The Omni-Wolf’s Choice novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77 Luna to Luna…

Bridget’s POV

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From the hallway, I let the spell go and release the men from that icy paralysis. Connor is already moving the second he can-gone in a blink, likely chasing after his mate.

Goddess. I’d felt it between them for a while.

And Ryder? He needs a moment. I’m fairly certain the love of my life is about to collect

on what I did to him.

‘Oh, Luna…’ Ryder’s voice slides through the mind-link, warm with amusement. I can

practically hear the grin.

So yes. I’m in trouble.

‘Yes, my Alpha,’ I send back, sweetness layered over a challenge. ‘Do you require

something from me?’

Hall after ball then out of the castle Chapter Unlocked, Enjoy Reading!

I don’t stop walking. I make it mu miccion

entirely.

Iron Fang and Pearce have been assigned to me now. They trail several paces back,

close enough to be reassuring and far enough to let me breathe.

‘I have things to handle,’ Ryder replies, the edge in his tone sharpening. ‘But I need you.

Now.’

The air shifts as he closes the distance, that predatory presence pressing in. Ryder has

always been a hunter.

And I am absolutely his favorite target.

‘Ryder, I’m sorry,’ I answer, slipping a laugh into the link. ‘I really do have training. Can

this wait?’

I step into the labyrinth and immediately cut left, then right, my vampire speed carrying me deeper.

‘What’s with the sprint?’ he asks. ‘The elders will see you whenever you decide to show. They’ve told me how fast you’re progressing-and I saw it myself when you froze Connor… and me.’

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‘It wasn’t personal.’ I keep moving, listening for him, feeling for him. ‘You’re the one who taught me that sometimes you do what has to be done. It was for the greater good. Now you can focus on finding that witch and ending this.’

‘We’ve barely begun, mate.’

Wind curls at the edges of my senses.

He has made it outside.

I send a silent signal, and the maze locks down. With Iron Fang and Pearce behind me,

Ryder would have tracked me too easily otherwise.

I round a corner and pass a bench tucked between hedges.

A single red rose sits there like a confession.

I stop, exhaling, eyes scanning the green walls.

‘Did you find the flower I left for you?’ Ryder’s voice rolls into my head, low and intimate.

My stomach flips.

‘How?’ I demand. ‘How did you manage that? I didn’t give you anything to go on.”

‘I catch your thoughts before you finish forming them,’ he says. ‘Looks like my abilities

are coming in-with a dash of my family’s vision-gifts.’

‘Then I guess I’ll have to get better,’ I shoot back.

I pivot hard and take another left.

I can smell him.

He’s close enough to touch.

‘Bridget,’ he murmurs, a promise sharpened into a threat. ‘Maybe not today. Maybe not.

tomorrow. But I will get you back for freezing me in my own office. That isn’t something

you do and walk away from.’

Somewhere beyond the hedges, children laugh-two lanes over, outside the maze.

‘Or,’ I suggest, ‘you could try saying thank you, Alpha.’

I snatch a handful of leaves and toss them up and over the wall, scattering them to bait

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<Chapter 77 Luna to Luna.

his pursuit.

Left again.

And then-nothing.

A dead-end.

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My steps slow, irritation rising. I’ve run this labyrinth more than once. I don’t get

cornered.

‘Are you changing the maze?’ I call out, suspicion tightening my voice.

“The better to catch you, my dear.”

Ryder’s arms slide around my waist from behind, solid and sudden. His mouth finds my ear, teeth catching my lobe before he whispers, “Someone has been a very naughty

Luna.”

A laugh bursts out of me as I twist, trying to wriggle free. His hold only tightens, sending electricity through my skin. He kisses my neck again and again, slow and punishing.

“Ryder,” I protest, breathless. “My intentions were good.”

I turn into him and loop my arms around his neck. He drags me in closer.

“Then we’ll put your mouth in a good place too,” he says, and his lips crash down on

mine.

I smile into the kiss and part for him, letting him in. His hands frame my face, careful for a man who is anything but gentle when he wants something. The hedge presses into my

back as he crowds me there.

Then his palms slide down.

To my thighs.

He hooks under my dress and lifts it, fingers tugging at my panties.

I gasp.

“Alpha-we have the plans for the witches’ property. Montgomery sent me to locate

you.”

A warrior’s voice carries from outside the maze.

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<Chapter 77 Luna to Luna

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I let out a frustrated breath, heat still humming through my body. Of course. Of course the moment I’m due my “happy ending,” duty arrives with impeccable timing.

“Tell them to meet me in the war room in five,” Ryder calls back, voice steady even as he leans his forehead to mine. “I’ll finish your punishment later.”

Before I can argue, he tears my panties away and lifts them to his nose, inhaling like he’s

memorizing me.

“Ryder,” I whisper-yell, scandalized.

He laughs, utterly unrepentant, and stuffs them into the pocket of his slacks. Then he

kisses my temple and takes my hand, guiding me out of the maze as if he hasn’t just

stolen half my dignity.

“I’ll find you as soon as I’m done,” he says.

One more kiss-enough to make my knees soften-and then I’m handed off on the castle

steps to Iron Fang and Pearce.

There has to be something else I can do. Something that isn’t just waiting and worrying.

And I know exactly who to ask-someone who has stood where I’m standing.

****

“Luna Kendra, do you have a minute?”

I step into her office. She’s at her computer, fingers moving quickly across the keys,

glasses perched low on her nose. She looks up-and her smile comes instantly.

“For my favorite new daughter? Always.” She gestures to the chairs across from her

desk. “What’s on your mind?”

I nod, sit, and fold my hands together to keep from fidgeting.

“I wanted to ask you about what’s ahead. You and Evelyn… you have visions. You catch

pieces of the future.”

“We do,” she confirms. “Sometimes. But we can’t force them. They come when they

come. What are you trying to see?”

“It’s this feeling,” I admit. “Like I’m overlooking something important. Ryder is leaving to

lead another mission to capture that witch, and he wants me staying behind. I

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< Chapter 77 Luna to Luna

understand why. I do.

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“But what’s the point of being the Omni-Wolf if I’m just supposed to sit here and hope everything works out?”

Luna Kendra studies me for a beat, then leans back.

“It’s a hard balance,” she says quietly, “when your mate is powerful and you are powerful too. I know you’ll fight side by side one day. I also know he fears losing you while you’re still learning-while your strengths are still settling into your bones.”

“I know,” I say, the words coming out sharper than I intend. “But I can’t shake the sense that something is about to turn. I want to be ready. Keeping me tucked away like some delicate thing… it doesn’t feel right.”

She exhales and goes still, considering.

“Then answer me this,” she says. “With what you’ve learned since you arrived-if he

brought you into battle today, would your wolf automatically take over and protect you?

Or are you controlled enough to fight on command, right now, without relying on Ryder?

No searching for him. Just fighting.”

My throat tightens.

“I would hope,” I say carefully, “that everything I am would kick in when it mattered.”

“It’s war, Bridget.” Her voice firms, not unkind, just real. “We don’t step onto a battlefield

hoping. You need to be able to choose. You need to feel your mate in the fight-be in

sync with him, even seeing through him while you still see through yourself. You have to

be ready.

“If you truly believe you are, then that’s a conversation you and Ryder need to have

together.”

Confusion twists deeper in me as she speaks. I came here expecting certainty- expecting the strongest Luna in the pack to hand me permission like a weapon.

Instead, I’m left questioning whether my confidence is just pride.

“There will be war,” Luna Kendra says, as if reading the struggle on my face. “Battles

here and elsewhere. You will be needed. That, I promise you.

“The only question is… where will you be when it starts?”

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<Chapter 77 Luna to Luna

She reaches across the desk and takes my hand.

And the world fractures.

A vision slams into me-sound first.

A man’s voice, cold and demanding: ‘You better choose… what will it be…’

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Chaos surrounds us. War everywhere. Every species locked in violence. Connor is

pushing through the fighting, trying to reach me.

Where is Ryder?

I search wildly.

I can’t see him.

But I can feel him-his heartbeat racing, faster than normal, urgent like a warning.

My eyes snap open.

I tear out of the vision with a gasp.

Luna Kendra is staring down at her own hand like it’s burned her.

“Did you see that too?” I ask, rubbing my palm as if I can wipe the sensation away.

“Yes,” she whispers. Then, louder, steadier: “Yes, I did.

“Prepare yourself, Luna Bridget. The war is coming here.”

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