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Cropter 173
Chapter 173
She turned to the four who stood at each corner of the platform: the Alpha, the Luna, Mason, and Elena.
My breath hitched.
+25 BONUS:
Elena looked radiant, even in the firelight. Composed. Fier. The flicker of the torch in her hand mirrored. something wild in her eyes.
Together, they lowered their torches, slow and reverent. The fire caught, a breath of heat and gold rushing upward as the pyre came alive. The logs snapped and cracked, and trail of smoke spiraled toward the sky like a Whispered promise.
The priestess stepped back. “Now,” she said, “Each of you may come forward to burn your tokens. But before you do…” She smiled, voice rising. “The future of Moonstone has an announcement.
The crowd stilled.
Mason stepped up onto the platform. The firelight danced across his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bundle–a smooth stone, I realized, wrapped in a piece of velvet.
He cleared his throat.
“I didn’t plan to say anything tonight,” he began, “But it feels right. This–this whole night–reminded me what it means to be part of something bigger than yourself. To serve your pack. To honor the Moon. And to be brave enough to choose love when it finds you.”
He turned to Erin, who had gone still beside Dawn.
“Erin,” he said, voice strong now, “You walked into my life like a lightning strike. I tried to deny it, tried to fight it, because I was scared. Scared of what people would say.”
Everyone was silent, watching. “Scared of who I’d have to become to deserve you. But you stayed. You made me stronger. And I want to spend every day earning the love you’ve already given me.”
The crowd held its breath.
Then Mason dropped to one knee.
Erin’s hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears.
Mason opened the velvet pouch and held out a ring that shimmered in the firelight. “Will you marry me?”
She nodded–furiously–and dropped to her knees in front of him, pulling him into a kiss that set the crowd roaring. Cheers rang out through the clearing, echoing against the trees like a pack–wide howl of joy.
I clapped with the rest of them, but my mind had already drifted back to Elena.
I wondered if she was thinking the same thing I was. About proposals. About how differently things could’ve gone.
The first time I proposed to her, it wasn’t even a real proposal. It had been… a transaction. Cold. Duty–driven. I winced just thinking about it.
The second time–if you could call it that–had been in a grotto, not an hour ago.
Post–coital and breathless. I hadn’t even realized the words had come out until it was too late. I’d just looked at her and wanted forever. No plan. No ring. No sense.
Chapter 173
If I were her, I would’ve rejected me too.
+25 BONUS
But for the first time, I wasn’t devastated by that thought, wasn’t crushed beneath the weight of what I couldn’t
“have.
I was clear.
Because tonight had shown me something I hadn’t let myself belleve for a long time.
We weren’t broken. We were unfinished.
She hadn’t rejected me. She’d rejected the way I’d come back into her life. The way I’d tried to resume what we had without making space for what she’d become.
And that was going to change.
I looked back toward the fire. Elena had moved forward now, slipping something small into the blaze. I had no idea what it was–some token of pain or loss or guilt, maybe.
But as the fire consumed it, she didn’t flinch. She stood tall Proud. Reborn in the heat of it.
I let out a slow breath.
I was going to win her back.
Not with declarations. Not with grand speeches.
With patience. With presence. With every small act that showed her I saw her–fully and completely.
Not just as my mate, not just as Aiden’s mother, but as the powerful, radiant force she was.
If I had to start over, so be it.
I’d court her like I should have the first time. I’d learn her favorite things all over again. I’d listen better. I’d show up. I’d build something she could trust–not because the Moon Goddess said we were meant to be, but because she chose me.
She deserved more than fate.
She deserved someone willing to earn her, day by day, moment by moment.
And I would.
Because Elena Hart was mine.
And this time, I was going to prove I was worthy of her.
