The old sanctuary stood beyond the northern wall, where pines crowded against a ruined stone chapel.

Elliot arrived after sunset with the unsigned note folded inside his coat. He had told a guard where he was going. The guard had only shrugged.

Inside, five candles burned around a circle etched into the floor.

All five Alphas were waiting.

Damien stood at the center, a narrow silver document in his hand. Ryder guarded the doorway. Sebastian had arranged the candles. Adrian stood beside a cabinet of ceremonial herbs. Lucas kept turning a ring around his finger.

Elliot stopped. “What is this?”

“A solution,” Damien said.

“Then tell me what it is before I come closer.”

Sebastian lifted the document. “A petition to suspend the choosing ceremony. The council will consider it if we establish that the Moonbound bond is unstable.”

“How?”

“Through a resonance test,” Adrian answered.

Elliot looked at the silver lines in the floor. “Does Gideon know?”

No one replied.

He backed toward the door.

Ryder moved aside, but his expression remained hard. “If you leave, we'll assume you don't want the investigation.”

“I want the truth investigated. I don't want a secret ritual.”

Damien approached. “You're afraid because you know the bond is artificial.”

“No. I'm afraid because none of you will tell me what you're doing.”

For a moment, Elliot thought Lucas might intervene. The youngest Alpha opened his mouth, then glanced at Damien and stayed silent.

Sebastian began reading from the covenant. The words were old, their rhythm unfamiliar. Silver light stirred along the grooves in the floor.

Elliot felt the collar tighten.

“Stop,” he said.

Adrian looked up sharply. “The collar shouldn't react yet.”

“Then stop.”

Damien's eyes flashed. “The test needs one minute.”

“I said no.”

The five candles flared. A pulse of Alpha dominance filled the sanctuary, heavy enough to make Elliot stagger.

His wolf recoiled. He dropped to one knee, clutching the collar.

Ryder's anger vanished. “Damien, shut it down.”

Sebastian stumbled over the next line. The light turned red.

Elliot could hear five wolves in his head, their instincts reaching toward him through a bond they had all denied. The connection was overwhelming, invasive, and terrifying.

He tried to crawl beyond the circle.

A silver line rose like a barrier beneath his hand.

“Let me out!”

Lucas rushed forward, but the barrier threw him backward. He struck a pillar and slid to the floor.

Adrian grabbed a ceremonial knife and cut the cord linking the candles. The first flame died. The other four burned brighter.

“It's feeding on resistance,” Adrian said. “The more he fights, the stronger it gets.”

Damien stared at Elliot. “Then tell him to stop fighting.”

Elliot looked up, stunned.

Even now, Damien thought obedience was the answer.

“I can't breathe,” Elliot whispered.

Something changed in Damien's face.

He stepped into the circle. The barrier caught his arm and scorched the sleeve of his coat.

“Break the stones,” he ordered.

Ryder drove his fist into the nearest carving. Sebastian kicked over the silver stand. Lucas pulled the remaining candles apart with shaking hands.

Adrian pressed both palms against the collar and spoke a counterspell he had learned from the old healers.

The silver band snapped.

Elliot collapsed onto the cold floor.

For several seconds, he heard nothing but his own ragged breathing.

Then voices reached him.

“Get water.”

“His pulse is too fast.”

“Who altered the ritual?”

“Don't touch him!”

That last voice was Elliot's.

All five men froze.

He dragged himself away from Adrian's outstretched hand. His throat burned. A thin red line marked where the collar had pressed into his skin.

Damien crouched nearby. “Elliot, listen—”

“No.”

“We didn't know it would do that.”

“You knew I didn't want it.”

Damien said nothing.

Elliot pushed himself upright against a pillar. “I told you to stop. All of you heard me.”

Ryder looked away. Sebastian's hands were shaking. Lucas stood with blood on his temple, staring at the floor.

Adrian opened his medical bag. “Your throat needs treatment.”

“Not from you.”

The words struck harder than Elliot intended. Adrian closed the bag.

Outside, a wolf howled across the frozen valley. Elliot realized the sanctuary doors were open. He walked toward them, one slow step at a time.

Damien followed. “You can't go into the forest alone.”

“Watch me.”

He crossed the threshold and nearly fell on the icy steps. A hand reached for him. Elliot recoiled so violently that Ryder stopped midmovement.

“I won't touch you,” Ryder said.

It was the first promise Elliot believed that night.

The guard at the northern gate saw his neck and immediately sent for Gideon. By the time Elliot reached the infirmary, the Supreme Alpha was waiting.

“Who did this?” Gideon asked.

Elliot looked at the five figures emerging from the dark behind him.

For weeks he had begged people to believe his innocence. He was tired of begging.

“Ask your heirs,” he said.

Gideon turned. His face hardened as he saw the broken collar in Damien's hand.

“What have you done?”

Damien's mouth opened, then closed.

Elliot stepped into the infirmary and shut the door himself.

He asked the night nurse to photograph the mark on his throat, document the incident, and keep the five Alphas outside.

She did all three.

When she asked whether he wanted pain medication, he nodded. When she asked whether he wanted anyone called, he shook his head.

He had once dreamed of hearing five voices call him theirs.

Now he wanted only silence.

Mara checked Elliot's breathing twice before allowing him to sleep. When he startled awake, she was still seated by the door with a book in her lap.

“Did they come back?” he asked.

“They asked about you. I told them you're not receiving visitors.”

“Even Damien?”

“Especially Damien.”

Elliot stared at the ceiling. The infirmary lights were low, but every passing shadow reminded him of the sanctuary circle.

“I thought if I could prove I wasn't lying, they'd stop hating me,” he said.

Mara closed her book. “What they think of you doesn't determine what happened tonight.”

“They'll say it was an accident.”

“Then we'll keep the record accurate.”

She showed him the written report. It listed the time of arrival, the injury, his refusal of contact, and his own account of the ritual. No softened language. No suggestion that he had misunderstood.

“Can I add something?” Elliot asked.

“Of course.”

He took the pen. His hand trembled, so he waited until it steadied. Then he wrote: I said stop more than once.

Mara read the sentence and signed beneath it.

Later, when the hall fell quiet, Elliot felt the bond reaching toward him again. He recognized the five different presences now: Damien's hard certainty, Ryder's restless anger, Adrian's anxious restraint, Sebastian's calculation, Lucas's panicked regret.

They were all awake.

Elliot turned onto his side and pulled the blanket to his chin.

He did not answer any of them.

At sunrise, Mara brought him tea and a clean sweater. He asked for paper. By the time the council bell rang, he had drafted the first line of his petition: No wolf may be compelled to surrender his choice of mate.