Chapter 212: The Trial of Heart
Alessandro’s POV
“You are Aurora’s Wolf?”
I asked, my voice shaking as I stared at the glowing white wolf before me.
“Correct!” she replied, her voice echoing in my mind like a thousand whispers carried by the wind.
Her silver eyes burned with strength, yet sorrow lingered in them.
“Why isn’t she healing?”
I demanded, my fists clenching at my sides.
“She’s strong. Stronger than anyone I know.
Why is she still lying there, lifeless?”
Her wolf shook her head slowly.
“Because she does not want to.”
I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
“What do you mean she doesn’t want to?
That’s impossible. Aurora is a fighter, she has always fought!”
The wolf stepped closer, her presence commanding, yet gentle.
“She is tired, Alessandro.
Tired of betrayal.
Tired of pain.
Tired of fighting battles that keep breaking her heart.
She chose to retreat into the deepest part of her soul where no one could hurt her anymore.”
I shook my head violently.
“No… no, I can’t accept that.
She can’t leave me.
She can’t leave us!
Tell her she can’t—”
My voice cracked, and I felt myself breaking apart.
Her wolf’s eyes softened as she lowered her head.
“The only one who can reach her now is you.”
“Me?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she replied firmly.
“But you will have to go through what every mate must endure for their fated one.”
My brows furrowed. “And what could that be?”
Her wolf’s silver eyes glowed brighter, a power so fierce it made my chest ache.
“Trial. If you successfully pass the test, not only will she return, but I will also merge with her completely. She will be stronger than ever before… unstoppable.”
I took a deep breath, my heart hammering against my ribs. “There’s nothing I cannot do for Aurora. I can give my life for her if that’s the only way to bring her back.”
The wolf tilted her head, studying me as though weighing my soul.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked, my voice steady despite the storm inside me.
She stepped closer, her presence radiating like fire and ice. “The trial is not fought with claws or strength, Alessandro. It will test your heart. Your loyalty. Your truth as her mate. You will face every fear, every mistake, every temptation… and if you falter, even once, she will be lost to you forever.”
A chill ran down my spine. “I won’t falter.”
Her wolf’s gaze pierced through me. “We shall see.”
The air around us trembled, the ground beneath my feet splitting into darkness. Shadows rose like waves, pulling me into the void. Her wolf’s voice echoed one last time before I was swallowed whole.
“Prove yourself worthy, Alessandro. Only then will Aurora awaken.”
I gasped as the darkness consumed me.
****
I was spat out of the darkness into an extremely bright light. My lungs felt like they were on fire as I staggered forward, my feet crunching on what seemed to be gravel of… the pack’s courtyard?
Or was it no, this was not real. Something was just off.
To look up was to freeze in place.
Aurora was at the very center of the courtyard, in a dress of white, and her halo of golden hair flowing in the night breeze.
She looked neither weak nor pale, and she was not laying in bed. She was gorgeous, alive.
Besides, she was not by herself.
Leonardo was standing next to her, his hand tightly holding hers.
His lips grazed her knuckles, and her smile… gods, that smile the one she reserved only for me was there on him.
Balling my chest, I breathed out, “Aurora…”
She turned, eyeing me as I did the same. But instead of warmth, I received the coldness of distance.
“Why are you here, Alessandro?”
“What do you mean?”
I awkwardly moved forward touching her.
“I am your mate.
I am the one who has been fighting for you.”
Leonardo’s arm marched around her waist in a protective gesture.
“She does not need you anymore, brother.”
His smirk was heavy with malice.
“You have let her down.
She is mine now.”
“No!”
Passion boiling inside me, I shouted back,
“Aurora, hear me out. This isn’t reality. You love me.”
Her eyes narrowing, her voice quiet yet cutting through me like a knife.
“Really?
Where were you when I needed you the most?
You allowed me to bleed, Alessandro.
You let me suffer while you picked your pride, your duties, your pack over me.”
I vehemently shook my head.
“That is not the case!
I was there. I was always by your side.”
Leonardo tilted his head to her ear but spoke loud enough for the whole courtyard to hear.
“He is always self-centered. Always.
But I… I would never let you down, Aurora.”
I swung my arm around him, pulling him away from her.
“Shut up!”
He grinningly pushed me back easily.
“Come to terms with it, Alessandro. You couldn’t protect her. You didn’t even help to keep her alive.”
“STOP IT!”
I screamed, the wolf inside me snarling vehemently, my fists clenched. Desperately turning to Aurora, my eyes blurring,
“Please… please don’t believe him. Look at me. I love you.
I will throw away everything my title, my life just for you to return to me.”
The slightest moment of warmth flickered in Aurora’s eyes… then she shook her head, moving away from me into Leonardo’s embrace.
“Love is not enough, Alessandro. Not anymore,”
And with that, she allowed him to kiss her.
The pain tore my chest so violently as if claws were ripping it apart.
My knees hit the ground.
“No…”
My voice cracked, raw and hollow.
“No, this isn’t real.
This isn’t her. Aurora-”
The world shook, the illusion flicking, but her voice rang through the storm, low and final:
“Prove yourself… or lose me forever.”
The courtyard was breaking up into pieces of glass, pulling me back into the dark again.
****
The darkness was suffocating me like a vise and it dragged me down, I was almost falling.
Out of nowhere, a faint light twinkled in the distance, revealing... a mirror.
Wait, not a mirror.
Myself.
The man standing there wearing the Alpha garments of my father, the silver blazing emblem on my chest, was none other than me.
My reflection smiled mockingly, tilted its head.
"What have we here. Look at you," it said, in a sarcastic tone.
"The potent Alessandro. Future Alpha.
The one who is convinced that love might help a woman that you weren’t even able to protect."
"Get lost," I retorted angrily.
"Why?"
The mirror image moved closer, its eyes shining wickedly.
"Is it not because of the truth?
You saw Aurora dying in your arms. You pleaded, however, she didn’t wake up.
Tell me, Alessandro, if you are not strong enough to bring her back with love, then what kind of mate are you?"
"I am doing everything I can!"
The emotion in my voice was lost as it broke under the heaviness on my chest.
"For her, I would gladly give up my life."
The figure mocked.
"But death is the easiest way out.
Living with regret?
That is the hardest. And that is who you will forever be, your dad’s letdown, your sibling’s shadow, Aurora’s regret."
"No!"
I got up close to the mirror half-falling, waving my hands in protest.
"My dad has faith in me. My sibling, he is well aware that I am totally different from him.
Aurora… she cares for me. She made her choice the moment she met me."
The reflection cackled, bitter and mean.
"Is that so?
Or was it destiny that pushed her into your arms?
Break the tether, Alessandro, and what are left?
You, the kid that was never enough. Not for your family. Not for your pack. Not for her."
My hands were red with blood as I clamped my fists so tightly my nails dug into my palms.
I gasped for air. For a moment, I was on the brink of buying his argument.
Nearly believing… I wasn’t enough.
But then I remembered how Aurora smiled when she looked at me even though she was tired.
The way her hand fit into mine, holding me firm when I was doubting myself.
"Neither fate kept her,"
I said, barely audible and with a slight tremor in my voice.
"She stayed because of me. Because she sees something in me, even I don’t know."
The grin on the reflection’s face disappeared.
"Besides, I am not perfect.
I may fail. But until my last breath, I will fight for her.
Never."
My reflected face distorted, the eyes red with fire, it screamed, and then it broke up into fragments of smoke and glass that flew out into the vastness.
The earth dropped from under me. Again, I was falling lower and darker towards the third trial.
However, I was still able to hear Aurora’s wolf voice, cold and commanding, just before the shadows engulfed me:
"Good. But the worst trial is yet to come."
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