The announcement appeared on every public board in Blackthorn: THE MOONBOUND MAY CHOOSE A SPOUSE, MULTIPLE PARTNERS WHERE LAWFUL, OR NO PARTNER AT ALL. CONSENT IS REQUIRED.

Elliot read it on his way to the market and kept walking.

The five Alphas did not.

Lucas stared at the notice. “Multiple partners?”

Sebastian adjusted his gloves. “An amendment to the old covenant. The council finally acknowledged that the original text described a choice, not an obligation.”

Ryder frowned. “So he could choose all of us?”

“He could choose none of us,” Adrian said.

Damien remained silent. That possibility had become painfully real.

The council had invited eligible heirs to submit statements of intent. Every one of the five submitted one, though the process had no authority to compel Elliot's attention.

Their reasons were different, and none of them were yet enough.

Damien offered to relinquish his claim to the throne if Elliot wanted a life away from the royal household.

Ryder offered to move out of Blackthorn and serve on the northern border, where Elliot would never have to see him.

Adrian pledged to support a permanent independent clinic for Omegas, whether Elliot ever spoke to him again or not.

Sebastian proposed a legal fund to challenge coercive bond laws in neighboring packs.

Lucas submitted one sentence: I want to know the man I was too cowardly to defend.

When Gideon saw the five applications, he laughed without amusement.

“A month ago you would have burned this ceremony to the ground,” he said.

Damien met his gaze. “A month ago we were wrong.”

“Regret isn't courtship.”

“We know.”

At the winter market, Elliot sold rosemary bundles and small pots of lavender. His booth stood beside a baker's stall, where warm cinnamon drifted through the cold air.

A young Beta named Theo bought three plants and asked whether Elliot would teach a gardening class.

“Me?” Elliot said.

“You grew half the greenhouse stock. Naomi says you're the expert.”

Elliot smiled. “I could try.”

“Good. I'll bring my sister.”

Across the square, Ryder watched Theo leave. His wolf reacted before his reason did, bristling at the easy smile Elliot had given another man.

“You look ridiculous,” Tessa told him.

“I know.”

“Then stop glaring at a customer.”

Ryder looked down. “I'm not going over there.”

“Congratulations on the bare minimum.”

Lucas arrived with a tray of coffee. He had bought drinks for the entire market crew, not just Elliot. Naomi accepted one and thanked him.

Elliot looked at the remaining cup. “Is that for me?”

“Only if you want it. Oat milk, no cinnamon. I remembered.”

“You remembered wrong. I like cinnamon.”

Lucas blinked. “You told me you didn't.”

“I said it made me sneeze when someone threw a whole jar into the fire.”

Lucas gave a helpless laugh. “I wasn't listening very well.”

“No,” Elliot agreed. “You weren't.”

He accepted the coffee anyway, and Lucas left before the exchange could become a demand.

Adrian visited the market to deliver information about the new clinic. He asked Naomi whether she would be willing to advise on its accessibility plan.

“Ask Elliot,” she replied. “He knows more about what was missing than I do.”

Adrian hesitated, then approached the booth from the front.

“Would you consider reviewing the proposal?” he asked Elliot. “You can say no. You can also be paid for your time.”

Elliot examined the document. “I'll read it. That doesn't mean I approve.”

“Understood.”

A gust of wind scattered the papers. Adrian bent to gather them, and Elliot instinctively stepped back when their hands almost touched.

Adrian stopped immediately.

“Sorry,” he said.

Elliot hated that his body still remembered fear. He hated even more that Adrian noticed.

“You don't have to apologize for reaching for paper,” Elliot said.

“I know. I should have asked before coming into your space.”

Elliot watched him go, uncertain what to do with a man who had finally learned restraint.

Sebastian's attempt at courtship was even stranger. He asked Elliot for permission to publish the corrected history of the ambush, with Elliot's account included only if Elliot approved every word.

“Why would I help you?” Elliot asked.

“You shouldn't have to. But the pack should know how the lie spread.”

“Then write about what you did. Leave me out of it.”

Sebastian bowed his head. “I will.”

By dusk, the market had sold out. Naomi counted the cash while Elliot packed the empty trays.

“You have admirers,” she teased.

“I have five men trying to become people I can trust.”

“Is it working?”

Elliot looked toward the road. Damien stood beside a council vehicle, speaking to a guard. He did not approach.

“Maybe a little,” Elliot admitted. “That scares me.”

Naomi tucked the money into an envelope. “You can feel something without promising anything.”

Elliot carried the trays home with those words in his head.

Later, the five Alphas met in the council library. Ryder demanded to know why Lucas had bought Elliot coffee. Lucas asked why Ryder had spent an hour staring at the market stall.

“Because I wanted to see him,” Ryder snapped.

“So did I.”

“Enough,” Damien said.

Sebastian folded his arms. “We are competing for someone who hasn't invited a competition.”

Adrian looked at the five applications on the table. “Then perhaps we should stop treating his attention like a prize.”

Damien took his own application and tore it in half.

The others stared.

“I want him to choose me,” he said. “But I won't make him stand before us like a judge again.”

One by one, the others removed their applications.

Outside, snow began to fall. At home, Elliot set a pot of lavender on his windowsill.

For the first time, he wondered what a date might feel like if it were truly his idea.

That night, Lucas tried to imagine a future in which Elliot chose Damien. The thought hurt, but he forced himself to sit with it instead of turning the pain into anger.

Ryder admitted he had pictured the same thing, only with Lucas. They stared at each other across the library, both ashamed of how quickly jealousy could become entitlement.

“We should probably learn how to be friends again,” Lucas said.

“Were we ever good at it?” Ryder asked.

“No,” Sebastian answered from the doorway. “But we could start by not making Elliot responsible for our arguments.”

Adrian suggested they meet weekly with a counselor from outside Blackthorn. Damien agreed before anyone could object.

None of them expected healing to be quick. For once, that expectation seemed more respectful than a grand promise.

Elliot looked toward the forest. The distance between what he had survived and what he wanted was still wide, but it belonged to him to cross. He made no promise to anyone that evening.

He simply closed the door, set his boots beside the stove, and allowed himself the peace of an ordinary night.

On Sunday, Elliot attended the first planning meeting for the gardening class. Theo brought colored pencils, June brought biscuits, and Naomi brought a list of tools they could borrow. Nobody asked Elliot about his bond.

They asked whether the seedlings needed extra lamps and how much compost to order. He answered every question with growing confidence. When the meeting ended, Theo thanked him for leading it. Elliot walked home feeling useful in a way that had nothing to do with being Moonbound.

He liked that feeling. It was not a substitute for love, but it was a foundation he had never been allowed to build. He wrote the class date on his calendar and circled it twice.