the familiar half smile that had once meant approval but eventually came to signal condescension.“I’m real enough to see your continued weakness, Luna.Always choosing the easy path over the right one.”
“Theeasypath?“ I couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped me.“There was nothing easy about being cast out with a newborn and building a life from nothing while you and the pack turned your backs on us.”
“You chose a rival’s bed over your pack’s honor.”His voice carried the same unyielding judgment it had over three years ago.“Then you chose human society over our wolf ways.You’re always running toward comfort rather than embracing the hard traditions that forged our strength.”
I knew engaging with the illusion was what the test intended, yet I found myself unable to simply walk away—just as I’d never been able to walk away from my dad’s criticism in real life.Some wounds remained raw despite the passage of time.
“Our ‘hard traditions’ would have required me to terminate my pregnancy or give up my child,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady.“What kind of strength demands that kind of choice?”
The apparition’s expression remained impassive, but the doorway behind him began to glow more intensely, the blue light taking on a hypnotic quality.“The pack’s strength comes from unity, from bloodlines carefully maintained through generations of sacrifice.Individual desires must yield to collective survival.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard this speech before,” I said, turning my back on the illusion.“It wasn’t convincing then, either.”
I took a determined step toward the center doorway, only to find my path blocked by another familiar figure.Ryder, Aria’s dad, my first and only lover.His crafty brown eyes reflected the same judgment as my dad’s.
“You didn’t fight hard enough for us,” Ryder spat.“You just left and never gave us a chance.”
The unfairness of the accusation stung with fresh pain.
“You chose your pack over me, over ourchild,“ I hissed.“After Aria and I were cast out from my pack, you shunned us from yours to keep us both a secret.And you didn’t even come to see Aria after she was born, so don’t eventhinkyou can be an asshole about it now.”
Consciously, I knew this argument was pointless, but here I was, having it anyway, real or not.
“You ran away,” he countered.“If you’d stayed near pack territory, fought to change traditions from within—“
“Shut up.Juststop.“ I closed my eyes, trying to center myself.“This isn’t real.You’re not Ryder, just as that wasn’t my dad.You’re designed to manipulate me.”
When I opened my eyes, both apparitions remained, now joined by a third.Jade, looking as she had before falling into her magical coma, her expression uncharacteristically harsh.
“You led us into danger,” she said, voicing my deepest guilt.“Your recklessness infected Aria and me.Now you abandon us again, chasing a hoax of a cure with a fucking vampire rather than staying by our sides.”
The accusation struck deeper than the others, tapping into the self-recrimination that kept me awake at night.I had brought Jade and Aria on that fateful tomb raid because Jade was my partner, and I couldn’t afford childcare.I mean, who can?There, I’d exposed them to the infected moss that caused their illness.Unintentionally, yes, but still.Every day they remained in their comas added to the weight of my responsibility.
All three figures now stood before the leftmost doorway, their combined presence creating a powerful emotional pull.Behind them, the passage glowed, seeming to promise resolution and forgiveness if only I would follow.
I recognized the manipulation but still felt its effect—the yearning to confront these unresolved emotional wounds, to seek absolution from those I’d failed.The Wolf Queen’s test was targeting my deepest vulnerabilities.
Steadying my breathing, I focused on what I knew to be true rather than what the illusions suggested.My father had been unyielding in his traditionalism, but he had also taught me to recognize deception.Ryder had chosen pack over family, a clear statement of his priorities that no revisionist illusion could change.And Jade—the real Jade—had never blamed me for anything, had been an unwavering source of support through every shitshow.
“I know what you’re doing,” I said, addressing the crypt itself rather than the apparitions.“Using guilt and regret to lead me astray.But I’ve got enough guilt and regret inside of me that’s been building for years.I don’t have room for any more.”
My voice cracked at the end.
The figures wavered slightly, their expressions hardening as they sensed my resistance.
“I’m done wallowing in guilt,” I continued, finding strength in voicing this truth.“I’ll find a cure, any cure, and I’ll do whatever it takes to bring Aria and Jade back.Including working with a vampire and facing trials in an ancient crypt.”
I turned toward the center doorway.“My dad taught me that a wolf faces forward, not backward.So that’s what I’m doing.”
