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CHAPTER 3
~Kael's POV~
The moment her body sagged, falling to the ground unconscious, the room shifted.
The tension snapped—like a taut wire finally cut. Around me, my brothers exhaled, some in relief, some still brimming with the urge to fight, to claim what wasn't yet theirs.
So typical.
"She's stronger than we thought," Riven muttered beside me, flexing his fingers like he could still feel her skin under them.
He shook his head, golden hair falling back from his icy blue eyes. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
"She's volatile," Lucien said, slipping the dagger he'd been spinning back into his belt. His voice was easy, but his gaze never left her—sharp and too calculating to be casual. A flicker of something unreadable crossed his features.
I stayed where I was, arms crossed over my chest, every muscle coiled tight. My glacial stare remained locked on the girl chained to the stone floor.
I didn't need to move to feel the bond straining between us, pulling tighter with every shallow breath she took. A disconcerting pull, unexpected and unwelcome.
The wildness in her wasn't just strength. It was raw, untouched, untamable, and somehow beneath that fire was something filled with hatred.
I did not know if it was hatred born out of being captured, auctioned and sold to five men or just something deeper and older. The intensity of it was a tangible thing.
For a long beat, none of us spoke. The crackling of the torches filled the silence, each snap and hiss amplifying the strangeness of the moment.
Then Talon, ever the one to break tension with poorly timed honesty, said bluntly, "Anyone going to talk about the big elephant in the room?"
I turned my head toward him, as did Riven, Darian, and Lucien. We did not speak but we all had the same expression on our faces—blank, arched brows that barely concealed the roiling disbelief beneath.
"That she's mated to all five of us?" Talon asked, lifting an eyebrow as if discussing the weather.
Another few seconds of silence before Lucien spoke. "That's true." He leaned lazily against the wall, though the tightness in his jaw betrayed him. "Is this some kind of twisted joke the Moon Goddess is playing?"
Riven crossed his arms tightly, scowling. "Maybe she's a witch," he muttered sharply. "Or maybe this isn't the Moon Goddess' blessing at all. Maybe it's a curse."
"Or maybe," Talon said easily, a hint of something speculative in his tone, "it's exactly what it looks like."
Darian's voice cut through, steady but laced with a tension that belied his outward calm. "Either way, the bond is real. I can feel it."
Lucien tilted his head, still watching her as if she might wake and bite him. "But we need to understand why. To check facts. There has to be a reason."
"Does that matter?" Talon asked, folding his arms. "It is what it is."
"It does," I finally answered, my voice cutting clean through the room. The implications were only beginning to dawn on them.
Talon frowned. "How?"
I looked at each of them, one by one, making sure they understood the shift in our circumstances.
"Because now we have to wonder if it affects the reason she was bought in the first place. To sire sons and daughters for the future of our bloodline. To strengthen our reign. To prove to every pack that we stand above them." The weight of that purpose suddenly felt different, complicated.
Silence.
My brothers took in my words, heavy. Their breathing was deep and expectant, but now tinged with uncertainty.
"So what do we do with her?" Lucien asked finally, impatience thick in his voice.
I looked at our mate again. Even unconscious, she fought her bonds, fingers twitching restlessly. A flicker of something akin to reluctant admiration stirred within me.
"We move her," I said. "Put her in a more comfortable cell." A strategic move. A less hostile environment might yield more information. "But she stays chained until we know she won't run."
Or attempt to kill someone at night.
Riven growled low. "Chained like some common criminal?" His possessiveness chafed at the idea.
"Until we know she won't gut us in our sleep," I snapped back. My patience was wearing thin.
Lucien snorted. "Fair enough."
"And if it will suit your palate, a room, but the chains stay. We can't have her running away or being captured by a rival pack."
The thought of another pack laying claim to her sent a jolt of something unpleasant through the bond.
Darian was quiet, eyes locked on her, deep in some thought he didn't share. His stillness was often more telling than Riven's outbursts.
Talon shifted his weight, his mouth pulling into a grin. He raised his hand like a schoolboy asking a question. "I know. Why not just marry her?"
Everyone turned.
Talon shrugged. "Seal the bond. Tie her to us. Problem solved," he analyzed, like some spoiled brat who got all he wanted. And in many ways, he always had.
And truthfully, he did. We all did.
We were five brothers, of the same father but different mothers. All born in the same year but in different months.
Growing up, we had to share everything. And when our father fell ill, we were each given the position to rule as Alphas of the pack, but our crowning was to be done when we found our wives or mates, if the Moon Goddess blesses us.
This... this was not how any of us envisioned it.
Now, we had a mate and an alpha born, but something gnawed at the back of my mind to be cautious. This felt too easy, too chaotic.
"No," I said sharply, my voice cutting the room in half.
Talon blinked. "No?"
"She's ours," Darian stated, almost like he felt obliged to speak on her behalf, a strange protectiveness in his tone.
"She's mine," Riven snapped, stepping closer like he might rip through the bond itself. The possessive urge was a tangible thing radiating off him.
I turned slowly, pinning him with a stare sharp enough to cut flesh. "She's no one's yet," I said, my voice like frost. "Push her—and she'll reject us all." The fragile connection thrummed with a dangerous instability.
Silence slammed into the room. The torches along the walls crackled loudly in the stillness, the only sound besides our ragged breaths.
Talon shifted uneasily. "What if she doesn't accept us?" The question hung heavy in the air.
"She will," Darian said immediately, too sure. "She has no choice, remember. We bought her. We own her." His words, while true, felt brutal in the sudden quiet.
Lucien gave a lazy smirk, though his hands were clenched at his sides. "Eventually." The word held a hint of something predatory.
I watched them—my brothers, my rivals—and knew the truth they wouldn't say aloud. The bond was already twisting something fundamental within us.
The real danger wasn't her.
It was us. The bond was fire licking under our skins, and it wouldn't take much to turn it into an inferno, consuming us all.
"She has no idea who we are," Talon said after a beat. "Or why she's important."
I let a humorless smile tug at the corner of my mouth. "She'll find out soon enough." The realization would be… enlightening.
I moved toward the door, boots silent against the stone floor. Still, I paused, looking back.
She stirred in her sleep, a low growl rumbling from her throat, her hands fisting in the chains like even unconsciousness wasn't strong enough to break her spirit. That spark of defiance was… intriguing.
My wolf, Kale, snarled inside my chest, urging me to claim her.
"Claim her. Now. Before the others do. Ours. Only ours." The possessive demand was primal and insistent.
I gritted my teeth, holding myself still by sheer force of will. I could feel their eyes on her. My brothers. My rivals. The possessiveness in the room was a clear thing.
And it clawed at something savage inside me that wanted to tear them apart just for looking at what was mine.
I schooled my expression, masking the turmoil within. She wasn't ready, and we weren't ready for her. The abruptness of the bond had thrown us all off balance.
The bond already burned between us, half-formed and dangerous, and if I touched her now, if I gave in to what my wolf demanded, we'd all be undone. The consequences were too great to ignore.
I forced a breath through my nose, locking my instincts down hard.
"Prepare her new room," I ordered in a rough voice. "She wakes in comfort. But she stays chained."
For now.
"And after?" Riven asked, his gaze never leaving her.
I glanced back at her—wild, beautiful, furious even in sleep. A storm in chains.
"After," I began, "we sleep on it. Meet with the Council probably and tomorrow, we figure out what the hell we're going to do with a mate none of us were ready for." This unexpected twist had thrown all our plans into disarray.