I'd dreamt of him yet again. And this time, my mate had finally given in to my request. He'd finally taken me, but curse whichever wretched soul had decided to wake me before I could replace my release.

My body still ached with desire and was in dire need of release when I finally opened my eyes.

"Good morning, dear child." Eyes blinking, I took back my curse when the wretched soul who'd woken me turned out to be Liira. "I'm sorry to wake you, but it can't be helped. I need to ensure that you and the child are still alright."

"I feel fine." I declared. Well, except for my own excess desire for my mate.

"Oh, thank the gods." The relief in Liira's tone made me frown.

"Did something happen while I slept?" Nothing in my body pointed to that fact, but the receeding worry lines on Liira's face where enough to make me think so.

And instead of furnishing me with an answer, the matriarch merely watched me before focusing on whoever stood behind her. "Should this be happening?" I expected to see Astryn or Carlytte, so when Zillah and Cerus appeared instead, I shot up to a seating position, hands craddling my buldging belly.

"Should what be happening?" Apparently Liira thought something was wrong. I felt it in her tone and it was enough to rouse my own worry.

"She's perfectly alright. This could just be the normal transition from slumber to wakefulness." Zillah smiled. "Her collapse had nothing to do with crossing the spell's threshold around the palace."

The spell's threshold around the palace? Faint memories of my legs giving out from under me plagued my mind, making me dig deeper into that state of wakefulness Zillah had mentioned. What I discovered left me eyes wide and clearly understanding Liira's worry. It seemed that for a moment I had forgotten the recent happenings in my life.

"She was simply too tired." Zillah continued. "It appears even the chosen can do that after over exerting themselves as you did in the fight." The chosen? If my eyes could get any wider they would have as pieces to the puzzle in my mind fell into place.

"It was not a dream?!" I knew it wasn't, but I still stared from one face to the other, hoping one of them would tell me that all the memories flooding my mind were nothing but a dream. Neither did, making me shoot to my feet and rushing to the bed chamber's balcony. I did not know what I sought to see. Perhaps the realm covered in fire and ash? When I was greeted by the familiar sight of green and peace, my heart relaxed. Just a fraction. I still had time.

"Dear child, calm down. Think of-"

I couldn't. Even when Liira's tone was close to begging, I couldn't. Now that I was awake, the dire situation the realms were faced with was all so clear. The fight. The spell. All the people...my family, all the dignitaries from faraway kingdoms that had been trapped by my uncle. His insane plans to rule all the realms. Elian...my mate...it all came back to me. My own promise to the gods...I was the chosen. I swung back to stare at the figures that had remained quiet as realization settled in my soul. "I am the chosen." I declared, not because everyone stared at me differently. I felt it. I was different.

"You are." Pride and warmth filled Liira's tone. And for the first time, it was not fear of the burden that I felt. No. As acceptance of who I was settled deep in my soul, so did a familiar warmth in every part me, leaving me unusually comfortable in what I felt was new skin. My wolf stood taller too. Pacing the recesses of my mind with a grace it had never known.

"And we are here to serve you." Zillah bowed.

"All of us." Liira followed suit. Their actions should have felt too quick and too soon, but I felt none of that as I nodded at the matriarch, my wolf accepting their submission without question.

I, however, should have known that 'all of us' did not exactly mean all of Xatis or the entire realm. At least not all of the men who still thought that their experience gained through fighting wars for years on end outweighed the gift gained by a she wolf who'd barely sniffed at her eighteenth moon birthday.

The council chambers were full to bursting with lords and dignitaries alike. With the threat having spilled to foreign kingdoms, it had been decided that they too be included in the plans meant to foil Evarius'. But looking at all the angry faces and arguments that filled the large room, those plans would birth little to nothing if each wolf only longed to agree with what suited them.

"Selfish pricks. You'd think all these old fools would have learnt a thing or two about putting their egos aside when faced with a common enemy." Liira scoffed before going silent. I realized she was mind linking someone when her son perked up and stared in my direction.

"My lords, the chosen is finally here! My son's mate and future queen of Xatis." Derian's voice carried over the gathered wolves and brought them to silence. His tone dripped with pride that I'd not known before. I wondered what had finally made him a believer. "This is her?" A burly figure suddenly stood up and stared me up and down. The distaste in his gaze stirred the beast in me that wished to put him in his place. "You mean to say the fate of the realms lies in the hands of this-this child? A mere child?!" "Make that a heavily pregnant child." Another wolf sneered.

"I highly doubt the tales of her recent conquests are quite...accurate." Someone scoffed and besides me, someone drew a sword.

With their intent to protect oh so clear, Gol and Rakon marched towards the wolves who had dared to insult me. "If you are quite done with your insults-"

"That is enough." I may have longed to put the wolves in their place, but I was not about to allow bloodshed for a few insults from a couple of unguided wolves. Of course, my wolf was not as forgiving. A menacing growl tore from my lips catching me and the entire council chambers off guard. And more than having my wolf act independent of me, the postures of every wolf present in the room left me picking my jaws off of the chamber's floors.

"Forgive us, my lady." The man who'd been the loudest now bowed with his head so low he could practically lick the ground. "I...we did not mean to disrespect-"

"Liira, Zillah?"Stunned by the turn of events, I turned to the two she wolves, seeking an explanation. They too were bowed impossibly low and they only lifted their eyes when I asked them to.

"It is part of the gift, my lady." Zillah smiled. "Every wolf is bound to you. Regardless of who happens to be their alpha."

Every wolf is bound to you... How could she smile when uttering such grave words when the mere thought of them left me wishing to escape the skin I had so generously accepted a moment ago. My eyes landed on every man in the chambers, their postures bearing witness to Zillah's words and that burden I no longer felt, crashed in, pressing ever so heavily.

It was not about keeping the balance. I was meant to be the balance.

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