4.

RONAN FENRIR

“If you reject Amber Campbell, you would forever remain mateless and Alphas with no mate can never rule the pack.”

The moon goddess’ words resounded in my head more times than I could count and the more I remembered that we could never reject Amber, the angrier I became.

All my life, I have harbored no other feeling but hatred for her, my brothers and I have made her life nothing but miserable and now, she’s the only one the moon goddess is binding us to forever.

“What are we going to do about this?” Reid’s voice jolted me out of thoughts and I turned to face him, my entire being blazing with anger.

“We all had the same dream, we can’t let her go, she’s our only shot.” He added like I didn’t already know that.

My stomach clenched tight as I thought of what to do, being the eldest of the quadruplets means I get to make a decision first and the rest could jump on the bandwagon.

“Where is she right now?” I asked and felt myself get even more irritated, how could the moon goddess have us mated to an omega, a nobody?

How could we be mated to someone that has been a slave all her life? That’s a stain on our reputation.

“She’s gone!” Rafael’s voice was filled with urgency and my legs shot up instinctively as I stood from the couch and without thinking, I made my way to her room.

She’s not there. She’s really gone.

“What are we going to do, we can’t let her go, we have to find her, Ronan!” Rhys barked and curses fell from my mouth the moment the alarm sounded.

“We have to find her before she crosses the border!” I ordered and my brothers immediately sprung to action.

Not caring what time it was, we all hurried outside in search of Amber. My heart pounded in my chest as I shifted and I could feel my blood boiling.

Why? Why am I running after an omega? Why am I scared she’ll escape and we’ll never get to have another mate?

Fury surged through me and I could feel my blood freezing over with rage as my brother and I searched frantically for Amber and soon, her tantalizing saint hit our noses, halting all of us in our tracks.

There she is!

Sudden anger lit in Rhys’ eyes and being the fastest amongst us, he was quick to stop Amber from crossing the border, pinning her down until she was forced to shift back to her human form.

I could hear her heart racing and I knew my brothers could hear it too, the magnetic pull forcing us towards Amber made it extremely difficult to ignore the fact that she was a nobody.

The eager affection caused by the bond was too powerful to throttle and even though I wanted her to leave more than anyone else, I couldn’t help but stand by while my brothers consoled her.

We can’t live the rest of our lives without mates, we can’t have the throne taken away from us.

I watched as Rhys consoled her and I heard her heartbeat slowing down but her lips were thinned with determination and I knew that she was going to try and run away again.

Fuck it. We can’t allow this. I can’t suck up to her.

Seeing Rhys hold her so close struck a cord in my heart and my mouth was filled with an unfamiliar bitter taste, my wolf stirred and growled, trying to force itself out.

I know that feeling. It’s jealousy.

Reid stepped in when Amber wouldn’t stop begging, he was doing everything he could to butter her up and the sight was a pain to the eyes but we’ve been reduced to this.

We have no other choice.

Amber remained insistent on leaving and after realizing that she was never going to change my mind, I placed my hand on Rafael’s shoulder, urging him on.

“Do it.” I ordered and with a nod of his head, he pulled Amber back, lifting her up and placing her on his shoulder until we got back to the mansion.

___________________

“You can’t be serious!” Our father bellowed, his voice laced heavily with anger, “YOU CAN NEVER ACCEPT THAT LOWLIFE AS YOUR MATE!” Our mother quickly joined in.

We were going to tell them about the dream we had, about how Amber is the only mate we could ever have but we’ve all decided not to let our parents know until there’s something we can do about it.

More than us, our parents hated Amber even more, her very existence was enough excuse for them to punish her as hard as they wanted.

“You four are nobles and I’ll be damned if you are going to spend the rest of your life with that lowly omega!” My father spat, his voice reverberating through the council room.

“REJECT HER RIGHT NOW!” He ordered but that was the last thing any of us could do, “YOU HAVE TO—”

“FATHER!” I roared, my voice shaking the ground and making it seem as if there was an earthquake, my father’s jaw drop and shock was boldly written on my mother’s face.

“You can’t force us into rejecting Amber,” I started, my voice lower than I’d intended it to be and it carried a hint of affection that I hated so much.

“We’re all old enough to make this decision ourselves and besides, only the moon goddess can decide our mate, not you guys so just FUCKING STAY OUT OF IT!” Anger was starting to swirl inside me like a volcano about to erupt.

“HOW. DARE. YOU!” My mother gritted and before any of us could bat an eyelash, her palm landed on my cheek, stinging really bad but I knew I deserved it.

“You don’t talk to your father like that!” She added, supporting our father but instead of an apology, all I let out of my mouth was a suppressed groan.

I can’t possibly argue with my parents because of a lowlife like Amber. Closing my eyes, I lowered my head a little before storming out of the council room and my brothers immediately followed behind me.

Each step I took felt as if I was dragging a hundred thousand bricks behind me, my irritation flared and the thought of Amber aroused my anger even more.

Something has to be done about this. Amber can’t be our only shot at having a mate.

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Restlessly, I paced around my room as I ran my fingers through my hair. My stomach was still clenched tight and flames of anger licked through me.

“That bitch, I endured mother’s slap because of her!” I growled to myself and the sound of the door opening and closing behind me told me that my brothers were already inside with me.

Silence enveloped the room and a tension as thick like no other settled between us as we all thought of ways to avoid the matebond between us and Amber.

“I don’t care what the moon goddess says, I’m not accepting a disgusting mate like that two-eyed witch!” Reid was the first to speak up and everyone immediately agreed with him.

Being mated to Amber was the last thing any of us expected and when it happened two years ago, we only endured it because we thought it would be easier to make her suffer that way.

Neither of us wanted her but after the warning from the moon goddess, there’s only little we can do about the fucking bond!

“Let’s keep her, I mean, we endured the bond for two years, we can—”

“We’re not keeping her!” I said firmly, my resentment for her kept growing even more inside me like a tumor and I could feel all eyes on me.

Different kinds of thoughts rioted inside of me and the tension between my brothers and I increased with a frightening intensity as the silence grew even tighter.

We all tried to think of a better way to handle this but no matter how hard I or any of my brothers tried, we couldn’t think of anything better.

“Ronan,” Reid’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see that they’ve all come to a conclusion, “we’re the next alphas and even father hadn’t decided who to rule the pack yet.”

“If we reject Amber, not only are we throwing away our only chance at having a mate but we’re also throwing away our only option to rule the pack.” He explained.

“I know how horrible it is to be mated to that witch but we can’t avoid it,” he continued and the more he spoke, the angrier I became.

How could I possibly accept her? How could I pretend it’s okay to be mated to the one person whose feelings for me is nothing but pure hatred?

“Things would only worsen if we let her go and remember the moon goddess also said that it could bring—”

“FINE!” I growled, my head pounding and my heart thudding as my palm elicited so much more sweat than it has ever had.

We all wanted to have a mate, we all wanted to be Alpha of the pack and more importantly, it would be horrible if the pack is ruined just because of our stubbornness.

“Fine,” I sighed as I slouched on the bed, “but you know, she hates us and winning her over is going to be very fucking hard.” I reminded them.

The room fell silent again as we all thought of ways to get Amber to accept the bond because the fate of the packs lies in her hands more than ours.

“Don’t worry about that,” Reid’s voice broke the silence and I lifted my gaze to see him smiling, his eyes glinted and there was a new look of pleasure on his face.

He has a plan.

“Amber will be ours, no matter what.”