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CHAPTER 20
~Kael's POV~
"No!"
Our voices—mine and my brothers'—thundered through the hall like the crack of divine judgment. It wasn't just anger. It was instinct, a primal fury of wolves guarding what was ours—my mate.
The floor trembled beneath our combined auras. Plates clattered, glasses cracked. Servants hit their knees, gasping for air.
One of them passed out. The heat of our combined power rolled through the hall like a silent storm.
Yet Solaris didn't flinch.
The bastard smiled instead.
He rose slowly, as if we hadn't just threatened to tear him limb from limb. His gaze didn't even shift to us.
No—those damn mismatched eyes, glacial blue and violet flame, stayed locked on her.
Rhiannon.
My mate.
She sat calmly—too calmly—in the chair I'd just pulled out for her minutes ago, dressed like a vision born to haunt male fantasies.
That dress… the very one Solaris couldn't take his eyes off of.
"Mine," My wolf snarled.
When I first saw her step into the room, I swear the world stopped. I forgot what anger was. What words were? My blood had rushed through my veins like a tidal wave. All I could think was to protect her.
And now… this ice prince from the north—Solaris Slade—had the audacity to look at her like she was his prize?
His lips curled, and he took a step toward her. "No snarling wolves, no cages. Just power and pleasure."
I was already moving.
One second I was behind my chair, and the next I was in front of him, standing so close I could smell the frigid northern wind that clung to his skin.
My voice was quiet, deadly. "You'll regret those words, Solaris."
He looked at me then. Slowly. Like I was an afterthought.
That smirk didn't leave his lips. "Possessiveness doesn't suit you, Kael. Or maybe you fear she'll choose power over passion?"
I grabbed his collar before he could finish that smug sentence, fisting the expensive cloth like I'd tear it from his body.
Rhiannon stood quickly and yelled, "Enough."
My chest heaved with anger as my fist hovered in the air close to his face. We all froze, even Solaris.
Rhiannon moved swiftly, stepped between us, and her soft hand wrapped around mine. "Kael," she whispered, not in fear, but strength. "Let him go."
I looked at her. Gods, those eyes… They saw through everything and held no fear in them.
"Please."
I dropped my hand and stepped back.
But I didn't stop glaring at Solaris.
She turned to him next, raising her chin. Her voice was calm and firm. "Alpha Solaris, I appreciate your… offer. But I didn't come here to be traded or claimed like a prize. And I already have a seat beside my mates, the only werewolves I'd ever consider ruling beside."
My chest tightened at her words.
Solaris gave a mock bow. "As you wish… princess." His tone had lost the teasing edge, but those damn eyes still shimmered with something unreadable.
He turned and returned to his seat, brushing invisible dust from his sleeve like we were beneath him.
I escorted Rhiannon back to her chair, holding it once more for her before I sat beside her.
I looked around at the table—my brothers still on edge, Aiden still recovering from the blow of our auras, Solaris calm as a winter lake.
They were here for her and I would burn the world before I let them take her.
"So, umm…" Alpha Aiden began.
"So, umm…" Alpha Aiden began again in a less cocky voice now, "as I was saying, we came to discuss formal alliance terms, especially concerning the Moon Reaping—"
I didn't care.
My eyes stayed locked on Rhiannon. Her breathing had grown shallow. Her fingers curled around the edge of her plate like it was the only anchor she had.
Something was wrong.
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~Author's POV~
The hall had returned to its rhythm, or at least pretended to.
Glasses refilled, soft clinking of cutlery, platters passed as Alpha Aiden spoke again, picking up the thread of diplomacy with an easy grin.
But Kael wasn't listening.
His gaze kept flicking to Rhiannon. She sat beside him, straight-backed, silent, her plate untouched. Her hands were clenched on the edge of the table.
Talon noticed first. His eyes narrowed from across the table.
Lucien followed, his expression indistinct. But his fingers stilled on his glass's stem.
Kael felt it too, the way her breath shortened with every passing second.
And then—Rhiannon's fingers twitched. She blinked too fast. Her eyes shifted as if she were following invisible movement.
In her head, the noise had grown unbearable.
And their untamed, strange thoughts slammed into her head all at once.
"Beautiful, but too bold. Dangerous."
"She's not marked. Why haven't they claimed her yet?"
"If they wait too long, she'll be ours…"
"He is lucky Rhia intervened. I would have done something so dangerous to him."
On and on, more of their thoughts filled her mind. Rhiannon tried to breathe, but their voices pressed in—dozens, then hundreds.
The Alphas, their wolves, the guards outside the hall. Every thought rang like a bell struck beside her ear, with no way to silence it or to separate them.
The more she heard, the deeper she drowned.
"I… I can't—" she whispered.
Kael turned sharply, gripping her wrist. "Rhiannon?"
She looked at him, but not really. Her eyes glazed slightly, the light behind them dimming.
Lucien rose at once. "Something's wrong."
"Her heartbeat's climbing," Darian stated, pushing his chair back. "Fast. Too fast."
Kael stood, his hand wrapping around her waist as she swayed.
"I hear them," she whispered, though no one understood what she meant. "All of them. The… they're too loud…"
Kael froze. "What?"
But Rhiannon didn't answer. Her head lolled slightly to the side, and then—without warning—her body slumped forward.
Kael caught her mid-fall. The room erupted.
"Rhiannon!"
"Move!"
"Get the healer!"
Darian was already at their side. "She's not unconscious-not fully. But her aura's spiking. Something's writhing inside her."
"Magic?" Riven asked. "Is this her wolf?"
"No," Lucien said darkly, scanning her face. "This is something else."
Kael dropped to one knee with her in his arms, brushing a strand of damp hair from her forehead. Her face was pale, and her pulse raced.
"She's overloaded," he murmured. "I think all of our auras did this to her."
"But isn't she an alpha she-wolf?" Talon asked.
"She's not marked. The pressure would be too much."
Kael looked at Rhiannon's face, the way her jaw tensed even as she lay limp.
He didn't have an answer to their questions really. He only knew one thing: This was his fault.
He should've shielded her. Should've kept her away. Should've known that a room full of Alphas, all radiating power and desire, would tear her senses apart.
Kael's chest tightened and his wolf clawed behind his ribs.
"Take her," he ordered, voice rough. "To my chambers. No one follows."
Lucien moved ahead. "I'll clear the hall. No one will leave until I say so."
"I'll alert the healer," Riven muttered, already heading for the door.
Darian helped Kael lift her gently, supporting her head.
As they carried her out, the only thing Kael could hear, beyond the murmurs, the fear, the tension, was the sound of her shallow, uneven breathing like something inside her had snapped.
"Please, be safe."